Genesis 18.20-32; Colossians 2, 6-19;Luke 11.1-13

A mother had been teaching her three-year-old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord’s Prayer. For several evenings at bedtime, Caitlin would repeat after her mother the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided she could manage without her mother’s help.

She did really well, and got through the prayer word perfect, until she reached a certain phrase: “Lead us not into temptation,” she prayed. She continued “but deliver us some E-mail. Amen.”

There are other stories about children not quite understanding what they were praying. Here are some more - whether real or apocryphal I’m not sure -

“Give us this steak and daily bread, and forgive us our mattresses.”
 
“Our Father, who are in Heaven, Howard be thy name.”

“Our Father, who art in Heaven, how didja know my name?”

“Give us this day our jelly bread.”

But all these raise the questions about whether we really know what we are praying when we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

People get uptight about which version to use; neither of the two most used versions, of course, are the exact words of Jesus, but we tend to become quite passionate about the words with which we are most familiar, and I know that some people become really quite upset or annoyed when what we have come to know as the traditional form is not used.

Words are important for people, I know, but we mustn’t become so hung up on which version we use that we pay no attention to what it is that we are praying. It’s all too easy to rattle off the words we say without really thinking about what we are saying.

It’s a problem that has been around for many years. St Benedict was on a journey on horseback. He passed a peasant walking on the road.

“You’ve got an easy job,” the peasant said to Benedict. “If I became a man of prayer, I too could travel around on horseback.”

“You think praying is easy,” replied the saint. “If you can say one ‘Our Father’ without any distraction, you can have my horse.”

“It’s a bargain,” said the peasant. And he closed his eyes and began: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come . . .”
He stopped suddenly and look up “Can I have the saddle and bridle too?” Benedict got to keep his horse.

When we know a prayer so well, it’s easy to become distracted from it.

So, lets’ think a bit about what we are praying. Luke’s version is shorter than the one we find in Matthew. Prayer in Luke’s Gospel is very important. At key moments in Jesus’s life, we see him praying.

He was praying following his baptism when the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove. He prayed in the wilderness for 40 days before his ministry began. At various point, we’re told he withdraws to a deserted place to pray. He prays before he chooses the Twelve disciples. He is praying at the time of the Transfiguration. He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and even on the cross itself.

Prayer underpins all that he does. So it’s not surprising that the disciples, who have observed this, ask him for help with their praying. How do we pray? They want to know. Teach us.

Father - Abba - Daddy. Prayer is first and foremost about a relationship with God. This prayer starts in that place. There’s been considerable debate about whether Jesus intended to teach his disciples a specific prayer or whether his words were intended to be a pattern for prayer. Many people use it in both ways.

It’s all too easy to see prayer as asking God for things - make Mummy better, don’t let it rain today, and so on - but, if we look at this pattern of prayer, nowhere is that type of prayer found. There is no intercession. That comes later but it’s worth noting here.

The start of the prayer is about relationship with God, and it is through prayer that this relationship grows and deepens. Jesus constantly paid attention to his relationship with God the Father through prayer.

It is God’s name that is to be hallowed - made holy. So often we want to put ourselves at the centre of our world and of our prayers, but Jesus’s prayer is always directed at God. God’s holy name - we think of the echoes of the Ten Commandments - do not take the Lord’s name in vain.

We think of the fact that God doesn’t tell Moses his name; all he gives is I am who I am, which later the Israelites use as a name for God - Yahweh. We think of the holy and mighty God we see in Isaiah’s vision in the temple - God’s train fills the temple and angels cry holy, holy.

In antiquity a name meant far more than it does today. A name was taken as summing up a person’s character. Going back to God’s name and what he told Moses - any name would have signified a limitation of God; only the words I am who I am would enable God’s character not to be shrunk. The holiness of God is not something to be taken lightly.

And the next bit of the prayer again focuses on God and God’s will. Your kingdom come. It is God’s kingdom we seek, not our own. It’s all too easy to mis-use power to build up our own little kingdoms whether they are at home, at work, in our families, or somewhere else. It’s an all-too common trap for clergy and ministers to make their churches their kingdoms rather than God’s.

But what we do we mean when we pray for God’s kingdom? God’s kingdom is a place of mercy and justice, of liberation, of giving the least honoured people in the world an honoured place.

God’s kingdom is a place where no one goes hungry, where enemies dwell together as friends. The coming of God’s kingdom sums up the whole of Jesus’s life and message. But again at the heart is God. For that kingdom to truly come, God needs to be at the heart of our lives too.

