Weekly for 11 June 2023 (St Barnabas, Apostle and Martyr)

Dear People of God

Grace and Peace to you all

Yes, I now that most churches are observing the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, or the 1st Sunday after Trinity, or the 10th Ordinary Sunday, whichever way you want to count it, and some are celebrating Corpus Christi, but we have chosen to observe the Feast of St Barnabas which actually falls on this day, so for once we are in line with the calendar!

Although called “Apostle”, Barnabas was not amongst the original twelve called by Jesus but, like St Paul, he was held to be an Apostle due to his close association with the Jesus community and his “being sent” to preach the Gospel. He was a native of Cyprus. When Saul approached the Jerusalem community he was treated with suspicion, but Barnabas spoke for him. Saul/Paul retired to his home town of Tarsus but Barnabas fetched him from there and they embarked on a mission to the Gentiles, where they founded the community in Antioch (the first time the Jesus Movement or “The Way”) became known as “Christians”). Paul and Barnabas fell out over Barnabas’ support for Mark, who had left them earlier to return to Jerusalem but who, under Barnabas’ tutelage, came to be counted as a reliable part of the evangelistic team. Dispute and reconciliation was as much a part of the early Christian community as it has been in the years since!

On being Quiet: In more than 40 years of ordained ministry I have come to appreciate the value of periods of sustained quiet, when there is opportunity to reflect, pray, and consider the next stages of one’s journey of faith. A “quiet” time, whether for a few hours or a few days duration, is not simply and absence of “noise” or something akin to an attack of laryngitis: it’s a period of intensive focus with guided or intentional inputs. They may be short addresses, a focussed piece of music, contemplation of a work of art and more. I would like to commence (or re-commence) periodic Quiet Times in this parish: they are not necessarily unduly long. Sometimes they are not more than two or three hours. If you are interested in joining in something like this, please let me know. (and yes, I know people who can talk through twenty feet of wet cement and who have said to me “it took a bit of discipline, but I found it to be a wonderful experience; a chance to sit quietly with God”)

A Reminder that Bishop Peter will be visiting the parish next Sunday. He will preside and preach at both services and has expressed a desire to “mingle and chat” with as many people as possible and that it be quite informal.

The Lord be with you

Fr George

gmainprize@bigpond.com 0410 586 119

Collect and Readings

Sentence

Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11.24)

Collect

Generous God, whose Son Jesus Christ has taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive: help us by the example of your apostle Barnabas, a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, to be generous in our judgements and unselfish in our service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Readings

Job 29:11-16 Job finishes his defence

Psalm 98 The glory f God’s reign

Acts 11:22-30; 13:1-3 The Church in Antioch

Matthew 10:7-13 The mission of the Twelve

Sermon (Deacon Gail)

In the Name of God. Amen

Today we celebrate the life of Barnabas and his impact on the Church. We know that he was a companion to St Paul and also an important early Christian missionary. He joined the church soon after Christ’s crucifixion, sold his property, and gave the proceeds to the community. He joined Paul for some of his early journeys and then after a disagreement went to Cyprus and started the church there.

The gospel reading for today is a rehearsal if you like for the Great Commission of Jesus, which was to follow. Here he instructs his disciples to go out in Mission and put into practice everything that he had taught them previously. It was a testing ground for their faith and was the means by which they were to learn, grow and practice the new faith that they were gaining by being with Jesus. I wonder how they were feeling as they set out on what would have been a bewildering experience for them.

Jesus also told his disciples to take care of people’s physical needs. Jesus wanted them to heal and help these people, which was a visible sign that what they were saying was trustworthy. This was a secondary goal, and we can pray for healing in his name because of this command. Praying for healing is an effective way of sharing the gospel with others.

We are also told that when they came back, they had a debrief with him about their time away from him and he would have told them ways in which to improve their missionary work.

The apostles had to learn first- hand what it meant to follow Jesus, and what it meant to be an Apostle. The word Apostle actually means “sent one”, and the way they learnt was to put into practice what they had learned, then do it. How often have you heard the saying “the best way to learn something is to do it”? In actual fact we see that Jesus here is using his disciples to spread the workload and therefore going out to more people than he could possibly reach on his own. We are being given a lesson in being prepared for our work in his name – we need to trust that God will provide, and not to rely too much on worldly concerns. If we are too worried about these then it is possible that we will miss the call of God to participate in the work of the spreading of the Gospel to others, as well as, our ministry to the community in which we live.

The readings are very appropriate for us in our daily Christian life and also given that we are celebrating the life of an early Christian missionary today. How often have we been told that we need to go out into our communities and tell others about God, in an effort to help them to share in the joys of believing in him as well? Jesus gave his disciples a specific task to do, and he empowered them with the tools to use to achieve this. If we go out in faith to share the good news to those around us, he will also give us the tools that we need for the task.

It is interesting to note that here Jesus is saying to his disciples to go out to their own people first, then if they won’t listen to move out to the Gentiles. Jesus was first of all concerned with bringing back into the fold those who had strayed and were lost. We too are given this message in that Jesus is saying we should go out to those of our community that have fallen away and see if we can encourage them back into fellowship with us.

Jesus is commanding us to be witnesses to the ends of the Earth. This is a commission that still holds today. This is a very personal command to each and every believer, personally, privately. The goal of the gospel is not merely to forgive us, but to change us into true worshippers of God and authentic lovers of people (Childers).

We reach the world by going, not by waiting for people to come to us, our church, or our home groups. We need to get out of our living rooms and into our neighbourhoods, our cities, and our communities. Do you go out? Does our church go out? What is one way or place you can go to share the gospel?

The Lord be with you.

Intercessions (APBA with local insertions)

The response to our prayers is: