Morning Service for Trinity 9 2024 YrB p12
HYMN Faithful shepherd feed me NEH 282 – Pastor pastorum
1 Faithful Shepherd, feed me
In the pastures green;
Faithful Shepherd, lead me
Where thy steps are seen.
2 Hold me fast, and guide me
In the narrow way;
So, with thee beside me,
I shall never stray.
3 Daily bring me nearer
To the heavenly shore;
May my faith grow clearer,
May I love thee more.
4 Hallow every pleasure,
Every gift and pain;
Be thyself my treasure,
Though none else I gain.
5 Day by day prepare me
As thou seest best,
Then let angels bear me
To thy promised rest.
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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 sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
FIRST READING – 2 Samuel 11.1-15
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”
HYMN Be thou my guardian and my guide NEH 64 – Abridge
1 Be thou my guardian and my guide,
And hear me when I call;
Let not my slippery footsteps slide,
And hold me lest I fall.
2 The world, the flesh, and Satan dwell
Around the path I tread;
O, save me from the snares of hell,
Thou quickener of the dead.
3 And if I tempted am to sin,
And outward things are strong,
Do thou, O Lord, keep watch within,
And save my soul from wrong.
4 Still let me ever watch and pray,
And feel that I am frail;
That if the tempter cross my way,
Yet he may not prevail.
GOSPEL – John 6.1-21
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
SERMON
There is an awful realism in the Hebrew Bible, it has very few heroes that do not have feet of clay. Or, put another way, its characters are portrayed as real people, not cardboard cut-out supermen. This is true even when it recounts the life of one of the most significant figures in Israel’s history.
David was Israel’s second king and the man, more than any other, that created the nation, laid the foundations for its political stability, inaugurated a capital city and gave it a place in the world that would survive 400 years. A 1,000 years later it was the hope of a new David that caused the people to thirst for a Messiah, a saviour, a new beginning free of foreign domination.
Over the last few weeks we have heard the story of the rise of David, his anointing as a most unlikely king to be, his defeat of Goliath in a most unlikely way, his sadness over the death of Saul and his son, his acceptance as king by the tribes of Israel, how he brought the Ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, and his desire to establish a permanent place of worship there for his God. If we’d read the bits in between we would also have heard of his struggles with Saul and how God had supported him and prospered him against all the odds. Now he has made it, he is secure enough to send his army out on their own, he may take his rest and enjoy the fruit of his labours. But just as in the garden of the Eden, the snake hisses loudest at the quietest and richest of times.
There is something profoundly depressing about the Hebrew Bible, it probably comes from the experience of the people who wrote it, we must never forget that it is largely a meditation, a philosophical searching for why a people who were brought into a special relationship with their God should have suffered so much. Their answer is almost always the same – sin – or, in their terms, the breaking of the Commandments of Yahweh, their God. And in this incident David breaks three out of the 10 most important of the Commandments. And things are never the same for David. The story has been spoilt for ever.
Christianity has often been accused of having an obsession with sin, and anyone looking to its past would find that to be pretty well true. But we should not be surprised because Christianity was all about an answer to that the ancient Hebrew problem of what do you do with the propensity of human beings to do what they know to be wrong. The revolutionary response of Christianity was to dare to say that God himself accepted the eternal consequences of sin, and suffered them himself – he draws the poison away. He cannot save us from the consequences of sin in our own time, the damage we do we, or others, must bear. But he has made sure that nothing we can do can prevent his fellowship with us, now and in eternity – he will not cast the first stone. He is ever working to bring us home to him. This is unacceptable to many who need a God of justice more than they crave a God of forgiveness – but who do they think Christ hung on a cross for – forgiveness is the bridge that we all cross to make our way to God.
The dreadful story of David and Bathsheba continues next week, and if anything it gets worse. If David’s story has taken a depressing turn then as least we may take comfort in the Gospel reading. We’ve abruptly curtailed the lectionary reading of Mark for a trip into the Gospel of St John, Chapter 6 to be precise, and we’ll be there for four weeks. We’re there to hear and to consider the feeding of the 5000, one of the few incidents in Mark, Luke and Matthew that St John repeats. It symbolises so much that was close to the heart of Jesus’s disciples, and reflected also the experience of the first generation of Christians. It simply says, amongst a great many other things, that Christ will feed you. Clearly not with the calories and proteins and fats you need to sustain your body, but with what you need to sustain your life, your heart, your hope, your love.
There is an understanding of remembrance ascribed to the Jewish people, that says in remembering a significant event or person, you take that event or person into your life, you make it or them a part of you. Their story becomes, in some way, your story.
In remembering Christ, and his will to feed us, each and every week, we take him into ourselves, to become a part of us, a part of our story, a part of the fabric of our being. We claim the forgiveness and the making whole that he came to bring and the fellowship with God that it for ever secured.
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 Lord the word abideth NEH 407 Ravenshaw
1 Lord, thy word abideth,
And our footsteps guideth;
Who its truth believeth,
Light and joy receiveth.
2 When our foes are near us,
Then thy word doth cheer us,
Word of consolation,
Message of salvation.
3 When the storms are o’er us,
And dark clouds before us,
Then its light directeth,
And our way protecteth.
4 Who can tell the pleasure,
Who recount the treasure
By thy word imparted
To the simple-hearted?
5 Word of mercy, giving
Succour to the living;
Word of life, supplying
Comfort to the dying.
6 O that we discerning
Its most holy learning,
Lord, may love and fear thee,
Evermore be near thee!
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Val Etteridge
Dear Lord, we pray first for the Church of Christ and for Christians throughout the world. We ask that your church may be united and tolerant and for strength to be given to churches and Christians in areas where there is persecution because of their beliefs. We remember our own diocese and pray for our bishops and ask that they may be given wise council in decisions made in your name. We pray for our benefice here and ask that guidance and blessing be given to all who lead, care and work in our three churches.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for King Charles and the royal family, for the government and members of Parliament, we ask that wisdom be given to the party leaders, that they may take the right way forward for our country. We pray too for the leaders of the nations of the world and ask that they may seek to end the hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race and class from class. Help us too in our own small to bring peace and happiness to people.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for our local community and all who live, work or are visiting this area. We ask for grace that we may appreciate how our lives depend on the industry of our fellow men. We remember this holiday season and those going away, resting from daily work and studies and enjoying leisure and free time. Thank you God for the gift of leisure, for time to unwind, reflect or simply to sit in quiet. Bless this time of recreation and refresh us.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We pray for all those suffering in the world, for the anxious and frightened, those in trouble, the lonely, the sad, the hungry, the homeless, those near death and the sick. We ask that whatever their need they may find comfort. We name Daisy Warne and in the quiet those known to us who are sick………..Dear Lord for all in pain we pray to you. Give doctors, nurses, carers skill to soothe and to the tired and ill give quietness and hope. Lord to those who know pain may not cease come near to them that they may feel your peace.
Lord in your mercy hear our prayer.
We think of those who have died, those we have known and loved, those who mourn now and we ask for comfort to be given them at this time. We now look ahead to the coming days and ask that whatever we are going to do or whoever we are going to meet we may do all things with kindness, patience, diligence, cheerfulness and love.
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 Guide me O thou great redeemer NEH 368 – Cwm Rhondda
1 Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty,
Hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more.
2 Open now the crystal fountain
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through:
Strong Deliverer,
Be thou still my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell’s Destruction
Land me safe on Canaan’s side:
Songs of praises
I will ever give to thee.