Newsletter - Trinity 15
- Church
- Sep 16, 2023
- 9 min read
17/9/23
Your weekly update from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
Jump to:
Services this week
Sun 17 Sep
9.30am - St John's Holy Communion
9.45am - St Margaret's Holy Communion
11am - Hub service at St James (Parish Eucharist)
Thurs 21 Sep
10.30am - Ven Bede Holy Communion
Dates for your diary
Sun 24 Sep
1pm - celebration of Lay Ministry at Newcastle Cathedral
Sun 1 Oct
11am - Harvest celebration
and change of hub service location to Venerable Bede.
News
Buy Something Wonderful! Art club auction
The art club are holding an auction on 21st September to raise funds for the Something Wonderful project!
The Tyneside Irish Centre have very kindly given us a venue - 43 Gallowgate, NE1 4SG.
Doors open at 4pm with the auction starting from 5pm.
We have over 120 paintings for sale created by people that are attending Something Wonderful project.
You can currently view the paintings during the week at St James Benwell.
Come along to support the creativity that is evolving in the heart of the West End of Newcastle.
Lay Ministry celebration service
We are so proud of the 6 members of our community who have been training for the last year to become Authorised Lay Ministers in worship and pastoral care.
We'll be celebrating with them 1pm at the cathedral on 24th September - come and join us!
Harvest festival
We will be holding our annual Harvest festival at 11am on Sunday 1st October at the Venerable Bede.
We will have a bring and share supper after. So please bring a dish!
Please also bring donations of non-perishable food items and toiletries. These will be given to the foodbank. You will also be able to give financially if you prefer.
This will also be our first hub service back at the Ven Bede, the hub service will continue there at 11am on Sundays for the rest of the winter.
(Please note this will be a team service so there will be no other services in the team that day. This is a change to the original date to enable us all to attend the celebration of lay ministry on 24th September)
Coming soon - Exploring Faith group
INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT OUR FAITH?
KNOW SOMEBODY WHO YOU MIGHT INVITE?
Group will start in October
Come along 12.00 Lunch at Ven Bede on Thursday 5th October to find out more.
(Please note the change of date to what was originally advertised)
Sunday Worship
Sunday 17th September 2023
15th Sunday after Trinity
Proper 19
Green
Sermon
Revd Chris
Last week I talked about what we do when something goes wrong in church, how we have no choice about being a community that gets it wrong, that makes mistakes and disagrees. And because of this we have to be a community that has humility, that searches for solutions, that chooses to learn and grow together, a community that allows for God’s grace to transform us.
This can only happen if we both give and receive forgiveness, which is what this week’s passage is all about. But I go into this week with trepidation because I think it is one of the most morally complicated passages we have in the Bible. By discussing forgiveness, we are stepping into those dark places in every single one of us, where our souls are in pain, it is a pain that cannot necessarily be healed, and only you and God know its true nature.
In the passage Jesus tells a parable about a slave who is forgiven an impossibly large debt by his master, only to go on to punish another who owes a much smaller debt. The master then punishes the slave for his hypocrisy, not for the debt.
I wonder, who do you identify most with in this passage right now? The master? The first slave, or the second slave? The others who watched on in horror?
I am very conscious that I am preaching to two audiences simultaneously – some of us are very aware of real wrongs done to us. Others are desperately in need of forgiveness but cannot bear to revisit what we have done. Of course, all of us here are a mixture of both, all of us have done wrong and had wrong done to us. But I also suspect that right now you will be leaning more towards one than another, and it could be either.
Just remember, we are all on shaky ground, me included. There are things in my life that when I touch on them again I feel angry, that make me want to scream at the injustice. There are also things in my life that when I think about what I have done, I am so fearful and ashamed, because I wonder if that is my true nature, whether I am what I did.
Let’s start from an easier angle then. Let’s talk about what forgiveness is not.
Firstly, forgiveness does not ever mean saying that something is ok. Forgiveness is never brushing something under the carpet and saying "it doesn't matter". It was not ok, and it does matter, and you are allowed to feel hurt about it still. You can only forgive someone if you recognise that something wrong happened in the first place. If you forgive, it does not diminish the wrong done to you.
Secondly, forgiveness is never the same twice. Each hurt and each act of forgiveness is unique to those involved. No one has a right to tell you how it should happen or whether it should be easy. The same action can have a totally different impact on different people. And when you have been wronged, the forgiveness is yours to give, not anyone else's.
Thirdly, forgiveness is not reconciliation. Reconciliation can be a very powerful thing, and that is for a different sermon, but to forgive someone does not mean you have to keep them in your life.
What is forgiveness then? The gospel passage suggests that it has something to do with a debt owed, whether to God or others. And, like every parable, it is an imperfect metaphor which must be read alongside another greater story, that of Jesus’ life, a story which leads to the cross. On the cross where Jesus died, he said to those who nailed him to it “forgive them for they know not what they do”. They did not ask for forgiveness, it is about what Jesus does, not what they did.
After Jesus is resurrected he shows these holes in his flesh to his disciples to identify himself, those wounds remain with Jesus. I wonder, does he have ongoing pain? These are wounds, not scars, they are open, they are painful. As long as the wounds remain, the forgiveness is ongoing, not finished. Forgiveness is not a single action that once done is never revisited. It is a posture, an attitude of love towards someone.
To forgive is not mere transaction - I give you this in return for that and it is done. Forgiveness is the hope that in this world of endless debt and reparations, of hurt and retaliation, there is a better currency.
I think, Jesus uses the parable to show how we are all trapped in this terrible economic system. But through forgiveness we can say ‘I will not pay or repay you in hate, I choose to not be part of that system at all’. Forgiveness should be a terrifying, shocking reminder to that person that they have no power over you, that you are not what they tried to make you into.
We do this in the knowledge that we all try to sweep things under the carpet, all of us have things we try to justify to ourselves and explain away with context. We all have things we just cannot look at without feeling that rising sense of shame that we fear will overwhelm us. We have all got it wrong, all of us have made ourselves small and others smaller.
When we recognise our wrong, we must seek to repair as best we can, to heal as best we can, and to accept justice given to us. But can anything truly make up for your past actions? No. Can anything ever make up for what was done to Jesus on the cross? No
We all need forgiveness because for as long as we are defined by guilt and shame, we are allowing those dark things to have power in this world, over me and others.
To forgive is to accept forgiveness. God sees everything that you are, everything that you have done, everything that has been done to you, and everything that you will do, and God loves you. You are more than what people have made you to be, and you are definitely more than what you have made of yourself, you are what God calls you to be now. God offers you a way forward because through his grace we come to new life. It does not matter whether you are worthy of it, for God will make you worthy. Your life is a gift to you once more, because of the infinite love of God, who in his grace can create life from death and transform sorrow into joy. What then will you do with this gift?
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
Esther Kolie
Rest in peace
Jeanne Crowe
Marjorie Taylor
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
God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
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.
or
Lord God,
defend your Church from all false teaching
and give to your people knowledge of your truth,
that we may enjoy eternal life
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Readings
Related:
Romans 14.1–12
14Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. 2Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. 4Who are you to pass judgement on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God. 11For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.’ 12So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
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 18.21–35 21 Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ 22Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant 23 ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” 27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” 29Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” 30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. 31When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” 34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Post Communion
Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy;
and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall,
keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful,
and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.