| ©2018 St. Blasius Old Parish Church, Shanklin
Second Sunday of Lent
28th February 2021
Worship and Prayer
Hymn:
Praise to the holiest in the height
Acknowledging our need of Forgiveness
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to
save us. Let us come to him, in sorrow for our sins,
seeking healing and forgiveness.
(We keep a moment of quiet for silent reflection)
Lord, I am truly sorry for all the wrong things I have
done.
Have mercy on me, O God,
for your love has no limits.
Lord, have mercy.
Wash away all that is wrong in my life.
Cleanse my heart, O God,
and fill me with your Spirit.
Christ, have mercy.
Help me to follow more closely in the way of Christ.
Restored and forgiven,
may I walk in the joy of your salvation.
Lord, have mercy.
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from your sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect Prayer
Almighty God, by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings,
and by following in his Way come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Bible Readings
Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16
17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord
appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God
Almighty;
*
walk before me, and be blameless.
2
And I
will make my covenant between me and you, and will
make you exceedingly numerous.’
3
Then Abram fell on
his face; and God said to him,
4
‘As for me, this is my
covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a
multitude of nations.
5
No longer shall your name be
Abram,
*
but your name shall be Abraham;
*
for I have
made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.
6
I
will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make
nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
7
I will
establish my covenant between me and you, and your
offspring after you throughout their generations, for
an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your
offspring
*
after you.
15 God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you
shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
16
I
will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by
her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations;
kings of peoples shall come from her.’
Hymn:
The God of Abraham praise
Hymn:
Take up thy cross, the Saviour said
Romans 4.13-end
13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did
not come to Abraham or to his descendants through
the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14
If it is
the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith
is null and the promise is void.
15
For the law brings
wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there
violation.
16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that
the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to
all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the
law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham
(for he is the father of all of us,
17
as it is written, ‘I have
made you the father of many nations’)—in the
presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives
life to the dead and calls into existence the things that
do not exist.
18
Hoping against hope, he believed that
he would become ‘the father of many nations’,
according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your
descendants be.’
19
He did not weaken in faith when he
considered his own body, which was already
*
as good
as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or
when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.
20
No distrust made him waver concerning the promise
of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory
to God,
21
being fully convinced that God was able to
do what he had promised.
22
Therefore his faith
*
‘was
reckoned to him as righteousness.’
23
Now the words,
‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake
alone,
24
but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who
believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the
dead,
25
who was handed over to death for our
trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Mark 8.31-end
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man
must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the
elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed,
and after three days rise again.
32
He said all this quite
openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke
him.
33
But turning and looking at his disciples, he
rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For
you are setting your mind not on divine things but on
human things.’
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to
them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and follow
me.
35
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel,
*
will save it.
36
For what will it profit
them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
37
Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
38
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words
*
in
this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son
of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Reflections
By Reverend Tony Richards
Three readings in today’s lectionary, Genesis 17:1-
7,15-16; outlining God’s promises to Abram Psalm
22:22-30; recognising God’s promises and giving
thanks, Romans 4:13-25 assuring us of God’s
promises and Mark 8:31-38 showing us the cost of the
promise.
Shaka Zulu was one of the most influential Zulu
monarchs who ruled the Zulu empire in the early
1800's. He was a military genius and considered a
great king for his reforms and innovations and
condemned by others for the brutality of his reign.
Captain Fairwell (a British army officer) had built a
cautious relationship with Shaka and spent a great
deal of time gaining his confidence. Because of his
friendship with the king, he was sent to see if these
two nations could live together in harmony uniting
custom and respect despite their differences. Shaka
was familiar with the various incentives that England
had previously offered and after a long pause and
without turning toward his guest, he broke the
silence.
"Tell me, Zebana," (his name for the Captain), how do
you catch a monkey?"
Captain Fairwell responded, by using a gourd with a
narrow neck - with the top removed and something
put inside, such as a piece of fruit or sweet. When he
reaches in and grabs the bait’ he’s trapped, because
when holding the fruit he cannot withdraw his fist."
Shaka said, “when the monkey realizes he is trapped,
why doesn’t he let go of the bait?"
"Because his greed makes him blind," the Captain
answered.
"And what is he greedy for?" asked the king.
"I suppose for something he can’t have," was the
answer.
