The Prophet Isaiah by Lorenzo Monaco 1410
21st Sunday after Trinity
Bible Readings: Isaiah 53:4-end & Mark 10.35-45
Beautiful, but heart-rending, Isaiah 53 is difficult and disturbing to read. It is part of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, which describe the suffering of the Messiah and His ultimate victory. The words were penned hundreds of years before Jesus was crucified, yet Isaiah wrote as if he was watching the event unfold before his very eyes. The whipping (v5); the rejection (v3); His innocence and silence (v7, v9); His death with criminals (v9); His burial in a rich man’s grave (v9); and so the prophecies go on. Yet amongst these awful details, which the Holy Spirit showed Isaiah, is this verse (4): ‘Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…’
Jesus carried our pain. Pain is something we all carry and all have in common. He has carried our pain, our sorrows, our grief and our sicknesses, our disappointments, our rejection. He has been there and felt our pain. He understands: Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. But then, we ask, if He feels the pain, why doesn’t He stop it? There’s no answer to this hard question. But in my very limited experience, Jesus takes us through pain and holds us close if we let Him.
The words of Isaiah 53 also, I feel, give us a glimpse into the Father’s heart, where alongside His Son, we surprisingly see ourselves. This awful suffering of His Son was planned by the Trinity before time to buy us back for our wrongdoing.
‘But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities…’ (Isaiah 53.5) Can you imagine the pain Jesus’ suffering must have caused Father God? Can you imagine the strength of character, the determination and trust the Son had in the Father to go through with it?
Hebrews 12:2 states: ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…’. I believe the ‘joy’ that enabled His endurance was us. We are His joy. His sacrifice gives us a new way to live and freedom from the shackles of sin. He has given us a hope and a future where death is not the end. Because of His resurrection, we can experience resurrection too. Let us answer Isaiah’s question in the first verse: ‘Who has believed our report?’ with a ‘yes, with eyes of faith, we do’. – Andrea
St. Peter’s Harvest Communion
We’re happy to announce that St. Peter’s will be reopening today, Sunday 20th, for its first Sunday service after the recent rewiring and lighting works. They will be celebrating a Harvest Communion (with donations to Penzance Food Bank), so the readings at St. Peter’s today will be Joel 2.21-27 & Matthew 6.25-33.
Weekly newsletter/blog and website
Please send all information for the Sunday newsletter/blog by Wednesday evening to Josie at penleeclusternewsletter@gmail.com and communications@penleecluster.org.uk. If you would like to write the biblical reflection for the newsletter on any particular week, please contact Josie for details of upcoming Sunday readings. – Josie
Paul Feast Reflection
As we reach the end of Paul Church’s Feast celebrations, I wanted to offer a reflection on the worship there last Sunday (13th October). The liturgy led us through a meditation on creation and then the emergence of Christ into our world, before honouring Saint Paul Aurelian in the Collect. While listening, I was mindful of this beautiful church’s age, of its old stones, and the witness they bear to years of worship and community-building. Indeed, the service anchored me back beyond the stones to the land itself before the church was built, to the journeys of the Cornish saints and then back further still.
It was a contemplative and rich service, a particular highlight of which was the stunning singing of the choir. Another highlight was Bishop Hugh’s thoughtful sermon on the initial separation of heaven and earth, before which both heaven (God’s space) and earth (our space) perfectly overlapped. Yet despite the overlap no longer being complete, neither is the separation. Bishop Hugh took us through key moments in the Bible’s story of God’s work in trying to bring heaven and earth fully together again, culminating in the saving work of Jesus, ‘heaven on earth in a human being’. Wherever Jesus goes, healings and restorations happen because this is what the bringing together of heaven and earth looks like. Bishop Hugh reminded us, towards the end of the sermon, that by listening to Jesus’ words in the Gospel reading we heard (Matthew 25.31-40), we would know how to find heaven; Jesus left us clear instructions. As Bishop Hugh said: ‘What is heaven on earth like? It’s like the hungry being fed, the thirsty given drink, the stranger being welcomed, the naked being clothed and the prisoner getting a visit. What is heaven on earth like? It’s like a refugee being given a home and a homeless person being supported to start a new life; it’s like a bullied child being listened to properly, and a grieving widow being visited in her loneliness. It’s being close to the people and places where Jesus is to be found.’
