The First Sunday in Lent - 21 February 2021 - St Luke's ...
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We are a beacon of God’s light and hope welcoming all to our table of love and diversity. The First Sunday in Lent — 21 February 2021 YOU WILL BREAK The possibility of you getting through 40 days of testing is nil. This is the desert. Welcome, says the tempter, to my world. And you know that you will break. You will slowly disintegrate. Or you will shatter. In some brittle moment. Or through the course of one too-long day, just when you imagined you were going to emerge intact. You will break, you know you will. On your own, you will snap, a dried stick in the undergrowth. You will break. But it could be that your breaking here may open up the path to some deeper healing? The breaking of your own capacity to fix, to achieve and to succeed may be an essential step on your path towards maturity. So do not be alarmed when you hear something crack. And may the breaking leave you tender. Ian Adams, Wilderness Taunts: Revealing Your Light (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2016), p. 6. ✜ READINGS FOR NEXT WEEK 28 FEBRUARY 2021 The Second Sunday in Lent Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:24-32; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
WELCOME Acknowledgement of Country Nganyi kaaditj Noongar moort kyen kaadak nidja boodja. As we gather for worship, we acknowledge the Whadjuk Noongar people as the original custodians of this land, and their ongoing relationship with it. We acknowledge their leaders, past, present and emerging. A very warm welcome to our service this morning, particularly if you are visiting St Luke’s for the first time. We hope you will join us for refreshments in the Alexandra Hall following today’s service and please be most warmly welcome. Children are welcome at all our services and there is a dedicated play area for younger children at the front of the church with Worship Bulletins and pencils available. Children are invited to join our Sunday School activities on the second Sunday of the month during school term time. If you have any questions or particular needs, please speak to one of our friendly welcomers. We invite you to share in a time of stillness and quiet before the service begins. Our Parish Mission Statement We are a beacon of God’s light and hope welcoming all to our table of love and diversity. Donating to St Luke’s As we move to a more cashless society, you are encouraged to give electronically. If you prefer to give cash there is an offertory bowl at the rear of the church. Our bank account details are: Name: Mosman Parish Council BSB: 706-001 Account Number: 3000 3046 Reference: Direct Giving Community Garden Op Shop The St Luke’s Community Garden is a means to bring Our Op Shop is open Wednesday, Friday and together members of the local community through Saturday 9:30am—1:00pm. We recycle quality the invigorating and connecting activity of gardening donations of clothes for women, men and children; and is a demonstration site for organic, sustainable, jewellery; homeware items; bric a brac; and books. eco-friendly urban living. The Community Garden is Any excess donations are then sent to Clutterbugs open to anyone who would like to become a General and other charity shops including The Salvation Member or a Bed Holder. More details at Army and Save The Children. www.stlukescommunitygarden.com. PAGE 2
FROM THE RECTOR It was around a year ago during Lent that many of us entered a sort of wilderness as we began the experience of lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ways of communication changed significantly and things we took for granted such as greetings with handshakes, hugs and kisses, gatherings with family and friends around the dinner table and worshipping together in churches were replaced for many people by virtual meetings, media and phones. As we become more reliant on such devices, we have probably had to become acquainted with having to ‘hit the reset button’ to fix problems and to start the device anew. Perhaps that is what Lent is for us. A time to reset and start our relationship with God anew. The Daily Office during Lent becomes even more important as together we read the Scriptures and pray. We can trace the Church’s daily prayer (‘the Office’) back through The Book of Common Prayer and back through the monastic offices of the medieval Church to some simpler forms which, themselves, derived from the worship of the synagogue. What else would Jesus have encountered at the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:21) or Nazareth (Luke 4:16) other than the Church’s Office at its