Sunday before Lent

Opening Verse	The picture this week shows the Transfiguration of Jesus as reported in the Bible reading from Matthew
Collect Prayer
First Reading:
Second Reading:
Gospel Reading
Commentary:
Meditation:
Hymns
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead :
Intercessions from our Sunday worship
Sermon

Introduction

What does Lent mean to you? No biscuits? Giving up chocolate? Resisting cream cakes for a few weeks? Why give something up? Why do without? What is it for? What has it got to do with Lent anyway?

The word Lent comes from an Anglo-Saxon word: 'lencten', meaning 'spring'. In England we are in that time of year when in Saxon times people started to appreciate the lengthening daylight.
This period has traditionally led up to baptism, a period of repentance and instruction. A time when those who had formerly worshipped pagan gods could make a very definite break with the past. Just as Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days, so Christians have used this time to embark on a period of spiritual exploration and hopefully growth.
You may decide to fast, pray a bit more, perhaps read a book or attend a special course at a local church. Whatever you do, may you find yourself closer to God over the coming weeks, so that when Easter arrives you are really ready to proclaim the risen Lord.

Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 8:3-9

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are we, that you are mindful of us, humankind that that you care for us? You have made us a little than the heavenly beings, and crowned us with glory and honour.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty Father, whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: give us grace to perceive his glory, that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Common Worship

Holy God, you know the disorder of our sinful lives: set straight our crooked hearts, and bend our wills to love your goodness and your glory in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Common Worship Shorter Collect

God of life and light, your Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death on the cross. Give us grace to perceive his glory that we may be strengthened to follow him and be changed into his likeness , from glory to glory; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Methodist Worship

Lord God, whose glory shines upon us in the face of Jesus Christ, and whose nature is made known to us in the mystery of the cross: number us we pray, among his faithful followers for whom nothing matters but the doing of your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship

First Bible Reading Exodus 24: 12-18

The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction." Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them." When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Second Reading 2 Peter 1:16-21

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Gospel Reading Matthew 17: 1-9

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don't be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

Holy God, we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ: may we who are partakers at his table reflect his life in word and deed, that all the world may know his power to change and save. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

There is a lot going on in the Church lectionary over the next few weeks. Last Wednesday was the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple (called Candlemas), next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday and Lent begins on Wednesday. What we are not celebrating is the Feast of the Transfiguration, which does not arrive until early August. The wise people who put together the readings for churches, week by week, have chosen to put the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration in the sequence in which it occurred during His life, at the start of the Passion story.

While the supernatural event witnessed by Peter, James and John was both wonderful and awe-inspiring, the event gathers real meaning from its position in the last few days before Jesus began His fateful journey to Jerusalem and the Cross. Matthew places the Transfiguration account in chapter 17, and after only four more chapters recounting Jesus’ healing and teaching, the Disciples are gathered outside the walls of Jerusalem.

Jesus’ status as the only human to be fully part of God is difficult for us to understand. It must have been hard for His friends to understand too. In the Transfiguration they were privileged to see Jesus in His Heavenly setting, both Himself but Transfigured, to catch a glimpse of His destiny outside their time. The presence of great prophets of the past, Moses and Elijah, shows us that in God’s space, Heaven, the barriers of time do not exist. The limitations of this world and its physical laws and logic do not matter either. In Heaven there is only love and one-ness with God. This glorious revelation was granted to these three men, as they watched their friend on the mountain top. They didn’t know what to make of it. Peter was reduced to babbling absurdities (as I expect we all would). But the Transfiguration, which linked Jesus to His Heavenly destination must have sustained Jesus in His last painful, humiliating hours as a man, and it must have given His loving friends hope in the darkness of their disillusion and despair. So should this glimpse of the Reality beyond ours give us hope and sustain us through the dark times.

Meditation

Lent has crept up on is this year! It seems only a few days since the children went back to school after Christmas, and we were still hoovering pine needles out of the carpets! With Ash Wednesday on 9th February, this is the last Sunday before Lent. We should be settling our hearts and minds on the days to follow, as we move towards Easter. The ministers will look different as we wear the purple stoles to signify mourning and humility. As a church, we will be preparing ourselves by studying St Paul during our Lent course. Various heroic people will be giving up chocolate and alcohol. I am of the school of thought which believes that taking up an extra activity in Lent is a good thing, too. In the next few weeks, we could read the last section of St Matthew’s Gospel, starting at Chapter 17, and gain a sense of the drama and pace of Jesus’ last days on earth. We can live with Him through His courageous self-giving. I pray that this Lent may be a time of growth for all of us as individuals and as churches.

