Services this Sunday for The Alde Sandlings Benefice
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Aldeburgh |
8.00am |
Holy Communion |
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10.30am |
Morning Prayer |
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Aldringham |
11.00am |
Holy Communion |
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Knodishall |
9.00am |
Holy Communion |
Collect
O God, you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
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 6.1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’ The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15.1-11
Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
Gospel Reading
Luke 5.1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Post Communion
Go before us, Lord, in all we do
with your most gracious favour,
and guide us with your continual help,
that in all our works begun, continued and ended in you,
we may glorify your holy name,
and finally by your mercy receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Next Week
Sunday 13th February
Third Sunday before Lent
Sermon preached by The Revd Oliver Kemsley at
Aldeburgh 30th January 2022
We hear a lot about Jesus and the law in our gospel reading today: “according to the law” “as it is written in the law” “according to what is stated in the law” “what was customary under the law”.
The message to the intended audience of Luke is very clear. Jesus is a Jew. He is part of an ancient story which is one and the same with Judaism. As we hear Simeon say: Jesus is prepared “for glory to your people Israel”. From infancy he is fully immersed and inducted into the established religious order.
In infancy, yes, when things are done to him, when words are spoken over him, when he has no agency. What of the adult Jesus? What does Jesus in the fullness of his earthy power have to say for himself? For we are also told that he is destined to bring about the rising and falling of many in Israel. And that he will break out of all that as light to the Gentiles, too.
Well, the next time Jesus enters the temple after his presentation as a baby is 17 chapters and 30 years later in Luke 19. And he enters in a rage. With passion and anger, he drives the money changers and the sellers from the temple. It is a very different scene to his presentation.
This so-called cleansing of the temple is not about capitalism or consumerism or whether it’s ok to have a shop at the back of a church, no – this is about the fundamental running of institutional religion of Jesus’ day. People needed to change their secular money to temple money in order to buy the doves and such-like that would then become the sacrifices which were essential to the worship of the priests in the temple. In throwing these things out Jesus causes religious activity to grind to a halt.
The baby Jesus was inducted into the religion of his day, the adult Jesus brings it to its knees.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus’ fiercest criticism was always levelled at the religious authorities of the day. He heaps scorn upon pharisees who criticise his disciples for eating grain on the sabbath. He proclaims himself lord of the sabbath. And in a shakingly powerful passage in chapter 11 he denounces the pharisees and the lawyers: woe to you… woe to you… woe to you…
The baby Jesus was dealt with according to the law, the adult Jesus disrupts and dismisses the law as it is practiced by those in authority.
That’s enough of the negatives. What can we see more positively? This light, this salvation, this glory – which Simeon saw in its infancy – what form did it actually take in Jesus’ life? What of God can we see in Jesus? What is the good news?
In chapter 4 Jesus began his teaching ministry in the synagogue saying of himself: “The spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the lord’s favour.”
That does sound like good news. But maybe it’s a one-off?
Well, no: after leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house, healed his mother in law of a fever and, as the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
In Ch5 Simon doubted Jesus when he told him to cast out his net once again. Did Jesus smite him for being rude and faithless? No. On the contrary, Jesus helped them catch so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. They filled both boats so that they began to sink.
Later, when a leper said to Jesus: “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretch out his hand and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.”
Then he heals a paralytic. Then he calls a “sinner” and says that he is a physician to the sick.
Then he stood on a level place with a great multitude of people and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured… power came out from him and healed all of them.
He then teaches them to love their enemies, just as God does, for God “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”
Then Jesus heals a centurion’s servant because he doesn’t care about political divides.
I could go on. And on and on. Time and time again we see that Jesus’s light, God’s light shing through Jesus, is radically inclusive, totally understanding, fully forgiving, pleasure-loving, and focussed on the real needs of people.
God as Jesus shows us God’s character; he heals and forgives and calls and provides for abundantly.
Then Jesus turns towards the cross and just as we all suffer, so does he. Just like us he is afraid and tries to get out of it. Just like us he asks God for escape and gets no answer, and so just like us he feels the pain of feeling forsaken by God. And then just like us he dies.
We too, now, liturgically at least, turn towards lent and the cross. But all the while we remember that Jesus is God and God is Lord of all things. He is Lord of the Sabbath, he is Lord of light, life and death, and in his resurrection, Jesus says to us symbolically, just as he said so many times in reality to his disciples: “Do not be afraid.” Death is not the end. Suffering is not all of existence. Jesus says “I am with you to the end of the age”.
Amen.
NOTICES
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An Update from The Revd Sheila Hart Thank you for all who have been praying for me over the past weeks. I would like to update you on my progress. I have just completed 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy at Ipswich Hospital and I will now have 2 weeks break from active treatment in order for it to work itself through my system. I will then begin 5 years of anti-hormone treatment in tablet form which is designed to reduce the possibility of any recurrence of the cancer so please continue praying for me as this could have some side effects. I am missing you all and look forward to being with you again soon. With love and continued prayers for the vacancy and selection of our new Priest. Sheila |
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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. All requests by 4pm on Thursday please |
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Church of England and Diocese Online Worship There are many online services you can view from the Church of England and our cathedral. Here are some links below. Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/ Church of England Facebook page Church of England YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/ St Edmundsbury Cathedral Facebook Page |
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Food Banks at the East of England Co-op Foodbanks provide a valuable service to those in need in our communities. The Aldeburgh Co-op and Solar in Leiston are doing a grand job in collecting food donations, which are collected regularly and distributed. So please look out for the various collection baskets. The Trussel Trust Organisation Food banks in our network have seen an increase in the number of food parcels given out over the last year due to Coronavirus, so any donations are much appreciated. You can find out which items your local food bank is most in need of by entering your postcode here – https://www.trusselltrust.org/give-food/ |
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Pilgrims Together on Wednesdays The Pilgrims worship together every Wednesday. Friday 18th February 6.30pm Aldeburgh Parish Hall A potential long hoped and prayed for return to a face to face Pilgrim Worship and shared supper gathering. More details to follow.. Saturday 26th February online Zoom Pilgrim Fun Quiz from 7pm (please note change of date) Just for fun from the comfort of your own armchair…Please email Sue and Richard if you can provide a round: |
