Post by John on Jan 22, 2013 0:00:39 GMT -5
THE COVENANT SERVICE OF THE WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY 2013
at St Mary's Parish Church Saffron Walden January 20th 2013 attended by hundreds of Christians who braved the snow and icy streets.
The Rector David Tomlinson welcomed us all together
We sang Reginald Heber's hymn
Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty
There followed Prayers of Confession
for which the response was “Father forgive us, Save us and help us”
Then David Keeble, a Baptist Minister currently the Minister of the Methodist Church read from the Bible 1 KINGS 19 v 1-18
Then Carol Baker, Captain of the Salvation Army Corps read John 10 v 7 – 15
Then we sang
“The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want” with the refrain
“And I will trust in you alone
and I will trust in you alone,
for your endless mercy follows me
your goodness will lead me home “
Then we came to the SERMON
by Jonathan Burton, Pastor of Gold Street Evangelical Church
Incoming Chairman of Churches Together in Saffron Walden
He spoke from 1 Kings 19 v 1-18 about Elijah and us.
Elijah lived in an ungodly nation most of whom were following false prophets and worshipping false gods
Materialism reigned. Cynicism was wide spread and the principal god was SELF
People were self centred, self assured, self confident, and felt no need for God.
Largely they were unaware that without God they were all doomed.
JUST LIKE TODAY. Nothing much has changed in 3000 years
Elijah had just licked the enemy, He had created an altar and a sacrifice and doused it with as much water as possible and challenged the priest of Baal to get their god to set it afire.
The priests of Baal had chanted all day and not produced a glimmer or flicker of flame
Then Elijah asked God to honour his prayer and show that there is a God in Israel and woosh everything went up in flame, priests and all;. and now Elijah was scared
He was out on a limb and the king and queen wanted revenge, they were trying to find and execute Elijah, so he had run away.
He had just proved the power of God. He had just proved that there is a God in Heaven who understands what is going on and has power to act and can answer the prayer of faith He should have been pleased but he was scared that he had gone too far.
Nothing had really changed, the people were as bad as they were before.
Elijah felt very vulnerable. What had been the point of his efforts? What had been achieved.
The people ignored him, laughed at him. He had made no impact.
He said “I have been zealous for the Lord, and I am the only one left who serves the LORD “
I've had enough. I want out. Let me go. I'll keep my religion to myself in future.
They don't want to know. I don't want to tell them
He wanted to roll up like a hedgehog and roll off somewhere out of harms way
HOW DOES GOD RESPOND TO THAT ?
Does God judge Elijah and punish him for insubordination and rebellion?
No God understands, after all he's had that reaction from the Children of Israel for centuries. [ and now from many of the Gentiles for 2000 years more ] God is used to being ignored, blamed, cursed, rejected and all He ever tried to do was love humans, and a fat lot of good it did him.
God gently wakes Elijah up. Asks what are you doing here?. Provides him a meal
Elijah repeats his excuses, he has been over zealous for the Lord. It has achieved no good, the enemy are gunning for him, so he has run away to a place of safely and he wants out of this religious leadership job, or trying to tell people who don't want to hear, about a God they don't believe in.
God does not rebuke him.
God reminds him that he does not have to do everything on his own,
He reminds him that his burden is light compared with God's.
He reminds him to rely on God.
God will accept the weakest faith, as weak as a fluttering candle wick that is about to go out.
God speaks to him quietly, gently, God has an intimate encounter with him. A healing encounter.
Are we not sometimes, even often, like Elijah?
We have served the Lord zealously, diligently, we have tried our best and hardest but nobody wants to know, nobody cares.
We make no impact . All our efforts have been a waste of time.
Some of our congregations are in decline. We cannot attract new people.
Our words fall on deaf ears, So lets keep to ourselves. Keep; our t faith private
Don't let on, tI's safer and less troublesome.
1 ENGAGE
God told Elijah and he tells us - Get onto the field of play. Howling will not help you.
