Morning Service for Trinity 3 2024
HYMN Immortal, invisible God only wise NEH 377 – St Denio
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessèd, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
3 To all life thou givest–to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish like leaves on the tree,
Then wither and perish—but naught changeth thee.
4 Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
‘Tis only the splendour of light hideth 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, you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
FIRST READING – 1 Samuel 15.34-16.13
Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is now before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.
HYMN Thy kingdom come, O God NEH 499 – St Cecilia
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.
GOSPEL – Mark 4.26-34
He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”
He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
SERMON – Myra Wilkinson
The gospel reading today is part of Jesus first of two extended sermons in Mark’s gospel, chapters 4 and 13. Written in AD 66-70 Mark’s account of Jesus life and death is set against a turbulent backdrop of violence and revolution as the Roman Empire continues to assert its power. Listeners both in Jesus’ lifetime and to Mark’s account, and indeed we as listeners now, needed hope and reassurance that their faith and trust in this remarkable man, Jesus, the Son of God, would be fulfilled.
Jesus delivers his sermon from a boat near the shore of the Lake of Galilee to a large crowd, described as ‘ochlos’ meaning the ordinary people, not the usual word, laos, for a crowd. At the start he instructs them to ‘listen’ and proceeds to teach them in parables, drawing on familiar images of the land and the wisdom of their peasant life. He promises them revolutionary change but not in the way they expect, they want to know how and when. Importantly, he offers them hope in the face of the overwhelming odds of poverty and political oppression.
The final two parables of the sermon, our gospel reading, are about the kingdom of God: the man who casts seeds, recorded only in Mark, and the parable of the mustard seed. A man scatters seeds and allows nature to take its course through to the crop and the harvest. This was not unusual, any disturbance could kill the growing plant, the growing season in the dry soil of Palestine was typically 4 months, Mark tells us that the growth is a mystery, it is automatic. He adds a political slant by quoting Joel ‘put in the sickle for the harvest is ripe’. The crowd would know the words of the prophet and the popular view that Yahweh, God, would challenge the nations to an apocalyptic Holy War, a final military contest. However, Jesus is not advocating taking up arms, rather he is saying that the growth of the Kingdom is not obvious and controllable, judgment will come but in God’s time. We must attend to the sowing, not the harvest, that is God’s work. The kingdom of God will continue to grow through his people, the seed will grow slowly and surely. The Kingdom is present in the lives of those who believe, it starts small and increases, the rewards are great. Once the seed of the word of God is sown only time will show how a person’s faith grows and develops. In the growth of the early church, Paul develops the theme in his letter to the Corinthians : ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither the one who plants and the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth’.
Jesus follows this with the parable of the mustard seed, which is also found in Matthew, Luke and the gospel of Thomas, ‘with what can we compare the Kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?’ In the earlier parables he refers to seed, not a specific seed, but now the mustard seed, the smallest of all is the subject of the parable. To appreciate the significance of this, we must imagine that we are in first century Palestine, we are part of the large crowd by the lake and we know all about mustard! Our ears would prick up and we would be thinking, very small seed, grows tall and wild, once you have got it, it’s very hard to get rid of, have to be careful where you put it, mustn’t break the law, but it is good for curing lots of things! We now know that the most common variety in Palestine was sinapsis nigra, growing to a height of four feet, and wildly. It had a pungent taste and according to Pliny, was used to treat scorpion and serpent stings when ground with vinegar, treated fungal poisons, was chewed to cure toothache, good for stomach troubles, relaxed the bowels, promoted menstruation and urine, which were considered unclean. So where is Jesus going with this, they must have thought, is the Kingdom of Heaven going to cure all our problems?
However, as the parable progresses they would recall the strict laws, laid down in Leviticus and Deuteronomy governing the planting of mustard seed. The relevant parts of the law of diverse kinds state, …..you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff. And also in Deuteronomy: you shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole crop be forfeited to sanctuary, you shall not plough with an ox and ass together and you shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.’ This, they believed, would maintain order and holiness from the creation, disorder was uncleanliness. Mustard could only be planted in a separate part of a field and not next to grain as it would spread, but could be near vegetables.
