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Message from The Rector
So where are we? This is my first Benefice Newsletter since returning from holiday (it was lovely – thanks for asking – and thanks to James for keeping this slot so well filled) and so it seems a good time for a bit of stocktaking. Sheila, Nicky, James and I met this week and have come up with a draft service plan for the next couple of months. Each Sunday there will be a service in Aldeburgh, Aldringham and Friston and each fortnight one in Knodishall. We will try and achieve a balance of different services in each place and each week one of the services will be recorded and appear online later in the day. There will be a reflection or sermon in each newsletter but it won’t necessarily be the same one as on the recorded service (otherwise you would get far too much of me!). We will take the Wednesday 10.00am Holy Communion service back into Aldeburgh church (Trinity Chapel), record it and make it available later in the day too. We will experiment with saying Morning Prayer at 9.00am in Aldeburgh church from Monday through to Saturday. All of these plans are, of course, dependent on what we are allowed to do. Things aren’t looking so good at the moment and we have to be ready for anything but please be assured that we will always try to do what we can.
Clergy news. Given the current pandemic, both Nicky and Jo are having to take care. Nicky is still waiting for an operation and wants to be able to have it as soon as it is offered. She also has to be particularly careful given that she regularly visits elderly parents and carries out her duties as Chaplain to Aldeburgh Hospital. She will be keeping a low profile in church for a short while though is more than happy to talk to folk on the phone and be her usual caring self. Following a period of critical illness in Ipswich hospital Jo’s father, Colin, is thankfully now stable enough to be convalescing at Aldeburgh hospital. That said, he still faces some health challenges before he is well enough to return home. He is only allowed three visitors and Jo is, of course, one of them. So Jo is being very careful too. I know that her pastoral support for parishioners has been continuing in her usual caring way but, again, she won’t be around very much on Sundays for a while. We hold Nicky and Jo in our prayers, giving thanks for all that they do. They remain hugely valued members of the clergy team.
It is Annual Parochial Church Meeting time! Normally these are held in the late spring but this year the deadline has been extended to the end of October. Aldringham’s took place this week, Knodishall’s will be in church after the service on the morning of October 18th and Aldeburgh’s similarly on the morning of October 25th. News of Friston’s will follow very soon. Listen out for notices in church and look out for notices on noticeboards. And listen out for what God might be calling you to do!
A final thought. We (clergy and elders) always try our best to keep in touch with as many of you as we can, which has, of course, been a particular issue in recent months. We know that we haven’t always got it right but please be assured that we want to hear of any ways that we might be able to support you. It is much harder to know how everyone is when we don’t have the opportunity for (for example) chats over coffee after services. Please don’t ever hesitate to contact us if you feel there is anything that we can do for you – or for someone you know.
With love, as ever
Mark
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which
is before, we may run the way of your commandments and win
the crown of everlasting joy; 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.
First Reading
Isaiah 25.1-9
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name;
for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful
and sure. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a
ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations
will fear you. For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to
the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade
from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter
rainstorm, the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued
the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast
of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with
marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear. And he will destroy
on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet
that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and
the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, Lo,
this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might
save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us
be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Second Reading
Philippians 4.1-9
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 22.1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
‘But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?” And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For many are called, but few are chosen.’
Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity by
Our Rector, The Revd Mark Lowther
God be in our mouths ….
When Ro and I first moved to Suffolk five years ago we had a lot to learn – and we’re still learning. The difference between Suffolk and London is much bigger than the relatively short distance between them. It’s only just over a hundred miles from this church to the one where I used to be in London but what a difference! All sorts of things need thinking about all over again and one of them is the dreaded question of what to wear. I’m not talking about clerical dress – that’s a whole world of its own with its own sets of assumptions – but let’s imagine that I’m invited out for a meal ‘off duty’. Do I wear a suit? A jacket and chinos? Should I wear a tie? Slip-on or lace-up shoes? Of course everyone around here, being the good friendly people that they are, say ‘come as you are – it doesn’t matter’ – but it does, doesn’t it? Walk into a room wearing an open-necked shirt and jeans to find everyone else wearing suits and ties – or even vice-versa – and you feel very strange and know that you’re being looked at and even judged. (You’ll never guess what he turned up in – my dear he looked so out of place ….) And an invitation in Suffolk that says ‘smart casual’ means something quite different to an invitation in Belgravia that says ‘smart casual’. And, yes ladies, I’m fully aware that your problems are even trickier because you have so many more options than we chaps.
