THE service at Crediton Methodist Church on August 24 was led by Rev Glennys Bamford and her theme was Service, Suffering and Sacrifice.

At the end of the Gospel lesson crowds were rejoicing at the things Jesus was doing.

He went to the synagogue for a normal service and as He was about to speak, He was aware of a crippled woman. He stopped and did what He thought was more important – He called the woman forward and healed her.

The people were very grateful for all the wonderful things Jesus did. Not true of the synagogue leader who thought Jesus should have waited until after the Sabbath to heal the woman.

It is very easy not to do the most important thing, not to be aware of our priorities. There are times when routine has to go by the by and we do what is important.

Jesus accused the synagogue leader of hypocrisy and chastised him for his lack of love or sense of priorities. We have to know what is our priority for ourselves as Christians and it is the words of Jesus “If you want to be a follower of me, take up your cross and follow me”.

Jesus said this before He went to the cross but He was telling people to follow His way of life which would be clear later.

Jesus taught, was popular and did miraculous things, but the leaders of the synagogue hated Him because He was breaking into their orderly way of being.

The healed woman was very pleased and we have to listen to those words of Jesus Take up your cross and follow me.

Well, it is easy to say but what on earth does it mean for us? We have to go the same way as Jesus went – it is the pattern of our discipleship and it involves service, suffering and sacrifice.

When in our individual way we hear the call of Jesus in our minds, in our hearts, through a sermon or lesson, the words of Jesus say to us take up your cross and follow me. What does it mean?

To some it can mean a dramatic change in life – possibly I am doing the wrong job and must do something else, possibly called to the ministry or teaching or a change of life that seems to fit better into our Christian discipleship.

Sometimes it doesn’t mean everything in our lives has to change.

It is the way we do things – service, suffering and sacrifice.

The simplest and most evident is service. Whoever we are, as Christians we are here to serve God and to serve our neighbours.

In everything we are seeking to make lives, places, situations, jobs a place of joy and meaning.

Sometimes we have to sacrifice what we have been doing and do something else. Sometimes we have to stand back when we know somebody better should have the job we want.

In our close relationships the way we behave makes a difference. In all sorts of things we are capable of change.

We can do it in our job by caring for our colleagues. At the heart of it is service and as Christians when we serve, the other two words suffering and sacrifice often come in.

We have not to be selfish – we have to give in and be open in our social lives.

One of the great things of a Christian congregation is that it welcomes everybody. Very often people come who are very needy.

We have a responsibility and a love to serve other people but have to be aware of the cross that we carry which is to serve and, maybe, to suffer.

We are called to a new life and that is in two parts. First, is our worship and our prayers which is at the centre of what we are doing this morning.

We come here to turn away from ourselves and our lives and to explore and to see the glory of God, to contemplate who He is, to praise Him and to listen for His word in worship, in lessons, in the sermon, in all that we do and in our fellowship but at the centre of it all is that we are here to give God his glory.

Secondly, to gain the things that we need to serve God in the world, where we hear His call, where we contemplate what we can do and where we commit ourselves regularly to live a little better, be kinder and chose where people are needy that we can look around for those who are lost.

In our ordinary life we preach the good news of the love of God and Jesus Christ as we love our neighbours as ourselves.

In a way that says it all, because wherever we are in a situation, is there another person that needs what we have to give?

The most wonderful thing of all is that God himself and Jesus gave to us “take up your cross and follow me”.

Love me and serve others and head, hopefully, into the Kingdom and God.

Bronwyn Nott