{"id":2550,"date":"2019-01-27T12:47:53","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T12:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=2550"},"modified":"2019-03-04T15:42:21","modified_gmt":"2019-03-04T15:42:21","slug":"sermon-27th-january-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-27th-january-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 27th January 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth Sunday of Epiphany – morning <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 27th January 2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Epiphany 4 – morning
\n1 Cor. 12. 12-31a
\nLuke 4. 14-21<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nWhen you picture Jesus taking\nup the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and preparing to read this\npassage to his friends and neighbours, what sort of setting do you\nimagine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something like the building we are in at present? A grand temple-like structure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWell in all probability it was\na room approximately 20 – 24 feet square, which is not much larger\nthan any of our parlours, sitting rooms or lounges at home. Quite a\ndomestic sort of setting \u2013 indeed synagogues in the time of Jesus\nwould often be held in someone\u2019s house \u2013 not a public building at\nall, unless the community were wealthy… and we know that Nazareth\nat the time of Jesus was a very modest settlement \u2013 hardly worthy\nof mention. So the chances are that he was sitting very close to\neveryone else there that day and they were within touching distance\nof him! And probably no more than 20 or 30 people crammed in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSynagogues acted as a kind of\ncommunity centre and place for meeting and teaching as well as for\nworship \u2013 much more like the village hall than the village church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Temple in Jerusalem was a\nmuch grander affair of course, but there was only one Temple \u2013 that\nis why it was so important for observant Jews to visit it at least\nonce a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd the most precious\npossession of the synagogue was its copy of the Torah \u2013 the scrolls\nof the first five books of the bible from which the Leader of the\nSynagogue might read, seated on the special \u2018Moses chair\u2019 as it\nwas called \u2013 symbolizing the authority of Moses in giving the Law\nto God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe next set of readings,\ncalled the Hephtarah<\/em>,\nwas taken from the writing of the prophets and any adult male member\nof the synagogue could be invited to read from them and comment on\nthem. Which explains how Jesus came to be reading from the book of\nIsaiah…. And at first the assembled crowd would have been smiling\nand nodding as they heard the familiar and comforting words of one of\ntheir greatest prophets, read out by one of their own \u2013 Mary and\nJoseph\u2019s son; the carpenter\/builder they knew very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut then comes the shock and\nscandal as Jesus comments by saying, \u201cToday, this scripture has\nbeen fulfilled in your hearing\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nJesus was good at stirring up\ncontroversy in his lifetime. His was not a ministry of peace and\ngoodwill \u2013 however we may think about it now. He upset people,\nscandalised them and excited and inspired them by turns. No doubt\nopinions were sharply divided about him. Was he inspired by God? Or\npossessed by the Devil? If they had held a referendum on the subject,\nhow would you have voted do you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nDivided communities are\nuncomfortable as we are all discovering only too well. I am not going\nto mention the \u2018B\u2019 word, but you all know, I am sure, to what I\nam referring?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut it doesn\u2019t do to start\ndemonizing those who do not think the way you do!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn that, I am in total\nagreement with Her Majesty! We are the better for it when we listen\nto those with whom we disagree and try to understand their view of\nthe world. Because we all still need each other \u2013 despite\ndisagreements \u2013 as Paul reminded us earlier. Just because the eye\nand the hand experience the world differently, does not mean that\nthey are better off without each other!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nToday is notable for two\nreasons. Firstly it is the day when we exchange readers and\nintercessors with churches from around the West of Wolverhampton.\nSome will come from Anglican churches much like this…. or maybe\nnot? Some will come from other denominations. Well, whichever, we\nextend a very warm welcome to you and thank you for enriching our\nworship this morning through your presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSecondly, it is Holocaust\nMemorial day \u2013 when we remember with shame the atrocities that\nhuman beings can commit when they start to demonize people who seem\ndifferent in some way. And that is what happens when we forget quite\nhow interdependent we are one with another. We cannot \/ must not try\nto \u2018go it alone\u2019 \u2013 in the sense that we forget how reliant we\nare on other countries whether in or out of Europe. Not only does it\nnot make economic sense but we as a nation are diminished when our\ngaze turns too inward and we neglect the wide world around us. And I\nthink it runs counter to what God intends us to be. Wonderful human\nbeings who learn to rely on each other to survive and thrive. And if\nwe could learn that lesson it truly would be good news to the poor,\nthe captives, the blind and oppressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIt is a message that both\nchallenges us and could change the world. And it all began in that\nsmall, ordinary synagogue in an insignificant backwater in 1st<\/sup>\nCentury Palestine. So if that happened then, what might God have in\nmind for our own churches, be they big or small, now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourth Sunday of Epiphany – morning Sunday 27th January 2019 Epiphany 4 – morning 1 Cor. 12. 12-31a Luke 4. 14-21 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs When you picture Jesus taking up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and preparing to read this passage to his friends and neighbours, what sort of setting do you imagine? … <\/p>\n

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