Morning Service for Trinity 14 2022
God of love,
We thank you for the life of The Queen,
for her service to our nation, and for her faith in you.
Be close to all who mourn,
that they may find comfort and hope in your love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Everlasting God, we pray for our new King.
Bless his reign and the life of our nation.
Help us to work together so that truth and justice,
harmony and fairness flourish among us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN – Thy kingdom come, O God NEH 499 – St Cecillia
1 Thy kingdom come, O God,
Thy rule, O Christ, begin;
Break with thy iron rod
The tyrannies of sin.
2 Where is thy reign of peace
And purity and love?
When shall all hatred cease,
As in the realms above?
3 When comes the promised time
That war shall be no more,
And lust, oppression, crime,
Shall flee thy face before?
4 We pray thee Lord, arise,
And come in thy great might;
Revive our longing eyes,
Which languish for thy sight.
5 O’er lands both near and far
Thick darkness broodeth yet:
Arise, O morning Star,
Arise, and never set.
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, 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. Amen.
FIRST READING – 1 Timothy 2.1-7
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
HYMN Teach me, my God and king NEH 456 – Sandys
1 TEACH me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see;
And what I do in anything
To do it as for thee!
2 A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heaven espy.
3 All may of thee partake;
Nothing can be so mean,
Which, with this tincture, ‘for thy sake’,
Will not grow bright and clean.
4 A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine;
Who sweeps a room, as for thy laws,
Makes that and the action fine.
5 This is the famous stone
That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
Cannot for less be told
GOSPEL – Luke 16.1-13
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
SERMON
This morning we were treated to Luke’s telling of one of Jesus’ more puzzling parables – the story of the dishonest steward. The new translation of oikonomon as manager is irritating in the extreme. The man was not a mere manager – the word comes from oikia, Greek for house or family – he was in charge of the rich man’s household administration. An oikonomos holds a position of ultimate trust and authority, often responsible for the money, or the treasure of the household.
The writer of the letter to Titus uses the word when he talks of the bishop or elder, as being God’s steward. The writer of the first epistle of Peter calls on every Christian, as a recipient of a gift, to be a good steward of God’s varied grace. Paul calls himself, an oikonomos as a minister of Christ he is entrusted with the treasures of the gospel, and the first requirement is trustworthiness.
No, ’manager’ will not do – this man is a steward, he is in a position of trust and responsibility. But he isn’t very good at his job – to begin with we are only told that he wasted or squandered his master’s possessions, the text literally says ‘scattered’ which gives a sense, not of embezzlement but rather incompetence.
The boss gets to hear of it, he calls for the accounts and the steward thinks fast – he may have been hopeless as a steward on his employer’s behalf but he’s no fool. He looks at the options and comes to the conclusion that life as a houseguest alternating between two grateful merchants is much better than life on the streets or in the fields.
The sums he effectively gives them are large but not astronomic, they equate to about 500 denarii, one denarii being a labourer’s daily wage. He’s also even handed, the monetary values of 437 gallons of oil and 220 bushels of wheat were about the same, at least so I am reliably informed.
When the master discovers this ruse, he is not, as other parables would have led us to expect, about to throw the steward into outer darkness – no he commends him for his cunning. Our translation had the word shrewd, which is ok but the text uses the same word as that used in the Greek translation of the OT to describe the serpent in the garden – wily might be a better word.
So far so good, a fun story of a clever accountant – and we all like to laugh at accountants from time to time, unless you are one I guess. But what’s the point of the tale?
Luke seems to have had a bit of a problem deciding what the point was. He seems to find three morals to teach, and three separate sayings to teach them. The first sees the parable as a crisis story – act like this to win some friends in heaven before it’s too late. Though I suppose he doesn’t mean us to swindle our bosses in the cause of our eternal salvation. The second explains it as a talents type tale, if you do well with a little which isn’t yours then who will receive a lot which will be yours. The third uses it as a caution not to serve money, or rather mammon, dirty money, because you can’t have two masters. God or mammon, you must choose.