simplest? Psalms and canticles and scripture readings and prayers: the simpler the Office, it follows, the closer it must be to the services described in the Gospels and, indeed, the Acts of the Apostles (eg. Acts 1:14, 2:42, 4:24, 12:5, 12). The services of the synagogue and the home in the first century CE presumably included psalms and canticles and prayers as well as the Scripture reading we know about from Luke 4. We do hear of Jesus and his disciples singing psalms (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). We know that Jesus retired to the desert or hills to pray (Mark 1:36). Yet we must not presume that, because synagogue worship is older than church worship, the Church derives its material from the Synagogue. The visitor to a modern synagogue will note many similarities between Jewish and Christian worship. In fact, the Church was as surely an influence on the Synagogue as the Synagogue on the Church: the increasing Jewish use of candles in place of oil lamps is one example of this. What seems to be common to the praying of the Office is that, whatever the circumstances, individuals take their places in the never-ceasing cycle of prayer (1 Thess 5:17, cf. Luke 18:1, 21:36; Eph 6:18), the Church’s offering of praise. It is also corporate prayer and not private praying which is simultaneously going on all over the world. We are not only linked geographically, we are also linked with a long tradition: the cycle of praise is centuries old. We are not engaged in anything new; we are taking our place with the history of tradition of a pilgrim people, part of whose reason for existence is to share in that living sacrifice of spiritual worship in which we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:1-2). Your companion, walking with you and Jesus Christ to the cross. PAGE 3
OUR SERVICE TODAY Our service is in the Lent Service booklet (purple cover). Hymns are in the Lent Hymns booklet (white cover). The Psalm is on a printed insert. Opening Hymn Forgive us when our deeds ignore First Reading Genesis 9:8-17 Psalm 25:1-10 Second Reading 1 Peter 3:18-22 Gradual Hymn Forty days and forty nights Gospel Mark 1:9-15 Offertory Hymn Lord, I am not worthy Closing Hymn Love will be our Lenten calling Recessional Wszyscy Mieszkańcy Dworu Niebieskiego, Mieczyslav Surzyński (1866–1924) All the Inhabitants of the Heavenly Court — based on a Polish Lenten hymn tune. Surzyński is often described as the Polish Bach. For Your Contemplation ✜ In the first reading God institutes a covenant between God and the earth. What role do you see creation playing in our relationship with God? ✜ The psalmist says, “Lead me in the ways of your truth, and teach me.” How would you like to grow in truth and learn this Lenten season? ✜ Today’s Gospel Acclamation reminds us, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” What nourishment have you received from God’s word recently? ✜ After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit immediately drives Jesus “out into the wilderness.” Where do you find solitude and quiet to be with God? Read ✜ Reflect ✜ Respond in prayer ✜ Remain in silence ✜ Return prayerfully to daily life PAGE 4
PRAYERS Lord of compassion, in your mercy hear us. Anglican Communion The Church of the Province of Central Africa. Australia The Diocese of Tasmania: Bishop Richard Condie, Bishop Chris Jones, Clergy and Laity. Diocese Diocese of Perth: Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy AO, Bishop Jeremy James, Bishop Kate Wilmot; Parish of Greenwood: Rev’d Josie Steytler and people; Parish of Guildford: Rev’d Katrina Holgate and people; Guildford Grammar School: Roger Port, Chair, and members of the Council Province: Dampier Seafarers’ Centre, clergy and people; Parish of Narrogin, clergy and people. Partner Diocese, Eldoret: Kipkabus, clergy and people. Parishes Seeking Appointment of Clergy Bassendean, Beaconsfield, Dianella, Floreat, Morley-Noranda, Scarborough, St Mary West Perth. Warden, Head of Wollaston Theological College. Partner Parish of St Luke’s Kaptubei, Eldoret Vicar Rev’d Jonah Tabut; the needy, the elderly, those who are sick, orphans, those who have lost their job due to the pandemic, those whose loved ones have died, an end to the pandemic, growth and increased performance at Toror Primary and Kipka Primary Schools, instruments for mission, to receive drilled water. Please Pray for Barbara, Alison, Val, Maxine, Kim, those who have lost their homes and property during the Perth bushfires, the enduring COVID-19 pandemic, the sick, lonely, homeless, refugees and asylum seekers. Prayer of the Week O Lord, who for our sake fasted forty days and forty nights: give us grace to use such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit, we may ever obey your godly will in righteousness and true holiness; to your honour and glory, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. PAGE 5
