Morning Service for the Last Sunday in Trinity

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Service

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October 21, 2021

HYMN Thou whose almighty word – NEH466 – Moscow

1 THOU whose almighty word

Chaos and darkness heard,

And took their flight;

Hear us, we humbly pray,

And where the gospel day

Sheds not its glorious ray

Let there be light.

2 Thou who didst come to bring

On thy redeeming wing

Healing and sight,

Health to the sick in mind,

Sight to the inly blind,

O now to all mankind

Let there be light.

3 Spirit of truth and love,

Life-giving, holy Dove,

Speed forth thy flight;

Move on the water’s face,

Bearing the lamp of grace,

And in earth’s darkest place

Let there be light.

4 Blessèd and holy Three,

Glorious Trinity,

Wisdom, Love, Might,

Boundless as ocean’s tide

Rolling in fullest pride,

Through the world far and wide

Let there be light.

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

We recall our Lord’s command to love and in a moment of silence we confess

the many ways we fail to keep his command:

Most merciful God,

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we confess that we have sinned
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may do justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen

May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE COLLECT

Blessed Lord,

who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

help us so to hear them,

to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them

that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,

we may embrace and for ever hold fast

the hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

FIRST READING – Job 42.1-6,10-17

Then Job answered the LORD: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.

HYMN Lord the word abideth NEH 407 Ravenshaw

1 Lord, thy word abideth,

And our footsteps guideth;

Who its truth believeth,

Light and joy receiveth.

2 When our foes are near us,

Then thy word doth cheer us,

Word of consolation,

Message of salvation.

3 When the storms are o’er us,

And dark clouds before us,

Then its light directeth,

And our way protecteth.

4 Who can tell the pleasure,

Who recount the treasure

By thy word imparted

To the simple-hearted?

5 Word of mercy, giving

Succour to the living;

Word of life, supplying

Comfort to the dying.

6 O that we discerning

Its most holy learning,

Lord, may love and fear thee,

Evermore be near thee!

GOSPEL – Mark 10.46-52

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

SERMON

“Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

This is the 3rd Sunday in a row that we have had a gospel reading about a man demanding something from Jesus. 2 weeks ago we heard of the rich man asking what he had to do to inherit eternal life, last week it was the Apostles James and John who wanted the places of honour in his glory. They all went away disappointed – the rich man couldn’t give up his great wealth to follow Jesus, and James and John were told that they had missed the point, this walk to Jerusalem was not a walk to glory, not yet anyway, but a walk to death and disgrace, and it was a walk for servants not would-be masters.

And now we have Blind Bartimaeus – the son of Timaeus – who cries out, who shouts and demands mercy. Sat outside the city of Jericho, sat in the filth of the road side, cloak open for alms, for what else can he do not to starve but beg, sat in his need and in his dishonour – bearing a form of the Hebrew name Timai, meaning foul, defiled, unclean – but he cries out. He is the first to use the Messianic name ‘Son of David’, the name that will greet Jesus at the gates of Jerusalem – he refuses to be silenced by the crowd who would have him respectfully quiet – he calls out the louder – “have mercy.” There is something passionate, something urgent, honest about that simple plea – he doesn’t ask for the keys of heaven, he doesn’t ask for great honour, he doesn’t even, yet, ask for his sight – he just asks for mercy – éleos, forgiving, faithful love. Where that love will take him he has no notion, but he knows it is all he needs.

Jesus calls him – to his demand for mercy he receives a call. Much like the rich man before him – but unlike the rich man Bartimaeus is poor, he is not tethered to the world, all he has is the cloak that is the tool of the beggar, and that he throws aside. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks, not a ridiculous question but an echo of the conversation with James and John, and a simple act of courtesy – he asks to see again. Jesus does as he asks and says that it is his faith that has healed, or saved him. His faith – his faith to cry out, his faith to ignore the rebuke of others, his faith to leave all to leap to Jesus’ side – his faith to accept what mercy might mean for him.

And his response to this return to sightedness? To follow Jesus in the way. The ancient term for believers in Christ, people “in the way.”

This whole central section of Mark’s Gospel has been about sight, Mark begins it with the healing of a blind man in Bethsaida, and now he closes it with the healing of Bartimaeus. Along the way Jesus has been warning his disciples of his coming death and resurrection, but they seem to have been unable to hear of the coming cross, throughout this section Mark has used the clause “on the way”, six times in fact – and now we hear that this blind man who now sees follows Jesus “on the way”. The terrible irony is that strangers sitting by the road can now see, but disciples who have been with Jesus since the first just cannot see what is in store for their Messiah – and worse they cannot even see the kind of salvation that he comes to offer. Not power and honour but the loving faithfulness of God, leading in his case inexorably to suffering and death. Bartimaeus is the last healing Jesus will perform and the miracle ends the long journey to Jerusalem.

Bartimaeus is an ideal, a man dishonoured by his people but knows that he is acceptable to God, a man who asks for God’s forgiving, faithful love and responds to the call that is always a part of that love – and he had faith enough to put himself in the hands of Jesus. But it all began with a prayer, a shouted, yelled even, demand, but a prayer none the less. A prayer we can all say, “Jesus son of God, have mercy.” It’s a prayer we can fill with all the longing of our heart, but a prayer that leaves the next move to God. It’s a prayer that can always be offered for others too – for with it we can present them and ourselves before the faithful, merciful, forgiving love of God and trust his response.

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 Let all mortal flesh keep silence NEH 295 – Picardy

1 Let all mortal flesh keep silence

And with fear and trembling stand;

Ponder nothing earthly-minded,

For with blessing in his hand

Christ our God to earth descendeth,

Our full homage to demand.

2 King of kings, yet born of Mary,

As of old on earth he stood,

Lord of lords, in human vesture,

In the body and the blood:

He will give to all the faithful

His own self for heavenly food.

3 Rank on rank the host of heaven

Spreads its vanguard on the way,

As the Light of light descendeth

From the realms of endless day,

That the powers of hell may vanish

As the darkness clears away.

4 At his feet the six-winged seraph;

Cherubim with sleepless eye,

Veil their faces to the Presence,

As with ceaseless voice they cry,

Alleluya, Alleluya,

Alleluya, Lord most high!

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Gill Macdonald

Lord we come before you again in faith, with thanks and in gratitude for all the blessings we receive from you and to bring our concerns – knowing that you hear our prayers.

We pray for your worldwide church, for Christians everywhere, for bishops and clergy, missionaries and aid workers, remembering especially your church in Myanmar where the Christian community represents only 12% of the population, which creates many more challenges than we can even imagine.

We pray for our own diocese of Winchester, for Bishop Debbie and Bishop David and for all those who are trying to heal wounds and build bridges. We pray for this benefice and our three churches under the guidance and loyal support of William our Rector, and for all those who work behind the scenes to maintain and support our church communities.