Proper 7 (3)

Creator God, you are big, and we are small: help us to worship you. Lord Jesus Christ, you are perfect, and we get things wrong: help us to turn to you. Holy Spirit, you are powerful, and we are weak: help us to trust you.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

Goliath swaggered around, prepared to take on the world. He thought he could beat anyone, but he didn’t have God on his side. Forgive us, Lord, for the times we forget that you have our back; when we put our confidence in ourselves instead of you; when we bury our heads in the sand, hoping it will all go away. Forgive us for the times when we say empty words; when we put our trust in the wrong things; when we aren’t ready to take on a challenge; when we have to be nudged, rather than following willingly; when we have war and not peace on our minds. Amen.

Assurance of forgiveness

Forgiving God, it’s easy to feel daunted by how people, such as David, have responded to challenges. But you had their backs, and you have ours. With faith, hope and love, you make us ready to fight our battles. You forgive our past and our hesitations, doubts and inadequacies. You fill us with your confidence and make us whole. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those that trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,

Forever and ever Amen.

HYMN

(StF 486) Who would true valour see.

READING 1

1 Samuel 17: (1, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Epees Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah.

4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.[a] 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels[b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze gr-eaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.[c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.

8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground READING 2 Mark 4: 35-41

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

HYMN

(StF 238) Lead us, Heavenly Father lead us.

SERMON

We have all seen movies there is usually there is the baddy who holds the heroine, or the world to ransom then the hero appears and saves the day. It’s the plot of most action films we see.

But also in real life, time and time again there comes a person who comes along at the right moment, we may think of Winston Churchill, who better to lead the country at the time of war?

Others we may think of in a more passive way such as Rosa Parks who stood up for the mistreatment of black people in the USA.

There are some who seem to bring salvation to people but either have their own agenda or lose sight of what or who they were doing it for. Russia is a prime example, a seemingly good idea of equality for all people, which fails due to the people themselves.

In the Bible the people had decided that they didn’t want God to be their king, they wanted a king like all the other nations.

So, what happened? This great plan of the people soon turns out not to be the paradise they wanted.

This morning in 1 Samuel 17 it tells the story of three very different characters: Goliath, Saul and David. Let’s ask the same question about all three and notice how very different the answers are. The question is:

Who or what did they trust in?

We start with Goliath, he trusted in himself – he relied on his size, his armour and his shield-bearer. He depended on his strength. He reminds me of those people today and you will know them yourself, they say they are self-made and need no one, least of all God.

Saul is described as ‘dismayed and greatly afraid’, only had his age, his experience and his armour, and he knew that these were no match for Goliath.

He had lost sight of the God who called him to be king, he had failed to obey God when he previously spared Agag the King of the Amalekites, and the livestock when God told him to destroy all the people and livestock, and when Samuel called him out on this he blames his soldiers for taking the livestock, it may well have gone differently for him if he had thrown himself on the mercy of God.

We probably know someone who is happy to blame others and point the finger at everyone else rather than own up to their failure.

as He had lost sight of the God he had failed to obey him. And because of this disobedience he lost God’s blessing. Samuel tells Saul “ you have not kept the Command God gave you, Had you kept it. the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

Isn't that a lot like us we become impatient, do we fail to wait for God I think this reading tells us firstly not to panic, but to wait for God to act and not panic if things go wrong. the main thing is don’t rush into decisions in the heat of the moment, .

But when he saw how determined David was, he dressed him with his armour, just in case God wasn’t able to save him. It still shows his lack of trust in God.

So, what about David heard Goliath as he repeatedly called out to ‘the ranks of Israel’, and we can only guess about how he felt. But he said to Saul, ‘Let me go and fight this, Philistine.

From David’s view he saw that Goliath had defied the armies of the living God’. You see he immediately recognised that the battle was a spiritual one.

So, he didn’t trust in Saul’s armour but in his own familiar weapons – small stones and a sling – and trust in God.

Unlike Goliath and Saul, David trusted in God. But he also made use of his own God-given resources. We need to remember this sling is not like a catapult we had when we were young children, this was a weapon, and in the hands of an expert a deadly weapon.

