stannescalmore

Services at St. Anne’s Church

Worship is the heart of our church life together, our 9.30am Holy Communion is with hymns and our choir. We use Common Worship at most of our Communion services. Once a month we hold alternative style Communion services Liturgies including Celtic, Iona, Taize, South Indian, Jewish, Scottish Episcopal and Kenyan flavours to our worship. On occasional Family Services welcome the Guides, Brownies and Rainbows meeting in Calmore. At significant times of the year, eg Christmas and Easter, we hold additional services during the week.

Services at St. Anne’s SUSPENDED AT THIS TIME

PALM SUNDAY SERVICE

A home service for Palm Sunday 5th April 2020
This service can be done at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday. We will all be in home church, praying and worshipping
together. If you can’t do this at 11.00.a.m. you can do the service at a time of your choosing.
It can be done in your home or in your garden, with family members or alone.
Speaking it out loud is preferred but silent reading is fine, too. God hears you either way.
Let’s begin:

We say out loud.
We, the Christian people of St Mary’s and St Anne’s gather together in our own homes, for, as you have taught us, where we gather in your name, there you are with us.

We sing
ALL GLORY, LAUD AND HONOUR
To Thee, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

We pray
Almighty and everlasting God, who, of your tender love towards mankind, has sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take on him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Confession
In the silence of my home and in the presence of God, I confess that I have sinned in thought and word and
deed. I have not loved God, cared for God’s world or respected God’s people as I should. I own my
responsibility and pray for God’s pardon.
May God forgive me, Christ befriend me, and the Spirit renew and change my life.

Praise and Thankfulness – say or sing

Thou art the King of Israel,
Thou David's royal Son,
Who in the Lord's name comest,
The King and blessèd One.

The company of angels
Are praising Thee on high,
And mortal men and all things
Created make reply

To Thee before Thy passion
They sang their hymns of praise.
To Thee now high exalted
Our melody we raise.

All glory, laud and honour
To Thee, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

A meditation for 10 minutes
Sit comfortably, relax and be conscious of your gentle breathing. Read these words to yourself three times.
Matthew 23:37-39 New International Version (NIV)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

Continue to sit quietly. When distracting thoughts enter your mind, accept them, let them go and say to
yourself.
‘Lord have mercy’ or ‘Kyrie eleison’

Intercessions
We hold before God:
Those for whom life is very difficult.
Those who have difficult decisions to make and honestly do no know what to do
We hold before God:
Those who have difficult tasks to do and to face and who fear they may fail in them:
Those who have difficult temptations to face and know only too well that they may fall to them, if they try to
meet them alone.
Those who are disappointed not to be able to do the things which they had planned to do and were looking
forward to.
We hold before God:
Those who we know who are ill in mind or body.
Those who are sad because someone they love has died
We hold before God:
Thee doctors, nurses who care for us, the officials who guide us, the politicians who have to make difficult
decisions, all the people who care for us and keep us fed.

We remember each other by name and wish each other peace.
Maureen, Michael, Sarah, Pam, Pat, Phil ,Polly, Rita, Rosemary, Rosie, Sarah, Barry, Shirley, Sue, Sylvia, Tim
Ian, Gordon, Wendy, Graham, Hazel, Hilary, Isobel, Jan, Jenny, Jo, Judith, June ,Kay, Ken, Barbara, Leah,
Victor. Ann, Anne, Bill, Pauline, Catherine, Chris, Daniel, David, Iris, Diana, Dolly, Elizabeth, Geoff, Mairi, Anna
and all those known to us at St Mary’s and St Anne’s.
We remember our families and loved ones and commit them to your care.

Finally, we say on our separation from loved ones:
Give them peace to know I am unharmed.
Give them peace to know I will be with them again.
Give them patience to wait and courage to endure the waiting.
Give them strength so that they will not grow weary.

We say the Lord’s Prayer in the form that we are used to.
Our Father….

A Blessing
God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.
God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.
God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my soul,
God in my heart.
God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

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Sermon Palm Sunday Matthew 21v1-11 Humbled Revd. Chris Steed

