Trinity 15 - Notices
- Benwell and Scotswood Team
- Sep 11, 2021
- 11 min read
12/9/21
News from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
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Hieronymus Bosch, Christ Carrying the Cross, 1480
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Dates for your diary
Wednesday 8th September
Members of 'Mission Action Planning' group to meet
2pm at St Margaret's
Tuesday 14th September
Treasurers meeting
7pm on Zoom
Sunday 26th September - Sunday 3rd October
Newcastle Diocese Generosity Week
Wednesday 6th October
PCC meeting
7.30pm on Zoom
News
St James, Benwell - Heritage Open Days
Sat 11th Sept & Wed 15th Sept, 10am - 4pm
The Heritage and environment group will be organising guided tours and we will also open the church to look around. Explore the historic graveyard burial place of some of Tyneside's most significant people.
Pre-booking for the tours is essential, find all the info here >
Guided tour "Who's Who in the Graveyard": Saturday 11th September 1pm. Find out more about some of the interesting people buried here. Guided tour "A Walk around Roman Benwell": Wednesday 15th September 11am. This circular walk passes along the route of Hadrian's Wall and the site of Condercum Fort, taking in the remains of the Roman Temple and Vallum Crossing.
Contact the Heritage & Environment group at stjamesbenwell@gmail.com
Return of West End Voices community choir!
New Term Starts Monday 13th September, 7-8,30pm, St James' Church Hall
We are a free choir (donation only) No prior experience needed, but experienced singers are also welcomed.
We meet 7.00pm – 8.30pm in St. James Church hall Benwell Lane every Monday TERM TIME ONLY
Everyone is Welcome – all abilities Pay what you can, there’s no minimum. You can join our choir without fear of audition, voice test, etc. You don't need to have sung at all before and we welcome those who were told in the past that they couldn't sing.
Lunch Break to return - Tues 21st September, 12-2pm
Our weekly 'pay what you feel' lunch returns next month at St James!
From 21st September, every Tuesday there will be a simple lunch with teas coffees. You are welcome, whatever your age or background. This is always a great time to get to know all sorts of people in your local community.
Food will be brought to your tables and staff will wear masks. Please sanitise your hands and sign-in with the app or on paper when you arrive.
If you would like to help out with Lunch Break then let us know! We have volunteer opportunities for those who want to cook, wash-up, welcome and serve at tables.
A prayer on the 20th anniversary of 9/11
It has been 20 years since 11th September 2001 when the World Trade Centre in New York was attacked.
You are invited to light a candle in church or at home for those who lost their lives, their loved ones, and all who have been impacted by the ensuing wars in the Middle East, especially those in Afghanistan at this time.
O Almighty God, who brings good out of evil, and turns even the wrath of your children towards your promised peace: Hear our prayers this day as we remember those of many nations and differing faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred. Hasten the time when the menace of war shall be removed. Cleanse both us and those perceived to be our enemies of all hatred and distrust. Pour out the spirit of peace on all the rulers of our world that we may be brought through strife to the lasting peace of the kingdom of your Son; Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Written by the Episcopal Diocese of New York
Covid-19 update
No doubt you will have heard that covid restrictions are being relaxed. As case rates are still high in our area you won't see too much change just yet! But we do have plans to reintroduce activities.
Most importantly - please get your vaccine if you haven't yet! And stay at home if you develop covid symptoms. Find vaccine times and locations here >
Cornerstone Community Cafe open!
Wednesdays & Thursdays 10am - 2pm
62 Armstrong Road, NE4 7TU
Delicious affordable meals
Outdoor Seating
Dog Friendly
Kids Corner
Computer and Internet Access
Computer help
Food pantry and emergency foodbank
and a great pre-loved shop!
Worship texts
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.
Amen.
Reading
James 3.1–12 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Gospel
Mark 8.27–38 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
Sermon
The Revd Dominic Coad
Take up your cross and follow me. For many of us these words of Jesus are very familiar and remind us that Christian faith requires real commitment. Reading those words in this country, however, we are also reminded of how fortunate we are to be able to practice our faith in freedom; being a Christian in the UK will not place our lives at risk.
We know, however, that this is not the case everywhere in the world. For some of us, Christian faith has meant having to leave our homes, our families and our loved ones and everything familiar. If you have come here from Iran, or from another country where you weren’t safe, then I’m sure I speak for all the rest of us when I say that we are so moved and impressed by the sacrifices you are making. We pray with you for the day when it is safe to be a Christian anywhere and everywhere in the world.
For the hearers of Mark’s gospel, of course, persecution was a reality of their lives too. The church faced severe persecutions in its early years and, whether we have practiced our faith without fear here in Britain all our lives, or whether we have found this place of safety more recently, the early Christian martyrs are a heritage that we all share. This morning, then, is an opportunity for us to remember those who have gone before us and made that great sacrifice.
Mark’s gospel was written in around 70AD, 35 years after the crucifixion of Christ and the death of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, when being a Christian was already becoming a dangerous business. Just how dangerous it was to be a Christian varied under different Roman administrations. Under Emperor Hadrian in the early second century, for example, merely being a Christian was not illegal but in many times and places Christians were targeted for persecution by local governors.
