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 11th September, 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 in worship 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: ‘Lord of the Dance’
Let us pray;
God of constant mercy, who sent your Son to save us: remind us of your goodness, increase your grace within us that our thankfulness may grow, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Our prayers of Penitence
Let us confess our failings to the Lord:
When our deeds do not match our words:
Lord, have mercy.
When we let evil go unchallenged, and are afraid to speak the truth: Christ, have mercy.
When we are preoccupied with ourselves, and give little attention to others:
Lord, have mercy.
When we trust in earthly treasures more than in God’s unfailing care:
Christ, 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, you search us and know us: may we rely on you in strength and rest on you in weakness, now and in all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings:
Exodus 32. 7-14
1 Timothy 1. 12-17
Hymn; ‘The King of love my shepherd is’
Our Reading is taken from the Gospel of Luke 15. 1-10
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
One of my favourite parables has long been The Parable of the Lost Sheep, if, for no other reason than it makes for a great children's sermon.
At Messy Church services at St Agnes Chapel we often told the children the parable and then said we were going to play hide and seek.
One of the helpers would count to ten, and then I’d look for the children like the good shepherd after his lost sheep, and you’d be amazed to know how many places there are to hide in St Agnes chapel!
Every time, and the children never tired of this, I'd intentionally overlook one. And then I'd give the excuse that we were running out of time and needed to go on with the service.
The children would call out; "Oh, no! You’ve got to find the last sheep." Of course, that's the point we were hoping to get across and it worked like a charm every time.
Well, the point of the parable is obvious: The kingdom of God is like a good shepherd who has a flock of a hundred sheep who, losing just one of them, will leave the others and go after the one that is lost until he finds it and brings it back to the fold.
It's a simple point, really. Yet, looking closer, the parable hits home in a number of unexpected ways.
Firstly, the parable strikes at the heart of our value system and confronts us with the magnitude of God's infinite mercy, forgiveness and love. Listen once more:
"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep, and losing one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?"
The answer is: Nobody! That's not the way we think, ask any farmer, If they had a hundred sheep and lost one, well, too bad. That's just the cost of doing business. One sheep out of a hundred is an acceptable loss. It's only one percent. No big deal.
When we think about it, our whole lives are based on an acceptable percentage of failure. Every college knows that not everyone will graduate, marriages start out with a predictable rate of divorce. We don't expect everyone to be able to keep a job, and sad to say, not every new-born baby will live.
So we get the point, as far as we're concerned, losing only one sheep out of a hundred isn’t so bad, we might even say it's remarkable. But with God, every sheep counts. And that's the first lesson of the parable: With God, nothing is lost.
The Theologian William Barclay tells the story of a young doctor in the 19th century who was backpacking across Europe. He'd travelled for several weeks, much of the way by foot, so that, from his outward appearances, he looked like a tramp.
He hadn't shaved, his hair was long and matted, his clothes were dirty and worn. For some reason, he became very ill and a couple of strangers found him lying half-conscious by the side of the road and took him to a hospital. The attending doctors examined him and shook their heads. One looked at the other and whispered in Latin, "What a worthless man, we'd do him a favour to let him die." The young doctor lying on the table looked up and replied, also in Latin, "Never call a man worthless for whom Christ has died."
So often, we give up too easily. When others fall through the cracks, we're quick to write them off: "You can't win them all." We might say.
Not so in the Kingdom of God, with God, nothing is lost. That's the first point, and the second is this: With God, we live in community with each other, so that to talk about being lost is really to talk about being separated from each other. In other words, the sheep was lost because it was part of the flock to begin with, and when the shepherd counted heads, it was obvious one was missing.
Being lost has to do with our connection to each other, like the man who said to me last week after his wife’s funeral; "It's not only that I've lost her, but that I'm lost without her."
The essence of the Kingdom of God is that we're family, brothers and sisters in Christ, joined by our common allegiance to him. And because we belong to the body of Christ, when only one is missing, something about us is missing, as well.
I tell you, every time I did the children's sermon I told you about, the kids got it right: You can't go on with the service until the last sheep is found and brought back to the fold. The kingdom of God isn't complete until everyone is safe and secure and accounted for.
That’s why it's so important for us not to give up on those who, for whatever reason have dropped out of coming to church, or fallen by the wayside and gone astray. It's not simply that they're lost, but a part of us is lost, as well. We live in community with each other, or we don't live at all.
When we think about it, there are lots of reasons why people drop out. Some get angry and upset over changes made, or get their feelings hurt over something that was said or done. Sometimes people drop out because of something they've said or done, and sometimes people drop out because they just get out of the habit of coming to church, which research shows has happened a lot since the Covid pandemic.