So, we face the question what about us? Who or what do we trust in? What are our God-given resources, our gifts, talents and passions? What life lessons have we learnt, and what skills have we acquired? What might God be preparing us for? If we are ready and willing, there’s no limit to what God can do with us.

In today’s Gospel story, Jesus had been teaching all day so no doubt he was tired, he needed to get away for a little while, this morning the disciples don’t call on Jesus until they’ve tried everything and are desperate. Are we also like this?

If we’re honest, some of us mostly men are the same with printed instructions: we are over-confident about our ability to assemble the flat-pack furniture unaided, but eventually our frustration drives us back to the page.

As we look at the storm the disciples faced it is like human life. Storms of may blow about us, but it is not these exterior storms that pose the greatest danger.

It is the terrible things that can exist within us which can overwhelm us. The furious storm outside may be overwhelming but what is going on inside can pose the greater threat to our lives. Our only hope lies in conquering that wild enemy.

Unfortunately storms that rage within us can’t be cured by ourselves, it takes the power of God's love, in Jesus Christ.

He is our only hope of stilling the tempest that can harm our souls and cripple our lives.

That's what the disciples learned this day on the Sea of Galilee. They thought the danger lay outside the boat. They would soon learn the real danger lay within the boat, within their own hearts. In a word, they lacked faith. And without faith their lives were at risk to the storms which would inevitably come. And come they did and come they will. So, what can we learn from this boat ride in the storm?

1. Storms Come Suddenly.

Storms can come out of the blue, real and personal, they can be overwhelming.

2. Storms Can Make You Lose Direction.

If you have ever been lost in a blizzard where you have no idea of direction, many people have been found close to home but unable to find it.

Storms can get between us fill us with doubt the God cares for us, we can lose our direction, lose our faith.

3. Our Fear of the Storm Has the Power to Paralyse.

We can freeze and be unable to turn back or move forward stuck

What do we face today, where do we place our trust?

Who would have thought that five smooth stones would be enough to overcome a giant? Or five loaves and two fish enough to feed a crowd?

God is able too, use the smallest resources to achieve divine purposes. So many churches are facing problems today. Numbers have dropped even more since the pandemic.

The cost-of-living crisis bites, and energy prices have gone up.

Confidence is difficult if we depend on our own abilities,

But if we stop for a moment and pay attention to God’s leading, perhaps we can find the small, unexpected resources that will see us flourish in our Churches and our lives.

You see:

1. Storms Come Suddenly.

Whatever we face God can ease our experience but the storm it may not diminish but you are not alone.

2. Storms Can Make You Lose Direction.

If you feel you have lost direction, guess what, if we turn to God in prayer ask to be pointed back to the correct direction.

3. Our Fear of the Storm Has the Power to Paralyse.

Saul was paralysed by fear, the disciples to where frozen with fear.

But Faith and Faith alone in the one who gave his life for each of us can help us through any storm, again storms in our lives will and do happen but with God we don’t face this on our own if we have this simple beautiful thing we call faith.

God’s love has no bounds.

HYMN

(StF 18) Be still and know that I am God.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION

Who is on the Lord’s side, who will serve the king?’ David made careful provision for his flock and belongings; as a boy he went out in your name and became a man of God. We praise you that he was on the Lord’s side, he served the king. He shows us that we too can step up to the mark, put our total trust in you and sally forth in your name. ‘We are on the Lord’s side, Saviour we are thine.’ Amen.

The response after each bidding is: Lord, hear our prayer.

We open our hearts to the needs of the world and cry with the tears of the sorrowful. We mourn with the grieving souls of the world and feel their loss and share their pain. We share our love with the lonely and loveless and feel the pulse of their life. We offer our touch to the untouchable folk who are shunned by a passing throng. We catch the whisper of the unspoken truths that burden the lives of so many. We decipher the cries of a traumatised world for whom peace is an impossible dream. Hear our prayers, Lord, and let us be the servants you would have us be. Amen

HYMN

(StF 545) Be thou my vision.

BLESSING

Great, powerful God, help us to trust you with the big things; (throw arms out wide) Great, loving God, help us to trust you with the little things; (make a small shape with your fingers) All-knowing God, help us to trust you with everything, always. (make a large circle with your arms) Amen.

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