Give us each day our daily bread. The verb form used implies that we are asking God to keep giving us our bread every day, a continuous action, though the word translated ‘daily’ is rather obscure and no one is entirely sure that that is the correct translation. It’s about what we need in order to live. Jesus’s prayer is not asking for the superficial extras, but for what we need. But more than that, this part of the prayer is recognising our dependence on God for our needs.

It’s something that is so often forgotten in this materialistic world in which we live. There is an enormous difference between what we need and what we want.This prayer recognises that God is the source of all that we need. It’s a recognition that without God, we would have nothing.

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. Forgiveness has always been at the heart of God’s good news. If we expect God to forgive us, then we too are expected to offer that same forgiveness to others. There’s nowhere that says it’s an easy thing to do. It wasn’t easy for God, either, and led to his letting go of his Son in order to bring about our forgiveness. 

A lack of forgiveness causes resentment, bitterness, anger. A lack of forgiveness leads to the opposite of liberation as we become bound up with the wrong that has been done to us. A lack of forgiveness binds both the one who has done wrong and the one who is wronged.

Our forgiveness springs from the grace of God, not from anything we can do to earn it - we are called to imitate that in our lives.

Do not bring us to the time of trial. Exactly what this line means is debated. Some think it refers to the end times, when there will be great disruption before God achieves the final victory; others think that the translation should be more along the lines of do not test us, O God. That raises all sorts of questions about if and how God does test us.

Lead us not into temptation is the translation we are probably most familiar with. But even what we mean by that is debateable. Do we mean “don’t allow any temptations to get in our way” or do we mean “don’t let us fall when we are being tested”?

I’ll leave you to think about that one for yourselves.

We’ll be using words based on this prayer of Jesus later in our service. Let us pledge ourselves now to think about what we are saying when we pray it today not just to rattle it off without thinking.

Sunday 29th July
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Buckland

Monday 30th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 31st July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 1st August
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley

Thursday 2nd August
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
10.45 a.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway
7.30 p.m.  Wedding rehearsal, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Friday 3rd August
1.00 p.m.  Marriage of John Warr and Gwen Parsons, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
 
Saturday 4th August
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 5th August
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + baptism of Alexander Mahon
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Saturday 11th August
all day  Art Expression Day, Prayer and Painting at Old Westfield, Barley

Sunday 12th August
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion + baptism of Poppy Swain, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong for Patronal Festival, St Mary’s, Reed

Wednesday 15th August
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Fern Cottage, Therfield

Genesis 18.1-10a; Colossians 1.15-28; Luke 10.38-42

I love the story of Mary and Martha. I think the main reason is that I seem to spend my life racing around doing things like Martha, with never enough time to stop and sit at Jesus’s feet. Like Martha, I find it frustrating that there is always work to be done, and never enough time to spend in prayer.

I love Jesus’s response to Martha. He is telling her she has got it wrong, but he does it in such a gentle way - “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.”

I wonder what happened after the point at which our story ended this morning. Did Martha relax and join her sister at Jesus’s feet, once he had assured her that there was something more important than a meal at this moment? Did she storm back into the kitchen and stomp around angrily, because Jesus appeared to be praising Mary more than her? Did she perhaps burst into tears and retreat because she knew deep down that Jesus was right, but her pride wouldn’t let her admit? We just don’t know.

But we do know that it wasn’t only Mary who had faith. In John’s Gospel, we see Martha again, at the time of her brother Lazarus’s death. There she expresses her belief in Jesus quite clearly.

So we are not talking about a contrast between faith and not faith; we are talking about different attitudes of people who do trust Jesus.

And Jesus can’t be saying you must spend all day sitting at my feet. If we had heard last week the normal lectionary readings, rather than the ones for St Margaret, we would have heard the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus’s instructions at the end of that were to “Go and do likewise,” to go and be good neighbours to others. It’s hard to be a good neighbour when you’re sitting around at Jesus’s feet. And the week before we heard the story of Jesus sending out the 70 to go and tell people that the kingdom was near.

So, there has to be a balance between time for sitting at Jesus’s feet and time for serving him in practical ways.

I think where Martha had really gone wrong was in not recognising the moment. There was nothing wrong in itself about wishing to offer hospitality to Jesus. After all, he had told the disciples he sent out to accept hospitality where it was offered and to pass on through towns and villages where it was not.

In being so caught up with preparing a meal for Jesus, she had left behind the ability to treasure the time spent with him.

Sometimes time spent with Jesus has to take priority over daily tasks. Martha had not grasped that at this point it was time with Jesus that was more important than a meal on the table.

It’s comforting to know that stress is not confined to the 21st century, but that the tension between work and refreshment was, even then, not always straightforward.

