St Clement Church Community Sunday Service 30.6.24
Good morning to you as we celebrate our 5th Sunday of Trinity Service.
Father David will be officiating at our Eucharist in church on Sunday, this Service of the Word is for those who aren’t able to be there in person, but will be worshipping with us in spirit. As usual the hymns we’ll be singing are included, in case you want to join in at home!
Much love and prayers and may Christ’s love sustain you always.
Rev Di and family xx
Let us pray;
Eternal God, comforter of the afflicted and healer of the broken, teach us the ways of gentleness and peace, that all the world may acknowledge the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn; ‘Father Hear the Prayer we Offer’
Our prayers of Penitence
In a moment of quiet reflection, we lay aside all pretence towards God and bring our fears and failings to the risen Christ:
Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, forgive our unwelcoming hearts..
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, Son of God, Servant of humanity, forgive our self-centred lives..
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, Prince of Peace, Hope of the nations, forgive our bitter conflicts..
Lord, have mercy.
May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save fallen humanity, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen.
Let us pray our Collect for the 5th Sunday after Trinity
Almighty God, send down upon your Church the riches of your Spirit, and kindle in all who minister the gospel your countless gifts of grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings:
Wisdom of Solomon 1.13-15; 2.23-24
2 Corinthians 8. 7-end
Hymn; ‘City of God how Broad and Far’
Gospel: Mark 5. 21-end
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. 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 round 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.
Reflection
I know of a small group of folk who call themselves; “The Fellowship of Merry Christians.” They started the group for the single purpose of reminding Christians to be joyful spreading quips like; “The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves so lightly.” And; “The devil fell because of the gravity of his situation.” And, believe it or not, they tell jokes in worship. Gosh! Whatever next! Their hallmark is a picture of Jesus standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, laughing, and it made me smile when I saw it. They’re right, of course, these “Merry Christians.” We ought to be more joyful, even in church, where the traditional legacy is one of seriousness and sombre faces. If I ever lose my job, it will probably be because we’ve had too much fun here, but frankly, it will be worth it! But there’s a big difference between “laughing with Jesus” and “laughing AT Jesus.”
The 5th chapter of Mark is just one amazing miracle after another. It begins with Jesus curing a demon-possessed man. Then, he is approached by Jairus, who pleads; “My daughter is dying, come and lay your hands on her.” Though Jairus was a religious expert, he knew he couldn’t help his own daughter, so he reaches out to this traveling preacher who although was becoming an enemy of the synagogue, had a reputation of healing.
On the journey to the house Jesus encounters a woman who needs a miracle. She’d been bleeding for 12 years, and because of this she would have been considered unclean by Jewish society and shunned, being made to live alone. The doctors had taken all her money but had only made things worse, so she too, reaches out – literally to Jesus. “Who touched me?” He asks. Hundreds of people pressing in on him, and yet he feels her touch, and by her faith she is healed.
But then Jairus receives news that his daughter has died. “Don’t fear, only believe” says Jesus. At the house Jesus announces that the girl isn’t dead, she’s merely sleeping, and the people laughed at him. The people laughed at him! So Jesus took the hand of this 12 year old, who, if dead, would also have been considered unclean, and said; “Little girl, get up!” And she does. But the question I come away with from that miracle is; “Why did the people laugh at Jesus?” Word of his power and had preceded him into the village; some folk had seen Jesus healing before. So when he announced that the girl wasn’t dead but sleeping, why did they laugh at him? Was it nervous laughter; the way we sometimes do when our emotions are running high, and we don’t know what to say? Was it an angry, spiteful outburst, intended to hurt Jesus? Psychologists know that; “hurting people hurt people” so perhaps these hurting people were just lashing out. Or was it a quiet, cynical snicker, by those who simply couldn’t take Jesus seriously? So they laughed and scoffed because they thought he didn’t know death when he saw it.
We’ll never know which of those explanations of laughter were plausible on the day that Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter. But what we do know is that the same responses are repeated in this day and age whenever we come up against tragic circumstances. When the events in our lives are beyond our ability to cope, we too, sometimes laugh, or we snicker, or we lash out, because we don’t know what else to do. We may shake our fists at God; lots of biblical characters did. We may turn our backs on God, have nothing to do with him or his church anymore. I’ve seen that a lot. Despair can even move us to harm ourselves because we see no hope in the future. So how do we cope when life overwhelms us?
One way is to turn to our faith. Luther once wrote; “I must go to the one whom I think is my enemy, and I must trust him.”
I had a hard time wrapping my brain around that statement when I first read it; God? The enemy? But in the midst of the storm, it can feel that way; like God is inflicting the pain. The book of Job is a case in point. But sooner or later, when people of faith realise that there’s no place else to turn, we to turn to God.
When the loyal followers of Jesus were jumping ship, Jesus said to Peter; “How about you, Peter, do you too want to go?” Peter’s response was immediate; “Lord, who else would I turn to? You have the words of eternal life.”
In each of the three miracles of the 5th chapter of Mark, faith preceded the miracle. The demon possessed man bowed before Jesus. Jairus requested Jesus to come to his house and lay his hands on his daughter. The haemorrhaging woman reached out and touched Jesus. Their lives were already a mess, they’d lost hope for healing already, but they turned to the one whom in their context would be considered their enemy and they trusted him. Another way suffering people might consider is to turn to others for support and encouragement.
