Morning Service for Lent 5 2022
HYMN – It is a thing most wonderful NEH 84 – Herongate
1 It is a thing most wonderful,
Almost too wonderful to be,
That God’s own Son should come from heaven,
And die to save a child like me.
2 And yet I know that it is true:
He chose a poor and humble lot,
And wept, and toiled, and mourned, and died
For love of those who loved him not.
3 But even could I see him die,
I could but see a little part
Of that great love, which, like a fire,
Is always burning in his heart.
4 It is most wonderful to know
His love for me so free and sure;
But ’tis more wonderful to see
My love for him so faint and poor.
5 And yet I want to love thee, Lord;
O light the flame within my heart,
And I will love thee more and more,
Until I see thee as thou art.
PRAYER OF PREPARATION
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen
PRAYERS OF PENITENCE
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Father eternal, giver of light and grace,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour,
in what we have thought, in what we have said and done,
through ignorance, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We have wounded your love and marred your image in us.
We are sorry and ashamed and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us,
forgive us all that is past and lead us out from darkness
to walk as children of light. Amen
May the God of love and power
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by his Spirit
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen
THE COLLECT
Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen
FIRST READING – Isaiah 43.16-21
Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
HYMN – Drop, drop slow tears NEH 82 – Song 46
1 Drop, drop, slow tears,
And bathe those beauteous feet,
Which brought from heaven
The news and Prince of peace.
2 Cease not, wet eyes,
His mercies to entreat;
To cry for vengeance
Sin doth never cease.
3 In your deep floods
Drown all my faults and fears;
Nor let his eye
See sin, but through my tears.
GOSPEL – Mark 14.3-9
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
SERMON
“See, I am doing a new thing!”
In our first reading Isaiah reminds his people that their God found a way to lead them out of slavery in Egypt, a way that took them through ‘mighty waters’, and he will again find a way to bring them to freedom; not across water this time but across desert, through the barren wasteland that lies between captivity in Babylon and freedom in Israel. Rather than part the waters of a sea to make a dry way, he will supply water in the wilderness, streams in the desert, he will fulfil their dearest need. And why? Isaiah tell us, so that the world may know that their God is a god to be worshipped and adored.
Our response to God is so often bound to what we think that he can do for us. I find myself so often making a case for God by talking of what faith might bring – inner strength, feelings of joy and peace, etc.. But someone who believes in God will not necessarily experience any of them, or least not to order. Life lived in relation to God, or rather, life lived in a relationship with God, does not come with a payoff, there’s no simple quid pro quo from God, “You believe in me and I will see you right.” Many of the people who wrote the psalms seemed to find that out the hard way. God just is, he doesn’t have to make a case for himself, he doesn’t have to bribe us to acknowledge his existence for him to exist. He just is. Didn’t he tell Moses as much, “I am who I am. Tell them I am sent you.”
Our traditional human response to an awareness of the presence of God, is to worship. There is a well-known story of Jews in a Concentration camp putting God on trial for allowing such suffering – they concluded that there could be no God for them to have been so abandoned. Immediately after completing their solemn hearing they adjourned to say the evening prayers – what else could they do? God is not a logical premise to be accepted or rejected – God is a presence awaiting a response.
Worship is an odd and puzzling concept, it just means to ‘give worth,’ but of course it’s much more than that. It is the start of relationship; it is the beginning of communication, it is the first “I am here”, that gives God a chance to in turn respond to us. Of course, that means that worship implies an openness of mind, a conscious vulnerability to God; and we know from our human relationships that it is only by making ourselves vulnerable that deep and significant relationships can be made.
When the unnamed woman poured perfume over the feet of Jesus, without words, without expectations of a return, without thought as to consequence, she worshipped. In that perfume she expressed her simple, but powerful love for him; she made herself vulnerable, and expressed what with words is inexpressible – love. Love is how we define our deepest human relationships and love is what God offers to us, and what he yearns to receive from us. And insofar as our worship is an expression of love, then it is worship worthy of the name.
Karl Rahner wrote:
‘Only in love can I find You, my God. In love, the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love, my whole being streams forth out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion, which make me a prisoner of my own poverty and emptiness…
In love, all the powers of my soul flow out toward You, wanting never more to return but to lose themselves completely in You, since by Your love You are the inmost centre of my heart, closer to me than I am to myself.’
And that is worship – pure Nard from a broken alabaster jar..
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures;
he was buried; he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles: this we have received,
and this we believe. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15.3-7
HYMN – Glory be to Jesus NEH 83 – Caswell (Wem in Leidenstagen)
1 Glory be to Jesus,
Who, in bitter pains,
Poured for me the life-blood
From his sacred veins.
2 Grace and life eternal
In that Blood I find;
Blest be his compassion,
Infinitely kind.
3 Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream,
Which from endless torment
Doth the world redeem.
4 Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the Blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.
5 Oft as it is sprinkled
On our guilty hearts,
Satan in confusion
Terror-struck departs.
6 Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Hell with terror trembles,
Heaven is filled with joy.
7 Lift ye then your voices;
Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
Praise the precious Blood.
INTERCESSIONS – Claire Cooper
Creator God, loving Saviour, living Spirit, we celebrate your generosity, we rejoice in your generosity, and we commit ourselves to reflecting your generosity in our lives, by giving the best of all we have, wherever there is need.
Lord, we pray for the nations around the world and for their dealings with one another, especially between Russia and Ukraine. We pray for the ongoing negotiations between the two nations and ask for a mutually acceptable outcome which brings a cessation to the hostilities. We hope and pray for peace and the opportunity for the people of Ukraine to be able to rebuild their lives. As many leave Ukraine in fear for their lives we give thanks for the generous actions of those trying to re-home them and we pray for the refugees’ safety wherever they may be.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for the communities of Compton, Hursley and Otterbourne. Help us to reflect your generosity by being generous with our time and our kindness whether at home, with our neighbours or in our workplace. Give grace to all of us, our families and friends, and our neighbours, that we may serve Christ in one another, and love as he loves us.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for William, Warwick and all those who minister in this Benefice. We give thanks for the many people who give their time freely to support our churches and fulfil the many tasks needed to keep them up and running. Strengthen all your church in the service of Christ; that those who confess your name may be united in your truth, live together in your love and reveal your glory in the world.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for those who can’t be with us today, For the sick, at home or in hospital. We remember one of our community especially today, Hilary Venn, and pray that she can feel you by her side, supporting her and her family. We pray for those on our Benefice prayer list…
Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind or spirit, give them courage and hope in their troubles; and bring them the joy of your salvation.
We also pray for all those who are mourning a loved one, that they may feel your feel your presence. We remember those who have died, commending them to your safekeeping.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
Father, we bring our prayers, our hopes and fears and our worries to your table, knowing that you will welcome us and draw us closer to you.
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers, for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray:
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 for ever. Amen.
BLESSING
Christ crucified draw you to himself, to find in him a sure ground for faith, a firm support for hope, and the assurance of sins forgiven; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among and remain with you always. Amen
HYMN – There is a green hill far away NEH 92 – Horsley
1 There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
2 We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
3 He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good;
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by his precious blood.
4 There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
5 O dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming blood,
And try his works to do.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
In the name of Christ. Amen