Humbled! We have been humbled!
Humbled by a minute microbe that has taken us down. When I was growing up in the shadow of
the cold war, we thought it was missiles. Apocalyptic films were common about missiles taking
us down. But this is not a missile but a microbe – an invisible enemy so so small.
As Holy Week begins, we have two versions of power that will play out.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young
donkey. This day has been described by Christians for generations as the “triumphal entry into
Jerusalem.” But, have you ever asked yourself, “If this was a triumphal entry, then why did they
crucify Jesus at the end of the week?”
If this is such a glorious Sunday for all Christians, what goes wrong by Friday that Jesus will find
himself betrayed by one of his own disciples, arrested by the high priest’s guard, accused by a
coalition of religious leaders, tried by the Roman governor, and sentenced to die the death of a
common criminal—death by crucifixion.
Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem was not the only one that the people would have witnessed.
The governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate would have led a procession of Roman cavalry and
centurions into the city as it was standard practice for the Roman governor of a foreign territory
to be in its capital for religious celebrations. It was the beginning of Passover, a strange Jewish
festival that the Romans allowed. However, the Romans must have been aware that this festival
celebrated the liberation of the Jews from another empire, the empire of Egypt.
So, Pilate had to be in Jerusalem. Since the Romans had occupied this land by defeating the
Jews and deposing their king about 80 years before, uprisings were always in the air. And so on
this occasion, Pilate had travelled with a contingent of Rome’s finest from his preferred
headquarters in Caesarea-by-the-Sea, to the stuffy, crowded, provincial capital of the Jews.
The Temple would be the centre of Passover activity. Antonia’s Fortress, the Roman garrison
built adjacent to the Temple compound, would serve as a good vantage point from which to
keep an eye on the Jews. Pilate’s entry into Jerusalem was meant to send a message to the
Jews, and to those who might be plotting against the empire of Rome, a show of military might
and strength.
Jesus’ procession was meant to show the opposite. Matthew records Jesus’s own words, as he
instructs his disciples to go in to the city and find a donkey tied up. They are to ask the owner if
they may use the donkey, and they are to say that “the Lord needs them.”
Then, Jesus quotes from Zechariah, the 9th chapter –
Say to the Daughter of Zion,
“See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
There is more to this passage than just a description of Jesus’ means of transportation that
day. The prophet Zechariah is speaking to the nation, that God has not forgotten them
But, the king they seek will come to them humbly, not on warhorse but on a slow-moving
donkey, the symbol of a king who comes in peace, according to Zechariah.
The two processions could not be more different in the messages they convey. Pilate, leading
Roman centurions, asserts the power and might of the empire of Rome which crushes all who
oppose it. Jesus, riding on a young donkey, embodies the peace and tranquillity, the Shalom
that God brings to His people. A humble King.
Those who watch that day will make a choice. They will either serve the god of this world, might
and power; or they will choose to serve the king of a very different kind of kingdom.
Humbled for a season, to receive a name
from the lips of sinners unto whom he came;
faithfully he bore it spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious when from death he passed.
When the crowd on that Sunday, proclaimed, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” In other words,
they were placing their faith in Jesus that he would restore the glory of the nation to its
splendour when David and his son, Solomon, ruled a united kingdom.
That’s what the Jews wanted, after all. To be ruled by a man like David; prophets had
proclaimed that the coming Messiah would sit on the throne of his father, David. The Messiah
would bring back the glory of Israel, would rid the nation of oppressors, would rule benevolently,
and would be kind to the common people.
Jesus had challenged the rulers of Judea already. Not the Roman rulers, but the local
rulers. He had said to them that the Temple was not the only way to find God’s forgiveness; and
further, that the Temple would be destroyed, with not one stone left on another.
A contrast between kings and kingdoms was on display that day in Rome. And, although many
of the common people thought they sided with Jesus, they did so for the same reasons the
Pharisees and others sided with Rome. They thought Jesus could do for them what Rome had
done for their rulers—make their lives better, deliver them from the oppressive system under
which they lived and worked, and turn the tables on the Romans.
That’s why the crowd turns on Jesus by the end of the week. They don’t think he’s going to do
any of those things. And, in addition, Jesus is going to make life worse for them, not
better. Their religious leaders, all of them, who never agree on anything, agree that Jesus is
going to attract the attention of the Roman Empire, especially during Passover, and Rome will
come down fast and hard on the entire nation. (see Caiaphas’ speech in John 11:45-50)
So, when Jesus is accused, when he is brought by Pilate before the angry mobs, they want to
be rid of him. Jesus, in their minds, never did what they wanted him to do. He never defeated
the Romans, he never dissolved the unfair tax system, he never put common people in charge
of the government, and furthermore, he never would.
To appease the crowds that swelled the city of Jerusalem, Pilate had the custom of releasing
prisoners, many of whom were political prisoners. But on this last week in the life of Jesus,
Pilate offers the crowd a choice between Barabbas, a known robber, and Jesus, a failed
Messiah. Fearing that if Jesus were released, he would start all over again, the crowd begged
for Barabbas to be released, and for Jesus to be executed. And not just by any means, “Crucify
him” was the cry. Because crucifixion was the one form of capital punishment that would show
Rome the Jews were completely loyal, and would humiliate Jesus, even in death.
“If I had been in Jerusalem that day, and had seen both processions passing by, which would I
have chosen to follow?”
Because that is the choice we make each day. To choose power and might over love. To
choose “the way things are done” over “the way God intends them to be.”
We have been humbled.
Two processions. Two theologies. Two choices. Which would you choose? What kind of king
do you expect?
Let’s humble ourselves before the Servant King; the Humble King for him to raise us up

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Entry into Jerusalem

You are part of God. He talks like you.
One of the crowd, you shout 'Hosanna!'
watching Christ's donkey like the children do,
not understanding. It is still too far,
too far away on the green hill, the cross not yet
clothed in corpse flesh, and you haven’t asked,
'Why isn't God here now, to cast his net,
to catch our souls, blaze his light, masked
jailers and torturers exposed?' Palm fronds
have fallen. You pick one up. This Sunday
you carry it to church, two thousand years on.
And now you hear him, in your mind's ear, say,
“Wave your palm in triumph, for he dies upon the cross,
this man who rides through crowds, this king who’s all alone.
Wave farewell to this bright life and greet the dark of loss,
Wave, hopeless, godless, loveless till the rolling of the stone.”
Graham Norman 2020