The week in focus

Connecting to the world right now

Three new resources, published each week - helping you connect the Bible passages with what's happening in the world right now.

In touch

Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Praying for the lost

I am asking…on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. (John 17.9)

Context

• My birthplace – Teddington, Middlesex – was unusually in the news when a juvenile whale became lost and distressed in the Thames lock.
• The domestic football season is coming to an end with relegation issues being settled across the top four divisions. There was drama in a winner takes all game, while elsewhere what had seemed inevitable finally became reality,
• Tracy Brabin was elected Mayor of West Yorkshire, causing a by-election for her parliamentary seat of Batley and Spen, which she had herself won in a by-election following the murder of Jo Cox.
• There will need to be a re-run of the poll to determine the Police and Crime Commissioner for Swindon and Wiltshire as the winner, Jonathan Seed, was ineligible for the office.
• The Prime Minister of Nepal took the unusual step of writing a plea for help that was published in a British newspaper.
• Mental Health Awareness week is ending this weekend, but one positive effect of the last year has been a generally heightened awareness of the importance of good mental health.

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

• The water in the River Thames is cleaner now than it has been for 200 years. Fish and other aquatic creatures can live quite happily in the heart of the city of London. Even seals sometimes venture upstream to London. The downside is that whales can become disorientated and beached. A minke whale got stuck in rollers at Richmond lock and having been freed from there got caught again at Teddington lock. It had become injured and distressed and the decision was made to euthanise it. Perhaps it is easier to recognise signs of distress and being lost in a whale than it is in a friend or colleague, but being lost can be equally fatal in human beings. An acute sense of direction is not a gift given to all, and everyone on occasion gets lost.

• ‘The strife is o’er, the battle done.’ For Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday ‘the strife is o’er’ – one team having stayed in the Championship for another season while the other is relegated to League One. It is doubtful whether West Bromwich Albion’s manager, Sam Allardyce will have Grantland Rice’s words ringing in his ears:

‘For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes - not that you won or lost -
But how you played the Game.’ 

• The ill-fated football Super League partly foundered on the premise that there would be no promotion or relegation – in other words no ultimate jeopardy in losing. Winning is important in sport, but so is losing and knowing how to lose.

• The results of the elections threw up the need for a couple of byelections. Tracy Brabin’s victory made her ineligible to hold her seat in the House of Commons and Jonathan Seed’s drink driving conviction from 28 year ago made him ineligible to take up the post of Police and Crime Commissioner for Swindon and Wiltshire to which he had been elected. Our reading this week from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the election of Matthias in a ‘byelection’ to replace Judas. It would be wrong to equate either Ms Brabin’s or Mr Seed’s need to stand down with the need to replace Judas as one of the Twelve. However, it reminds us that the Holy Spirit can work through something as seemingly mundane as our casting a vote in a ballot box.

• The Acts of the Apostles changes its language from 3rd person plural to 2nd person plural after Paul and his companions travelled from Asia to Macedonia. This followed Paul hearing a man from Macedonia calling to them, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ [Acts 16:9] The plea of KP Sharma Oli, the Prime Minister of Nepal, for the UK to help his people in their battle against the Covid pandemic, echoes the call of the man from Macedonia – ‘We need your help!’ This politician recognises that he cannot on his own protect the people in his care, as Jesus asked his Father to protect those placed in his care.

Questions for discussion

• What do you feel about the idea of ‘winning people for Christ’? Is there still a place for language about winning, losing and being lost when it comes to speaking about the Gospel?
• It feels like there was more coverage about the stranded whale than there was about the new born child found dead in a London canal. Do we care more for the plight of a lost mammal than we do for human beings in need?
• We hear frequent talk of ‘until we are all safe, no one is safe’. Is there a tension between this statement and the safety instructions on an aeroplane about put on your oxygen mask before checking on other people?

Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film, sport and US politics.

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

Has your church started meeting in its building again? Have online services stopped, or will they continue alongside the live gatherings?  Is your Christian Union at school running? How do these changes affect the way that you pray?

When the schools were closed, young people of all ages had to learn how to motivate themselves to study. Without the prompting of teachers, many found this hard. Does an active prayer life require similar encouragement to schoolwork?

As patterns of worship have changed during the pandemic, we’ve had to change the way we pray. Some of these changes may have been really tough, but perhaps also rewarding. Other changes may have been easier, but as we progress through the government’s roadmap, do we really want to go back to the way things used to be?

Have you tried new ways of praying as a result of the various lockdowns? If you have, have you found this experience refreshing/rewarding/difficult? Think/talk about whether there are ways of praying that you’d like to carry on practising. What has been helpful and why? Think, as well, about the types of prayer that you’ve missed and talk about whether returning to live services might help you to reengage with them.

You might want to check out OMG! a book of prayers written for teenagers, by teenagers to help you in your prayer life.

Joel Denno is a licensed lay minister serving in the Benefice of Old Marston and Elsfield, in the Diocese of Oxford. He enjoys teaching the Bible and discussing the Sunday readings with the church youth group, Pulse.

Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by ROOTS for Churches Ltd.

The week in focus is also available via Twitter and facebook.

ROOTS publishes weekly lectionary-based worship and learning resources online and in two magazines. FIND OUT MORE.