St Clement Church Community Sunday Service
Good morning to you all as we celebrate our service, the 21st Sunday after Trinity. I shall be taking our Eucharist service in church using our usual service booklets, if you’re unable to be with us in person I hope you will join us in worship at home with this service of the Word.
May Christ’s love sustain you always.
With much love and prayers,
Rev Di and family xx
Let us pray;
Almighty God, you search us and know us: may we rely on your strength and rest on you in weakness, now and in all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn: ‘Be Thou My Vision’
Our prayers of Penitence
Let us recognise those failings in us that undermine relationships, and cause hurt to others…..
We confess the failings that bring hurt and betrayal upon those who trust us. Lord, have mercy.
We confess the failings that cause love to grow cold, and attitudes to harden. Christ, have mercy.
We confess the failings that impede the way to forgiveness and reconciliation. Lord, have mercy.
May our almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon and forgiveness of all our failings, time for amendment of our lives and the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray our Collect for the 21st Sunday after Trinity
Almighty God, in whose service lies perfect freedom: teach us to obey you with loving hearts and steadfast wills; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Readings:
Leviticus 19.1-2, 15-18
1 Thessalonians 2.1-8
Hymn; ‘Come Down, O Love Divine’
Gospel: Matthew 22.34-end
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
"Give it to me in a nutshell" an old saying we’re familiar with, meaning: ‘’tell me what I need to know, but keep it short, don't bore me with a long, technical explanation, just get to the bottom line!’’
And that's what the lawyer said to Jesus: ‘’Give it to me in a nutshell.’’ At least that’s what he meant. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? But remember, this man wasn’t a lawyer as we know lawyers today, he was a religious scholar of the Torah, the Jewish religious laws.
And Matthew tells us that the lawyer asked Jesus this question to test him, because if he can get Jesus to pronounce one law more important than another, the lawyer is sure that he can discredit him.
But Jesus knows what’s going on, and understands that he’s treading on dangerous ground, and his answer was a good one, Love God, love your neighbour….. How could anyone argue with that?
But the other question is, how can anyone do that, love God, love your neighbour?
Love God, that’s not usually a problem, at least it’s not a problem when things are going well. During those times of our lives when we are healthy, wealthy and wise, it’s easy to love God. Thank you, God, for my good life, for my family, my health, although sometimes we tend to forget God then and believe we’re created these good times all by ourselves. Ironically, it’s possible to love God when things are going badly, when life brings us to our knees, because we realise that we need God's help, and we want God near us.
But how about love our neighbour, now we’re getting to the hard part, because very often that depends on who our neighbour happens to be, doesn’t it? Though of course Jesus didn’t mean just the people we live next door to, but rather all we meet and share our lives with.
In the context of a next door neighbour, Ken and I are fortunate to have good ones, they are always cheerful and helpful, but then we have another neighbour in the village who’s noisy. He sets off for work very early in the morning on his motorbike, and by the time he’s going past the vicarage I reckon he’s doing at last 60 miles an hour and the poor bike’s engine is absolutely screaming….. I think he’s making sure we’re all awake, a bit like another old saying: ‘’one up, all up.’’ But perhaps I should tell you that this so-called ‘bad’ neighbour has a heart of gold and is always ready to help out with village events.
Then again, where we lived before Ken and I had neighbours who played loud music, and there was the neighbour with an overgrown garden, that made it impossible to keep the weeds out of ours.
Or what about neighbours on airplanes, oh dear, have you ever found yourself seated beside someone who made the flight seem twice as long? Not much fun, is it! Or the neighbour next to you in the long queue at the supermarket, who loads all their shopping onto the checkout and then rushes off to get something they’ve forgotten, leaving everyone waiting even longer…..
And then there are the really serious neighbour problems, I’m having a problem at the moment loving some of my church neighbours at meetings because of the proposed plans for our parishes, but don’t start me off on that one!
So, we know it’s easy enough to love a neighbour who is doing the right things, but what about the neighbour who isn’t? How can we love such a person? It might help to know that the love which Jesus was speaking about isn’t the warm fuzzy feeling that we think of as love. The commandment about loving your neighbour comes from Leviticus 19, which gives us a picture of neighbourly love. It says that, if we love our neighbour:
We won't render an unjust judgment.