We’re very good on the whole at doing the Martha bit, racing around feeding our families or friends, going to work, coming home again, chauffeuring the children and so on. And there’s nothing wrong with those things in themselves. Where we get it wrong though, too, like Martha, is that so often we fail to recognise the time when we should stop and join Mary at the feet of Jesus.

Let’s think about how we approach worship each Sunday. Do we prepare for it calmly, slowing down, giving ourselves some space before we worship so that we can concentrate and centre ourselves on God?

Or are we in such a rush on a Sunday morning that we’re racing around, worried we’re going to be late, distracted by whether we’ve prepared our Sunday lunch or not, and end up arriving in church hassled and distracted from worship so that it takes half the service for us to begin even thinking about God?

When we arrive at church, do we spend time in the pew before the service begins calmly preparing ourselves for worship? Or are we racing around trying to find out whether we’re reading today or laying up the altar, because however early we arrived at church, somehow time runs out and we’ve only got five minutes before we start?

Often for those with a role in the service, the quiet preparation time needs to take place earlier. I find, not surprisingly, that the services I feel most ready for are the 9 o’clock ones or the 10.30s where they are the first service of the day, because I’m not rushing in having already led worship elsewhere.

Is our Sunday worship our main priority? Or does worship get pushed out altogether because we’ve friends coming to lunch so we need to make a decent meal for them? Or because we’ve had a party the night before and we need to clear up? Or the garden is such a tip and it’s going to rain later so we really must mow the lawn?

It’s about not missing the moment. Because when we do miss the moment, our lives push out space for God. When we, as we all do, constantly give in to life’s demands and expectations, struggling to say no, we push out God.

Martha was pushing out space for Jesus. He hadn’t much longer to live; she wasn’t going to have that moment again when Jesus was in her house, giving his attention to her - or rather to Mary because Martha was in the kitchen.

We’re a society that loves busy-ness and hates silence. We’re a people who love to proclaim how busy we are but who struggle to make time for prayer. 

As I was reflecting on what I would say in this sermon, a friend sent me one of those e-mails that do the rounds. Normally I glance at them quickly and either delete them or leave them in my in-box in case they might come in handy in the future. Some of them make me laugh; some of them are tacky beyond belief, particularly the religious ones; but the one I received this week, though a bit slushy seemed to fit very well with the story of Mary and Martha, and for that reason I will share it with you.

Unfortunately we don’t have Power Point so I can’t show you the beautiful images of God’s creation that went with it. Almost more than the words, they made me realise that this e-mail was worth taking the time and space to read.

Here we go:

“I dreamed I had an interview with God.

‘So, you would like to interview me,’ God asked.

‘If you have time,’ I said.

God smiled. ‘My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?’

‘What surprises you most about humankind?’

God answered
o ’that they get bored with childhood, they rush to grow up and then long to be children again.
o that they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health
o that by thinking anxiously about the future they forget the present, such that they live in neither the present nor the future
o that they live as if they will never die and die as though they never lived.’

God’s hand took mine and we were silent for a while.

And then I asked, ‘As a parent what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?’

o ’to learn they cannot make anyone love them, all they can do is let them be loved
o to learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others
o to learn to forgive by practising forgiveness
o to learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in those they love and it can take many years to heal them
o to learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most but is the one who needs the least
o to learn that there are people who love them dearly but simply do not yet know how to express or show their feelings
o to learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it differently
o to learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves.’

‘Thank you for your time,’ I said humbly. ‘Is there anything else you’d like your children to know?’

God smiled and said: ‘Just know that I am here. Always.’

Martha didn’t take the space to receive Jesus’s love at that point; she compared herself with Mary and became jealous. She missed the treasure that was hers because she was too busy at the wrong moment.

I hope that we too don’t miss treasured moments with God because we are too busy at the wrong moment.

Song of Solomon 3.1-4; 2 Corinthians 5.14-17; John 20.1-2, 11-18

“In our busy and self-centred lives, we so easily neglect to notice the ever-present company of God. We keep our heads down, and our eyes metaphorically shut. We become irritated by our colleagues and friends, and by the petty frustrations of daily life. Yet how much more profitable, peaceable, and happy might our lives be if we truly beheld the presence of God in the daily routine. And how much more effective would our witness be, if we truly allowed God to strengthen our hands to do his will.

“At dawn on Easter Day, Mary was too bowed down by her grief and her limited vision to realise that the Son of God was standing before her. It was God himself who opened her eyes to see him; God who gave her back hope, and who entrusted her with his message.”

