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Parish profile

by church news | Dec 5, 2020 | Front Page

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Advent Sunday 29 November 2020

by church news | Nov 29, 2020 | Front Page, Sermons

SERMON: Advent Sunday 29 November 2020

Revd Sister Margaret Anne ASSP for The Barn & St Luke’s, Kew

Today is Advent Sunday, the beginning of the Church year; a time when we prepare ourselves for Christmas, and also a time when we prepare ourselves in our prayers, liturgies and reflections for what is traditionally termed the Second Coming of Christ as our Saviour and Judge at the Last Day. Advent, like Lent, is a penitential season, when we also reflect on our own shortcoming and failures of love, and the solemn tone of this penitential season is reflected in the liturgical colour of purple, which replaces the red of the Kingdom season just past.

Unfortunately for many years now there has been such a premature commercial build up to Christmas, that the meaning of Advent can all too easily be lost amidst the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas. As Christians, it is important in these coming few weeks that we allow ourselves time and attention for some moments of quiet reflection, and to ponder those great themes of Advent, such as waiting and hope. Waiting is a theme that is not very popular in our culture. We live in a somewhat instant culture, when we expect instant answers to emails, and answers to our questions immediately by googling the internet for information. But when we think about it, waiting is something that is built into the natural rhythm of life. We have to wait for each season to pass to the next. Parents wait for the birth of their child. School children have to wait for their exam results. We all have to wait for certain important events to happen in life. What matters, is how we wait. Do we champ at the bit and get irritated, or do we wait with patience and expectation? I wonder how it was for Mary and Joseph as they waited for the birth of Jesus. I imagine they were quietly expectant and hopeful.

The word “Advent” literally means “coming” and refers obviously to the coming of Jesus. But it is not just about coming in the past, about when Jesus came to be born in a stable in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago. It is also about coming in the present tense – those daily comings into our lives of God in Christ in countless small as well as significant ways. And of course Advent is also about coming in the future, most notably the coming of Jesus in glory that Christians believe will occur at the end times when Christ will return in glory to the earth to restore all things. This final and glorious coming of Christ is at an unknown date in the future. In the meantime we have to wait for it, with expectation in our hearts.

Many early Christians thought and expected that Jesus’ return to the earth in judgment and glory would be soon, even immanent. Over 2,000 years later, we have the benefit of hindsight. For over two millennia since Jesus walked this earth, the world’s struggles have continued. We live in very troubled times of our own, with natural disasters and the threat of terrorism in various places around the globe, the ongoing threat of nuclear war, and now a global pandemic. Our reading today from the gospel of Mark (Mark 13.24-37) indicates how we need to be prepared in such times. It includes the last part of what is known as the Markan Apocalyptic Discourse. Here in chapter 13 Jesus gives a long speech to his disciples. It is the only section of continuous, direct speech of Jesus in Mark’s gospel that is of great length. It is all about foretelling Christ’s return in glory. Jesus here warns his closest disciples that at the end times there will be great suffering, and even “the powers in the heavens will be shaken” with the sun being darkened and the moon losing its light and the stars falling from their places. It is an alarming picture. Then people will see the “Son of Man” coming in power and glory in the clouds. He will come in judgement, and gather his true followers to himself.

What does Jesus ask his followers to do about this fearful prospect? He asks us to be alert:

“Therefore, keep awake……”.

We are constantly to be on the alert for the signs of Jesus coming among us. The signs of his coming among us in the past can be an encouragement to us. We can look back on important spiritual moments, such as a conversion experience or a sense of calling, and be strengthened. We can be aware of God in the present, in our daily experience. But this can be much harder when times are difficult, such as the current global pandemic. We are now coming to the end of the second national lockdown, and later this week London will be in Tier 2, with many restrictions on our lives still in place. It will be particularly hard for people in Tier 3. At such times prayer can be challenging. We sit and pray, and nothing seems to be happening. But many of the great saints, such as the sixteenth century Spanish mystics St John of the Cross and St Teresa of Avila wrote that this is to be expected. The early stages of the Christian life may feel exciting, even buoyant. But as we grow in the spiritual life, we may find ourselves facing a dark night. This requires patient endurance, and the strength to keep going.

