Sunday Service – 5 July 2026

by John Dempster | Jul 3, 2026 | David Sim's posts, Events | 0 comments

A worship service was held at 10.30am in the church building on Sunday 5 July. The service was simultaneously broadcast on the Church Facebook page. For the next four weeks, you can catch up here.

The Bible passage was Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 and David Sim led the service and preached. The sermon begins at 32:20 in the video – do have a listen!

Below is the full text of David’s excellent sermon. It was a gentle reminder of our tendency to put God in a box, and expect God always to act in the way we think God should. But God is bigger than all our imaginings, and David encouraged us always to be open to seeing the divine in unexpected ways and unexpected places, with the open wonder of young children.

And in this journey of discovery we do not walk alone, for Jesus walks beside us guiding and encouraging us. Our consciousness of Jesus’ presence enables us to walk with those who we might consider to be ‘outsiders’, ‘not in our tribe’ and ourselves grow as we discover that contrary to our expectations the wind of God’s life-giving presence has been blowing in their lives too.

Sermon

Searching the Straw, Missing the Donkeys

A couple of weeks ago I heard an old Sufi story about Mulla Nasrudin (1).

He tells of how he took his donkey across a land border every day, with the panniers loaded with straw.

Each night when he returned, Nasrudin happily admitted that he… was a smuggler.

And so the border guards searched him over and over again. They searched his clothes, his bag, they sifted through the straw, they even burned it from time to time. Yet, despite them finding nothing, Nasrudin became visibly more and more prosperous.

Then one day he retired and went to live in another country.

Years later, one of the customs officials met Nasrudin and asked him,

‘You can tell me now… what on earth was it you were smuggling, when we could never catch you out?’

‘Donkeys,’ replied Nasrudin.

And when I read that story, one thing that came to mind… just how much am I like those border guards? Let me give you an example: Last week I had a bunch of meetings. If I’m honest, I had a fixed expectation of how my week should go, and also how God should show up and, ideally, fix everything to go in a particular direction.

Yet when God’s Spirit of grace came – bringing a couple of wonderful and unexpected connections – I nearly missed them because I had been so very sure how it should all work out.

It turns out I wasn’t looking for God …

I was looking for God to do what I thought God should do.

The Scornful Marketplace

We are all wired for survival.

To our ancestors, being certain kept them safe, whereas staying open-minded might be far too risky.

Imagine being an early human walking across the savannah and suddenly hearing a rustle in the tall grass.

You have two choices. You can immediately jump to the conclusion that a dangerous predator is hiding there and run away…

or you can stay curious and open-minded, walk closer, and find out exactly what is making the noise.

Now, if the source of the noise was just a caress of the wind on leaves, no harm done. If the source was a lion, crouching, waiting… and you go over to have a look… well… not so good.

So keeping it safe and jumping to a conclusion can be the best option for survival.

So today we often do what our ancestors did:

we choose certainty,
we pick a side,
we dig our trenches,
we quickly decide what is right…

And now we stare at the glowing screens of our phones, scrolling through Facebook and TikTok, looking for voices that echo our own, which social media duly serves up.

I used to spend far too much time on Reddit, which is a website that hosts tens of thousands of discussion forums. Actually, that’s “discussion” in inverted commas, because there is little actual discussion, and that includes the Christian “discussion groups.”

It took me a while to realise, no-one goes on there to hear another view and potentially be persuaded of it. The whole purpose seems to be to put forward your tribe’s opinion and double down on it.

Modern politics seems to have suffered the same fate – aggressive tribalism is rampant.

Deep down, in our heart, it seems we are still scanning the tall grass for lions. When we wrap ourselves so tightly in our tribes, anyone who thinks differently is no longer just a neighbour; they become a potential threat to our safety. And when we feel threatened, we get defensive, which quickly hardens into a constant cynicism about ‘the other’.

Psalm 1 warns us of exactly this:

Blessed is the one
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful, the mockers and the cynics;

Often we too sit in the seat of the scornful. We close our doors to others, and we expect a God who neatly dances to our favoured tunes.

The Psalmist tells there is a better path:

But their delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in God’s law they meditate day and night.

Focus on, delight in, God – God’s word and the practical implications of God’s word. Meditate on God’s word. Seek to fill your mind with truth…

… and know too that truth might exist in part outside your own circle… among other people who are also honestly meditating on the God’s word.

