Morning Service for Trinity 13 2024 YrB p16

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September 4, 2024

Morning Service for Trinity 13 2024 YrB p16

HYMN Blest are the pure in heart NEH 341 – Franconia

1 Blest are the pure in heart,

For they shall see our God,

The secret of the Lord is theirs,

Their soul is Christ’s abode.

2 The Lord, who left the heavens

Our life and peace to bring,

To dwell in lowliness with men,

Their pattern and their King;

3 Still to the lowly soul

He doth himself impart,

And for his dwelling and his throne

Chooseth the pure in heart.

4 Lord, we thy presence seek;

May ours this blessing be;

Give us a pure and lowly heart,

A temple meet for thee.

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

Almighty God,

who called your Church to bear witness

that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:

help us to proclaim the good news of your love,

that all who hear it may be drawn to you;

through him who was lifted up on the cross,

and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

FIRST READING – 1 Kings 8.[1,6,10-11] 22-30,41-43

[Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.]

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. Therefore, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.

“Likewise when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because of your name —for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been invoked on this house that I have built.”

HYMN Ye servants of God NEH 476 – Paderbourne

1 YE servants of God, your Master proclaim,

And publish abroad his wonderful name:

The name all-victorious of Jesus extol:

His kingdom is glorious, and rules over all.

2 God ruleth on high, almighty to save;

And still he is nigh, his presence we have:

The great congregation his triumph shall sing,

Ascribing salvation to Jesus our King.

3 Salvation to God who sits on the throne!

Let all cry aloud, and honour the Son:

The praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,

Fall down on their faces, and worship the Lamb.

4 Then let us adore, and give him his right:

All glory and power, all wisdom and might,

All honour and blessing, with angels above,

And thanks never-ceasing, and infinite love.

GOSPEL – John 6.56-69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

SERMON notes

Our Old Testament reading today recalls the consecration of the Jerusalem Temple by King Solomon. The purpose of the Temple, at its best, was as a sacred place of God for all people. However, locating God in one place is problematic; God is both transcendent and imminent, beyond all things and close by. But Solomon’s great prayer of consecration allowed for both. For the author of the prayer God was a God of the universe but also to be specially focused on this particular Temple in Jerusalem. At least that was what he hoped and prayed.

Our gospel text repeats the first two verses from last week’s gospel, its theme is still that of Christ’s abiding presence with the faithful believer in the participation of his flesh and blood. But here Jesus asks “does this offend you?” and then talks of ascending to where he was before, and we recall that the context of his flesh and blood is the cross and that participating in his life is participating in his death – as the apostles themselves are perhaps beginning to realise.

C K Barrett, the great commentator on St John’s Gospel, put it, “The offence must be faced and the costly decision of faith made before man can eat and drink the flesh and blood of Christ and, being united with him in death, received the gift of eternal life.”

In Christ God is present to us in flesh and blood, in life and death, in cross and resurrection. The invitation is to become a part of this union through the path of belief and trust in this gift from God.

John is a philosopher wrestling with the experience of the post-Easter church, trying to understand Jesus and his legacy. John leaves parables and sermons, he is more concerned to make philosophical sense of it all, to see the big, the cosmic, picture. He isn’t trying to do what Mark, Matthew or Luke have attempted. He wants to understand how this community of Christ’s followers still lives, still defies persecution and suspicion, still grows and draws in new followers.

This new faith and its ideas are extraordinary, John is conscious of this and so sees belief as a gift from God – reason alone is not enough. Peter’s remark serves as a final comment. No matter how hard, how difficult the demands of faith in Christ, once felt, once grasped, what else can someone do but follow where it leads. Jesus has become the point of mediation, the place where God is met both transcendent and imminent. Jesus becomes in life, death and resurrection the place of God’s indwelling, both present in the world and eternally present to the world.

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 Angel voices ever singing NEH 336 – Angel voices

1 Angel-voices ever singing

Round thy throne of light,

Angel-harps, for ever ringing,

Rest not day nor night;

Thousands only live to bless thee

And confess thee

Lord of might.

2 Thou who art beyond the farthest

Mortal eye can scan,

Can it be that thou regardest

Songs of sinful man?

Can we know that thou art near us,

And wilt hear us?

Yea, we can.

3 For we know that thou rejoicest

O’er each work of thine;

Thou didst ears and hands and voices

For thy praise design;

Craftsman’s art and music’s measure

For thy pleasure

All combine.

4 In thy house, great God, we offer

Of thine own to thee;

And for thine acceptance proffer

All unworthily

Hearts and minds and hands and voices

In our choicest

Psalmody.

5 Honour, glory, might and merit

Thine shall ever be,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

Blessed Trinity.

Of the best that thou hast given

Earth and heaven

Render thee.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION by Vera Oldham

Let us pray for the church and for the world and let us thank God for his goodness. Almighty God, you promised through your Son Jesus Christ to hear us when we pray in faith.

Heavenly Father, We thank you for the fellowship of our church family, for William, our Rector, and all who keep our church services running smoothly and our church buildings maintained and safe places to worship. We remember in our prayers Charles our king, our Archbishop and all bishops, clergy and laity who minister in your church.