St Paul in his many letters to the local churches he established was aware of the struggles and difficulties those churches faced. He sometimes wrote to rebuke them, he often wrote to encourage them. In our reading today from his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1.3-9) he writes very much in an encouraging mode. He gives thanks to God for them, and he gives them cause for hope, for he says that God

“will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful…..”

God is faithful. That truth is what we need to cling to in challenging times. We cannot remind ourselves of this simple truth too often. This Advent, may we have moments of spiritual recognition, moments when we realise something of Jesus’ coming, and loving presence with us. And may we prepare ourselves for such moments by spending time in quiet reflection, with hope and expectation in our hearts, giving glory to Christ, our Saviour and merciful Judge.

Intercessions

Let us pray

As we prepare to enter into a different sort of lockdown in tier 2, we pray for fortitude and courage to adhere to the restrictions and make the best of what we can do. Help us to support others through these times.

We pray for the university students preparing to return to their homes at the end of term. We pray for their safety and the homes they are returning to. We pray for the schools, especially the teachers, and parents home-schooling, striving to continue education whilst facing the challenges of managing the risks.

We give thanks for all those working in the fight against Coronavirus, for health and care workers, and for the emergency services. Give them strength and resilience to keep caring. We pray for scientists and government advisers. Guide them to have courage and make wise decisions.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

We pray for Your church across the world and here in Kew. We pray for a blessing on the worldwide Church community, that neighbourhoods may be places of trust and friendship, where all are known and cared for.

We pray for St Luke’s and The Barn during this interregnum as we seek a new vicar, and pray for your guidance in managing the vacancy and selecting a vicar.

Bless our readers Michael and Richard, the Parish Administrators, Church Wardens and PCCs, and all who are making our continued worship possible in these times.

We give thanks that we can hold church services once we are in tier 2, and look forward to resuming safe services at St Luke’s on Thursdays from 3rd December and Sundays from 6th December, when we will hold our advent service at 5pm.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Bless and guide Elizabeth our Queen, and direct this and every country in the ways of justice and of peace.

Let us pray for the leaders of the world. May they be inspired to work together to tackle the causes of poverty and injustice, and to use their power, not for their own glory but for the good of all.

We pray for peace, justice and reconciliation throughout the world. We pray for the honouring of human rights. May we be inspired to speak out for the poor and oppressed.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Sustain and support the anxious and fearful, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may rejoice in Your comfort, knowing that nothing can separate us from Your love.

Merciful God, we entrust to your tender care those who are ill or in pain. Comfort and heal them, and restore them to health and strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. We think especially of

Grace Hay, Alan Hay, John Lynch, Roger Mason.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Lord, we pray for all those whom we love and see no more. May they rest in peace and rise in glory, and may your light perpetual shine upon them. Hear us as we remember them, as we pray especially for

Janet Hicks

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer

Loving God, you know us and all that we are facing. We thank you that we can come to you as we are – with all our fears and concerns, our difficulties and challenges. Bring to us your peace and comfort, and fill us with your Spirit that we may be bearers of your grace and hope to others.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Sunday 6th December

by church news | Nov 28, 2020 | Front Page, Sermons

We are delighted to let you know that from Sunday 6th December, we’ll be having services again and the details are as follows:

9.30am at the Barn: Joint Worship Communion by Extension

Sermon and intercessions for: Last Sunday before Advent Christ the King (with audio)

by church news | Nov 22, 2020 | Front Page, Sermons

Readings: Psalm 95:1-7 Ezekiel 34:11-16. 20-24

Ephesians 1:15-end Matthew 25:31-end

“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

If there is one good thing that has come out of this present Pandemic it is the care that so many people have shown to those in need. Doctors, nurses, carers, those who work in food banks and other charitable organizations; even neighbours who for the first time have perhaps got to know who lives next door or in their street; often these acts of care or kindness are carried out without the knowledge of the recipient.

It is true that often out of trouble and adversity there is a very human and basic response of kindness, charity and dare I say even love. We have again just had “Children in Need”, and one cannot but be struck by the plight of so many children in this country alone, without looking at the desperate situation of children in so many parts of the rest of our world. Yet, year after year there is a very heart warming response from the British public as a whole.

