St Clement Church Community Sunday Service 27.6.21
Good morning to you as we celebrate our 4th Sunday of Trinity Service.
We’re holding a Eucharist in our church building at 10.15, this Service of the Word is for those who aren’t able to be with us in person, but will be worshipping with us in spirit. I’ve included the hymns we’ll be listening to in church, of course you can sing them 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; King of Glory, King of Peace.
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 4th Sunday after Trinity
Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Readings:
Wisdom of Solomon 1.13-15; 2.23-24
2 Corinthians 8. 7-end
Hymn; Blest are The Pure in Heart.
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; Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
Our Intercessions this week are written by Liz Davies
Everlasting God, we come before you this Sunday morning in love and fellowship, whether in our own homes or gathered together here in our little church of St Clement. Hear us now as we bring before You our cares and needs.
We pray for Your Church throughout the world, for Christians everywhere, worshipping in their own homes, meeting in small house groups, in rural and town churches and in great city cathedrals. Grant that we and all your people may grow in faith and show in our lives the love we see in Jesus.
Lord, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
Lord God, we give you thanks for our church here at St Clement. We pray for our own Reverend Di that she may be given strength to cope with all that she is asked to do and enfold her and Ken in your ever-loving arms. We ask your blessing on us all, that we may be true disciples and live our lives as you would have us do.
May we offer a warm welcome and the hand of friendship and love to all who enter these doors.
Lord, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
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, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
Father God, we pray for those whom we love, family and friends who are special people in our lives wherever they may be. We pray for their hopes, their fears, their problems and their needs, but most of all we thank you for each one of them and for what they give and mean to us.
Lord, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
Dear Lord, as the Covid numbers rise sharply in Cornwall as well as across the country, we ask your blessing on all who have Covid especially those in hospital. May we all continue to take care and be aware the ‘danger’ is not yet over. Be with all hospital medical staff and carers as they try to reduce waiting lists while still caring for those with Covid. We pray that everyone will accept the Covid vaccinations for their own benefit and to safeguard others. May wealthy countries share the vaccine with those countries that have little or no vaccine so that all people are treated fairly.
Lord, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
Dear 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 before You all those who need to touch the hem of Your garments and receive health and healing in their lives, especially those known to each one of us.
We especially remember Ken and Diane, Rupert and Linda, Brian, Margaret, Archdeacon Paul and Martin and those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, hear us Lord, graciously hear us
Merciful God, into your caring hands we commit those who have died and we pray for all those who are mourning the loss of a loved one.
Gracious God, we have laid before you our concerns and now we offer you our thanks and praise for all the blessings and gifts you lavish on us. 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; Love Divine, all Loves Excelling
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.