One Bible commentator said sheep tend to nibble themselves lost – they graze from one tuft of grass to the next all day long with their heads down and, when they look up, they don't know where they are, or how they got there, and they certainly don't know how to get back to the flock. It's not that they're particularly stubborn or rebellious, it's simply their nature: Sheep stray and, when they do, they get lost.
The Good News is the good shepherd comes looking for them, and he searches until he finds them, and, when he does, he brings them back to the fold.
And that's a model we'd do well to follow in the life and witness of this church – not to be content with those who show up on Sunday morning, but to be persistent about reaching out to those who don't. The parable ends this way:
"When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours,
saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!'"
To be honest, this isn’t the way we'd like for this parable to end. Our human nature would rather Jesus say;
"When he has found it he lays it on his shoulders and says;
'Well, it's about time, I hope you learned your lesson, you can come back this time, but it'd better not happen again.'"
But the way Jesus told the parable, the shepherd and all his friends rejoiced. In fact, Jesus goes on to say;
"I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents,
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."
The Parable of the Lost Sheep perhaps speaks to us best when we hear it in the context of those people we know and love, and with who we have, for whatever reason, become disconnected.
We should just remember that each one of them counts. In God, nothing is lost. As long as they're missing from our lives, a part of us is missing, as well.
And finally, it really doesn't matter what they've done or why they've strayed, all that matters is that we go to whatever lengths are necessary to reach them and be reconciled to them and bring them home.
That's the nature of the Good Shepherd and it ought to be the nature of any church that bears his name.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Top of Form
Hymn; ‘Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us’
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
Dear Lord, as we gather our thoughts in the quietness of this place, remind us that praying is also about being ready to listen. Sometimes, You speak in wonders, unmistakable and clear; sometimes You speak in whispers, still and small and scarcely heard; sometimes You speak in silence breaking through our loud and noisy world. May we remember, when we struggle to think of what to say in our prayers, that if we are quiet and listen, we are praying.
Everlasting Lord, we come before you with our ‘baggage,’ our worries, our anxiety and our fears.
Some of us are tired, some of us are in pain, some are sad and some are angry; and so, as we place our burdens before You, help us to learn from You and to trust in You, so that in serving You we may find the rest that You have promised.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Faithful Lord, we ask You to make the doors of this church wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship and the care of the heavenly Father. May they be narrow enough to shut out all that creates discord or division. We pray that what takes place in our worship and other activities here week by week will never be a stumbling block to those who gather here in Your name.
Lord, we ask Your blessing on our much-loved vicar, Reverend Diane. May she be given strength and comfort in all that she faces each day as she helps so many through the dark times of their lives.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Lord, we pray that You will raise up, in our turbulent and violent world, leaders who will base their decisions on the law of justice and moral integrity that you have planted in every human heart. May they always put the needs of their peoples and the care of Your creation first and foremost.
May we all learn to be individuals who care for each other; who share with those less fortunate than ourselves; who offer the hand of friendship to those who are lonely; who help to calm troubled waters at times of dissent and disagreement and who are always willing to put others before ourselves.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Dear Lord, we pray for all whose livelihood and way of life is threatened by current economic problems caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Give all who face changes in life, courage and help them to see opportunities in change and take on challenges with optimism.
Gracious Lord, may Your love and compassion be sensed and felt by all who are sick, who are lonely, those who are poor and those who are oppressed. May we support them with our loving prayers and by our assistance whenever we can be close to them. We especially pray for Alison and Rob … Alison is in Derriford following a serious car crash. May she feel Your loving care and healing and may Rob feel Your comfort at this time. We also pray for Ken and Diane, Karen, Terry and Dot, Dave and Daphne, Ollie, Annie and Terry, Margaret, Brian and Pam, Sandra and Barrie, Paul and Jan, Kevin and his family, Lyn, Steven and all those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Merciful Lord, we pray for those who have been released from their mortal bodies that they may be brought rejoicing into the Your eternal kingdom, reunited with all their loved ones who have gone before them. We remember all those who have died in the savage attacks in Saskatchewan in Canada, those who have lost their lives in the floods in Pakistan, those in the war in Ukraine and all whose lives have come to an unexpected end. We especially remember Barney, a much loved family member. Comfort the grieving families and may they know that they are never alone.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Faithful Lord, be alongside us in the week ahead. Help us to be good-tempered and considerate, to be hard-working and diligent in all that we do; to never speak hastily and to always act kindly to those we love and especially to those we find it difficult to like.
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; ‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise’
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.