Today, ‘Christ the King’ Sunday, celebrates the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of all things. Instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, this Feast Day is now celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time in the Church’s calendar, that is, the Sunday before the beginning of Advent, which of course, leads us up to Christmas.

In 1925 Pope Pius XI, and the rest of the Christian world, was witnessing the rise of non-Christian dictatorships in Europe, which saw Catholics being ‘taken in’ by these earthly leaders, dictators who often attempted to assert authority over the Church. The Feast of ‘Christ the King’ was instituted during this time, when respect for Christ and the Church was waning; the ‘feast day’ was seen to be needed to reverse this decline.

Today of course many of our churches are closed, as with St. Luke’s and the Barn apart from being open for private prayer, and I know our church leaders are trying very hard to reverse that Government decree, as I believe many reading and hearing this would also wish. It is though in my opinion the strength of the Christian faith, that it lives in it’s believers, we are the ‘body of Christ’, the church.

This allows us to function outside the four walls of a building, in fact Christ began to build his church on a ‘rock’ called Peter, and this ‘church’ was taken on and grown by the Apostle Paul and his followers in the peoples of present day Turkey and Greece.

How much of that teaching of Christ, as we heard in our Gospel reading, is being carried out, day after day, in these present times, and by those who do not ask or seek for any reward or recognition. Who so often go unnoticed, without praise or thanks, other than knowing in themselves that they have done a good turn for a fellow human being less fortunate than themselves.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

We are never in isolation, never completely alone, never just one set of footprints in the sand, for God sees and knows all, even if so often we doubt or forget that He is with us always.

As Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians:

“God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”

A king who rode on a donkey, and ruled not by the sword, or by false promises, or by offering power and prestige to others, but by love and care and commitment to those who were hungry, thirsty, strangers, unclothed and unloved, those who even today are the most forgotten or rejected by our society. It is as Christians, as Christ’s Church here on earth that we, you and me, must continue to grow His Kingdom, and show ourselves worthy of being with Him in the ever-lasting kingdom at the end of time.

So as we celebrate this ‘Christ the King’ Sunday let us do so in the knowledge that Kings, Queens, Dictators and even Presidents will come and go, but there is only one true King with ‘power and dominion’, who will be with us and care for us as long as we praise His name. Amen.

Prayers for the Feast of Christ the King

Dear Lord,
You sent your son as the servant King whose kingdom is one of service, suffering and humility. A King who rules by love and care. We are reminded by the Gospel today that we should serve and care for one another and in doing so we serve you.

In that spirit, let us pray.

We pray for our leaders and all who are in positions of responsibility. We ask that they make wise decisions for the good of all people. May they keep in mind their responsibilities in all they do and the decisions they make. The news of a vaccine has given hope for all that the end of the pandemic is in sight. We pray that our leaders will ensure a fair distribution between all nations.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Truthful God, we pray for those who hunger for justice and peace. Help us to stand beside them. We pray for our neighbours caught up in conflicts; we pray for our neighbours fleeing from danger; we pray for our neighbours who are oppressed or wrongly imprisoned; we pray for our neighbours whose lives are blighted by natural disasters or poverty; we pray for our neighbours who are victims of terrorism or hate crime. Bless those who work to bring relief to our neighbours and help us to show the same compassion and generosity. We ask for peace in our world, we ask for healing in our world.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who are suffering in our community. We think of people who have lost their jobs or who are anxious about money. We think of those who have no homes nor friends and family to support them. We give thanks for the work of Glass Door, the Vineyard and Richmond Foodbank and their supporting volunteers. We pray for an end to poverty.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Loving God, we pray for those who are thirsty for human kindness. We pray for those who are finding the isolation of lockdown hard. We pray for those who are lonely, those in care homes missing their loved ones, those who are in difficult relationships, those struggling with mental health problems. Help us to seek out the lonely and to be a refuge for the abused, so that they might be refreshed in you.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Caring God, we pray for those who are sick in body, mind or spirit. We give thanks for the care that they receive through friends, family, or caring professionals. Let us pray for Grace Hay, Alan Hay, John Lynch, Roger Mason and others known to us.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Gracious God, we commend all those who have died into your loving care. Bless those whose hearts are filled with sadness that they too may know the hope of resurrection in Jesus Christ our Lord. We remember Janet Hicks and others known to us.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Let us finish with the post communion prayer for today:
Stir up, O Lord,
the wills of your faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may by you be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Sermon and Intercessions – 15th November (with audio)

