A Journey though Lent - The Servant of All

Music: Holy, Holy, Holy (NICEA JB Dykes arr Rea)

Rev William Sinclair:

Good morning and welcome to our service, which comes from West Church in Ballymena, with music from New Irish Arts.

The County Antrim countryside around this town is full of natural beauty, including a four hundred and thirty seven metre volcanic plug called Slemish. The name comes from the Irish Sliabh Mis, meaning Mis’s mountain. Saint Patrick is believed to have looked after livestock on Slemish when he was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave in the 4thcentury.

St Patrick’s Day is just two days away, and today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, often known as Mothering Sunday. So today we will reflect on some aspects of Patrick’s life and faith. We will also consider a passage from Matthew’s Gospel which highlights the teaching of Jesus about servant hearted leadership, alongside a story about a mother who had very high aspirations for her sons.

Let us pray that the Lord will bless our worship.

Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Ultimate standard of goodness, truth and beauty

Unique in every aspect of your Being

Unparalleled in majesty

Unchanging in character

Unfailing in love

You are worthy of all glory, honour and praise

And we come with reverence to ask your blessing on our worship this day.

Open our hearts to the things you want to teach us.

Increase our desire to turn from sin, so that we can follow your ways and bring glory to You.

Amen

Ruth Jennings:

The Word of the Lord from the Gospel of Matthew.

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favour. “What is your request?” he asked.

She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of honour next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?”

“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”

Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup. But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. My Father has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Music: Holy Spirit Living Breath of God (Getty/Townend)

Jonathan Rea:

There’s something wonderfully ironic about the flow of this morning’s reading. Jesus takes his disciples to one side and explicitly asks them to listen. And he begins to talk to them about what is going to happen to him. But what he tells them doesn’t sound like good news.

He speaks of impending betrayal, a death sentence, a process of mockery and beating and a crucifixion. Of course, he includes the good news that after all this happens, He will rise from the dead 3 days later. But you might imagine that the story as a whole would have caused his followers immense distress.

But at that moment, what actually happens, is that Jesus is interrupted, mid-flow, by the unnamed mother of 2 of his disciples, James and John. And she chooses this point in the conversation to advocate for her 2 boys to get the premium places of honour in the Kingdom Jesus has been promising to build.

The text is kind enough to her to let us know that she knelt respectfully before Jesus as she asked the question. But her request just seems quite crass and insensitive – not just in the context of Jesus’s bad news – but she also seems to lack an understanding of how the other listening disciples will feel about her when she so shamelessly pushes an agenda for her boys to be elevated above all the rest of them.

We don’t really know her heart or her motivation. But perhaps on this Mothering Sunday, she is a good reminder that most of us have been grateful for the advocacy of our mothers at many points in our lives.

But the response from Jesus is very interesting. He uses the opportunity to challenge our view about how leadership and greatness should look. He points out that leaders in this world tend to flaunt their authority and lord it over their people. And he tells them that these attitudes have no place in the society of His kingdom. Instead, humble servanthood ought to trump brazen authority. And followers of Jesus must serve rather than to be served. And the reason this is important, is because this sort of behaviour exactly mirrors the life of Christ Himself.

Listen to the words of St Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi: 

Diane Carson:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,

he did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

Instead, he gave up his divine privileges

he took the humble position of a slave

and was born as a human being.

When he appeared in human form,

he humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour

and gave him the name above all other names,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Music - Gentle and Lowly (Thomas and Ruthie Brewster)

Ruth Jennings:

Many of the things people say about St Patrick are no more than sentimental myths. For starters, he wasn’t Irish. He wasn’t a canonised saint. He didn’t preach using a shamrock. And there were never any snakes in Ireland for him to drive away. In fact, he wasn’t even the first person to preach the Christian Gospel in Ireland.

But the words of Jesus that we read earlier would have resonated with him. He knew all about the rulers in this world who lord it over people, because his journey to Ireland began with him being taken forcibly from his British home, to be sold as a slave to an Irish chieftain.

Patrick had come from an educated family who were reasonably well off. So the experience of slavery would have been a huge shock to his system. While in Ireland, the Holy Spirit began to stir in his heart, and he developed a deep desire to pursue and know God. Listen to the words of his written confession of faith:

Rev William Sinclair:

I recognised my failings, so I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him.

I prayed so many times during the day – sometimes up to a hundred times – the spirit was burning in me. More and more the love of God increased in me, and I was in awe before him.

Ruth Jennings:

It was clear that Patrick had had a really profound experience of life-changing faith. He almost certainly escaped from his captivity, but when he returned to the British mainland, a remarkable thing happened.