PARISH NOTICES Confession If you would like to make your Lenten confession, please contact Fr Matthew to arrange a suitable time. Lent Studies Two Lent Studies will be available: Fridays at 10:00am commencing 19 February, and Wednesdays at 7:00pm commencing 24 February, both held in the Parish Lounge at the Rectory. Wednesdays 7:00pm Samuel Wells, A Cross in the Heart of God Fridays 10:00am Stephen Cherry, Thy Will Be Done You do not need to have a copy of the books as material will be provided. Lent Lecture Series at St John’s Fremantle Thursday 25 February for 5 weeks This series explores the themes of Religion, Law and Community and how we might live well together. The speakers are Dr Mark Jennings (sociologist of religion in the areas of Pentecostal Christianity, LGBTQI+, and secularisation, and co-ordinator of Continuing Education at Wollaston College); Emeritus Chief Rabbi Freilich OAM (formerly Rabbi of the Perth Synagogue and former president of the Federal Association of Rabbis of Australasia); The Reverend Robin Tapper (Anglican Priest, Lawyer and Honorary Fellow of the Law School of the University of Western Australia); Dr Abdul Cader Lebbe Ameer Ali (former chair of the Muslim Advisory Council for the Federal Government, and former lecturer, Murdoch University); and Associate Professor Lubica Ucnik (philosopher in the area of phenomenology, Murdoch University). Commences this Thursday 25 February at 6:00pm and concludes Thursday 25 March. All are welcome. ABM Online Lent Study ‘God Was On Both Sides Of The Beach’ This Study is exploration of the 150th anniversary of the ‘Coming of the Light’—on 1 July 1871, the London Missionary Society boats arrived in the Torres Strait. Presented online by ABM Education Missioner, Rev’d Canon Steve Daughtry, the studies will be available to interact with via Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo - or on the ABM website www.abmission.org/lent. Voices to be heard are Queensland Anglicans Aunty Dr Rose Elu and Rev’d Canon Victor Joseph. Anglican Bushfire Appeal Those affected by the bushfires remain in our prayers, including the Parishes of Midland, Swan, Ellenbrook and Mundaring; and families and staff from Guildford Grammar School. To contribute for emergency relief to these parishes, do so through the Anglican Community Fund (ACF): Account name: Anglican Bushfire Appeal BSB: 706-001 Account number: 30009201 Our Op Shop takings for the week of 7 February of $1,952.20 will be donated to this Appeal. Portable CD player We are seeking a portable CD player/radio which you are not using and which we can use! PAGE 6
TODAY’S REFLECTIONS LENT Giving something up? ‘Are you giving something up for Lent?’ This concept of Lent as a time of self-denial occupies a curious place in the consciousness of many people, whether or not they are churchgoers. Perhaps it reflects the view that church people ‘go without’ something such as a bar of chocolate or a bag of chips with their morning coffee because Christians are a bit miserable — more interested in ‘can’t’ and ‘shouldn’t’ than in embracing life. Or is it rather that Christians are perceived as doing strange and slightly arcane things — that faith in itself is actually rathe bizarre. Or perhaps Christians are perceived to be exercising a personal lifestyle choice. Giving up something can be seen as simply a personal choice, rather than a manifestation of a movement that seeks to challenge the world. Or taking something on? And what of the beginning of Lent for Christians themselves? Are you giving something up…or are you taking something on? Ash Wednesday reminds us of our own mortality, of the fact that life is short, that opportunities are fleeting and that we are accountable for our own life choices. We are signed with the cross in ash, a potent symbol of the dust from which we are created, of the dust into which so many of our dreams and efforts crumble and of the dust to which we shall all return when mortal life is ended. Nevertheless, we are dust that dreams — capable of ascending the heights of heaven as well as plumbing the depths. When we think too highly of ourselves, we are called to remember that we are but dust and to remember the cross. When we think too little of ourselves, we are called to remember that dust can be inspired with the breath of life and to remember the cross. We need these reminders as we embark on our journey through this part of the church year, a