A worship service was held at 10am on Sunday 23rd January in the church building.   The service was simultaneously broadcast on the Church Facebook page. You can catch up here, or by following the link below.

The readings for Sunday were:

Nehemiah 8:1-10      Psalm 19    1 Corinthians 12:12-31   Luke 4:14-21

Sunday Club and Nitelife meet on Sundays during term time.

Judith led the service this morning, and preached on Luke 4:14-21 which describes Jesus speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth where he’d been brought up.  He quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2, and, incredible as it would have seemed to his audience, applied these verses to himself.

Jesus was announcing that he was the bringer of good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, restored vision for those who are blind, liberation from those who are oppressed, and the coming of ‘the year of the Lord’s favour.’  Judith told us this last phrase probably referred to the ‘Year of Jubilee’ – the God-given vision to Old Testament Israel of every fiftieth year being set aside as  a year of restoration, when social equality would be restored.

Judith spoke about inequalities in our own society, and global society, and indicated our responsibility to share this vision of Jesus as the bringer of social justice, Jesus as the one who walks with those who are on the edge of society and brings hope.

In his prayer after the sermon, Hector meditated on the fact that Jesus was equipped to fulfil his role because the Holy Spirit was upon him – and the same Spirit is upon us, as members of his ‘body’, the church.  The Spirit is with us as we seek to live by the values of Jubilee.

John writes:  Social transformation grows from the bottom up, and is not imposed top-down.  That’s one of the messages of the ‘upside down’ kingdom of God.  And we will make the maximum impact in society if we are inspired and prompted by the Spirit of God.  It is as individuals are changed in their attitude, and relationships, in their freedom to be real that society is changed.  What a difference it makes when, on a Monday morning, with humility and grace, we can go forth into a hurting world saying that, despite our brokenness, ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon us.’

Today as we read Jesus’ words, perhaps some of us have a sense of calling to be bringers of good news, agents of liberation. But perhaps too some of us are at a point where we feel that, spiritual speaking, we are impoverished, we are trapped in circumstances we can’t control or attitudes we can’t control,  we have no vision of the greatness of God, we are oppressed by fear or guilt, we hunger for a restoration of wellbeing and balance in our lives, for an inner Jubilee.

To which Jesus says ‘I am with you! My Spirit is within you! You are loved!  Blessed are you when you know your inner poverty, for in that knowledge I am enriching you. Blessed are you when you know your sight is dim, for then I am opening your eyes.   Bring to me the things you feel are trapping you – entrtust them to me, and leave them with me.  Bring to me your guilt, your shame, your fear,  spread them before me, and watch the light of my love dissolving them. Walk free, for you are my daughter, my son.  Enter my Jubilee! And take the good news of what you have seen and heard and experienced into tomorrow’s world.’