One of the great blessings of being part of a congregation like ours is that nobody here ever weeps alone. We are family, and if one of us suffers, we all do. We accompany each other every horrendous step of the way. We hold the Christ light for those who haven’t the strength to carry it themselves.
But there’s one more thing we can do to survive the difficult chapters of our lives; we can learn to forgive ourselves. It’s strange that Christian people have seemingly mastered the art of forgiving others, yet we have great difficulty forgiving ourselves…even for things that aren’t our fault.
And even when we are responsible, there comes a time when we must let it go and forgive ourselves for merely being human.
So if we’re carrying some enormous weight on our shoulders today for something we did or didn’t do years ago, we need to know that God has already cleared our name. It’s only when we can forgive ourselves, can we be free, and there’s nothing more liberating than to be free of guilt.
One day, we will laugh with Jesus. Scripture tells us that all the tears will be wiped away, and only love will prevail. Until then, we have each other, and the promises of God. So may we laugh together as we continue the journey. Amen.
Affirmation of our faith
Let us declare our faith in God:
We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist. We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again. We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world. This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith.
We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Hymn; ‘I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say’
Our Intercessions are written by Liz Davies
We lift our prayers to you, O Lord, for all people everywhere, those close to us and those far away. We pray for those who minister and preach that they may never find themselves rejected out of hand as our Saviour Jesus Christ was in His home town synagogue. We pray for our own Reverend Di that she may be given strength to cope with all she is asked to do and enfold her and Ken in your ever-loving arms. We pray for the world-wide Church and our church family here at St Clement as we ask for your help to grow in faith. May we be true disciples and live our lives as you would have us do. Help us to respect the beliefs of others even if we do not share them, to celebrate what we have in common and accept our differences. Guide us in our ministries as we live each day determined to spread the Good News of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. May we, as part of your Church family always offer a warm welcome and the hand of friendship and love to all who enter these doors.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
God the Creator, we give you our thanks for all the wonders of the world that you have created. We live in a wonderful part of the United Kingdom with its mighty cliffs of the North coast, the sheltered bays of the South coast, golden beaches, open moors, woodlands, streams, and rivers. We thank you for its varied flora and fauna. May we, as custodians of your creation, ensure that we protect and care for it so that future generations may enjoy and wonder at all its facets.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Lord of grace, as we look at the leaders of the world, we ask that you will lend to those in authority, the wisdom and the strength to deal with the problems faced by our planet, some of which seem impossible to solve. Give them imagination and courage to find solutions, and the ability to lead others into the future.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Creator God, look with compassion on the whole human family; take away arrogance and hatred that infects the hearts of those who pursue war, violence, and terrorism; break down the walls that separate us and unite us in bonds of love and peace.
We pray today for peacemakers throughout the world, may they bring hope out of despair, peace out of conflict and prosperity out of poverty.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God, we pray for our families and friends and especially for all young people that they may grow up knowing love and hope, valuing life and respecting others. We pray for those leaving school and college and moving on to the next stage of their lives, and for those for whom what happens next depends on exam performance. We pray for those joining us here in Cornwall on holiday over the coming weeks praying that they may travel safely and return refreshed.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving Lord, today’s Gospel shows the extreme faith of a sick woman. Help us to learn from this ‘that we should always pray and not give up’ and that ‘if we ask it will be given to us.’ We bring to you all those who need to touch the hem of your garments and receive health and healing in their lives.
We know that, when life seems most difficult, hope can simply ebb away. When we reach the end of our resources, give us the faith and confidence simply to let go, knowing that you will breathe into us new strength for the road ahead.
We pray for healing in body, mind, and spirit for all who are in need. We pray that in lives darkened by any kind of pain, disease, or grief the Light of Christ will bring comfort, hope and a sense of all-encompassing love. We especially bring to you: Reverend Diane and Ken, May, Susan, Lauren, Lynda, Barrie and Sandra, Pam and David, Terry and Dot, Margaret, Maureen, Alison and Rob, Jan, Anita and Stephen,
Michael and Patricia, Jeremy, Stella, Alison, William, Callum and Elaine, Jay, Ann, Julie, Andy and those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we pray for those whose hearts have been saddened by the death of someone close and dear to them, for members of our families who have died and whose anniversary we recall. Help us to feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit within us, and the fellowship of the church family around us until we are reunited once more in your heavenly kingdom.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Faithful God, we pray for ourselves; as we go from our worship today to start the week ahead, we ask that in all we do, may we walk more closely with you at our side in the knowledge that your Fatherly love and care knows no bounds. In the weeks ahead help us to keep the faith as deeply and passionately as Jairus and the woman at the lake.
Merciful Father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, let us pray with confidence as Jesus taught us; Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Peace
We are the body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised into one body. Let us then pursue all that makes for peace and build up our common life. May the peace of God be always with us. Amen.
Hymn; ‘Now thank we all our God’
Blessing
May God the Holy Trinity make us strong in faith and love, defend us on every side and guide us in truth and peace. And may the presence of God watch over us, the power of God protect us, those whom we love, and may we never forget that wherever we are, God is with us always, to the end of the age. Amen.