Go up the Mountain. Meet with me. Speak with me.
2 EXAMINE
Are we doing the right thing. Am I trying to do God's work in my own strength?
Do I feel pressured? Is what I am doing what God wants me to be doing?
Jesus said “Take my yoke upon you. It is easy. It is light.
A yoke was used to keep two oxen together so they worked together and together went in one direction, forward.
Take the Yoke of Christ, he will work along side you, and you alongside him.
Also work together with other Christians, and let us work together with one another as churches. Co-operate together.
As individuals and as churches let us step back from what we are trying to do and ask Is what I/we do significant for the Kingdom of God. Is it what God wants me/us to do?
3 ENCOURAGE
Be encouraged. Our efforts are not wasted and we are still needed, there are things still for us to do.
Elijah was told to go and anoint 2 men as kings and to call Elisha to share his mantle, to help him and prepare to take over from him.
Remaining faithful yourself,. Encourage other people to remain faithful. Recruit and Appoint new leaders. Delegate. Give other people an opportunity to serve, to share the work in every part.
Don't lose heart.
We have a powerful but gentle God
We all have a share in ministry, not just the professional clergy.
We have a ministry everyone of us
We have opportunities with people no one else has and God is with us when we engage with them. We all are called to mediate. To be bridges for other people to pass over to God.
We are to carry this ministry out by God's help, and we plug into that help, by believing prayer and by thoughtful meditation.
4. EMPOWERED
“ You are not on your own Elijah. I have 7000 in Israel who have not bowed their knees to Baal. In a little while you will have a new king, and a new partner”
“We are not on our own! neither in Walden nor this district nor this Country.
There are still millions of us Christians.
GOD is for us and all his power, the power that created the Universe ,
We are called to serve together - To work together.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER
If we are truly saved it does not natter of which denomination, church or congregation we are, we are together THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Two children were playing together and talking about their various parents and their beliefs and one said to the other “ What Abomination does your family belong to?”
With us there is no first class, second and third, we are all in the same carriage [ or he could have said “In the same boat” ] TOGETHER.
We are all brothers and sisters with the power of the Holy Spirit with and within us.
Value the contribution of each and every church; of each and every Christian.
In the words of our covenant we are
To make known in word and action
To collaborate together
To walk the way together
To share the work together
God is not bothered by our differences. He is used to diversity He created the world which we live on and it is full of diversity.
This past year has been a difficult year for our world, for our Country, for the Church
It has been a difficult year in Churches Together with the New Life Church leaving us because of disagreement with the Society of Friends. He regretted that so many of the worshippers of our congregations chose not to attend this Ecumenical Service we hold each year.. Yes we do have differences, but we can each say “I am a member of the Church of God. I am serving Christ!”
That being so you are not on your own
We can go up the Mountain together
Religion or Faith is not a private matter. It is a communal public thing
We are each called to witness but to do so together. Let's do it together
We proclaim to people to respond personally to God but it is too hard being on our own
We are called to be the People of God Together and not just us but with all who know our Lord and Saviour.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
That was the gist of what Jonathan told us, written on a folded A4 sheet in spidery handwriting so there may have been some mistakes and omissions but there is enough of it there for us to gain from.
Then OUR REPRESENTATIVES signed the New Covenant reviewed, revised, from what we signed up to at St Mary's in January 2006 While the choir sang the anthem “O Thou the Central Orb” by Gibbons
Then we recited the APOSTLES CREED
COMMENT
Which incidentally is based on the questions asked of candidates for baptism in the 2nd century churches as they stood in the water waiting to be dunked.
Do you believe in God?]
Yes I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth
I baptise you in the Name of God the Father
Do you believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God?
Yes I believe in Jesus Christ
his only Son our Lord
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father
and will come to judge the living and the dead,
I baptise you in the Name of God the Son Jesus Christ.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Yes I believe in the Holy Spirit
the holy catholic church
[ note not the Roman Catholic Church. We are all Catholics as it means universal]
the Communion of saints [ Paul described all Christians as saints not just a favoured few]
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body [ a new body ]
and the life everlasting
AMEN
I baptise you in the Name of God the Holy Spirit .
