6/3/22
News from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
Jump to: Engage >
Vija Celmins, Desert, 1975
Pencil on paper
Dates for your diary
Sun 6 Mar - Altar server training/taster session
Directly after the morning service
Wed 9 Mar - Living in Love & Faith, evening Lent course
7pm at St James
Fri 11 Mar - Living in Love & Faith, morning Lent course
11am at St Margaret
Sun 27 Mar - Mothering Sunday celebration service
11am at Venerable Bede
Holy week 10 - 16 April
Palm Sunday, 10 Apr - 11am at Venerable Bede
Maundy Thursday, 14 Apr - 7.30pm at St John's
Good Friday, 15 Apr - 2pm at St Margaret's
The Easter vigil, Sat 16 Apr - 8.30pm at St James'
Sun 1 May - Hub service moves to St James
11am at St James'
News
Sunday school returns today!
Between now and Easter we will have 3 Sunday school sessions at the Venerable Bede:
6 March
13 March
3 April
If you have primary school-age children then drop them off in the hall for the first part of the service, and we will return to the church in time for communion. We will have fun activities to help kids engage with the Bible and worship. We will have several DBS checked volunteers at each session. For more info speak to Dominic or Claire.
Quiet day at Alnmouth Friary - 12 March
Next Saturday we will be spending a restful day of quiet and reflection at the beautiful Alnmouth Friary on the Northumberland coast.
There are only spaces for 15 people, so please let us know if you definitely would like to come and whether you can offer a lift to others. It will be first come first served and a sign-up sheet will be in church tomorrow.
We will aim to arrive at 10am and leave at about 3.30pm. Most of the day will be in silence and there are beautiful grounds and beach to explore, and we will join the brothers for midday prayer and holy communion. Please bring a packed lunch.
Living in Love and Faith - Lent course 2022
How do questions about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage fit within the bigger picture of the good news of Jesus Christ? What does it mean to live in love and faith together as a Church?
For 5 weeks during Lent we will follow the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith course.
Group 1:
Wednesdays, 7pm at St James
(beginning 9th March)
Group 2:
Fridays, 11am at St Margaret's
(beginning Friday 11th March)
Altar Server training/taster session this Sunday
We hope to have return soon to having servers in Sunday services. This is a great way to help us all in worship.
We will hold a taster session on Sunday 6th March after the morning service. Please join whether you have been a server in our services before, if you are interested in learning, or are just curious.
Ask Chris if you have any questions!
Worship Texts
The Collect
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
First Reading
Romans 10.8b–13 But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
Gospel
Luke 4.1–13 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” ’ Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Sermon
The Revd Anne Marr
I wonder – have you ever experienced real hunger – through circumstances - or through choosing to fast? Hunger messes with your mind! This was Jesus’ very human experience when he went into the wilderness – a forbidding desert land of hot barren hills between the River Jordan and Jerusalem. He went there – full of the Holy Spirit - to give attention to his ministry and purpose. 40 days without food is very a long time. How must he have felt?
How must Jesus have felt? Firstly, there would be the recurrent, desperate pangs of hunger as your body screams at you to feed it. Jesus’ mind is focussed on his identity and his bond with God. Surely, it would be possible and acceptable to magic a stone into a bread roll…just to check if he did indeed have the power of God within him? Through his hunger and confusion, words of scripture came to him:
‘Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word from the mouth of God’.
I wonder how easy it is to be so hungry that you’d eat pig swill, or even steel someone else’s meagre ration?
I wonder if it’s a bit like this for addicts – how desperate they must feel when they are unable to satisfy the inner cravings. How difficult to battle through the pain and to value life enough to want to overcome the addiction?
Can Jesus’ experience offer encouragement to those who struggle to hold on?
Secondly, there is the fantasy dream-world which enfolds you in a state of semi-consciousness. Things appear larger than life, brilliantly coloured, in a highly desirable new world. Jesus saw the whole of the world spread out before him and felt a seductive surge of desire to own it all and to organise it all. The temptation was rooted in Jesus purpose – to bring peace and joy to all. However, to take control would take away the gift of God - which is the opportunity for people to take responsibility for the welfare of others – and to reflect the love of God in their own lives. Jesus responded with words from deep within: ‘It is written - ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’
I wonder how this temptation compares with our western world of highly desirable goods – the longing to own what others have. How easy it is to buy what we want rather than what we need! How often do we discover that the novelty soon wears off and the coveted item is hardly used, or even that we are now in debt!
And what about our celebrity culture? - The temptation to so idolise a popular ‘star’ that we worship the ground they walk on!
Then there’s the temptation to take control! - That delusion that we are important, indispensable. It’s so much easier to ‘do the job ourselves’ rather than patiently allow someone else to learn!
Does it help to remember Jesus’ words from scripture? ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ - To know that having God at the top of our wish list is more life-giving than any fashionable goods, or the autograph of any star, or than being important ourselves.
Thirdly, extreme hunger can cause a transcendent consciousness - an unreal world - the illusion of invincibility– the belief that you can fly – all you have to do is jump!
Some drugs can produce this effect in the brain – creating a fantasy world in which you are an indestructible ‘superman’. Jesus experienced being on the pinnacle of the Temple, and the desire to throw himself off so the angels could catch him. Again words from scripture sustained him – ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’.
I wonder how often you and I put the Lord to the test? Such as those prayers which are an ultimatum –
‘If you truly love me you will answer my prayer’ –
‘If you answer my prayer I shall do whatever you want –
even – ‘If there is a God, he would have answered my prayer.’
There is a 2003 film - ‘Bruce Almighty’. Bruce (actor Jim Carrey) is a television reporter who complains to God (Morgan Freeman) that he is not doing his job fairly. Bruce is offered the chance to be God himself for one week. The results are catastrophic: Bruce can only see the immediate results of his new power to change things and is unable to see the bigger picture. A catalogue of unforeseen consequences follow every well-meaning decision. By the time he hands back to God, the entire world is in chaos.
Jesus knew that only God sees the whole picture. Prayer is not so much about a shopping list of desires than about forging a relationship with God, trusting in God’s wisdom in all circumstances, and seeking to serve as best we can, even when we don’t understand.
Maybe we could learn from Jesus – and, like him, arm ourselves with scriptural wisdom to support us in times of trial. As St Paul writes: ‘Scripture says - ‘The Word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.’
So… ‘May Jesus Christ, the Word of God, be always near us – on our lips - and in our hearts.’ Amen
Intercessions
To add names to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
Prayers for others:
Irene Foskett and family
George Irving
Alistair
John Nicholson
Alan Robson
Peter Wilson
Michelle Wilson
Liz Holliman
Joan Finley
James, Christina, Anastasia, and Xavier
Ali Zareie and family
The Riches Family
Jill Sorley
George Snowden
Claire Mozaffari
Herbert Agbeko
Rest in peace
Joyce Phillips
Leslie Foskett
Ray Beswick
Other intentions
Ukraine
Post Communion prayer
Lord God,
you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it you nourish our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love:
teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread,
and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.