That was a quotation from last week’s Church Times. The author Eleanor Rance is talking about a specific prayer she has chosen as a favourite, but how appropriate her words are for our celebration today of Mary Magdalene, for she points out that that which we all need to be reminded of from time to time, that we become so involved in our own lives that we lose sight of God.

We can imagine Mary in the garden, aware that someone has approached her, but not lifting her bowed head to see who it is that is speaking to her. In her grief, she remains, weeping, assuming that the person who has found her must be a gardener. After all, she’s in a garden, and it might seem natural that, if one of those who looked after the garden, spotted a woman crying they would go and ask her, if she was all right.

“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
She can’t bear to be parted from him, can’t bear the thought that his body might be somewhere where it might come to harm. But Jesus doesn’t give her the answer she is expecting. He just says her name: “Mary.”

There must have been something in the way that he addressed her, using her name, that alerted her to the fact that this was Jesus himself, speaking to her, and not some gardener.

And even more when she knows who it is does she want to cling on and hold him to herself, just in case he might disappear again.

I wonder how we approach worship on a Sunday morning, our special time dedicated to Jesus. Do we prepare for it calmly, slowing down, giving ourselves some space before we worship so that we can concentrate and centre ourselves on God?

Or are we in such a rush on a Sunday morning that we’re racing around, worried we’re going to be late, distracted by whether we’ve prepared our Sunday lunch or not, and end up arriving in church hassled and distracted from worship so that it takes half the service for us to begin even thinking about God?

When we arrive at church, do we spend time in the pew before the service begins calmly preparing ourselves for worship? Or are we racing around trying to find out whether we’re reading today or laying up the altar, because however early we arrived at church, somehow time runs out and we’ve only got five minutes before we start?

Often for those with a role in the service, the quiet preparation time needs to take place earlier. I find, not surprisingly, that the services I feel most ready for are the 9 o’clock ones or the 10.30s where they are the first service of the day, because I’m not rushing in having already led worship elsewhere.

Is our Sunday worship our main priority? Or does worship get pushed out altogether because we’ve friends coming to lunch so we need to make a decent meal for them? Or because we’ve had a party the night before and we need to clear up? Or the garden is such a tip and it’s going to rain later so we really must mow the lawn?

It’s so easy to lose sight of Jesus, because we become bound up in our busy-ness and concerns of life, in the same way that Mary became bound up in her grief.

The moment won’t last. Mary couldn’t hang on to Jesus, she couldn’t cling on to him, for he had work for her to do. She could have missed the moment by not recognising the call of Jesus in the way he said her name, but she didn’t.

We too are often in danger of missing the moment. It’s a danger because when we do miss the moment, our lives push out space for God. When we, as we all do, constantly give in to life’s demands and expectations, struggling to say no, we push out God.

Mary Magdalene, until she heard Jesus say her name, was pushing out space for Jesus. He hadn’t much longer on this earth before he ascended to his father; she wasn’t going to have that moment again when Jesus was with her by the empty tomb.

We’re a society that loves busy-ness and hates silence. We’re people who love to proclaim how busy we are but who struggle to make time for prayer. 

Sometimes we need to stop and stay still. Mary encountered Jesus because, in spite of her grief which blinded her to his approach, she had stayed at the tomb. The part of the story that was cut this morning was Peter and the other disciple’s arrival; their discovery of the wrappings in the tomb and then their rushing off again. It’s only when we know that, that the “but” makes sense in the sentence “But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.”

Mary’s staying is contrasted with the disciples’ going.

Jesus’s words lifted Mary from her grief. But she had to learn to live without his physical presence. It’s much easier to spend time with someone who is physically present to us. Her time with him was limited, because he then sent her off to his disciples with a message.

There are times when we too are sent to do God’s work, but there are times too when we need to allow God to open our eyes to his presence, times when we need to stand still and allow that call to come.

God’s time is eternity, but ours slips away too fast. We won’t get another chance to stop and marvel at the wonders of God’s creation. We won’t get another chance for the conversation with God we’ve been meaning to have for a long time.

I received this week one of those e-mails that gets sent around from person to person. I usually glance at them quickly and either delete them or leave them in my in-box in case they might be handy in the future.

Some of them make me laugh; some of them are tacky beyond belief, particularly some of the religious ones. The one I received this week was a bit slushy, but it also had an important message.

The scene is someone interviewing God. The first question he asked is “What surprises you most about humankind?” The second: “As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?” God answered both questions.

God ended the second answer, and the interviewer asked a final question: “Is there anything else you’d like your children to know?”

God smiled and said: “Just know that I am here. Always.”

Jesus’s “Mary” told her that he was there. She couldn’t cling on to him, for he had to return to his Father. We know that without that return the Holy Spirit, the presence of God among us, would never have been released.