journey that may test to the limits our discipleship and the steadfastness of our commitment to the faith of our baptism. It is a journey we will need to travel together, sometimes shouldering one another’s crosses, and all the while remembering that we are called into community to work out the meaning of what our baptismal calling means in daily life. If Christians are to rediscover a counter-cultural witness in Lent, then we may need to consider ways for taking something up. It might be appropriate to take up a particular practice of prayer — exploring Ignatian or Julian spirituality for example — or at least to make more room for prayer. This could involve creating a physical space — some form of space set apart in the home or in the church. It might also involve temporal space — creating time in the day for regular prayer. According to your tradition, you may wish to offer your confession to a priest. PAGE 7
WILDERNESS Lent is supposed to be the time when we think of Jesus in the wilderness. And the wilderness belongs to us. It is always lurking somewhere as part of our experience, and there are times when it seems pretty near the whole of it. Most people’s wilderness is inside them, not outside. Our wilderness is an inner isolation. It’s an absence of contact. It’s a sense of being alone — boringly alone, or saddeningly alone, or terrifying alone. This Lent, unlike the ecclesiastical charade, this sense of being isolated and therefore unequipped, is a necessary part, or a necessary stage, of our experience as human beings. It therefore found a place in the life of the Son of Man. Because he is us, he too did time in the wilderness. And what happened to him there shows us what is happening to ourselves. Here, as always, we see in his life the meaning of our own. Notice first that it is by the Spirit that Jesus is driven, thrown out is the actual word used by St Mark, into the wilderness, the same Spirit which had brought him the conviction of being called to do great things. The Spirit is ourselves in the depths of what we are. It is me at the profoundest level of my being, the level at which I can no longer distinguish between what is myself and what is greater than me. So, theologically, the Spirit is called God in me. And it is from this place where God and me mingle indistinguishably that I am thrown out into the wilderness. The story of Jesus reminds us that being thrown out in this way must be an inevitable concomitant of our call to God’s service. To feel isolated, to be incapable for the time being of establishing communion, is part of our training. That is because so far our communion has been shallow, mere pirouetting on the surface. We’ve come to see its superficiality, its unrealness. Hence the feeling of loss. The training doesn’t last for ever. In fact, new powers of communion with our world are being built up within us. We are being made the sort of people of whom it can be said, ‘All things are yours.’ But it belongs to the training to feel it will last for ever. And so we are tempted of Satan. Tempted to give up, to despair. Tempted to cynicism. Tempted sometimes to cruelty. Tempted not to help others when we know we can, because, we think, what’s the use. Tempted to banish from our life all that we really hold most dear, and that is love, tempted to lock ourselves up, so that when we pass by people feel, ‘There goes a dead man.’ And behind each and all of these temptations is the temptation to disbelieve in what we are, the temptation to distrust ourselves, to deny that it is the Spirit himself which beareth witness with our Spirit. God in us. And this self-distrust conjures up the wild beasts. Sometimes they’re sheer terror, panic, which makes us feel about the most ordinary undangerous things, ‘I can’t do it.’ Or the wild beasts are the violent rages roaring inside us triggered off by something ridiculously insignificant — a word, a glance, a failure to show interest in some petty concern. Or the beasts prowl around snarling as envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness. This then is our Lent, our going with Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. And we might apply to it some words from the First Epistle of St Peter: ‘Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice, in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when PAGE 8