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
COMMENT
Hence the saying when you go under the 3rd time you drown.
Baptism was a visual aid about the new birth, being buried with Christ in his death to rise in the other side with him in his resurrection.
Converts in the second century had to wait a probationary period before the were baptised usually 2 or 3 years to learn how to behave as Christians, and then they had to follow a 6 week course of Bible study so they knew what they were to believe as Christians and then they were baptised on Easter Day having answered the questions based on the teaching. If they were martyred before they were baptised they were regarded as baptised in blood
When infant baptism replace believers baptism the 6 week course became Lent, in preparation for Easter. So our fast track baptism method of one dunk to “I baptise you in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is rather watered down.
THE CONGREGATION THEN SANG
“LORD for the years your love has kept and guided”
Then Jim Gasgoine Acting-Minister of the United Reformed Church, a former teacher of English, Religion, and Rugby led our
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
which spanned widely and was punctuated with the words
WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT
to which we responded
HELP US TO WALK BY THE SPIRIT
THEN WE REPEATED TOGETHER THE LORD'S PRAYER
THEN WE SANG
“Be thou my vision , O Lord of my heart”
during which the Offering was collected to be divided equally between CHRISTIAN AID and CHURCHES TOGETHER
The offering prayer followed
Followed by the Blessing
Then we got together for general chat with coffee or tea
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Submitted primarily for members of the Baptist Congregation who were unable to be present. About 20 members of the Baptist Congregation managed to get theri of who 13 were Church Members.
Posted by John E Maddams, Baptist, and a former General Secretary of Churches Together in Saffron Walden who as such resurrected the original proposal to sign a covenant, in a filed away folder some years old. Which with approval of the Council and Ministers Fraternal was then taken up by the Curate Lee Batson, who over 2 years engaged in the negotiations that led to the original Signing of the Covenant in 2006.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
at St Mary's Parish Church Saffron Walden January 20th 2013 attended by hundreds of Christians who braved the snow and icy streets.
The Rector David Tomlinson welcomed us all together
We sang Reginald Heber's hymn
Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty
There followed Prayers of Confession
for which the response was “Father forgive us, Save us and help us”
Then David Keeble, a Baptist Minister currently the Minister of the Methodist Church read from the Bible 1 KINGS 19 v 1-18
Then Carol Baker, Captain of the Salvation Army Corps read John 10 v 7 – 15
Then we sang
“The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want” with the refrain
“And I will trust in you alone
and I will trust in you alone,
for your endless mercy follows me
your goodness will lead me home “
Then we came to the SERMON
by Jonathan Burton, Pastor of Gold Street Evangelical Church
Incoming Chairman of Churches Together in Saffron Walden
He spoke from 1 Kings 19 v 1-18 about Elijah and us.
Elijah lived in an ungodly nation most of whom were following false prophets and worshipping false gods
Materialism reigned. Cynicism was wide spread and the principal god was SELF
People were self centred, self assured, self confident, and felt no need for God.
Largely they were unaware that without God they were all doomed.
JUST LIKE TODAY. Nothing much has changed in 3000 years
Elijah had just licked the enemy, He had created an altar and a sacrifice and doused it with as much water as possible and challenged the priest of Baal to get their god to set it afire.
The priests of Baal had chanted all day and not produced a glimmer or flicker of flame
Then Elijah asked God to honour his prayer and show that there is a God in Israel and woosh everything went up in flame, priests and all;. and now Elijah was scared
He was out on a limb and the king and queen wanted revenge, they were trying to find and execute Elijah, so he had run away.
He had just proved the power of God. He had just proved that there is a God in Heaven who understands what is going on and has power to act and can answer the prayer of faith He should have been pleased but he was scared that he had gone too far.
Nothing had really changed, the people were as bad as they were before.