Because Mary let go, the Spirit was able to come. It is through the Holy Spirit that we are able to know that God is here. Always.

Let us lift our eyes from our own concerns so that we claim that promise for ourselves and are aware of the presence of God with us, as Mary became aware of the risen Christ in the garden.

Sunday 22nd July
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Patronal Festival Sung Eucharist + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
3.00 p.m. A Woman’s Touch - Concert by Ros Holbrow, John Witchell and Danielle Young, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, and cream tea.

Monday 23rd July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 24th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 25th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 26th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 28th July
 
Saturday 28th July
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
11.00 a.m. Baptism of Sam, Archie and George Morgan, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 29th July
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Buckland

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Wednesday 1st August
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley

Thursday 2nd August
10.45 a.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway
5.00 p.m.  Wedding rehearsal, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Friday 3rd August
1.00 p.m.  Marriage of John Warr and Gwen Parsons, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Sunday 5th August
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + baptism of Alexander Mahon
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Saturday 11th August
all day  Art Expression Day, Prayer and Painting at Old Westfield, Barley

Sunday 15th July
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + baptism of Evie Smith, St Mary’s, Reed
4.00 p.m. Patronal Festival Service and dragon-themed tea, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 16th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
7.00 p.m. Barley Church Times study group
7.30 p.m. Deanery Chapter supper, Buntingford

Tuesday 17th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
6.00 p.m. Barley VC First School Leavers’ Concert, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Wednesday 18th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.30 p.m. Deanery Pastoral and Standing Committee meeting
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Aylwins, Roe Green

Thursday 19th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed
10 a.m. Barkway VA First School End-of-term Event
7.45 p.m. Archdeaconry Budgetary Presentation, St Andrew’s, Hertford

Friday 20th July
 
Saturday 21st July
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
11.00 a.m. Interment of ashes, Barley churchyard

Sunday 22nd July
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Patronal Festival Sung Eucharist + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
3.00 p.m. A Woman’s Touch - Concert by Ros Holbrow, John Witchell and Danielle Young, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, and cream tea.

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Saturday 28th July
11.00 a.m. Baptism of Sam, Archie and George Morgan, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 29th July
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Holy Communion, St Andrew’s, Buckland

Wednesday 1st August
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley

Thursday 2nd August
10.45 a.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway

Deuteronomy 30-9-14; Colossians 1.1-14; Luke 10.25-37

It’s a very well known story. What else is there to say about the Good Samaritan? Those of us here this morning have probably been familiar with this story for a very long time. And that’s one of the difficulties with it.

When we know something very well, we often feel that there is little more to learn from it. If we’re reading it, we might find ourselves skimming it rather than reading it word for word. If we’re listening to it read, we might find our minds wandering because we know what the outcome of the story is.

We know that the man is going to be attacked on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

We know that the holy men, the priest and the Levite, are going to ignore him. We know that the baddie in the story - the Samaritan - is going to turn out good.

But there are some things that we might not notice either because of our familiarity.

The lawyer asks Jesus a question to which he already knows the answer. But we’re told he’s testing Jesus, presumably in the hope of catching him out, trying to make him say something that will get him in trouble. But, as so often, Jesus turns the question back: what is written in the law? Jesus is pointing out to the lawyer the blindingly obvious. You know the answer, he is saying.

And, of course, he does - as we all do. To receive eternal life, we must love God and love our neighbour - simple, straightforward.

But sometimes the most simple things are also the most profound. Loving God and loving our neighbour couldn’t be more straightforward, until we try to live it out.

The lawyer wants to justify himself. He wants to prove to Jesus that he’s a good Jew, that he does indeed keep the law, and that he will therefore qualify for eternal life. So he asks the question - who is my neighbour? - expecting in return from Jesus a list of people who are included in that designation.

I suspect the answer he wanted was people like you. Good Jewish people who keep the law and don’t rock the boat. He certainly wouldn’t want the answer to include those whom the Jewish people saw as unclean or as their enemies. The divide between Jew and Gentile was great. If the Jews were to remain pure, that divide needed to stay in place.

But, as so often with Jesus, the answer the lawyer wanted was not the one he got. Instead of a list of acceptable neighbours and those who were not, Jesus told a story: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho . . .”

Often those who hear this story assume that Jesus is saying - everyone is my neighbour, even those people whom I hate. But, if we look more carefully, we see that the neighbour in the story is not the injured man, the one in need, but the one who offers help. So often this story is interpreted that the one in need is the neighbour to whom we most show love. And, of course, that’s an important message. But . . .

“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said: “The one who showed him mercy.”

The neighbour in this instance is the Samaritan, the one who showed love, not the one who received it. 