his glory is revealed.’ Christ’s glory is his full and satisfying communion with all that is. It is the opposite of being isolated. You don’t have to wait for this until you die or the world comes to an end. It can be yours now. Accept your wilderness. From the story of the Son of Man realise what your Lent really means, and then angels will minister to you as they did to him. A Reading from True WIlderness by Harry Williams (1919-2006), in Robert Atwell, comp. Celebrating the Seasons: Daily Spiritual Readings for the Christian Year (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2009), pp. 159-60. BRIGHT SADNESS Orthodox Lent, which the Orthodox liturgical theologian Alexander Schmemann describes as a certain quiet sadness…There is almost no movement…For a long time we stand in this monotony…Little by little we begin to understand, or rather to feel, that this sadness is indeed ‘bright,’ that a mysterious transformation is about to take place in us…That state of anxiety which has virtually become our second nature, disappear[s] somewhere and we begin to feel free, light and happy…The monotony and the sadness of the service acquire a new significance, they are transfigured. Ann inner beauty illumines them like an early ray of the sun which, while it is still dark in the valley, begins to lighten up the top of the mountain. The Lenten sadness, then, comes from letting go of our anxious external schedules and facing up to sins and sorrows deep within. The brightness comes from knowing for sure that this process opens you to the grace of resurrection, the restoration of baptismal innocence and joy, which already begins to lighten, as it were, the heights of the soul, and which we know must in due course penetrate even our murkiest depths. Orthodox Lent has two distinctive weekday services, the long, repetitive, penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Because of the association with Easter joy, no Eucharist is celebrated on the weekdays in Lent, but instead Holy Communion consecrated on the previous Sunday is distributed as the culmination of the days of total fast, Wednesdays and Fridays, after Vespers. Lent in the West has a different atmosphere: less intense, more austere. The colour purple or the sackcloth-like ‘Lent Array’ is used. There are several distinctive Lenten canticles, such as the Salvator mundi (‘Jesus, Saviour of the World’)…and the Methodists use a beautiful prayer before Communion which epitomises Lenten humility: Come to this sacred table, Not because you must but because you may… Not because you have any claim on heaven’s rewards, But because in your frailty and sin You stand in constant need of heaven’s mercy and help. Western Lent is also characterised by the palpable lack of a word: ‘Alleluia’ is traditionally given up till Easter, when it returns with much joyous repetition. The most distinctive Lenten service PAGE 9
(though of course it can be held at other times) is Stations of the Cross, which has ancient origins in the following of the via dolorosa to Calvary in the Holy Land. In the late fourteenth century the Franciscans introduced the visual tableaux with which we are now familiar…[Stations of the Cross] enable us to participate not only with mind and hearing, but with our bodies and visual imaginations too, in the drama of salvation. Though the atmosphere of Lent is perhaps more distinctly poignant in Orthodoxy than in the West, the Western structure and progression may be stronger. Orthodox Sundays of Lent follow a relatively simple pattern: after the celebration of the icons on the first Sunday, and the healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12) on the second, the readings focus on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his prophecies of his Passion. Ross Thompson, Spirituality in Season: Growing through the Christian Year (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2008), pp. 83-85. JOURNEY Lent is a time to learn to travel Light, to clear the clutter From our crowded lives, and Find a space, a desert. Deserts are bleak: no creature Comforts, only a vast expanse of Stillness, sharpening awareness of Ourselves and God. Uncomfortable places, deserts. But if we dare to trust the silence To strip away our false security, God can begin to grow his wholeness in us, Fill up our emptiness, destroy our fears. Give us new vision, courage for the journey, And make our desert blossom like a rose. Anne Lewin, 1993. UP AND OUT One difficult element in [the] diseases of srupulosity is that it confuses the mind…Anxious introspection leads such people to believe that they have committed some sin…Very often these anxieties have no basis in fact; they are simply spectres of the mind…It is not until these spectres have been eliminated that such people can begin to see their real sins and imperfections, which they can then face quietly, and in true penitence, without being plunged into despair. For now they know that God is greater than all their sin; and they are able to turn away from themselves to God.…The one thing to do is to turn away from useless introspection, up, and out, into the fresh air of God’s loving and gracious Presence, till all our fears are blotted out in his embrace. Olive Wyon, Prayer (London: Fontana, 1962), p. 80. PAGE 10