Elijah felt very vulnerable. What had been the point of his efforts? What had been achieved.
The people ignored him, laughed at him. He had made no impact.
He said “I have been zealous for the Lord, and I am the only one left who serves the LORD “
I've had enough. I want out. Let me go. I'll keep my religion to myself in future.
They don't want to know. I don't want to tell them
He wanted to roll up like a hedgehog and roll off somewhere out of harms way
HOW DOES GOD RESPOND TO THAT ?
Does God judge Elijah and punish him for insubordination and rebellion?
No God understands, after all he's had that reaction from the Children of Israel for centuries. [ and now from many of the Gentiles for 2000 years more ] God is used to being ignored, blamed, cursed, rejected and all He ever tried to do was love humans, and a fat lot of good it did him.
God gently wakes Elijah up. Asks what are you doing here?. Provides him a meal
Elijah repeats his excuses, he has been over zealous for the Lord. It has achieved no good, the enemy are gunning for him, so he has run away to a place of safely and he wants out of this religious leadership job, or trying to tell people who don't want to hear, about a God they don't believe in.
God does not rebuke him.
God reminds him that he does not have to do everything on his own,
He reminds him that his burden is light compared with God's.
He reminds him to rely on God.
God will accept the weakest faith, as weak as a fluttering candle wick that is about to go out.
God speaks to him quietly, gently, God has an intimate encounter with him. A healing encounter.
Are we not sometimes, even often, like Elijah?
We have served the Lord zealously, diligently, we have tried our best and hardest but nobody wants to know, nobody cares.
We make no impact . All our efforts have been a waste of time.
Some of our congregations are in decline. We cannot attract new people.
Our words fall on deaf ears, So lets keep to ourselves. Keep; our t faith private
Don't let on, tI's safer and less troublesome.
1 ENGAGE
God told Elijah and he tells us - Get onto the field of play. Howling will not help you.
Go up the Mountain. Meet with me. Speak with me.
2 EXAMINE
Are we doing the right thing. Am I trying to do God's work in my own strength?
Do I feel pressured? Is what I am doing what God wants me to be doing?
Jesus said “Take my yoke upon you. It is easy. It is light.
A yoke was used to keep two oxen together so they worked together and together went in one direction, forward.
Take the Yoke of Christ, he will work along side you, and you alongside him.
Also work together with other Christians, and let us work together with one another as churches. Co-operate together.
As individuals and as churches let us step back from what we are trying to do and ask Is what I/we do significant for the Kingdom of God. Is it what God wants me/us to do?
3 ENCOURAGE
Be encouraged. Our efforts are not wasted and we are still needed, there are things still for us to do.
Elijah was told to go and anoint 2 men as kings and to call Elisha to share his mantle, to help him and prepare to take over from him.
Remaining faithful yourself,. Encourage other people to remain faithful. Recruit and Appoint new leaders. Delegate. Give other people an opportunity to serve, to share the work in every part.
Don't lose heart.
We have a powerful but gentle God
We all have a share in ministry, not just the professional clergy.
We have a ministry everyone of us
We have opportunities with people no one else has and God is with us when we engage with them. We all are called to mediate. To be bridges for other people to pass over to God.
We are to carry this ministry out by God's help, and we plug into that help, by believing prayer and by thoughtful meditation.
4. EMPOWERED
“ You are not on your own Elijah. I have 7000 in Israel who have not bowed their knees to Baal. In a little while you will have a new king, and a new partner”
“We are not on our own! neither in Walden nor this district nor this Country.
There are still millions of us Christians.
GOD is for us and all his power, the power that created the Universe ,
We are called to serve together - To work together.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER
If we are truly saved it does not natter of which denomination, church or congregation we are, we are together THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
Two children were playing together and talking about their various parents and their beliefs and one said to the other “ What Abomination does your family belong to?”
With us there is no first class, second and third, we are all in the same carriage [ or he could have said “In the same boat” ] TOGETHER.
