St Clement Church Community Sunday Service
Good morning to you all as we celebrate our Sunday service, whether in your own home or our church building. This Sunday 29th August, I shall take our Eucharist service in church using our usual service booklets. If you’re unable to be there I hope you join us with this service of the Word. We are enduring sad times indeed, please strive to keep yourselves safe when you go out and 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: ‘Let all Mortal Flesh keep Silence’
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 13th Sunday after Trinity
Almighty God, who called your church to bear witness that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: help us to proclaim the good news of your love, that all who hear it may be drawn to you; through him who was lifted up on the cross, and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Deuteronomy 4. 1-2, 6-9
James 1. 17-end
Hymn; ‘Dear Lord and Father of Mankind’
Our Reading is taken from the Gospel of Mark 7. 1-8, 14-15, 21-23.
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.
(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)
So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’
Jesus said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’
For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
Due to the fact that human beings are creatures of habit, we quickly become accustomed to doing things the same way.
For instance, in church we soon learn to expect a certain routine of worship, and become very hesitant to see it change. Let’s face it, we’ve certainly had to accept changes in our services since the Covid pandemic.
Over the years, many church ‘routines’ have become full-fledged traditions, becoming almost holy and unchangeable. Then, when someone tampers with such a routine, or an unforeseen change happens, my word, people become very upset indeed.
And every church has such traditions. In one church where I minister, the colour of the carpet became the focus. They’d always had the tradition of a red carpet, but when it wore out, after 50 years or so, it was suggested to change it for a blue one.
Gosh! Some people just weren't sure they could worship God on a BLUE CARPET, and after months and months of discussion, the carpet was, for a quiet life, eventually replaced with a ‘traditional’ red one.
At another church, we had the never to be forgotten ‘Great Hymn book Controversy of 2010’.
For the previous twenty five years, the English Hymnal had been used and cherished in that church, but then there was a suggestion to purchase Anglican Hymns Old and New.
Gosh! This idea sparked a major debate that went on for over a year, and a decision was made after an evening meeting that lasted 4 hours, in a packed hall, even attended by some people who don’t come to services, where we finally hammered out a compromise that barely averted dividing the church.
I know of other churches where they even fight over where the flowers are placed. It seems that every church manages to elevate certain practices from the routine to sacred traditions.
But a sacred tradition is meant to speak of the reality behind it.
For instance, for two thousand years, the Church has observed the traditions of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and both of them are the very best kind of tradition. They tell us who God is and who we are. And both speak of the spiritual realities behind the tradition itself.
But in our gospel reading, Jesus speaks about the kind of tradition that’s not so good, traditions which get in the way of spiritual realities instead of pointing to them.
The Pharisees and scribes were upset with some of the disciples because they weren’t observing the traditions of the elders at mealtime of performing the ceremonial washings of their hands before they ate.
Before the Jews would eat, they poured water, which was kept in special jars and guarded to be free from any impurities, over their hands with the fingers pointed upward. Then they washed their hands again, this time by pouring water over their hands from the wrists and holding their fingers downward.
Now this action had nothing to do with hygiene. It was merely a ceremonial washing, which had become a very important tradition, and Jesus condemned such routines, as they’d become more important than the things they represented.
Jesus saw that the Scribes and Pharisees were more concerned with the outward things they were doing, rather than the things that really counted, they’d exalted tradition to the status of doctrine.
So Jesus cut through their outward routines to stress that the inside was more important than the outside. They should be more concerned that their hearts were as clean as possible, rather than their hands.
And God is more concerned with who we are on the inside than the outward ceremonies we observe. For instance, you can pray standing up or you can pray sitting down and still never really pray.
You can wash your hands a thousand times and still have sin in your heart.
You can sing every song in the English Hymnal and still not know God.
You can worship on red carpet all your life and never experience holy ground.
You can surround yourself with carefully placed church flowers but still not appreciate the beauty of this God-given earth.
It's not the outward form of the tradition that matters; it's what lies in our hearts that counts.
The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to conform to ceremonial laws. But Jesus knew such routines had to change.
When we look back at the early church, we see that thankfully, that did happen, they changed with God moving in their midst. They respected the past, but lived in God's glorious present.
And the same applies to us. We need to be open to fact that our beloved Martin is going to be missed by our church family, worship and tradition, more than words can say. We certainly face a new day with such challenges, and that’s difficult to hear as we grieve so deeply for him. But in his memory we must continue to hear the word of the Lord in this place, and such comfort into our hearts.
Terry’s skills enable our access to hymns, a new routine that we’ve gratefully accepted during this Covid pandemic, and we thank you for such support Terry, as we all take much needed time to allow the dust to settle, support Liz and grieve for our loss, facing the new days ahead in our lives, and in our church.
Amen.
Hymn; ‘Breath on Me Breath of God’
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 Helen Dunbar
Let us pray for the Church and for the world and thank God for his goodness.
Lord, you are the Father of us all and we come before you today with our prayers knowing that you will hear us, help us and guide us. Be with us as we go about our daily lives. Help us to appreciate all we have.
We pray for the Church, both here in St Clement and throughout the world, and all who call themselves Christians, that they may go forward in unity and strength. Help us to respect the beliefs of others even if we do not share them, to celebrate what we have in common and to accept our differences. Give your blessing on our Bishops Phillip and Hugh and we pray especially for our much loved Revd Di as she leads us here in the parish.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for our community here at St Clement and the surrounding area. We pray for all the people we know and love and we think of all those whose lives are blighted by emotional and financial upheaval and for all those coping with stress at work, at home, or in life generally, feeling the world is a dark and dismal place.
We ask for your help to be given to all the homeless and hungry people who have nowhere to lay their head and don’t have a place to call home.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Father of justice, we pray for all nations and all those who lead them. We ask especially for you to be with the people of Afghanistan, where there is so much to be done and the situation is so very complex. You Lord are a mighty and Just God, we boldly ask for your healing hand to be upon that place, so that peace and reconciliation will come about. Lord, help those who are in power to reach decisions that are made for the good of all and help those around the world who look on in comfort, to have compassion and mercy and to be moved into action where there is need.
We pray for children and young people embarking on the next stage of their life’s journey.
For staff in schools and colleges; Lord, be the light that guides teachers and students towards their goals in education, in citizenship. Grant them enthusiasm and joy as they work towards a fulfilled and satisfying future.
We ask your blessing on the Queen and members of the royal family, as they enjoy their annual holiday at Balmoral
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
God of love, we bring before you all of those who are in any kind of need, those who are sick in mind, body or spirit and those who are grieving.
We remember all of those who have recently died or have anniversaries at this time. In a moment of silence, we bring before you those people we know who need to feel your love and comfort at this time.
We pray for the sick, for Barrie and Sandra, Ken and Di, Daphne and Dave, Felicity and Ted, Ollie, Margaret, Brian, Rupert and Linda.
We mourn the loss of dear Martin our much loved organist, whose talent and sense of humour will be missed by everyone here at St Clement. We hold Liz in our hearts, and keep her in our thoughts and prayers as she grieves for the loss of her beloved Martin.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Gracious God, we thank you for providing us with a sure hope in which we can face the worst and not be overwhelmed.
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; ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ (Vicar of Dibley version..)
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.