Here below we have an outline of our service for you to follow at home if you can’t be with us. Choose a quiet reflective space and to make it more meaningful have a cross, bible and candle to make your sacred space.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning all, hope you are well, today is the start of the four week creation season and last week I was asked to go to the service at St. Peter’s Belmont to talk to them about our Eco-Church award. I had a lovely friendly welcome and they seemed very keen to do more for the environment and many were keen to have a go at the award. It all fits in with the coming season and I remember last year we had some lovely children’s services all about God’s wonderful world. Speaking of children and families we will be starting our Wednesday tea time service in church (at last) on Wednesday 15th September at 6pm. We will still socially distance but are so looking forward to seeing all our families back in church again, I’m sure Jo has some great craft ideas for us.
The reflection today is by myself and the intercessions by Mark Pearson, thank you Mark.
Jan B.
PRAYER OF PREPARATION
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and forever. Amen
PRAYER OF PENITENCE
Lord God, we have sinned against you; we have done evil in your sight. We are sorry and repent. Have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us to the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
GLORIA
Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father. We worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ only son of the Father Lord God Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One , you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
THE COLLECT
Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
THE OLD TESTAMENT READING
ISAIAH 35, 4-7
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
This is the word of the Lord- Thanks be to God
THE NEW TESTAMENT READING
JAMES 2, 1-10,14-17
My brothers and sisters,do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’,have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. What good is it, my brothers and sisters,if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
THE GOSPEL
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. Glory to you, O Lord.
MARK 7, 24-37
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
REFLECTION
The readings today have a strong message about human behaviour and how we interact with one another and the example is strengthened by Jesus’ behaviour in the Gospel reading. The Old Testament tells us to be strong and not to fear but have the faith to trust in God. James goes a bit deeper and has observed our human behaviour which turns against God’s teaching and identifies that we look up more to people who have wealth and good clothes and ignore the poor and down trodden with disdain. He notices that the poor are much richer in their faith and also much purer in heart. Of course this is a sweeping generalisation and we all know lots of examples where this is untrue, however it does have a lot of truth in it. He goes on to say that the rich only pay lip service to their faith and are lacking in action and the poor are purer in heart and share what little they have with compassion for others.
I heard all about this when I was helping out with the shoe box appeal for many years, sometimes when they came across villages where there were more children than they envisaged the children would share their box with others quite happily, as they wanted everyone to be happy and if one child had a ball the whole village had a ball to play with. It seemed that small things were far richer in their eyes. We do have communities that share this ethos especially when terrible things happen and let us hope that the same can be done for the displaced Afghan people during the coming months.
In the Gospel Jesus has had an exhausting time and is having dinner in a house not wanting others to know he was there, he was in a gentile region and could not escape demands for his healing. The woman that approached him was classed as impure as she lived outside of the land of Israel and being a woman and unaccompanied and having a child who was possessed by a demon, she was not the kind of person who would be invited to a dinner. Jesus was quite short with her but as she challenged him Jesus relents as he realises her faith was strong. The deaf man was also an outsider which is a lesson to us all to look beyond appearance and our comfort zone.
These readings show us that God cares and Jesus came to save lost souls, of course it does not make any difference how wealthy you are and he did not come only to save the Jews but everyone. Within our creation season we think about the environment, recycling our carbon footprint but his other great creation was man and we are his tools. Are we helping God out or hindering his work, sometimes just small acts of kindness can make a massive difference to someone’s life and to our world.
I look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday for the Christian Aid walk and let us hope we can raise lots of money for those that need a helping hand.
Jan B.
THE CREED
I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
INTERCESSIONS
Here we pray for the church, for the world, those in need and those who have died, you can follow your own prayers or these below on today’s theme.
Heavenly Father, mindful of the words of the prophet Isiah to be strong and fearless, we gather our thoughts and prayers with hope and humbly call upon you to help us in our needs.
We pray for Christians everywhere; for those in positions of authority over others, and for those with great responsibility in the life of the world; for politicians who are genuinely seeking to serve God and live by their faith in Christ; for those who take their faith to the boardrooms of industry; for those who still live for Christ in the corridors of power and those who name his name in the face of ridicule and rejection. May they know the strength and humility of Christ.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for those whose decisions and actions affect the lives of many people; for those whose words and plans have implications for others; for all who work in the advertising, entertainment or leisure industries; in television or radio; in writing or in teaching. May they have courage and integrity, wisdom and a clear conscience.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for Christians whose faith is weakened by the rejection of others; for those who are overwhelmed by the power of evil and for those struggling to be faithful to Christ in the face of great temptation. We ask for God’s mercy upon the people of Afghanistan as they face an uncertain future.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We give thanks for all that you have given us, and ask that you will help us to live our lives to the full. At home may we be the friends and neighbours that we really want to be. Help us to spread the warmth of your love to everyone we meet.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Loving God, Isiah foretells the time when Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind and unstop deaf ears and cast out evil spirits. We pray for any we know who are blind or deaf and for the specialist care which they receive to help them live a fuller life. We thank you for Guide dogs for the blind and for hearing dogs for the deaf and for those who train them to be so helpful. We bring before you those in our community who need our ongoing prayers at this time – Mildred Gerrard
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Merciful God, we pray for all who are coming to the end of their journey here on earth and pray that they may come into your presence and kingdom. We pray for all those you have come before your face and now rejoice in the fullness of life eternal. We especially pray for Dorothy Taylor and think of Don, Lynn and family.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Faithful God, we thank you that your wisdom not only enlightens us but transforms us and guides us in our daily walk through life with you. Help us, as James advises, to always accompany our words of faith with deeds of action.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in Heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
THE BLESSING
May God the Father, who clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air, provide us with all we need for life in its fullness. Amen.
May God the Son, who fed the five thousand and turned water into wine, feed us with his life and transform us in his love. Amen.
May God the Holy Spirit, who hovered over the waters of creation and formed the world from chaos, form us in the likeness of Christ and renew the face of the earth. Amen.
And the blessing of God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Be with you and remain with you always. Amen.
