Morning Service for Trinity 5 2024
HYMN – O for a closer walk with God H&S 72 – Caithness
1 O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!
2 Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
And drove thee from my breast.
3 The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee.
4 So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
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 and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.
FIRST READING – 2 Samuel 1.1,17-27
After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.
David intoned this lamentation over Saul and his son Jonathan. (He ordered that The Song of the Bow be taught to the people of Judah; it is written in the Book of Jashar.) He said: Your glory, O Israel, lies slain upon your high places! How the mighty have fallen! Tell it not in Gath, proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon; or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice, the daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.
You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor bounteous fields! For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, anointed with oil no more. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan did not turn back, nor the sword of Saul return empty. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely! In life and in death they were not divided; they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.
O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with crimson, in luxury, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan lies slain upon your high places. I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
HYMN The Lord’s my Shepherd (Townend) H & S 91
1. The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;
he makes me lie in pastures green,
he leads me by the still, still waters,
his goodness restores my soul.
And I will trust in you alone,
and I will trust in you alone,
for your endless mercy follows me,
your goodness will lead me home.
2. He guides my ways in righteousness,
and he anoints my head with oil;
and my cup – it overflows with joy,
I feast on his pure delights.
Chorus
3. And though I walk the darkest path –
I will not fear the evil one,
for you are with me, and your rod and staff
are the comfort I need to know.
Chorus
GOSPEL – Mark 5.21-43
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
SERMON
We have heard the stories of Jairus’ daughter and the haemorrhaging woman very often – another Mark “sandwich” where one story starts, then leaves us hanging as it goes off at a tangent and finally coming back to the original story, so that we can decipher the connecting messages that we are supposed to understand and respond to.
Both stories are about fear and faith – and the power of Jesus to take people from one to the other: We begin with Jairus – he is a Synagogue president – it sounds as if he is a big fish in a small pond – a small town of a few hundred would only have a maximum of two or three such officers so he would be pretty well-known. Since the time when Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, he couldn’t have been a comfortable person to have in the congregation – local experts in Jewish law were becoming upset about some of the things he was doing; if Herod Antipas was to hear the murmurs about a new kingdom of God movement , it might put the spotlight on the town for all the wrong reasons, at best Jairus would want to keep Jesus at arm’s length, he might even wish Jesus lived elsewhere – but at the very least our synagogue leader would want to keep his head down and remain neutral.
But of course all that changes when your twelve year old daughter is sick – the apple of your eye – very poorly –on the point of death even – blood is thicker than water – maybe Jesus would be the one who could help, so Jairus throws caution to the wind, and implores Jesus to come to make his child better – he would deal with the fall out from the other Synagogue leaders later. Jesus goes with him, the huge crowd in tow. There was always something to see when Jesus was around.
And now we come to the sandwich – the older woman not only keeps us in suspense -– Jairus will be agitated, anxious to get home without any distraction – but this inner story provides an important depth and inner meaning to the events.
Jesus is on his way to a house where we already suspect he will find a corpse. As well as the grief and sorrow, thoughts would stray to the threat of impurity as contact with a dead body is one of the chief sources of impurity in Jewish law. The other one is chronic internal bleeding, and this unknown woman is suffering in spades. We mustn’t forget that personal hygiene wasn’t easy, soap wasn’t invented until the Middle Ages, and running water and decent drainage systems weren’t very apparent, so purity taboos were vital to maintain public health. This poor lady had spent 12 miserable years in a chronic contaminated condition, alienated – trying to find a cure, spending anything she had on medical support which hasn’t made any difference, perhaps she had been longing to have a baby – she must have been feeling very desperate. She wouldn’t want to be identified , she would have to remain anonymous – – she would have been embarrassed to admit what she had done, because she would have understood that she may have contaminated Jesus. She would have been in fear of his reaction, yet her faith was strong enough to take the risk.
Understandably the disciples were askance when Jesus asks: “who touched me?”
“Are you kidding?- have you seen this crowd? Anyone could have touched you”
Anyone who had ever been in a scrum crowd would identify with the reaction of those disciples and they clearly didn’t appreciate that Jesus has felt the POWER go out of him. He was totally aware that someone had purposefully touched him, not just bumped into him by accident.
Our unknown heroine steps up and confesses- her fear would have been evident and how could she know that he would call her Daughter – and that he would be so understanding and approving of what she had done. He confirms to her that her faith had made her whole…It was actually Jesus’ power that rescued the woman, but by reaching out in faith, she had tapped into the channel through which God’s power can work. What a wonderful assurance that gives us – When life with all its pressures crowds in on us, there is room for us to creep up behind Jesus and reach out to touch him, and in that odd mixture of fear and faith – we can release that same power of restoration.
To go back to Jairus – and his torment – This incident of course has “wasted” several minutes, and word has arrived that Jairus daughter has indeed died, so the messenger considers it to be a bit pointless to bother Jesus to come to the house. If you are standing in Jairus’ shoes at that moment it would be pretty difficult to hear the words “Don’t be afraid – just believe” – and yet – so many extraordinary things had been happening – with his own eyes Jairus had only just witnessed this encounter with a sick woman who had been declared healed and been called daughter – so Jairus must have retained that grain of faith which enabled him to walk the short distance to home. As they drew nearer they would hear the professional mourners outside – weeping and wailing, a well -established ritual for beginning the grieving process providing families the opportunity to give vent to their feelings without restraint or embarrassment.