Belonging IS a good thing. We are literally made to belong. Having like-minded people around us is helpful in allowing us to explore and use our specific gifts.

But pushed too far, our safe circle becomes a locked fortress. Anyone standing on the outside is automatically treated as an enemy to be kept at a safe distance.

Tragically, while we’re sitting comfortably in the seat of the cynics, we might well miss a refreshing breath of wind… or perhaps even some much needed water to drink.

The Fickle Generation and the Infinite Mystery

In Jesus’ day people – particularly the religious leaders – had certainty about what a prophet should be like. So:

John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He has a demon.’
The Son of Man – Jesus – came eating and drinking, and they said, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

They wanted a prophet who fitted their script. John came along, fierce and intense, and they called him crazy. Jesus came along, eating and drinking with the wrong people, and they called him a glutton.

The problem wasn’t John or Jesus. The problem was the marketplace’s rigid, pre-written script. They were so busy waiting for their kind of Messiah to show up that they missed the Son of God walking right past them.

Jesus even praises the Father for hiding divine truths from the proud, self-satisfied “wise and learned”, choosing instead to reveal truth to open-hearted, curious “little children”.

These “little children” are people who know that they can’t explain God completely and that they need to step out and experience God and God’s wisdom… ideally in a diverse community where we can see more of God in each other.

Mark Oakley, a priest in the Church of England, wrote:

Interpretations of words and phrases will differ between us. Where we must unite is in our agreement of the pages (of the Bible) being a place of sacred encounter… It is unity for which we pray and it will only ever be revealed as authentic if there are shades of difference among us.

Embracing the Made-to-Measure Yoke

Thankfully, Jesus doesn’t leave us in the noisy marketplace with the cynical crowds. He offers us an invitation… another way of being. He offers us an ‘easy yoke’.

Now, a yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen so they can pull a burden.

A yoke was also, in Jesus’ day, a metaphor for the an interpretation of the Jewish law. If you followed a teacher they would say you took the Rabbi’s yoke upon you – you submitted to their interpretation of the rules.

Now, a yoke sounds like a tough load to carry. But Jesus says his yoke is “easy”. Jesus’ guidance is characterised by compassion and benevolence, rather than harshness or rigid severity.

But the word translated as ‘easy‘ is interesting too. The word doesn’t just mean simple – the word means perfectly adapted.

Imagine a piece of wood, carved by a gifted carpenter who knows your exact shape. Smoothed down, perfectly fitted to the slope of your shoulders, designed so that it does not chafe or crush you.

Jesus offers a life that is manageable. A calling that actually fits who you are truly meant to be. And the best part? Jesus walks right alongside us, yoked with us like oxen working in a field, carrying some of the weight of modern living.

Jesus’ yoke helps us find our rest in him, not be in constant turmoil and angst.

But Jesus’ yoke also helps us in Christian community to walk alongside others who might be quite unlike us, bearing their load and helping them to thrive and flourish into who God always meant them to be.

Relational Interconnection and Radical Inclusion

Discovering our own tribe is not a bad thing… indeed, it’s important. I have my own tribe of people who share of least some of my views. And I love being part of the tribe here at Hilton.

But our faith should also reveal that we are part of a broader, organic, beautifully rich picture. We are one of many branches connected to the true vine, woven into a shared life together.

John and Jesus were completely different, yet both were vindicated as wisdom’s deeds.

It is in the other that we begin to truly see God.

And this is what should make our church stand out in today’s culture. Christians shouldn’t be just another collection of tribes shouting at the world or, indeed, each other. Jesus’ easy yoke can help us shape a deeply grounded, counter-cultural church community… not uniform but wholly united in faith in Christ.

In a healthy community, being your true, God-given self must never mean exclusion. We practice everyday hospitality and leave the door wide open for everyone simply because we have to if we are to reflect the shared divine life of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

This life is something that not entirely in our hands, but is found in a relationship with Jesus.

So lets open our hands. Let us open our hands to the God who is everywhere present, and let us open our hands to one another.

(1) Story of Mulla Nasrudin told by Chris Whittington

Prayer

Here’s the prayer David led us in following the sermon yesterday:

A Prayer of Thanksgiving and Open Hands

Prayer adapted from a ‘lockdown’ prayer by Thom Schuman.
Published in ‘How shall we pray this morning? For what shall we pray this night?’, © Thom M. Shuman (Wild Goose Publications, 2020) www.ionabooks.com

Jesus said:

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

So, Holy and Loving God: