This week’s Readings and Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
The Collect for This Week
God, the giver of life, whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church: by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ and make us eager to do your will, that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.. Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
God our Father, whose Son, the light unfailing, has come from heaven to deliver the world from the darkness of ignorance: let these holy mysteries open the eyes of our understanding that we may know the way of life, and walk in it without stumbling; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 99
1 The Lord is king: let the peoples tremble; he is enthroned above the cherubim: let the earth shake. 2 The Lord is great in Zion and high above all peoples. 3 Let them praise your name, which is great and awesome; the Lord our God is holy. 4 Mighty king, who loves justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before his footstool, for he is holy. 6 Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among those who call upon his name; they called upon the Lord and he answered them. 7 He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies and the law that he gave them. 8 You answered them, O Lord our God; you were a God who forgave them and pardoned them for their offences.9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 9, verses 1 to 13
1 David asked, ‘Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’ 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, ‘Are you Ziba?’ And he said, ‘At your service!’ 3 The king said, ‘Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?’ Ziba said to the king, ‘There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.’ 4 The king said to him, ‘Where is he?’ Ziba said to the king, ‘He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.’ 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’ He answered, ‘I am your servant.’ 7 David said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.’ 8 He did obeisance and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I am?’
9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba, and said to him, ‘All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. 10 You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and shall bring in the produce, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat; but your master’s grandson Mephibosheth shall always eat at my table.’ Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, ‘According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.’ Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The second reading for this Sunday is taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Thessalonians, Chapter 1, verses 1 to 10
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. 9 For the people of those regionsreport about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 22, verses 15 to 22
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Matthew Glory to You, o Lord
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ 21They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ
Note :All readings are shared from the Church of England Lectionary App and are subject to copyright . © The Archbishop’s Council
The sermon this week is delivered by Rev'd Chich Hewitt
In beginning this address today, I would like to thank John Prior for the for the initial story and for the reminder of the Old Testament text I am using today. John is a retired Baptist minister in this area, and spoke to our Torch fellowship group recently.
The story is relevant but unsettling. Years ago, a young man phoned his parents from another city to say he had been discharged from service in the Vietnam war. They were delighted to hear from him. He said he would be coming home soon, but could he bring a friend to stay. ‘Certainly’, was their response. He continued, ‘I need to warn you that he has lost an arm and a leg in conflict’. ‘That would be very difficult for us’, they said; ‘we are not getting any younger and have our own lives to live’. He put down the phone. A couple of weeks later the parents received news that their son had died. The distraught parents went to identify his body, and were told that this had been a suicide. When the parents arrived to identify their son, they found that he had lost an arm and a leg. I still find that story disturbing whenever I hear it or tell it, and cannot imagine what all of them would have gone through in this tragedy of war.
This incident is in marked contrast to the passage from our Old Testament reading for today, which we will come to in a moment. We are keeping this as Disability Sunday, for which there is no fixed date. There was a Sunday in September which the Church of England had suggested as being Disability Sunday, and then Torch Trust and Through the Roof, had also suggested particular Sundays. Each was different. But these organisations suggested that any Sunday around this time would be suitable according to local needs, and so we are marking the event today.
Disability is not really picked up as an issue in the Bible, although there are any number of incidents where people with disabilities have been healed through the ministry of Jesus, and later through Peter and Paul. In the Old Testament, it is possible that Moses had a speech impediment which he wanted to use as an excuse when God called him to ministry. God would have none of it and offered his brother Aaron to assist him. But there is this striking and little-read story which formed our reading for today, so let me set the scene.
Saul had been the first King of Israel and David had been in his service. Saul was jealous of all that David had achieved - so much so that there was eventually civil war between the two. Saul had a son, Jonathan, and it infuriated Saul that David and Jonathan had such a deep friendship. Finally, Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle with the Philistines. David, with skill and wisdom, wanted to remove the factions in Israel and so asked Saul’s supporters if there was anyone alive to whom he could show kindness. He was told that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth -but he was lame in both legs. We are told in an earlier chapter in 2 Samuel, that there had been a time of unrest in which a nurse, responsible for the 5 year old Mephibosheth had attempted to flee and in the process had dropped him. This suggested a spinal injury which had crippled him and with which he was now living in adulthood. Our reading today says twice, at the beginning and the end of the Chapter, that this young man was lame in both his feet.
David could have said that he did not want to be involved, but instead chose not only to assist him, but to offer him a place at the royal table. When David made this offer, Mephibosheth asked the King why he was interested in a ‘dead dog like me’. Nonetheless the offer held, and Mephibosheth had a seat at the Royal Table - and as the passage ends, ‘now Mephibosheth was lame in both his feet’. This is a far cry from the Vietnam story, and I suppose it could be argued that David had staff to deal with the situation, but he could have refused the offer. Here is an instance where a person with a disability had been fully accepted into a household, and the Royal household at that.
How is disability handled in the modern church? In some places quite well, and in others not well at all. That is probably true of the situation generally in society. Let me say immediately that I speak as someone still learning and not as an expert. I remember well in my first parish where we had a hearing loop and where I requested a wheelchair ramp - at that stage one that had to be assembled each time the church was opened. I thought then we had done all that was required. We had a news sheet with lots of information, and so I reduced the font, never thinking about who might not be able to read it, until I couldn’t.
In this area we are all on a journey. On a positive note, in the last couple of years when I have been involved in training sessions for new curates, participants have been receptive, as well as coming with awareness of issues. Most knew of friends or family members with disabilities, and a few had disabilities of their own. This is positive for the future of the church where disability remains a kind of cinderella issue. Many have engaged with issues of race, gender and sexuality, but disability is often low on a list where church leaders grapple with issues like membership, finance, building repairs.
Until recently I served on the Disability Task Group in our Diocese, and it has had its frustrations. It was often hard to motivate any kind of interest when other matters seemed to be of greater importance. The issue usually came to the fore in situations where a family member or church member presented with a disability.
Our involvement as members required study and reading as well as networking and this has been of real benefit. There are other dioceses and neighbouring denominations also wrestling with this subject. John Beauchamp is disability officer in the London Diocese and is blind. He has brought together a zoom group of clergy in the UK and I look forward to these sessions when they happen. But they are often personally driven rather than being official.
Disability is wide-ranging and relates not only to mobility, sight and hearing loss, but also to dyslexia, autism, and learning difficulties to name a few.
A recent book ‘At the Gates’ by Naomi Lawson-Jacobs and Emily Richardson presents awful stories of rejection, such as ramps leadings to locked doors, disabled toilets used as store rooms and so on. At the start of this week, Gill and I went to hear Naomi give a presentation in Leeds which was detailed and stimulating. Another work which has come out is ‘Belonging without Barriers’ where my story is recounted through the action of the charity Through the Roof. We have also been to hear a lecture at Manchester Cathedral from Canon Timothy Goode, with mobility issues, who has written’Breaking not Broken’ a book on how the church, through the ages, has focussed on perfection, for instance in physical design. That is, steps leading up to the altar, indicating ascendancy to God, who is “up there”. Until recently, ordinands in the Roman Catholic Church could not be accepted for training with any major disability, and in other denominations other obstacles presented themselves. But there are places where good things happen, and I know a church not that far away where a young woman with Down’s Syndrome not only serves at the altar but instructs members in using sign language while leading the Lord’s Prayer.
There is also a broader range of literature including Nancy Eiesland’s The Disabled God, as well as work by John Swinton. He began life as a registered nurse, but is now a leading academic on the subject of disability at Aberdeen University. Then there is great material from the late John Hull who taught Pastoral Theology at Birmingham University, while living with sight loss.
All are, or should be welcomed as fully participating members of a church community. The ABC model from Through The Roof is useful. Acceptance is at the beginning, but needs to go further; next is Belonging. As John Swinton put it, ‘To be included you just need to be present; to belong you need to be missed’. Finally there is Commissioning, where the gifts of a person are fully recognised and put to effect. This week Naomi Lawson Jacobs made reference to these words, that ‘disability should not be viewed as a pastoral problem but as a prophetic presence’.
I end by going back to the story of Mephibosheth who dined at the King’s table. This is a foretaste of the New Testament, where what Jesus said, and what John said in the Book of Revelation, was that there will be a feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. As Mephibosheth was granted a place at the king’s table, we can be certain that nobody will be denied a place at that heavenly banquet, on account of their disability.
Amen.
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