Jesus is having no truck with this – he keeps the crowds at bay – which would not have been an easy task we can suppose – he takes Peter James and John with him into the house, and declares to the wailing mourners that the child is not dead, just asleep. And they laugh at Him – can’t you just imagine the derision and scorn!. So there are only six people in the room where the dead girl is lying – Jesus takes her by the hand says a word of command, ‘ Talitha koum’ which means “time to get up little girl” and up she gets – off to get something to eat, and carry on with her life – here she is on the edge of puberty, the world is her oyster : Now she can look forward to a full and fulfilling life, she is nearly old enough to get married and have her own family, perhaps the unknown outcast woman who has also recently been transformed can share the same dream now. It is a shame that we don’t hear what became of Jairus, or the girl or the haemorrhaging woman, but I think we can safely say those lives were transformed by their experiences.
You will appreciate that the commentators have a plethora of ideas about the symbolism of these stories – they don’t ignore the importance of the number 12 which they consider symbolises the twelve tribes of Israel and represents the key to this story. Within the family of Israel, these “daughters” represent the privileged and the impoverished respectively and because of such inequity the body politic of the synagogue is “on the verge of death” . Only when the outcast woman is restored to true daughterhood can the daughter of the synagogue be restored to true life. This is the faith the privileged must learn from the poor and is a characteristic of the sovereignty of God which Jesus will address later when he says “the last will be the first” and the “least will be greatest”.
In this and many other episodes of healing Jesus warns onlookers not to discuss what they have witnessed, and in this case the crowd outside have shown no faith by their mocking laughter, and by implication they will accept the diagnosis that the girl was just asleep, after all. The true nature of Jesus’ action is only open to the eye of faith, and publicising it in a context of unbelief will not in any way help his cause.
So what do we take away from all this? These stories of faith and fear. The emotions that we see through these characters are as relevant now to us as they were then, to them. Life confronts us all with the same kind of dilemmas when we might have to throw caution to the wind – simply rely on our grain of faith like Jairus – or like our unknown woman, face our fear and just believe.
We don’t have to follow the crowd – we don’t have to rely on our own strength – we know without question that we can lean on God – we can trust Him to support, protect and love us.
God doesn’t care whether we are a big fish or a little fish, whether we are well known or anonymous – The Kingdom of God doesn’t take into consideration social structure – everyone is equal. The connecting thread is faith – to have utter confidence in God because of what we have received in Jesus, through the power of the Spirit within us.
It is our faith that is the channel through which God can work – when we engage our faith – we unlock God’s power. He can be powerful in our lives if we let Him.
DO not be afraid – just believe ! AMEN
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 What a friend we have in Jesus H&S 102 – Converse
1. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!
2. Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged:
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness –
take it to the Lord in prayer!
3. Are we weak and heavy-laden
cumbered with a load of care?
Jesus only is our refuge,
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield thee,
thou wilt find a solace there.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Gill Macdonald
Dear Father, we come to you again, boldly – to offer you our thanks and bring our concerns, knowing that you will graciously hear us as we pray in faith.
We thank you that we are able to worship you in freedom, that we share the same love of the Lord Jesus with Christians around the world. We thank you that the knowledge of your kingdom is growing in many areas of the world, but we also pray for those who are persecuted because of their faith, those who have lost their faith, or have never known the love of our Lord Jesus.
We pray for our own Diocese, our benefice and our three churches. We pray for William and his family as they look forward to retirement in September, and we thank you for all the service they have given us so faithfully over the years. We pray that you will guide and uphold us as we face the challenges and opportunities of interregnum and we entrust the future to your loving care.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer
We thank you Lord, for your world, for its beauty and its splendour, its changing seasons, and for all that is good and honourable within it. And Lord, we pray for global peace…. for an end to the terror between Ukraine and Russia –between Israel and Palestine, for an end to suffering in Yemen, Syria – and a restoration to peace and justice for all nations.
We pray for our own country, our King and Royal Family and for all those who have responsibility for leadership. We pray for all those involved in this week’s General Election, – we pray that all newly elected ministers and MP’s will serve our nation with justice and integrity, and will unite and restore confidence in each other to live and work for the common good.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer
We pray for our local communities, for our friends and neighbours, our families, and for those we meet day by day. Keep us mindful of each other, aware of others anxiety or fear, finding time to listen, and giving us opportunities to help.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer
We entrust into your loving care those we know who are ill in body, mind or spirit, remembering especially Daisy Warne and Josephine Tee and any others known to us personally. We lift to you any who we know to be lonely, grieving, or in any kind of trouble. Let them be aware that they are not alone and keep them close in their need.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer
We pray for those who have recently died, Lord, and those whose anniversaries fall at this time. We give you thanks for their lives and witness, and for our treasured memories. We thank you that they are now safe in your hands.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer
SO Lord we will go into this new week in faith, boldly – we will not be afraid – we will Believe.
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 Lord, for the years H&S 61 – Lord of the years
1. Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.
2. Lord, for that word, the word of life which fires us,
speaks to our hearts and sets our souls ablaze,
teaches and trains, rebukes us and inspires us:
Lord of the word, receive your people’s praise.
3. Lord, for our land in this our generation,
spirits oppressed by pleasure, wealth and care:
for young and old, for commonwealth and nation,
Lord of our land, be pleased to hear our prayer.
4. Lord, for our world where men disown and doubt you,
loveless in strength, and comfortless in pain,
hungry and helpless, lost indeed without you:
Lord of the world, we pray that Christ may reign.
5. Lord for ourselves; in living power remake us –
self on the cross, and Christ upon the throne,
past put behind us, for the future take us:
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.
.