The Levite and the priest were not good neighbours. They were blinded to the need of the wounded man. So caught up were they in their own concerns, in their not wanting to get involved, in their desire to stay pure, that, though they noticed the man, they passed on by. Their many rules and regulations would not have let them touch the injured traveller, just in case he was not a Jew - of course, there was no way of telling since the man had no clothes on by this point. They didn’t know who he was.

But, if there was a possibility that he might contaminate them, either because he was not Jewish or because he was dead, they had to avoid him at all costs. If a priest touched something unclean, he would lose his entitlement to tithes and so put his well-being and that of his family at risk. Priests had to remain ritually clean; the process to restore this cleanliness was time-consuming and expensive, so it really wasn’t worth risking that.

The true neighbour was the Samaritan. We miss the impact of what that means, because the word Samaritan does not induce in us the same horror it would have done in the lawyer’s mind. But we have equivalents which will make this story powerful again. Perhaps, knowing that the man who was attacked was Jewish, putting a Nazi in the role of Samaritan might cause some impact.

A real-life Good Samaritan might be someone like Valentin Müller. Müller was the Nazi in charge of Assisi’s hospitals during the Occupation in the Second World War. He persuaded the authorities to declare Assisi a hospital city, which meant that the troops were kept out of the town and the fighting away from it.  He arranged for German troops to be evacuated so that the Allies wouldn’t be tempted to bomb Assisi. When they left, he arranged for large quantities of medicine to be left in Assisi for use by its resident, something that put him at risk of a severe punishment, but certainly an action that would be seen as one of a good neighbour. And he continued to visit Jewish homes long after any other doctor.

Perhaps today in 2007, the shock factor would be highest if we cast in the role of the Samaritan, a Muslim fundamentalist, maybe a member of Al-Qaeda.

To be a neighbour was to show compassion for others, not to be bound by laws and conventions, but to act in mercy and love. To be a neighbour was not about a clearly defined set of who was in and who was out. To be a neighbour was to show compassion to those in need.

The lawyer was after a straightforward answer - and in reality that is what he received. A neighbour is one who shows mercy.

Go and be a neighbour, Jesus was saying. Don’t worry about who the person is or where they’ve come from before you act as a neighbour. Don’t worry about whether you will be defiled before you become a neighbour. Don’t let yourself be blinded by your own concerns so that you are prevented from being a neighbour. Just go out and do likewise.

One very good example from this village of people acting as good neighbours was the way in which people cared for Nancy Tranter - visiting her, taking her shopping and to the doctors, helping her with finance and admin.-type stuff and so on. People giving of their time and skills and of themselves to be a neighbour to someone in need.

What, I wonder, prevents us from being a good neighbour? Are we blinded to the need around by our prejudices, by the boundaries we draw around ourselves about who it is and isn’t acceptable to help? What would have happened, if the Samaritan had seen the victim as a Jew rather than as a person in need of help?

Are we blinded by a lack of time that causes to be so busy that we don’t lift our eyes beyond our own busy lives? What would have happened, if the Samaritan had been too intent on reaching his destination in time to stop and help bandage up the wounded man and bathe his wounds in wine and oil and put him on his donkey and take him to an inn?

Are we blinded by a lack of generosity? What would have happened, if the Samaritan had not been generous enough to open his purse and pay the innkeeper and promise to make good any shortfall?

Are we blinded by our own shortsightedness? What would have happened, if the Samaritan had had the attitude that charity begins at home or that he was living a good life because he didn’t do anyone harm?

It takes honesty to face up to who we identify most with in the story, particularly if it’s one of the characters portrayed in a bad light, but Jesus’s commandment is clear: Go and do likewise.

Go and offer love to those in need. Keep your eyes open so that you are aware of where the need is. Open your purses to help those who have nothing. Be compassionate. Show mercy. Love God. Love your neighbour.

Isaiah 66.1-14; Galatians 6.7-16; Luke 10.1-11; 16-20 

It’s Harvest Festival in a small rural village church. The vicar is organising the annual harvest service. It’s a church where the congregation follows the tradition of bringing some of their produce to church with them to offer during the service.

People bring their home-grown plants and vegetables to the service. But this year is a bit different too. The village cricket team has just won its league, and the village is in celebratory mood, so the vicar decides to do something special and rather unusual - she will combine the normal harvest service with a cricket theme.

The day of the service arrives, and the church is filled with flowers. People bring their offerings of vegetables as usual, but in the middle of the display is a cricket wicket - a strip of turf with a set of wooden stumps at each end - and people place their offerings on the turf.

