Morning Service for Trinity 4 2023
HYMN Take my life and let it be H&S 88 – St Bees
1. Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee;
take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
2. Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love;
take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.
3. Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King;
take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold,
not a mite would I withhold;
take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine;
take my heart: it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.
6. Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store;
take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all 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
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
FIRST READING – Genesis 22.1-14
After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
HYMN The light of Christ H&S 90
The light of Christ
has come into the world;
the light of Christ
has come into the world.
1.All men must be born again
to see the Kingdom of God;
the water and the Spirit
bring new life in God’s love.
Chorus
2.God gave up His only Son
out of love for the world,
so that all men who believe in Him
will live for ever.
Chorus
3.The light of God has come to us
so that we might have salvation;
from the darkness of our sins
we walk into glory with Christ Jesus
Chorus
GOSPEL – Matthew 10.40-42
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
SERMON
“Take your so, your only son, whom you love…”
The Story of Abraham and Isaac is not very nice – it is certainly not suitable for children.
This is not an acceptable story for our times – it does not present a gentle, ‘it’s there if you want it,’ view of faith and God. In our time, an hour on a Sunday morning is too much to sacrifice.
Abraham was the archetypal man of faith, but he was no cardboard cut-out, and literally, no saint. If you read the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis you don’t find a fairy tale hero who could do no wrong. For example, when he was in a tight spot he wasn’t above telling people that his wife was his sister – twice he pulled that trick, and twice he made a fortune out of it – it wasn’t so good for poor beautiful Sarah, his hapless wife, she ended up having to join the Pharaoh’s harem the first time, and the king of Gerar’s the second. I think that takes capitalising on your assets a little too far.
Each time he denied his wife because he was afraid, he did not have enough faith to honestly accept the situation as he found it. He thought that selling his wife would serve better than the unreliable providence of God. So there is nothing spotless about Abraham, he is given to us as a very real person. What makes him extra-ordinary is the story read to us today. It was, undoubtedly the climax of his part in the drama of Genesis. In all else he acts much as many of us would, (perhaps we wouldn’t as far as selling a wife or a husband), but what he understands the will of God to be that he does, more or less, and he also uses his wits, to stay alive and to prosper.
But on Mount Moriah he departs from us. Surely no one here would be prepared to sacrifice their child on any altar to any god – at least I hope not. But in this story Abraham is ready to do just that. Don’t think that this story wasn’t as shocking to its first hearers as it is to us – the Israelites where horrified by the thought of human sacrifice of any sort, hence their repugnance at some of the local Canaanite religions.
So what is the purpose of the story – what does it tell us about God that is so important that the writer wanted to stun his audience and appal us all. To answer that question we must understand that Abraham did not begin his wanderings from a perverse desire to see the world – he left the security of his father’s household, his country and his people in obedience to a command from God and a promise. The promise of special place, a land where “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you…”
In his journeying Abraham experiences the awesome presence of God, to judge and to save, to give and to remove. In the years Abraham has spent finding this promised land, he has learnt what faith in this God of promise and command might mean. He has learnt that, even when all the signs are to the contrary, God is never far away and he is always to be trusted, that in his faith and fear all things will be well, if not necessarily as he would choose.
This understanding is pushed to the very limit – the writer wants us to know that the world is not without challenge, that the deepest and darkest questions may be asked of us.
Isaac was Abraham and Sarah’s pure joy, his name comes from the Hebrew verb to laugh. This joy of his, his heir, his posterity, his part in the future is what’s at stake. But Abraham is a man under obedience, and he will continue to walk its path even if that be up a mountain with a knife in his hand and his son by his side carrying wood for his own funeral pyre. Abraham has no proof that it will all turn out all right in the end, he only knows the command, but he has faith in the promise. This time his faith does not fail him and God does provide.
This story must force us to look at ourselves, to measure our faithfulness to what we know to be the command of God, and his promise. Jesus understood the demands and the promise of God, and obeyed the command that saw him on another hill-top very close to Abraham’s Mount Moriah – in the strangely named City of peace, Jerusalem. Both Jesus and Abraham were justified by their faith – God did not fail to provide in either case, for the one a ram and the other a resurrection.
I am uncomfortable with the God that the writer of Genesis describes, the God who demands such an offering, such a sacrifice. I would wish to reject such a notion of God. But if God is genuinely the ground and source of all things, what else could he do for me but to bring me to the understanding that life can only be fully experienced, only be fully lived, if I am prepared to give all to the breath and the beginning, the spirit and the sustainer of all that is. There can be no half way measures if the promise is to be fulfilled – the promise of abundant life.
That is why we meet to take to ourselves a sacrifice, why at the fullest expression of our worship are the words of sacrifice and offering – body given and blood shed… for us, – to demonstrate for all time that the God who demands all… gives all…. and calls us to become a part of his purpose and will.
And what of me, what of my offering – I am called to worship, how much of myself do I offer, I am called to serve, what cost do I say is too much and draw back. Abraham, poor flawed and fearful Abraham, understood the joys and the seriousness of life with God, he withheld nothing and found that nothing was withheld.
For Jesus the stakes were even higher – and his call absolute ‘If anyone would follow me, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day, and follow me.’ Each week we come to reaffirm our response to that call, our portion in the self-giving, self-offering love of God.
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 Among us and before us, Lord, you stand H&S 5 – Gatehouse
1. Among us and before us, Lord, you stand
with arms outstretched and
bread and wine at hand.
Confronting those unworthy of a crumb,
you ask that to your table we should come.
2. Who dare say No, when such is your resolve
our worst to witness, suffer and absolve,
our best to raise in lives by God forgiven,
our souls to fill on earth
with food from heaven?
3. Who dare say No, when such is your intent
to love the selves we famish and resent,
to cradle our uncertainties and fear,
to kindle hope as you in faith draw near?
4. Who dare say No,
when such is your request
that each around your table should be guest,
that here the ancient word should live as new
‘Take, eat and drink – all this is meant for you.’
5. No more we hesitate and wonder why;
no more we stand indifferent, scared or shy.
Your invitation leads us to say Yes,
to meet you where you nourish,
heal and bless.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Mary Hinton
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 and Uganda.
Many have died when boats in India and Greece have capsized. Lord have mercy on all those trapped beneath the sea. We remember too the victims of the brutal attacks in Nottingham.
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 Terry Martin, 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 John Harrison, a member of the Compton congregation, who was much loved and respected. May he rest in peace.
Lord comfort and guide all who mourn, especially Joan and her family.
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 HYMN – O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder – H&S 74
1. O Lord, my God,
when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hand has made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
thy power throughout
the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul,
my Saviour God, to thee:
how great thou art, how great thou art.
Then sings my soul,
my Saviour God, to thee;
how great thou art, how great thou art.
2. When through the woods
and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down
from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook,
and feel the gentle breeze.
Chorus
3. And when I think that God,
his son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in
that on the cross,
my burden gladly bearing,
he bled and died to take away my sin.
Chorus
4. When Christ shall come
with shout of acclamation
and take me home,
what joy shall fill my heart;
when I shall bow in humble adoration,
and there proclaim: my God,
how great thou art.
Chorus