by church news | Nov 15, 2020 | Front Page, Sermons

Sermon for the 2^nd Sunday before Advent

Zephaniah 1: 7, 12 end Matthew 25:14-30

Revd Elisabeth Morse

The story of the ten talents – money, its investment and its wise use – is a perplexing tale to have at this moment in time when the Chancellor is borrowing billions of pounds to shore up an economy with a very unpredictable outcome. We have been told ‘to eat out to help out’ and to support small businesses by shopping locally but now that shops and eateries are closed, those of us who still have incomes have fewer outlets for spending and those with no income are looking to Food Banks to keep them going.

I am no economist so it is not for me to pass an opinion save to say that we seem to be living in extraordinary topsy turvy times where ‘normality’ is so different it feels difficult to work out what is best to do.

And maybe this is the point – life can throw such googlies at us that normal conventions of behaviour are seriously challenged. Last week five bridesmaids were found ‘unprepared’ and for those of us who have been living comfortable lives in a well-ordered society it would seem easy to wag the finger. The reading from Zephaniah describes such a people who have a materially comfortable life. Being well housed, well fed and with money to ease their discomforts they don’t feel they really need to trouble God or God them. So they are completely flummoxed when their world gets turned upside down, which Zephaniah describes as a punishment for their ‘complacency’.

And today the story of the talents is, in its own way, another confusing story. At first glance it can look like those who have enough funds can afford to invest them, while those with very little cannot – which doesn’t seem very fair.

What are we to make of a master who suddenly decides to go away without saying when he will be back? And who gives his three slaves money but with no instructions about what to do with it. Two of the slaves seem to realise that this is some sort of a test and they appear to trust their master. He has trusted them with large quantities of money, they understand it is not theirs to spend as they like so they make the most of it by investing it so that the master will have even more money to do with as he wants when he eventually returns. And it turns out this is the right response and they are rewarded with even more responsibilities. Responsibilities which are considered less of a duty and more of a privilege.

But the third slave has a different relationship with his master. This slave feels his master trusts him less than the other two. He already has a difficult relationship with the master and being only given one talent feels like confirmation of this and he is both afraid and resentful. So he buries the talent – in an act of ‘out of sight, out of mind’. But of course the wretched talent isn’t ‘out of mind’ because when the master returns this slave knows he is going to get into trouble which makes him determined to have his say first. His response is one of attack, attack on the character of his master. The third slave cannot see beyond himself. If the foolish bridesmaids were only intent on enjoying themselves the third slave is just as self-obsessed – in this case with his own failure and resentment. He cannot see that the other two slaves are rewarded for their efforts irrespective of how much profit they make. The slave with only one talent can only see what he doesn’t have and how deprived he feels compared with the other two. But also – and perhaps most importantly – he doesn’t want to change. Burying his talent is shutting away the possibility of opening up to something different.

So, what might we take from this in our present COVID 19 world? Like the master suddenly leaving the household, we too have experienced an unexpected, huge change in circumstances. This may have given rise to the discovery of new riches, new responsibilities in each one of us. What are we doing with them? Are we trying out new ways of growing by learning different skills or dusting down old ones? Are we now more aware of the greatness and mystery of God?

But it does not all have to be about doing and taking on more. If circumstances in this pandemic have left you feeling totally drained and broken then, as the psalm says, ‘Be still and know that I am God’. Because then your one talent may simply be to be open, not buried like the third slave did with his one talent, and by being open, open to being filled with the love of God – and that is a talent invested

Intercessions for 15^th November 2020

From St. Luke’s and The Barn churches, companions in Christ, we pray to God.

We ask you to bless our Royal Family, our clergy, and the clergy of all faiths that preach peace. We remember at this time Rabbi Jonathan Sachs and the leadership he gave beyond his flock. Give courage to all congregations that have no services to attend at this time.