BURTON JOYCE
COMMUNITY CHURCH
Sunday 21st February 2021
Adapted from the service prepared for us by the Revd John Wiseman. Spend a few moments with God, as others share with you.
Songs of Fellowship (SoF)
The hymns are chosen mostly from the church hymnbook Songs of Fellowship (SoF). If you don't have a copy of the hymnbook at home, you can often find a video of the hymn on Youtube with the words displayed on video. Also, you can find the Bible readings online at several websites. Search for the specific chapter and verse (e.g. Exodus16, 1-15)
Let’s begin by singing SoF 1381: Jesus Christ is waiting
Opening prayer: Psalm 102
Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in my distress. My days pass like smoke. My bones burn like a furnace. My heart is stricken. I am too wasted to eat. I lie awake; like a lonely bird on a housetop. But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever, your name endures to all generations. You will rise up and have compassion on Zion. The LORD will appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their prayer.
Bible reading Mark 2:1-12
Today’s message with audio link
https://app.box.com/s/sxs2uy7e89n8tqbg9lgvfcs0tq4i0 gmb
Whose house was it? We don’t know, although a careful re-reading of the text ... he returned to Capernaum ... he was at home ... some people came … might make us think it was Jesus’ house. Be that as it may, here, at the start of Mark’s gospel, it is already the fourth healing and the first of five incidents, in quick succession, of opposition to Jesus, right at the start of his ministry.
The interruption provides an opportunity, and the mayhem becomes part of the message. Jesus doesn’t see foolishness, he sees faith. Faith in action; perhaps better translated as ‘commitment’, ‘trust’ or ‘loyalty’. In Mark, it is often also associated with overcoming obstacles put in someone’s way in order to get to Jesus. So, rather than condemn, Jesus commends this group who have literally dropped in, turning them from unexpected intruders to welcomed guests.
Jesus addresses the man in the most intimate of terms, ’Son’, as part of a family, drawing him in who might otherwise have been ostracised and marginalised. Visible and invisible barriers are dismantled with a single word. But Jesus’ most stunning words are yet to come making the hole in the roof seem insignificant compared to the one he is about to tear in the theological structure of his faith. And those words are:
The son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.
This term, ‘son of man’, is a term Jesus uses more than any other describing himself. In the book of Daniel, it is used for the true representative of God’s people, who will oppose evil, granted authority to dispense God’s judgement and forgiveness, and who is destined to share in God’s eternal kingship forever. In this moment, Jesus lays claim to who he is and what his mission will be but, to the religious leaders there, to claim to be able to forgive sin is blasphemy.
We feel paralysed by Covid19: health, financial pressures, loss of employment, mental health, the inability to meet with family, worrying about where the next meal is coming from, the children’s education, protection for frontline workers. Paralysed by grief.
But it is not just the pandemic.
Self-doubt, lack of confidence, peer pressure, lack of opportunity, uncertainty, fear, guilt, all paralyse. We don’t associate ‘sin’ with these things but how many of us, by deliberate choice, do things we know are not conducive to physical, mental or emotional health? And we can get ‘stuck’ too in our understanding of scripture, in our relationship with God and in our mission and outreach.
What might it take for us to be able to take up our mat and walk a path of faith? How can we remove ‘the roof’ that is preventing access to all that Jesus offers? Who can we help to ‘carry’ towards such an encounter with the living God, rather than standing in the way?
Maybe, to know ourselves acknowledged as sons and daughters of God and then to know that with forgiveness comes freedom; freedom to fully be the people God knows we can be.
Let’s sing again, an old Sunday school favourite
Jesus' hands were kind hands, doing good to all, healing pain and sickness, blessing children small, washing tired feet and saving those who fall. Jesus' hands were kind hands, doing good to all.
Take my hands, Lord Jesus, let them work for you; make them strong and gentle, kind in all I do; let me watch you, Jesus, till I'm gentle too, till my hands are kind hands, quick to work for you.
Prayers of Intercessions
Pray for the stories and situations that have dominated our news over the past week and stories that no longer appear to be news
Pray for Church Action on Poverty Sunday today & for Fairtrade Fortnight
Pray for any who feel paralysed by the pressures of life
We join together to say the words of the Lord’s prayer: Our Father
We sing Sof 519: Take my life & let it be
A Blessing
Knowing that you are forgiven, freed and forever loved, throw off all that paralyses you, take up your mat and walk. Amen
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