What’s it all really about? Well for most people it sits somewhere between blending in and showing off. Here it probably tends more towards the former, in London the latter, but the differences can be quite subtle, can’t they? But if you really want to be somewhere, if you want to feel at home in that situation then you feel much more comfortable if you’ve got the clothes right, don’t you? Conversely, if you’ve obviously not even bothered to find out what might be right for the occasion and you turn up completely inappropriately dressed then perhaps it’s because you didn’t really want to be there in the first place and you just can’t be bothered. That’s probably what your host is going to think. And I think that’s the point about Jesus’s at first rather strange remark in our Gospel reading about wearing a wedding robe.
This wedding banquet story is stuffed with symbolism. The king who throws the party is God, the son for whom it is thrown is Jesus and the banquet itself, as it is in other bible stories, is the glorious, much anticipated time when God’s kingdom truly comes to earth ‘as it is in heaven’ – when the Messiah himself returns. So far so sort-of obvious. But when Jesus tells the part of the story about the man who managed to be at the feast without the right clothes and then has the king telling his servants not just to chuck the poor guy out but to ‘bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness’ it’s a bit harder to understand. One way to think about it, though, is to think that perhaps the fact that this man wasn’t appropriately dressed was because he didn’t really want to be there. And if you really don’t want to be part of this banquet, the climax of the whole message of God in Jesus Christ, then it’s the end for you – a not very comfortable end.
Jesus’s message, a message he very clearly intends for everyone, not just the ones who think that they are special and ‘chosen’ – he’s very clear about that – Jesus’s message is of God’s love and the coming of a kingdom of love and truth and justice and all sorts of other good things. And for that you – we – need to be prepared. If we’re true followers of Christ and try to follow what he teaches, then it’s not all sweetness and light and motherhood and apple-pie. Jesus’s message certainly isn’t that all we have to do is turn up.
An important part of many of our services, this one included, is a confession and absolution – and it usually comes quite early on in the act of worship, for a reason. We confess to God the things that we’ve done wrong ‘through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault’. And, as the introduction to confession goes, God gave his only son to the world to save us from our sins and bring us to eternal life. God wants to forgive us, there’s no doubt about that. But – and it’s a rather uncomfortable ‘but’, in the words of the absolution it quite clearly says that God only pardons those ‘who truly repent’. Translation? Those who are genuinely sorry and who really and sincerely believe the good news that Christ was born on earth to bring – and turn away from wrong-doing and towards Christ. And if we don’t then we’ve turned up to the party in the wrong clothes and don’t care. And what did Jesus say about ‘outer darkness’?
In the last few days news – and not just church news – has been full of the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Anglican church, specifically the Church of England and the Church in Wales. It makes very uncomfortable reading and reveals a church that has been far too keen to protect itself at the expense of vulnerable individuals. The stories of harm done, and subsequent cover-up are utterly horrifying and would disgrace any organisation – but a church? A church whose message is the good news of Christ? Lord, have mercy. And, just in case you may think that there’s nothing like that around here I would say that it’s not quite that simple. Sadly.
Repentance is called of us individually and of the church collectively. It’s not an option it’s an imperative. If we are prepared ‘with hearty repentance and true faith’ to ‘turn unto him’ (as the Book of Common Prayer has it) then we may receive forgiveness. If we don’t then outer darkness threatens. Theologian Tom Wright sums it all up perfectly.
‘The point of the [Gospel] story is that Jesus is telling the truth, the truth that political and religious leaders often like to hide: the truth that God’s kingdom is a kingdom in which love and justice and truth and mercy and holiness reign unhindered. They are the clothes you need to wear for the wedding. And if you refuse to put them on, you are saying that you don’t want to stay at the party. That is the reality. If we don’t have the courage to say so, we are deceiving ourselves and everyone who listens to us.’
Amen
Post Communion
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you, here the memory of your passion
is renewed, here our minds are filled with grace, and here a
pledge of future glory is given, when we shall feast at that
table where you reign with all your saints for ever.
NOTICES
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Food Banks at the East of England Co-op |
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Weekly Benefice Newsletter If you would like something added to the weekly newsletter that is relevant to the Benefice, please do let Claire know and we will do our best to include it the following week. Whether it be a story to tell, or tips or recipes or a notice to be added to spread the word. |
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Ride and Stride 2020 A huge thank you too to Fran for leading the Aldeburgh team. What an amazing total, especially this year under all the restrictions in place. |
The Week Ahead – Next Sunday
18th October – Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
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9.30am |
Holy Communion |
Knodishall Church |
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9.45am |
Morning Prayer |
Friston Church |
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10.30am |
Morning Prayer |
Aldeburgh Parish Church |
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11.00am |
Holy Communion |
Aldringham Church |
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3.00pm |
Online service available |
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