Thank you to Bishop Hugh for his words and to all at Paul Church who made this celebration possible. Last but not least, thank you for the delicious cake afterwards! – Josie
St. Mary’s Heating
Good news! After a long journey, St. Mary’s are delighted to announce that their grant application to install a new energy-efficient, eco-friendly heating system – Halo Heating – has been approved. Watch this space for more details once we have an installation date. Huge thanks to Sian for her support and encouragement! Without her guidance and help we should not have achieved this. And thanks are due also to everyone who contributed to this process. – Lesley
NightChurch Co-ordinator
St Mary’s Church, Penzance has a vacancy for the NightChurch Co-ordinator for 10 hours a week at £15 per hour to run the project in the church which seeks to provide a holy place of sanctuary and welcome to those who feel marginalised by reasons of isolation, poverty, insecure accommodation, mental ill health or who are wanting to explore spirituality and faith in a low-key way. Please apply via CV, covering letter and with the names of two referees, either by hand or post to The Churchwardens, St Mary the Virgin, Chapel Street, Penzance TR18 4AP or by email to stmaryswarden@penleecluster.com.
The full job description may be found here.
The closing date is 5pm on 29th October 2024. Interviews will be held on the evening of 30th October.
News from Tristan…
I have recently been accepted into the Ministry Experience Scheme Bristol, led by the Church of England. It is a ten-month programme where I am shadowing Curates and Vicars, participating and leading in worship at various churches, attending homeless outreach centres, attending youth clubs, involving myself in local schools, and studying Theology at Bristol Trinity College. If any of you are familiar with Bristol, my mission area is Avonside, and my main church is St. Mary Magdalene Stoke Bishop. The work is busy, varied, and occasionally demanding, but as Christ said, ‘my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Matthew 11:30) Work directed to Him is continually edifying and refreshing. I am considering taking steps towards ordination, but for now I am settling in and taking each day as it comes. Thank you to Vicky for presenting the Scheme to me, to Sian and Hilary for providing references, and to the wider congregation for their community and inspiration. Christ be with you. – Tristan
Housing & Homelessness in Cornwall
from Prevention to Provision – Thursday 24th October
In support of Challenge Poverty Week and this year’s theme of Housing And Homelessness, Cornwall Independent Poverty Forum and the Living Wage Place for Cornwall Action Group invite you to an event:
9.30 arrival for registration. Start 10am – 12 noon Thursday 24th October 2024
Venue: Falmouth University
Format: Panel of 5 speakers, 10 minutes each on an aspect of housing and homelessness followed by an open forum discussion and questions with the panel. The Panel is scheduled to be a Homelessness Prevention Officer, a Rough Sleeping Housing Resettlement worker, a speaker on the link between low pay and housing affordability, a speaker on scale and need and a Coastline Housing speaker on provision. Here is a ticket link; please book tickets as the room has a maximum capacity: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1033527056247
Debt Advice
The Salvation Army offers debt advice services to people in this area. They are free, confidential and impartial. Please dial 01752 643955 to speak to a Debt Advisor from 10.00am until 4.00pm Monday to Friday or email cornwalldas@salvationarmy.org.uk.
Celtic Morning Prayer
Each weekday morning on zoom at 8am. The zoom meeting ID is 815 4586 0947. If you would like to attend, please email Keno at admin@penleecluster.org.uk (or call on 01736 331633) for the passcode, which you will need as well as the meeting ID given here.
Prayer Requests
If you are concerned about someone and would like their name included in the Prayer Request Group’s weekly prayer list, please do email Mel at mlevesconte@hotmail.co.uk by 7pm on Tuesday evenings. Thank you.
TODAY…
Giving Sunday at Paul Church – Sunday 20th October
Bring Harvest produce for donation to Trelya and dry/tinned goods for donation to the Foodbank.
Photo by Aaron Doucett on Unsplash
Choral Evensong – Sunday 20th October
To conclude Paul Feast week, choral evensong will take place at 6.00pm at Paul Church, with Fr Jeff Risbridger leading the service and preaching.
Julian Meeting
There will be no Julian meeting this Sunday 20th, as there is Choral Evensong at 6.00pm in Paul Church.
THIS WEEK…
Churches Together in Penzance – ‘Hymn Along’ – Saturday 26th October
‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord’ (Psalm 98.4): ‘Hymn Along’ at High Street Chapel, Penzance from 10.00am – 11.00am. For more information, please email Mandy, at elaineamandapearce@gmail.com.
COMING SOON…
Christians Against Poverty Talk
Sunday 27th October
14.4 million people in the UK are in poverty and the number of people in need of help has surged. St. Mary’s is delighted to invite Alison, from Christians Against Poverty, to give a talk about a Christian response to poverty during our service on Sunday October 27th. For more information on Christians Against Poverty, please see here: https://capuk.org/
Quiet Day & Service
Wednesday 18th December
Come along to a quiet day and service led by Chris Kingshott at St. Peter’s Church, starting at 11.00am with the service, followed by lunch and then the quiet day.