We are all brothers and sisters with the power of the Holy Spirit with and within us.
Value the contribution of each and every church; of each and every Christian.
In the words of our covenant we are
To make known in word and action
To collaborate together
To walk the way together
To share the work together
God is not bothered by our differences. He is used to diversity He created the world which we live on and it is full of diversity.
This past year has been a difficult year for our world, for our Country, for the Church
It has been a difficult year in Churches Together with the New Life Church leaving us because of disagreement with the Society of Friends. He regretted that so many of the worshippers of our congregations chose not to attend this Ecumenical Service we hold each year.. Yes we do have differences, but we can each say “I am a member of the Church of God. I am serving Christ!”
That being so you are not on your own
We can go up the Mountain together
Religion or Faith is not a private matter. It is a communal public thing
We are each called to witness but to do so together. Let's do it together
We proclaim to people to respond personally to God but it is too hard being on our own
We are called to be the People of God Together and not just us but with all who know our Lord and Saviour.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
That was the gist of what Jonathan told us, written on a folded A4 sheet in spidery handwriting so there may have been some mistakes and omissions but there is enough of it there for us to gain from.
Then OUR REPRESENTATIVES signed the New Covenant reviewed, revised, from what we signed up to at St Mary's in January 2006 While the choir sang the anthem “O Thou the Central Orb” by Gibbons
Then we recited the APOSTLES CREED
COMMENT
Which incidentally is based on the questions asked of candidates for baptism in the 2nd century churches as they stood in the water waiting to be dunked.
Do you believe in God?]
Yes I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of Heaven and Earth
I baptise you in the Name of God the Father
Do you believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God?
Yes I believe in Jesus Christ
his only Son our Lord
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary.
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father
and will come to judge the living and the dead,
I baptise you in the Name of God the Son Jesus Christ.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Yes I believe in the Holy Spirit
the holy catholic church
[ note not the Roman Catholic Church. We are all Catholics as it means universal]
the Communion of saints [ Paul described all Christians as saints not just a favoured few]
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body [ a new body ]
and the life everlasting
AMEN
I baptise you in the Name of God the Holy Spirit .
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
COMMENT
Hence the saying when you go under the 3rd time you drown.
Baptism was a visual aid about the new birth, being buried with Christ in his death to rise in the other side with him in his resurrection.
Converts in the second century had to wait a probationary period before the were baptised usually 2 or 3 years to learn how to behave as Christians, and then they had to follow a 6 week course of Bible study so they knew what they were to believe as Christians and then they were baptised on Easter Day having answered the questions based on the teaching. If they were martyred before they were baptised they were regarded as baptised in blood
When infant baptism replace believers baptism the 6 week course became Lent, in preparation for Easter. So our fast track baptism method of one dunk to “I baptise you in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” is rather watered down.
THE CONGREGATION THEN SANG
“LORD for the years your love has kept and guided”
Then Jim Gasgoine Acting-Minister of the United Reformed Church, a former teacher of English, Religion, and Rugby led our
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
which spanned widely and was punctuated with the words
WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT
to which we responded
HELP US TO WALK BY THE SPIRIT
THEN WE REPEATED TOGETHER THE LORD'S PRAYER
THEN WE SANG
“Be thou my vision , O Lord of my heart”
during which the Offering was collected to be divided equally between CHRISTIAN AID and CHURCHES TOGETHER
The offering prayer followed
Followed by the Blessing
Then we got together for general chat with coffee or tea
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Submitted primarily for members of the Baptist Congregation who were unable to be present. About 20 members of the Baptist Congregation managed to get theri of who 13 were Church Members.
Posted by John E Maddams, Baptist, and a former General Secretary of Churches Together in Saffron Walden who as such resurrected the original proposal to sign a covenant, in a filed away folder some years old. Which with approval of the Council and Ministers Fraternal was then taken up by the Curate Lee Batson, who over 2 years engaged in the negotiations that led to the original Signing of the Covenant in 2006.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////