27/8/23
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
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Services this week
Sun 27 Aug
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service at St James (Parish Eucharist)
4pm - St Margaret's Evening worship
Thurs 31 Aug
10.30am - Ven Bede Holy Communion
News
Thank you for supporting Benstock!
A huge thank you to everyone who has made Benstock happen! With special mention to Echo Garratt. It has been an amazing event that has brought people together, celebrated music and community, and raised money for the Something Wonderful project.
Sunday Worship
Sunday 27th August 2023
12th Sunday after Trinity
Proper 16
Green
Sermon
Revd David
Today’s reading is a turning point in the Gospel, a breakthrough moment of disclosure, of recognition, after which nothing can be the same again.
Jesus prompts the moment through his questioning.
First, he asks a straightforward factual question such as a present-day news reporter might ask ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ He gets a factual answer.
‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’
Jesus’ ministry has aroused interest people are talking and this is what is being said in the marketplaces and taverns even in the synagogues. People are recognising that God is at work.
But after the reporter’s question Jesus moves on. This time it is something far more searching , he asks, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
It is no longer impersonal, just a question of looking at the facts, what people are saying, what’s been happening an objective report. Now the disciples are asked to be subjective, to make a personal response.
The things about Jesus, things that they as his closest companions have a unique perspective on, his teachings, the miracles, the way he called them, the fellowship they feel with him and one another, haven’t these led them to ask questions for themselves? Now they are asked directly and explicitly. ‘But who do you say that I am?’
They are all put on the spot, but it is Peter who, typically, jumps in first. Jesus wants an answer and the answer that Peter gives is his confession of faith.
‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
Yes, God is at work here, but it is not a prophet, or a forerunner, or the return of an exalted figure from the past. Peter grasps that here is something completely new, but also something that fulfils all that had been promised. ‘Messiah‘, ‘Christ’, both words literally mean the anointed one. The Jewish people have been longing for God’s deliverance and dreaming of a Messiah, one anointed by God to bring in a New Age an age of justice and peace, when ‘the lion will lie down with the lamb’, and Peter sees this is no longer something to be looked for in the future. Here is the Messiah. Jesus is nothing less than ‘Son of the living God’.
How will Jesus take this confession? will he be happy will he tell him off? Peter can’t know, but ‘Peterlike’ jumps in anyway. If he was worried, he need not have been, Jesus welcomes Peter’s confession and welcomes it with real enthusiasm.
‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
This is not simply a human understanding, but a true insight as revealed by the Father, this is a true faith. Jesus goes on because of this true confession, Peter ‘the Rock’, that is what the name Peter means is to be ‘the rock’ on which the whole church will be built. Peter may be the first to answer Jesus’s question in this way, but he will not be the last. What has been revealed to him by the Father in heaven will through a continued confession in the preaching of the apostles be spread throughout the world and many lips will come to frame the same words ‘ You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’
All of us are invited to hear Jesus’ question for ourselves not just the objective question who do people say? What does the church say? what does science say? But the deeper personal question , ‘But who do you say that I am?’
We have Peter’s answer ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Can we make that answer our own confessing in word and deed and so joining those built up on the Rock?
Maybe we made that answer a long time ago but maybe now we are not so sure or maybe the time is not ready yet for us to answer. Maybe we have questions of our own That is fine Jesus is not looking for a forced confession but a free and honest response. In a few weeks we will be running a group ‘Exploring Faith’ giving an opportunity to raise questions, to share experiences, and to learn together. It will be open to all those just starting out new to faith, or looking at what faith might mean, and those wanting to refresh or deepen their faith. Do speak to David or Chris if you might be interested.
We never stop learning on our journey of faith today’s gospel was a turning point, and yet if you know the story you know there is a sequel that is not so encouraging that is the gospel reading for next week. So, ‘Peter’s Confession Part 2 more searching questions’ don’t forget tune in again next week!
Amen
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Maria Hawthorn
George Snowdon
Herbert Agbeko
Ellis Nelson
Pauline Nelson
Michell Wilson
Peter Wilson
Alan Taylor
Maureen Tayor
Irene Foskett
Lorraine Atkinson
Diana Humprey
Rest in peace
George Grant
If you would like to add someone to the prayer list please email church@benwellscotswood.com
The name will stay on the list for 1 month unless requested to be long-term.
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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.
or
God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Readings
Related:
Romans 12.1–8
12I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
This is the word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Reading
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. All: Glory to you, O Lord.
Matthew 16.13–20 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was* the Messiah.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Post Communion
God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.