LIVING HIS STORY EVANGELISM IS INVITATION We call this passing on of the gospel story ‘evangelism,’ but it’s a word that is often misunderstood. I suspect that if you stood up in church one Sunday morning and said ‘Who wants to do evangelism next Sunday?’ you might not get a huge response. And the problem is often in how we phrase the question. We misrepresent evangelism when we imply it is something that is done to people, either willingly or unwillingly. Evangelism’s starting point is our recognition that if the gospel is the story in which we find our identity and purpose, then evangelism has to do with the whole of our lives and the way that we live them. Our primary task is not convincing people our way of thinking is right but rather inviting them to participate within this story of the risen Jesus. The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann describes evangelism as ‘an invitation and summons to “switch stories” and therefore to change lives.’ Evangelism by this definition becomes an invitation not to a set of beliefs but to a new way of living. It is to encounter the one who has risen from the dead and in whom there is new life and a purpose. It is to place his story at the centre of our lives. Through his story we find our sense of purpose, meaning and belonging. Exploring evangelism as an invitation to switch stories, to enter into the new reality of a world where death is defeated and Jesus is alive, means that it might be both harder and easier than we imagined. It is harder because the offer is one of switching stories, not simply adding Jesus on to an already full life. It is to swap one way of looking at the world with another. There is a cost to the exchange. As the events of Holy Week show us, for some the cost is too high. Yet evangelism as invitation is also easier than we thought because it is not dependent upon us to make it happen. It is an invitation into an expansive place where the deepest longings and desires of human life are met in Christ, where all our fears about death and the ultimate end come face to face with the one who is risen from the dead. Offering another person the chance to enter into the Easter story is the greatest gift we can give the world. Evangelism is easier than we had imagined because Jesus has opened up to us the very thing that the world really needs. All we need to do is make that offer available to others. This means that evangelism is one of the most courageous callings upon our life and it is also the greatest privilege on earth. Evangelism should be the most natural thing in the world for disciples of Jesus and yet we have somehow made if feel unnatural and uncomfortable. How might we reimagine evangelism in a way that feels less daunting and in which the invitation to ‘switch stories’ feels natural? Hannah Steele, Living His Story: Revealing the extraordinary love of God in ordinary ways (London: SPCK, 2020), pp. 6-7. Living His Story is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2021. PAGE 11
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH Monday 22 February 8:30am Morning Prayer 2:00pm Communion Service, Riversea Hostel 5:00pm Evening Prayer Tuesday 23 February Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, martyr (d. c. 155) Wednesday 24 February Matthias, Apostle and Martyr 8:30am Morning Prayer 10:00am Eucharist 5:00pm Evening Prayer 7:00pm Lent Study, Rectory Thursday 25 February 7:30am St Hilda’s Finance Meeting 5:00pm Evening Prayer Friday 26 February 8:30am Morning Prayer 10:00am Lent Study, Rectory 5:00pm Evening Prayer Saturday 27 February George Herbert, parish priest, poet (d. 1633) Sunday 28 February 7:30am Said Eucharist 9:30am Sung Eucharist 20 Monument Street, Mosman Park WA 6012 | +61 8 9384 0108 stlukemosmanpark@gmail.com | www.stlukemosmanpark.perth.anglican.org Rector Fr Matthew Smedley | 0412 468 522 rectorstlukemosmanpark@gmail.com Parish Office Administrator Amanda Mills-Ghani Tuesday/Friday 9:00am–1:00pm, Wednesday 9:00am–5:00pm Wardens Rod Dale, Bridget Faye AM, Gwen Speirs Synod Representatives James Jegasothy, Andrew Reynolds Parish Council Angela Beeton, Anna Goodes Adrian Momber, Kate Stanford Organists Rosemary Cassidy, Don Cook Op Shop Ruth Hogarth, Coordinator PAGE 12 Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 9:30am–1:00pm
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