Week beginning 24th October

 Song: We have come into his house

We Have Come Into His House - Voices In Prayer - With lyrics - YouTube

Prayers:

Eternal God, we believe that your purpose is unalterable love, also that you are active, moving and making. We are thankful that your spirit can change people for the better, and that wherever your sovereignty is recognised, your creation is being renewed.

Yet, we are afraid of change. We rely on known paths and settled ways. Sometimes we would like to use your changelessness as a cushion in the midst of life’s turmoil. You comfort us when we feel like that; but you show us that you can do better for us. You can keep us awake to the present, and alive to the possibilities of the future.

Father, we often do not know how to apply the gospel to the choices that confront us. Keep us tending in the right direction. We want to be able to change when change is required, and yet not be reeds, bent by every wind. In your love, achieve it for us and in us.

Amen.

Song: How sweet the name

How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (Tune: St Peter - 6vv) [with lyrics for congregations] - YouTube

Reading: Jeremiah chapter 30: verses 12-17

Reading: Luke 23: 1-25

Song: I want to walk with Jesus Christ

I want to walk with Jesus Christ • Clive Simmonds 1964 © - YouTube

As a boy, my father attended St Judes Church. We used to joke that this had shaped his life. St, Jude is the patron saint of lost causes, and my father espoused many such.

We read of Jeremiah espousing an apparently lost cause in God’s name.

Israel been suffering, and this was seen as punishment for wrong doing. People had deserted the Lord.

The people would have expected God to forsake them and abandon them to their fate. But instead, he promises to redeem them.

Much of the Old Testament would seem to indicate that this is another lost cause. The people are always rebelling. In chapter 7, the people are urged to stop pretending that an outward show of religion is all that is needed, something more practical is required. This has a echo in the New Testament book of James.

If today’s reading is anything to go by it did not havce the desired effect.

A friend at college was talking to me about the virtues of independent, fee-paying education. This was not my belief.

I took the opportunity to look in my concordance. After a few false starts I found;

“It does a fool no good to spend money on an education, because he has no common sense.” Proverbs 17: 16. This was the way it is phrased in the Good News Bible, which we sued at the time.

The New International Version says “Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom, when they are not able to understand it?”

Proverbs is a book book very difficult to preach on, or even read. There are many different, unrelated ideas, and a lack of consistent story. It is a collection of ideas, and wisdom.

The book can be used for many purposes, but the way described before is not what it was intended for. Although we had a good laugh!

But what does this passage mean? Why is it in Scripture?

In the ancient world, education would not be a right. It would be a privilege. Apart from the religious aspects, in synagogue, it was only for those with money. But even then, only some can gain from it.

More modern way of expressing the sentiments of Proverbs 17: 16 might be, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!”

As far as it goes, this remains as true now as it was thousands of years ago.

How many of you are D I Y ers? In my experience there are those who enjoy DIY, those who tolerate it, and those who get someone in!

If you have ever painted a door, you will know how frustrating it can be when, just as you finish, you get a run in the paint. With the confidence of amateur, you say “I can fix that! It will only take a little touch with the brush!”

But the real solution is to wait until it is dry, sand it down, and start again. But we don’t.

“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!”

We say that drastic situation call for drastic measures. God adopted a drastic measure.

We approaching the time of year when we remember God’s solution. This is what Advent and Christmas are about. God tried other solutions first, but then sent his son to bring the people back to himself.

People did not want to hear the truth. Jesus had to suffer, as we read in the Gospel passage.

God will not forsake his people. His promises stand firm. Even though there are difficulties. The church is often portrayed negatively, as spent, finished. This is similar to time of Jeremiah.

“I will make you well again, I will heal your wounds, though your enemies say “Zion Is An Outcast, Noone Cares About Her.” I The Lord have spoken.

The Lord will heal our wounds, he will make us well again.

I am not a scientific gardener.

Pruning. Shrubs and bushes. But I do know that it is necessary to cut back shrubs and bushes. This is to allow new growth next year. It has been said that you should let your worst enemy prune your roses.!

Hard and ruthless pruning produces the best growth.

“I will make you well again, I will heal your wounds, though your enemies say “Zion Is An Outcast, Noone Cares About Her.”

We can’t “Can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!” but God Can!

Song: In loving kindness Jesus came

He Lifted Me - YouTube

But I will restore you to health
and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord,
‘because you are called an outcast,
Zion for whom no one cares.’