We won't let a person's money, or lack of it, affect our relationship.
We won't engage in slander. We won't hate.
We won't take vengeance or bear a grudge.
There’s nothing about enjoying the neighbour’s company.
Love, in that context, is more about how we act than how we feel, although it does prohibit hate and grudge bearing. Mm, grudge bearing…..how can we get through the day without a little grudge bearing?
How can we go through life avoiding the bad things that Jesus wants us to avoid, and instead do the good things that he wants us to do? How can we keep from saying bad things about our neighbour, especially when we think our neighbour deserves it? How can we keep from hating someone we think of as a bad neighbour?
The answer is that we can't, at least not on our own.
We can tell ourselves every day not to hate our neighbour, and end up hating ourselves when we fail. We can try really hard not to engage in grudge bearing, but it probably isn't going to work, we’re only human.
If we’re going to love our neighbour, we must first love God,
and then be willing to let God re-shape our hearts to make it possible to love our neighbour too, reflecting the love of God to all we meet. We can't demonstrate our love for God, without showing such love to those we know.
One last thought! As I said, the love which Jesus speaks of here is more about what we do, than how we feel. Jesus is calling us to show our love for God by acts of kindness, by loving service, by gentle words and generous deeds. And what we will find, by doing this, is that feelings follow actions. Our loving actions will help us, in God's time, to feel the warmth and affection that we could never feel otherwise. Love God! Love your neighbour! It’s God's commandment, and a very good one indeed!
Amen.
Hymn; ‘Teach Me, my God and King’
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.
Our Intercessions this week are written by Liz Davies
Everlasting God, you made a covenant with our ancestors and pledged them descendants more numerous than the stars. Grant that all people may share in the blessings of your covenant, achieved through the death and resurrection of your Son, and sealed by the gift of your Spirit.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God, we hold the needs of our brothers and sisters as dearly as our own needs. Help us to love you with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds and to love our neighbours as ourselves. With these commandments before us we offer our thanksgiving
and our petitions on behalf of the church here at St Clement and throughout the world.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Creator God, you made all things – the wonders of the natural world and we in your own image. Where, and why have we gone so wrong? We should be custodians of your creation, taking care of it, and yet we plunder it without thought for the future … destroying both the natural world and so many of the unique creatures that live in it. We pray for the peoples of the world that they may enjoy true justice whether they be poor or rich, great, or small. We pray that those who use terror and violence to bring about their desires and those who then so readily seek revenge following acts of terrorism may instead pursue all that makes for peace.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God, we thank you for our families and friends. We thank you for modern technology which enables us to hear and see them so easily and to keep in touch even though we may be separated by great distance. We especially pray for all friends and family members who have been enjoying a half-term break from schools and colleges.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Holy God, friend of those in need, your Son Jesus Christ has loosened our burdens and healed our spirits. We offer to you all those still burdened, those seeking healing, those in need within the church and throughout the world. Hold the hand of all who are sick in body, mind, or spirit; those who are lonely, sad, or facing challenges that seem impossible. Be with all who are worried about tomorrow and facing difficulties today; who feel that life has no purpose or joy and those who feel that there is no one to care. May they all know that they are never alone and that you are with them always.
We bring before you: Ken and Reverend Di, May, Jan, Terry and Dot, Margaret, Maureen, Pam and David, Brian, Rupert and Linda, Diana, Michael and Patricia, Rob and Alison, Stella, Alison, Callum, Jay, and Andy; all those known to each of us and those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Loving God of all consolation, your Son Jesus Christ was moved to tears at the grave of Lazarus, his friend. Look with compassion on all those bereaved and grieving the loss of a loved one; give to their troubled hearts the light of hope and strengthen in all of us the gift of faith, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Gracious God, at the start of this new week, may we live our lives as you would have us, make us more ready to please you rather than to seek the praise of the secular world and may we always be a friend to those in need.
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.
Hymn; ‘Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go’
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.
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.
Amen.