Everything is going fine, until one lady who doesn’t have a garden but still wishes to contribute to the Harvest thanksgiving comes up to the front of the church, and places a can of peas among the other vegetables. She is stopped by the vicar, so she returns to her seat, still clutching her peas.

The woman sitting next to her notices that she has returned with her tinned peas. “What happened?” she asked.

The first woman shrugged her shoulders, and said: “There’s no peas for the wicket.”

Harvest is about gathering in. When the time for the harvest of the kingdom of God comes, it will affect everyone - good or wicked, peas or no peas.

And people need to know that the time of harvest is coming. There is an urgency which Jesus wishes to instil into the 70 people he sends out. The mission has got bigger throughout Luke’s Gospel. In Luke chapter 8, Jesus himself goes through towns and villages; in chapter 9, the Twelve are sent out; now a larger group of disciples is being sent out.

They are to travel light, not encumbered by anything that might hold them back. They are to be reliant on God’s grace and people’s hospitality for their needs - no purse, no bag. They are not even to stop to say hello to people they meet on the road, because there is an urgent task to do. People must be told that the kingdom of heaven is drawing near.

If they are welcomed in, they are to receive the hospitality offered. The people are welcoming not just the disciples but also Jesus. But where a town is not welcoming, they are not to keep on trying, bullying them into offering hospitality, they are to move on and accept that some people reject God’s kingdom. That is their choice. In rejecting the disciples, we are told, they are rejecting Jesus too.

This urgency, this imperative to let people know that the kingdom is near and that they must be ready, is something that runs through the Gospels. There’s the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the guests who turn down invitations because they have other things to do, the teaching of Jesus and of John the Baptist - the coming kingdom is near.

It’s hard to understand in the same way just how that urgency is still there, because we are living 2000 years later, and obviously what they expected hasn’t yet happened. But the imperative to go out and share with people that the kingdom of heaven is coming remains.

Evangelism - sharing the good news about Jesus Christ and about the kingdom of God  - is what those 70 were doing. We all decry the fact that children are growing up without knowing about God, without having any experience of church, but who is going to tell them about God, if we don’t. We all wish that more people came to church Sunday by Sunday, but who is going to invite them, if we don’t?

It will always be their choice whether they respond or not. Many of us are reticent about sharing our faith. I’ve heard many people say things like - I can be a good Christian without coming to church - but the Bible is clear that as Christians we need each other.

People say that it’s too embarrassing to talk about faith - Jesus didn’t let that stop him, and over the years, if people hadn’t shared their faith with others, then they would not have come to know about God for themselves.

People see faith as a private matter - something between them and God - but again that’s not the picture we are given in our New Testament, where Christians’ lives were much more intertwined with each other than they are now.

People also lack confidence about their faith. This is partly because their own knowledge and understanding might not seem to be up to much, but that can soon change with some study and prayer.

One of the reasons why we don’t talk to others about our faith is because we are worried that they will reject what we have to say.  But look back at today’s Gospel reading - it’s not us whom they are rejecting but it’s Jesus; whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

There’s a story about two shoe salesmen, who worked for competing shoe companies. Both were sent to a new area where neither company already had any salesmen. Both men arrived with a supply of shoes, hoping that they would manage to sell lots.

When they arrived they both realised that this area was unlike any they had ever been to before. It was the custom of the people in that area to go barefoot all the time. No one wore shoes. As soon as they realised the situation both shoe salesman raced to e-mail their home office to alert them to the situation.

But their messages were quite different. One sent the message: “Don’t send any more shoes. No one here wears any.”

The other wired his office and said, “Send all the shoes you can. No one here has any.”

We could apply a similar thing to church - we can say “There’s no point in inviting so-and-so to church, they’re not churchgoers.”

Or we could think - “I’ve something to offer that I want to share. So-and-so doesn’t come to church, why don’t I invite them along?”

Of course, it’s not just about coming to church, it’s also about growing and developing faith, and putting one’s trust in Jesus, and helping people to see God at work already in the world around.

However, research has shown that often the believing follows a sense of belonging. Churches can become cliques of like-minded people that outsiders find it hard to penetrate. Churches can become inward-looking and fail to extend true hospitality. Those who come to church week by week forget that for those who don’t a service can be quite a daunting prospect - even following a service booklet, if you’re not used to it, can be a challenge.

So a challenge for us is how can we encourage people to feel they belong? How can we encourage people to feel that this church building is for them as well as us? How can we as a church offer hospitality to those who are not part of our congregation.

There’ll be lots of different ways in which we can do this in our various churches, but we do need to keep asking those questions.

Because at root what we are talking about is our love for God and our love for our neighbour - in action. The kingdom of heaven is about love - God’s love - we are called to reflect that in our lives.