Hymns

I want to walk 302
We really want to thank you Lord. (Partnership News)
Abba father, let me be 3
4. Putnoe I went to my field…. (Partnership News)
St Mark’s Father hear the prayer we offer 132 (Gotts will machen)
Great is thy faithfulness 200

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Glorious God, give me grace to amend my life and to have an eye to mine end without grudge of death, which to them that die in thee, good Lord, is the fate of a wealthy life. Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope and a fervent charity, a love to thee incomparable above the love to myself. Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with thee, not for the avoiding of the calamities of this world, nor so much for the attaining of the joys of heaven, as for the very love of thee. (Sir Thomas More 1478 - 1535)

Father you never forget us or turn away from us even when we fail you, You sent your Son Jesus who gave his life for us, cured those who were sick, cared for those who were poor and cried for those who were sad. He forgave sinners and taught us to forgive each other. For all your love we give you thanks. We open our hearts to him; we remember how he died and rose again to live now in us. Amen (Scottish liturgy)

Additional Material

Opening Verse of Scripture—1 Corinthians Chapter 2:9
As it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray
Lord God, whose glory shines upon us in the face of Jesus Christ, and whose nature is made known to us in the mystery of the cross: number us we pray, among his faithful followers for whom nothing matters but the doing of your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

First Bible Reading Isaiah Chapter 58:1-12
"Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarrelling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)

Gospel Reading Matthew Chapter 5:13-20
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (This is the word of the Lord—Thanks be to God)

Post Communion Prayer
Holy God, we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ: may we who are partakers at his table reflect his life in word and deed, that all the world may know his power to change and save. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Commentary:
New Covenant, New Commitment
‘not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished’
So when did Jesus envisage that the day of the accomplishment would take place? We know that after his death the disciples realised that the old covenant had very surely passed away and a new way had been opened up for people to come to God, apart from the Jewish Law. This was a painful process, so much so that even Peter and Paul and James fell out over it and argued about whether Gentiles could be saved apart from such things as obedience to the old Jewish food laws. You will probably remember the trouble reported in Galatians over whether a person had to be circumcised. It got so heated that the writer (Paul) in Galatians 5:12 says that he wishes his opponents would clear off and castrate themselves. Not the sort of ecclesiastical debate which we are used to hearing.
The difference of course is that these Apostles actually believed something and that is rare these days. Often we are left wondering exactly who would dare to die for anything anymore. For those early Christians life was not worth living unless Christ was worth dying for. Jesus had offered something radical and new, so new that the writer to the Hebrews recognised that ‘By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.’ Hebrews Chapter 8:12. With the death of Jesus there was nothing short of a new road opened up to God. It was not a narrow one anymore, restricted to certain people who called themselves Jews. Now it was for all people, whether they were slave or free, Jew or Gentile.
That was the good news, but of course whilst circumcision, obedience to all those funny laws in Leviticus (including of course the ten commandments) passed away, now came a whole new depth of commitment which went much further than the old covenant. Now the Christian had to give everything to God, just as Jesus freely offered his own life. No wonder so many of those first Christian ended up dead. Charles Royden

Meditation
Beside the head of the Queen on British coins appear the letters “F.D.”. They are an abbreviation in Latin for the words “Defender of the Faith.” This was a title given by the Pope to King Henry VIII, (the eighth) recalling how, in his first years as king, Henry had written a book about the Sacraments, “defending” what Catholics believe. Some years later he would be executing Catholics.
Sir Thomas More 1478, became a man of great learning, a lawyer, and the father of four children. King Henry VIII valued his friendship, appointing him Lord Chancellor, the main government minister of the time. The king knew that Thomas More was above corruption; he was a person of integrity and honesty at a time when money bought what was thought of as ‘justice’.
The king wanted to divorce his queen (Catherine of Aragon) and marry Anne Boleyn instead. When the Pope proclaimed that that was wrong, the English parliament passed an Act declaring the king to be “Supreme Head of the Church in England”, and Henry decided he could do as he wished in many things. This action also led to the destruction (“Dissolution”) of many monasteries and cathedrals in England as the king confiscated and sold their lands and possessions.
Thomas More knew that he could not agree with what the king was doing and, even though many bishops supported the actions of the king, Thomas remarked that “their consciences must speak for them; mine must speak for me.” Thomas still considered himself loyal to the king and, when he was condemned to death, he said: “I die the King’s good servant, but God’s first.”
Let us pray: God our Father, teach us to distinguish clearly between right and wrong, that we may grow in character and develop a true sense of values through following Jesus, your Son and our Brother. We pray, too, for all who are in positions of leadership in our country that they may be inspired by the values of the gospel. We pray that they may live as people of integrity and honesty, growing in a sense of duty and responsibility, always being aware of the needy, and ready to be of service to others. Amen.

Hymns (Mission Praise)
All my hope on God is founded (16)
2. We really want to thank you (734)
Come let us sing of a wonderful love (94)
Rock of ages (582 -Tune ii Toplady)
Judge eternal (395)

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead.
Lord, there are times when we are so concerned about ourselves that we don’t think of others. We ask for the gift of your Spirit that we may grow in awareness of others: - noticing when someone is unhappy, - sensing when there’s something wrong for somebody, - seeing when someone feels cut off or isolated, - knowing when to say the right word, - expressing thanks and compliments, - being thoughtful when someone is ill, - giving words of encouragement, - helping someone to feel welcome, - realising when someone needs the opportunity to talk. May we grow in sensitivity towards others. Amen.

Lord, in times of large opportunity and fast-changing circumstances give us the big vision. May your work not be curtailed by past ways of ministry; give us clean, focused aims and the grace to leave the outcome to you. Amen. Thomas Kingston, Superintendent, Dublin District

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