Then, during the third century, various Emperors ordered that everyone across the empire should perform a sacrifice to the gods and many who did not were imprisoned or executed. These persecutions reached their height in 304 under the Emporer Diocletian whose persecution would be both the worst and last persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire. Today the Church of England remembers a number of martyrs from those early years and celebrates them on feast days throughout the year.
If we still held our weekly Thursday communion, at which we always celebrated a ‘Saint of the week’ we might have remembered the life of Cyprian, whose feast day is the 15th September. Cyprian was a wealthy man who converted to Christianity and gave his inheritance as a landowner to the church. He was ordained a priest and later as Bishop of Carthage, in Tunisia. In 257 Cyprian was faced with the demand that he sacrifice to the Roman gods. Upon refusal he was first exiled and later beheaded.
That same year, during the same persecution, St Laurance, was executed in Rome. Laurance was a deacon who had been put in charge of distributing the churches money amongst the poor. When the Emperor demanded that Laurance hand over the riches of the church, he gathered together the poor from across the city and said, ‘here is the treasure of the church.’ For this, legend has it that Laurance was killed slowly over a fire, during which he felt no pain but smiled cheerfully.
Another fantastic story is that of Saint Lucy, who is celebrated on the 13th of December. It was arranged for her to be married but she had already dedicated herself to God and distributed her dowry to the poor. When her betrothed denounced her to the governor, it was ordered that she be raped and burned alive yet when the guards came to take her to the place of execution they found that they could not move her, even a team of oxen couldn’t make her budge. They piled fuel around her but it would not light, such was God’s miraculous protection. Eventually, the authorities were forced to give Lucy a swifter death by the sword.
Now these stories may not be true, in the strictest sense, indeed Lucy may not even have existed, but there are many fantastic and miraculous aspects to these early martyrdom accounts that tell us a deeper truth about the way in which early Christians felt the presence and faithfulness of God with them, even in their darkest moments.
And there certainly is darkness in even the more fantastical accounts, with stories of burning and sexual assault. Such details connect the legends with the accounts that are more grounded in historical fact, like that of Cyprian. They remind us that the early martyrs were real people who faced death with incredible bravery. At the time of these martyrs’ deaths the church was still small and had little power. The wiping out of Christianity through persecution was a real possibility in a way that it is not now. The faithfulness of these early martyrs helped to preserve the faith for us and generations to come.
Amongst those Saints of whose death we have more reliable knowledge, are those whose writings have helped shape Christianity. Justin, who was beheaded in 165, combined Christian thought with the philosophy of the time and so made the Christian message more universal. Polycarp, who was executed in 155, was responsible for important writing that defended Christianity against early heresies. Clement, who was martyred in the year 100, was one of the earliest bishops of the church and worked for the unity across early Christian communities.
These martyrs are a part of the shared Christian heritage of us all. They should not be glamourised; they were real people, just like us, who suffered pain and death for their faith. Their legacy has been taken up by others in the centuries between and to the present day.
As you will know, Christians are still killed for their faith to this day. Of these, there is one story that is of particular interest to us because it took place in Iran and is of particular interest to me because it relates to Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford, who is a friend and godmother to my son James.
Her Father was Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, Anglican Bishop of Iran from 1961 to 1990. Life for the family in Iran became more dangerous after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and an attempt was made on Bishop Hassan’s life when two gunmen burst into his bedroom. Four shots hit his pillow but miraculously missed him, years later his wife told me that the gunmen were not much more than boys and looked more frightened than she was.
Sadly, Bishop Hassan’s son Bahram was not so lucky. On the 6th May 1980, whilst the Bishop was out of the country, Bahram’s car was forced off the road as he drove home from work and he was shot dead. This was the price of following Christ’s command to ‘take up your cross and follow me’, as we heard in this morning’s gospel. The price not just for Bahram and many martyrs before and since, but for Bahram’s family who had to flee their home in Iran and mourn and miss him to this day.
For most of us taking up our cross won’t mean dying but it will mean living; with the consequences of following a God who is love and calls us to live in love. The martyrs have shown what that love means in giving up their lives for our faith, those of us who are persecuted show us what that love means by persevering despite all their troubles, we are all called to inhabit that love, even though the cost may be relitivley small.
I will finish with words by Bishop Hassan about that love. These words were written for his son’s funeral but apply equally to any martyr’s death from the first martyr Saint Stephen to the present day:
“[Bahram’s death] makes obvious as never before our need to trust in God’s love as shown in the cross of Jesus and his resurrection;
Love which makes us free from hate towards our persecutors;
Love which brings patience, forbearance, courage, loyalty, humility, generosity, greatness of heart;
Love which more than ever deepens our trust in God’s final victory and his eternal designs for the Church and for the world;
Love which teaches us how to prepare ourselves to face our own day of death.”
Intercessions
Prayers for others:
Edith Hutchinson
Regine Hemminger
Grace Thomson
Peter Wilson
John Nicholson
Liz Holliman
Joan Finley
James, Christina, and baby Xavier
Anastasia Miklewright
Ali Zareie and his family
The Riches Family
Jill Sorley
Joyce Phillips
George Snowden
Claire Mozaffari
Herbert Agbeko
Edward Fraser
All those who are Struggling at home or in hospital with Covid-19
Rest In Peace:
Eric Harling
Nosa Samuel
All who lost their lives from Covid 19
Other intentions:
20th anniversary of 9/11
Afghanistan & Iran
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.
Amen.