Sunday 8th July
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 9th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Tuesday 10th July
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 11th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
1.30 p.m. Barley VC First School Sports’ Day

Thursday 12th July
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 13th July
 
Saturday 14th July
9.00 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
From 10 a.m. Barley Village Show

Sunday 15th July
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + baptism of Evie Smith, St Mary’s, Reed
4.00 p.m. Patronal Festival Service and dragon-themed tea, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 16th July
7.00 p.m. Barley Church Times study group
7.30 p.m. Deanery Chapter supper, Buntingford

Tuesday 17th July
6.00 p.m. Barley VC First School Leavers’ Concert, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Wednesday 18th July
7.30 p.m. Deanery Pastoral and Standing Committee meeting

Thursday 19th July
10 a.m. Barkway VA Frist School End-of-term Event
7.45 p.m. Archdeaconry Budgetary Presentation, St Andrew’s, Hertford

Sunday 22nd July
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Patronal Festival Sung Eucharist + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
3.00 p.m. A Woman’s Touch - Concert by Ros Holbrow, John Witchell and Danielle Young, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, and cream tea

1st July - Trinity 4
Barkway: Psalm 16; Galatians 5.1,13-25;Luke 9.51-62
Barley: 1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-21; Psalm 16; Galatians 5.1,13-25; Luke 9.51-62
Reed: 1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-21; Psalm 16; Galatians 5.1,13-25; Luke 9.51-62

8th July - Trinity 5
Barley: Isaiah 66.10-14; Psalm 66.1-8; Galatians 6.7-16; Luke 10.1-11,16-20

15th July - Trinity 6/St Margaret of Antioch
Barkway: Deuteronomy 30.9-14; Psalm 25.1-10; Colossians 1.1-14; Luke 10.25-37
Barley: Romans 8.35-39; John 12.24-26 (to be confirmed)
Reed: Deuteronomy 30.9-14; Psalm 25.1-10; Colossians 1.1-14; Luke 10.25-37

22nd July - Trinity 7/St Mary Magdalene
Barkway: Song of Solomon 3.1-4; Psalm 42.1-10; 2 Corinthians 5.14-17; John 20.1-2,11-18
Barley: Genesis 18.1-10a; Psalm 15; Colossians 1.15-28; Luke 10.38-42

29th July - Trinity 8
Buckland: Genesis 18.20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2.6-19; Luke 11.1-13

5th August - Trinity 9
Barkway: Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-23; Psalm 49.1-12; Luke 12.13-21
Barley: Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-23; Psalm 49.1-12; Colossians 3.1-11; Luke 12.13-21
Reed: Ecclesiastes 1.2,12-14; 2.18-23; Psalm 49.1-12; Colossians 3.1-11; Luke 12.13-21

12th August - Trinity 10/Blessed Virgin Mary
Barkway: Genesis 15.1-6; Psalm 33.12-22; Hebrews 11.1-3,8-16; Luke 12.32-40
Reed: Isaiah 61.1-10; Psalm 45.10-17; Luke 1.46-55

19th August - Trinity 11
Barkway: Jeremiah 23.23-29; Psalm 82; Hebrews 11.29-12.2; Luke 12.49-56
Barley: to be announced
Reed: Jeremiah 23.23-29; Psalm 82; Hebrews 11.29-12.2; Luke 12.49-56

26th August - Trinity 12
Barkway: Isaiah 58.9b-14; Psalm 103.1-8; Hebrews 12.18-29; Luke 13.10-17
Barley: Isaiah 58.9b-14; Psalm 103.1-8; Hebrews 12.18-29; Luke 13.10-17
Reed: Isaiah 58.9b-14; Psalm 103.1-8; Luke 13.10-17 (to be confirmed)

2nd September - Trinity 13
Barkway: Proverbs 25.6-7; Psalm 112; Luke 14.1,7-14
Barley: Hebrews 13.1-8,15-16; Luke 14.1,7-14
Reed: Proverbs 25.6-7; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13.1-8,15-16; Luke 14.1,7-14

9th September - Trinity 14
Barley: Deuteronomy 30.15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14.25-33

16th September - Trinity 15
Barley: to be announced
Reed: Exodus 32.7-14; Psalm 51.1-11; 1 Timothy 1.12-17; Luke 15.1-10

23rd September - Trinity 16
Barkway: Amos 8.4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2.1-7; Luke 16.1-13
Barley: Amos 8.4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2.1-7; Luke 16.1-13

30th September - Trinity 17
Barkway: to be announced
Barley: Amos 6.1a,4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6.6-19; Luke 16.19-31