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Sunday 18th April 2021 – Rev Arnold Dixon

Open minds

Luke 24.36b-48

The two disciples have returned to Jerusalem after their walk to Emmaus and back. Their conversation with Jesus on the Emmaus road has brought some comfort but may have raised yet more questions. Their maelstrom of emotions includes shock and grief at Jesus' death and confusion and disbelief at the disappearance of his body. However, as Jesus eats with them, these feelings give way to an expression of pure joy and, when Jesus explains the Scriptures to them, understanding of the truth about who he is.

Knowing that the disciples experienced times of anxiety in their journey of faith can be encouraging to us, and offers an opportunity to explore how we respond, emotionally, in different situations. What would help our minds to be open – when we are distressed – to know the peace of Christ, and to trust in his word?

This week we explore feelings in faith.

Call to worship

Jesus says, ‘Come to me,
all you who are weary and burdened
and I will give you rest.'
In worship, let us come to the one who offers peace and rest.

A gathering prayer

Against the noise of the world we cover our ears;
at distressing sights we close our eyes;
to confusing thoughts we close our minds;
amid the clamour of distress we close our hearts.
Loving God, your ears and eyes are ever open to our needs;
help us to worship with open hearts and minds,
that we may have open ears and eyes
to see the work that you call us to do,
and open hands to do it.

Amen

Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven: Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words or listen to this version

Click on the Link: https://youtu.be/60JgQoJK9J8

A prayer of approach

Lord God, whose arms are always open to us,
we come before you today
with hearts and minds open to receive your teaching.
Lead us to understand who you are and what you have done,
and what you require of us as witnesses.
In Jesus' name.
Amen

A prayer of adoration

Lord, who understands our every need,
we adore you for stilling our turmoil,
for being the calm in the storm,
our anchor in the deep,
and the safe port awaiting us always.
Amen

A prayer of confession

God, we confess that when distress comes knocking at our door,
all that we have learned and should know
goes flying out of the window.
Our minds in disarray,
we fail to turn to trusted sources of help.
Forgive us for forgetting how to seek you.
We forget your sustaining Word in Scripture,
your presence when we turn to you in prayer,
the calm that is to be found when we seek you in community.
We are sorry for turning in on ourselves,
our minds going round in circles.
Come, risen Lord, break the cycle of our despair.
Amen

A prayer of praise

Lord, you have always been our host.
When you first came from heaven to the world we call ours,
shepherds and kings were your guests.
When you accepted hospitality in the homes of others,
you turned the tables and became the host,
feeding hearts and souls through your teaching.
When you came to the disciples, newly risen,
you took charge and saw to their needs of mind and body.
We praise you, Jesus, ground of our being,
ground of our believing,
for standing among us in your risen power,
host to the world that is yours – not ours.
Amen

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him; Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words or listen to this version Click on the Link: https://youtu.be/L6TfPrQH97w

Reading; Luke 24.36b-48

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. 41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence. 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

Be still for the Glory of the Lord: Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words or listen to this version

Click on the Link : https://youtu.be/Vep_Ty4Zx1o

Sermon: Open minds

The Bible is full of stories about God's involvement in the world. Jesus fulfils Scripture because its stories resonate with his, just as his stories resonate with ours. Listen out for those resonances; it is in those moments that the Bible is most likely to surprise or console or challenge us.

Writer and medical humanities professor Marilyn McEntyre tells the story of visiting an exhibition of Russian icons and being ‘riveted by a face of Jesus across the room' ( Marilyn McEntyre, When Poets Pray , Eerdmans Publishing, 2019 ). She walked towards it ‘as if summoned by name' and stared into its dark eyes. As a result of this experience, she began to read the Gospels again, and reading the beginning of John ‘an image of Jesus not unlike the icon…seemed to occupy space in the room'. Prior to these experiences, she had had problems relating to Jesus in prayer. The story suggests that an emotional experience had opened her heart that then opened her mind to Scripture. Are heart and mind separable? Could either provide the key to the other?
‘Sit down and have a cup of tea' – a classic British response to a crisis. John Steinbeck, when a war correspondent, recorded the story of five commandos who undertook a perilous mission but began and ended with a cup of tea (John Steinbeck, ‘The Lady Packs' in Once There Was a War , Heinemann, 1959). Is it just the comforting warmth of the tea that helps, or is it something about the need to ‘sit down' and to wait while the drink is prepared? Perhaps the ordinariness of the task in the midst of extraordinary happenings is settling. Does it provide the right circumstances for the mind to open? Is this why Jesus asked for food?

Each and every week, the food pantry i.e. ‘food kitchen' distributes food to about 800 families in that part of San Francisco.

The inspiration came from journalist, Sara Miles. She had grown up as a dedicated atheist. She didn't believe in God, or Jesus, or any of that stuff. But, for no known earthly reason, early one morning in 1999, she wandered into St Gregory of Nyssa church and joined a communion service. She received the bread and wine. And the experience completely transformed her life. She was converted there and then. She embraced a faith that previously she had scorned.

But with that came an important discovery: that the Christian faith, at least for her, wasn't all about angels or pious behaviour or even being good. It was about people – real hungry people. People who longed to be fed, who needed to be fed. Before long she had tuned the bread that she ate at communion into tons, literally tons, of groceries, piled up and ready to be given away. And within a few years, she and the people of the community of St Gregory of Nyssa had started nearly a dozen food pantries in the poorest parts of San Francisco.

She later wrote a book about her experience which is called Take This Bread . In it she writes: ‘the mysterious sacrament turned out to be not a symbolic wafer but actual food – indeed, the bread of life' ( Sara Miles, Take This Bread. The spiritual memoir of a twenty-first century Christian , Norwich: Canterbury Press 2012 ).

The emotional impact of that first encounter with Jesus – in a communion service – made Sara Miles want to extend the life of Jesus through actual food. Just as Jesus did himself when he appeared to his disciples and ate with them. So what are we planning to do next?

The Lord's my shepherd (Townend): Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words or listen to this version

Click on the Link: https://youtu.be/pN4tPkX0MG0

Prayers of intercession

Lord God who has called us to faith,
in faith we pray for the needs of others.