After another long pause Shaka said, and what new
bait have you brought for this monkey? Do I yearn for
something shiny?"
What do we desire most? To build our relationship
with God and Christ, and the rewards that
relationship brings or just accept the temptations of
the world? Worldliness is our gourd, and it has a very
narrow neck.
As we journey through Lent, we have the opportunity
to look inside ourselves - the way that we live our lives
- and let go of the “shiny things” that the world offers
and look to be more like Jesus.
Charlemagne was pretty infamous, and it is said that
when he died, he was buried in royal robes in a
marble chair. On his lap was a Bible opened to Mark
8. With his finger pointing to verse 36. "For what will
it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, yet loses
his own soul?"
Our souls are far more important to God than any
shiny trinket or the temptations and short-lived
rewards that the world offers. To think only of
personal satisfaction and an easy life, to take what
you want with little or no regard for the needs of
others. All too often far too many have this as their
creed - looking only for their own personal needs; not
just for food, shelter and health, but to achieve their
spiritual and emotional needs.
Jesus tells us that we must lose ourselves to find
ourselves; that he who loves his life loses it and he
who hates his life will keep it. He is not just speaking
of our wellbeing here on earth, but of eternal life.
A loser by worldly standards is one who has failed to
accomplish what the world sees as success; an
accumulation of stuff, money, prestige, or status; who
has lived life for themselves to their own standards
with little or no regard for others or the will of God.
The Gospel is about losing a former life and gaining a
new life in Christ.
Lent is a time when we can re-appraise our lives and
let go of the “shiny trinkets” that trap us, to get our
hands out of the gourd and let go of the worldly
things that are holding us back and weighing us down.
Do you ever feel that you are being asked to give
something up?
Many say no, because they seldom or never make
time to seek God's will to look at their lives in a quiet
moment to hear God’s voice.
We cannot mature in faith unless we change the way
that we live, and look to Jesus to guide our lives… To
make time to hear his voice and seek his will… To set
aside time to hear and… To allow God transform us
into the spiritual people that he has called us to be.
But like so many things, a faith and ministry that costs
nothing will accomplish nothing.
Discipleship requires discipline - the discipline that
lets us let go of whatever shiny trinket holds us back
and keeps us from focusing on God.
We need to depend on Jesus, not on the world, for as
it said on a sign in a textile mill: "When your thread
becomes tangled,.... call the foreman."
The writer of Hebrews helps us to understand what
we are called to do: " Let us also lay aside every
weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run
with perseverance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith."
When we are committed to Jesus, we shed the worldly
trinkets; the things that writer tells us that are not
necessarily a sin, but are a weight holding us back.
It will be so difficult to experience a deeper
relationship and fellowship with Christ and those
around us, if we continue to do the same things that
we have done in the past.
As an old professor once said; ‘Doing the same thing
over and over again, expecting a different result, is a
mark of insanity. We need to change and do things
differently, to let go of the temptations and charms of
the world, to find and make time to spend one on one
with our Lord in or prayers and lives.
Selflessness is at the heart of discipleship and
disciples are disciplined. They find and set aside time
to listen and perfect that special relationship with our
maker.
In the words of today’s Gospel: "If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow me. For those who want
to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their
life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will
save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole
world and forfeit their life?
It is time to get our hands out of the gourd, to let go
of the ways of the world and let God lead and
transform us... into the image of His Son.
May this Lent be blessed as we look forward to Easter.
Opening our hearts to God
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires
known, and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration
of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and
worthily magnify your holy name; through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
The Prayer of
St Richard of Chichester
Prayers
As you listen to the words of this beautiful prayer,
echo them in your heart and make it your prayer
as we continue our journey through Lent…
We gather together all our prayers and praises in
the words that Jesus taught us…
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be 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,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn:
O Jesus, I have promised
God’s Blessing
May Christ give us grace to grow in holiness, to deny
yourselves, take up our cross, and follow him; and the
blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, be with us now and evermore. Amen.
Claudio Monteverdi:
Christe, Adoramus te
Christ, we adore you and we bless you,
because by your holy cross you have redeemed the
world.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Spend a few moments bringing your own prayers
before God:
Praying for our Church family;
Asking God to give wisdom to the leaders of the
nations;
Praying for all those who are unwell and all those
who care for them;
Giving thanks for those who have shared this life
with us but have now journeyed on into God’s
presence.