He began to sense a call from God which would lead him back to the very land where he had experienced the humiliation of slavery. And so he returned to Ireland as a pioneer missionary, sharing the Christian Gospel and leaving a great legacy of faith throughout the land.

Music: The Deer’s Cry (Shaun Davey)

Jonathan Rea:

St Patrick’s Day is celebrated by the wannabe Irish all over the world. The parades, the preponderance of green clothes, the traditional music and of course the green beverages – it’s all a bit of fun.

But the more I think of Patrick’s life and legacy, the more convinced I am that he would have been mortified by the very idea of a day in his honour.

The words we have just heard sung are part of a prayer attributed to Patrick, and they speak volumes about his priorities.

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

It seems that Patrick’s desire was not that his identity be synonymous with this beautiful island of Ireland. Instead he wanted to be known as a person who was in Christ, and who had Christ in Him.

What does Patrick Mean? How can I be in Christ? How can he be in me?

Most of us tend to identify ourselves by age, social status, ethnicity, wealth, politics or profession. But the Bible teaches us to pursue a different identity, - one that comes through the dynamic renewing power of the Holy Spirit of God, living inside us, just as the He did in Patrick.

St Paul writes to a group of Christians at Colosse and says something which is quite outrageous to the modern ear. He writes - You died – and your life is hid with Christ in God.

The Christian Gospel dares to suggest that our life is best defined when we deny ourselves, when we allow our sinful nature to be killed off – so that we can be made new in Jesus.

Living in Christ empowers us to put selfish desires aside, to prefer the needs of others, and in so doing to mirror the example of Christ himself.

When I was a child, people used to use a bizarre little phrase for what you had to do to become a Christian. They used to say you had to “Ask Jesus into your heart.” That wording has almost disappeared from common parlance these days, and in a way it’s a pity.

Because St Paul wrote to another group of Christians in Ephesus and told them that he was praying for them – “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”. The idea of Jesus Christ inhabiting me and changing my heart, is at the very centre of the Christian Gospel, and it’s at the centre of Patrick’s prayer too.

To those who do not believe in Jesus, Patrick’s words are highly charged. A challenge to engage with the Christian faith and experience the full power of Christ forgiving us, living in us and bringing us to God.

But what I find really interesting – and perhaps even a bit disturbing - is that when Paul said he wanted Jesus to live in people’s hearts, he wasn’t writing to people who needed to be persuaded to believe. He was writing to established Christians – his readers were signed up members of the church. People who were willing to be identified as Christians at a time when it was dangerous to say Jesus is Lord.

And yet Paul prays that these Christians will have Jesus in their hearts. Did some of them need reminded of how critical this idea was in the Christian faith? Perhaps we need a reminder too.

Both Paul and Patrick knew that intellectual belief just isn’t enough. If our Christian faith is to impact the world around us, Christ must have our hearts. And for those who claim an allegiance to Christianity today, St Patrick’s prayer is just as radical and provocative as it was 1500 years ago.

We can discard any thought that our identity is found in wealth, nationality, ability, politics or profession.

We can turn to Christ and let Him permeate our whole identity.

And in Christ’s name, we can go and change the world.

Music Give me Jesus (Traditional arr Rea)

Ruth Jennings:

Let us pray

Heavenly Father, In these days of Lent, make us sensitive to the Holy Spirit just as Patrick was. Inhabit our hearts, so that we may reflect your beauty in this broken world. We remember those who are suffering as a result of war and violence in different parts of the world: Send healing, encouragement and peace to those who have experienced great loss, so that they may find fresh hope in You.

Rev William Sinclair

On this Mothering Sunday, we pray for mothers and all who carry the honourable responsibility of looking after and nurturing children. Give them patience, wisdom and understanding. Thank you for all who have cared for us and influenced our lives. And we also ask that you will comfort to those who find this day difficult every year.

Diane Carson

As we remember the legacy of St Patrick, we pray that the Good News of Jesus will be heard across the earth. May Christians everywhere display the glory of God, and the servant hearted attitude of Christ who taught us to pray:

Our Father who art in Heaven

Hallowed by Thy Name

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Will be Done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

Forever and ever Amen

Music – Yet not I but through Christ In Me (Robinson/ Thompson/Michael Farren)

Rev William Sinclair:

Thank you for worshipping with us today, wherever you are.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Music – Londonderry Air

Closing Announcement

That traditional Irish folk tune concludes Sunday Worship which came from West Presbyterian Church in Ballymena in County Antrim. It was led by the Reverend William Sinclair and the preacher was Jonathan Rea, who also directed the New Irish Choir and orchestra The producer was David Walker.

Next week,, we continue the Journey through Lent with Sunday Worship from Manchester Cathedral when The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Rev David Walker, reflects on Lent as a time for cleansing.