In Matthew and Luke’s version the seed grew into a tree, and in Thomas there is an allusion to the great cedar of Lebanon, although these are stretches of the metaphor and imagination. The origin is probably the book of Ezekiel where the tree, the kingdom of Egypt was towering high and then cut down by Yahweh, could Jesus followers triumph over the Roman Empire? The important point in this story is that the smallest of seeds grew and became a great shrub; the small numbers of believers would grow and spread, the revolution of the Kingdom of heaven would continue, and still continues. Like the crowd, the ochlos, the teaching of Jesus gets everywhere and is all inclusive. Jesus is teaching patience, and hope, even when things are not looking good. Myers says: ‘the way of the sower is non violence: servanthood becomes leadership, suffering becomes triumph, death becomes life’. As in the first parable, it is up to us to sow the seeds of the kingdom through our faith, our non violent witness, our compassion and care for each other, but it is for God to bring the seed to fruition.
After this sermon Jesus takes the disciples and sets sail for the other side of Lake Galilee, across to gentile country, and the story continues.
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 – Alleluia, sing to Jesus NEH 271 – Hyfrydol
1 Alleluia, sing to Jesus,
His the sceptre, his the throne;
Alleluia, his the triumph,
His the victory alone:
Hark the songs of peaceful Sion
Thunder like a mighty flood;
Jesus out of every nation,
Hath redeemed us by his blood.
2 Alleluia, not as orphans
Are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia, he is near us,
Faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received him
When the forty days were o’er,
Shall our hearts forget his promise,
‘I am with you evermore’?
3 Alleluia, Bread of Angels,
Thou on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia, here the sinful
Flee to thee from day to day;
Intercessor, Friend of sinners,
Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless
Sweep across the crystal sea.
4 Alleluia, King eternal,
Thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia, born of Mary,
Earth thy footstool, heaven thy throne:
Thou within the veil hast entered,
Robed in flesh, our great High Priest;
Thou on earth both Priest and Victim
In the Eucharistic Feast.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
In your loving kindness, O God, have mercy and hear our prayer.
We pray for our world: In the face of such destructive evil in the world we ask for your guidance, Lord. We pray for the victims of the violence in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza.
We pray for the leaders of the nations, may they turn away from corruption and the abuse of power. May those in authority have the courage to defend the good of all. Grant them wisdom and imagination as they face the challenges ahead.
Lord, in your mercy – Hear our prayer.
Lord, we pray for your church, may we be constant in our faith, help us to remain secure in our beliefs when so much of life is fragile and changing. We pray for those who are persecuted for their faith. We remember in our prayers Charles our king, Justin our Archbishop and all bishops, clergy and laity who minister in your church. We give thanks for the work and support of William, our rector, his family and all who contribute to the ongoing work and life of our three churches.
Lord, in your mercy – Hear our prayer.
Lord, bless us, our families, our friends and neighbours, may we be watchful and caring in our communities, mindful of the needs of the marginalised and refugees.
Lord, your gifts are many, help us to use them wisely and share them more fairly.
We pray for our young, who are facing examinations at this time, help us to value all the many gifts and talents among our children.
Lord, in your mercy – Hear our prayer.
Lord, we pray for the sick and for the multitude of carers at home and beyond who look after them. May your healing presence bring comfort to troubled hearts and minds. We place our trust in your keeping. Our prayers are asked for anyone suffering at this time, including today Daisy Warne, and in a moment of quiet we remember those known to us personally.
Lord, in your mercy – Hear our prayer.
Lord, hear us as we remember with faith and love those who have died. We pray particularly for Pat Arnold and John Leckie. May they rest in peace.
Lord comfort and guide all who mourn.
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 Glorious things of Thee are spoken NEH 362 – Abbot’s Leigh
1 Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Sion, city of our God;
He whose word cannot be broken
Formed thee for his own abode:
On the Rock of Ages founded,
What can shake thy sure repose?
With salvation’s walls surrounded,
Thou may’st smile at all thy foes.
2 See, the streams of living waters,
Springing from eternal love,
Well supply thy sons and daughters,
And all fear of want remove:
Who can faint, while such a river
Ever flows their thirst to assuage?
Grace, which like the Lord the giver,
Never fails from age to age.
3 Saviour, if of Sion’s city
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in thy name:
Fading is the worldling’s pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
None but Sion’s children know.