We are brought to the conclusion that Luke collected some remembered teachings and added them to the story as a useful place to put them.
So what are we to make of this parable then? Especially if we remember that parables usually begin ‘the kingdom of God is like…’ It is interesting that it follows immediately upon the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost or prodigal son, for here we have an almost lost steward, who begins to invest in his future
The steward uses what he has been given charge over to secure a better outcome, he uses what was another’s to buy himself a better future. And the owner of those goods is not displeased with him, and the debtors are so relieved that they will house him. Our sense of legal rightness is challenged – one kind of justice would see the steward in jail, but maybe another kind of justice sees everyone happy. Maybe Jesus is challenging our sense of justice.
We are all possessors, not owners. It has troubled faithful Christians since the time of Christ how to account for that which through inheritance, good fortune, or the sweat of their brow they have managed to gather together. This parable says use it generously, for the real treasure to be had is to come. It also says that in the forgiving of debt, life disabling, fear promoting debt, there is reward – be generous and generosity will be shown to you – not pie in the sky, but now among our neighbours and fellow men and women.
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 Father of heaven, whose love profound NEH 358- Rievaulx
1 Father of heaven, whose love profound
A ransom for our souls hath found,
Before thy throne we sinners bend:
To us thy pardoning love extend.
3 Eternal Spirit, by whose breath
The soul is raised from sin and death,
Before thy throne we sinners bend:
To us thy quickening power extend.
4 Thrice Holy! Father, Spirit, Son,
Mysterious Godhead, Three in One,
Before thy throne we sinners bend:
Grace, pardon, life to us extend.
.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Claire Cooper
Generous God, maker, saviour, counsellor, we come to you with all that we have, a community gathered in your name. May we hear what you have to say to us today, and live our lives as an act of praise. Amen
On the eve of our Queen’s funeral – We remember Queen Elizabeth and her exceptional reign, We give thanks for her deep affection for her people, her lifelong desire to serve the common good, her humility and grace, hard work and dedication.
We pray for the King and members of the Royal Family. Be with them as they mourn the loss of a mother, grandmother and great grandmother as well as a friend and monarch.
Be with our government, our Prime Minister and the Cabinet at this time of uncertainty and change.
Be with her people, in this nation and the Commonwealth as they mourn a monarch and peace-maker
Lord in your mercy: hear our prayer.
Lord we pray for William, and all those who minister in our Benefice. We pray for the congregations in all three churches, that we continue to grow as a community, drawing strength from one another. We pray especially this week for all those who help to care for our church buildings, both inside and out.
Lord in your mercy: hear our prayer.
Lord, we pray for those who face difficulties in their personal lives. We raise before you all who are sick, the bereaved, those with problems in their families, in their relationships, in their neighbourhoods or in their workplace. We remember especially………… Give them a patient faith in their troubles and the knowledge that you share their sufferings with them.
Lord in your mercy: hear our prayer.
We pray for all those who have lost their lives in recent weeks. We remember the family and friends who have lost loved ones recently and we ask that your presence brings them comfort, strength and hope in their grief. Help us to be ready to assist them practically and to pray for them in their time of greatest need.
Lord in your mercy: hear our prayer.
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
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shine upon and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
The Lord God almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
the holy and undivided Trinity,
guard you, save you, and bring you to that heavenly city,
where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
HYMN – Judge eternal throned in splendour NEH 490 – Rhuddlan
1 Judge eternal, throned in splendour,
Lord of lords and King of kings,
With thy living fire of judgement
Purge this realm of bitter things:
Solace all its wide dominion
With the healing of thy wings.
2 Still the weary folk are pining
For the hour that brings release:
And the city’s crowded clangour
Cries aloud for sin to cease;
And the homesteads and the woodlands
Plead in silence for their peace.
3 Crown, O God, thine own endeavour;
Cleave our darkness with thy sword;
Feed the faithless and the hungry
With the richness of your word:
Cleanse the body of this nation
Through the glory of the Lord..