St Clement Church
Third Sunday after Trinity Community Service
Good morning
“Peace to this house!” What do we understand by this statement?
What does the word ‘Peace’ really mean?
Today’s Gospel reading has really challenged my thoughts on ‘Peace,’ will it yours? My love to you all
Liz
Heavenly Father, we gather before you with grateful hearts, ready to worship and celebrate your goodness. May our time or worship be a blessing to us and a sweet offering to you. In Jesus’ name. Amen
We say together:
Gracious God, we thank you for this day and for the opportunity to gather in your presence. We are grateful for your love, your grace, and the many blessings you pour upon us. Help us to offer you our sincere worship and praise. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
Hymn: 449 Soldiers of Christ, arise
Our Prayer of Penitence:
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy upon those who fear him.
Holy God, holy and strong, holy and immortal, have mercy upon us.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he set our sins from us.
As a father has compassion on his children, so is the Lord merciful towards those who fear him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.
Amen
The Collect for the Third Sunday after Trinity
Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Readings:
Isaiah 66. 10 - 14 Galatians 6. 1 - 16
Hymn: 333 All my hope on God is founded
Gospel: Luke 10. 1 – 11, 16 - 20 (Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.’
The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I ha ve given you authority to tread to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
(This is the Gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ)
Reflection
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’”
I don’t know about you, but I struggle daily as I hear story after story about man’s inhumanity to man … Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine; Israel’s continued attacks on Gaza and the retaliation; Israel’s attack on Iran and then the USA joining in; children attacking and killing an old man; children attacking and killing other children; acid being thrown into someone’s face; a man going on the rampage with a gun, a machete or a knife; someone setting fire to a house knowing there are people inside … so many headlines. There are others that don’t make headlines though they are no less important, no less painful, and no less tragic. Some are global, some are national, and some are personal.
If these leave us distraught, and heartbroken, imagine what God must be seeing and feeling; God, the Creator who entrusts us with his creation, with one another’s lives, and with his own life. Today the Creator and the created once again stand together distraught and broken-hearted.
How can these tragedies be fixed or behaviours corrected? I’m not sure that they can – that approach hasn’t gotten us very far. Surely, these are symptoms that point to a deeper issue. Until we are willing to deal with the deeper issue things aren’t likely to change, and the deeper issue is the human heart. Whether by a terrorist attack, through prejudice and discrimination against a minority group, in political campaigns, or in our personal relationships, the violence and mistreatment we perpetrate on each other arise first from an inner violence that poisons and fragments the human heart. We need a change of heart. We need a heart at peace.
Where is the peace of God today? I think that is a question many are asking. It’s a question I suspect God might also be asking.
While we wrestle with this question let’s not project our failings and human imperfections onto God, waiting for and expecting God to fill the void and fix the problems. This is not about God’s failings and imperfections. It’s about ours and the blood of the victims, the tears of the mourners, and the pain of the world crying and begging for a different answer. Let’s not give the same old excuses. Let’s not offer the same old solutions. Let’s not meet the world with the same old beliefs.
Instead, let’s number ourselves amongst the seventy to every town and place where Christ Himself goes. Let’s enter every house, first saying, “Peace to this house!” Let’s become people with hearts at peace, not at war. Isn’t that what we want for ourselves, for our children and grandchildren, for our families and friends, for the world? I do. That’s what I want. I think we all do. But, I think we struggle with what peace means, what it looks like, and how we attain and keep it. If the events of today’s world offer us anything, it’s the opportunity to rethink what peace means and reorientate our hearts.
What does peace mean to you? What comes to mind when you think of peace? What does it look like?
Here’s another question …Are you willing to let go of that understanding of peace? Are you willing to change your understanding and consider something else? Are you willing to pay the price for peace? I am not asking about our willingness to risk the lives of our military men and women or increase the military’s budget (in the news a lot recently and already agreed!) I am asking about our willingness, yours and mine, to change our understanding and practice of peace.
Here's why I asked the second set of questions. I think most of us have an understanding of peace that is too small and too narrow. We limit peace to a particular set of behaviours and usually they are behaviours we expect or want from the other person. We think of peace as an ideal to be attained and more often than not, we define it as the absence or elimination of conflict. We’ve convinced ourselves that peace will come when this person or that group changes or stops doing something. Ultimately, we condition peace on our ability to change or control another. We let them determine whether our hearts are at peace or at war. That’s ridiculous … and it doesn’t work.
The reality is that we don’t have the power to change another. When we do, it’s not peace we achieve but more violence. There is a reason so many of us feel powerless in the midst of the world’s tragedies. We are powerless. We have no control to change another. The only person over whom we have any power or ability to change is ourselves. You and I are each responsible for choosing whether we live with a heart at peace or a heart at war.
Jesus didn’t send out the seventy to change the towns and places they would go to, but to simply offer His peace. How often does Jesus instruct us to go and change other people? He doesn’t. That may be our way but it isn’t His. Jesus does, however, spend a lot of time teaching us to change ourselves and our way of being toward another. That’s the change of heart at the core of peace.
The struggle for peace begins not between me and another but within myself.
What if, a heart at peace is about loving our neighbour as ourselves? It would mean that the other person, regardless of who he, or she is, counts and matters as much as we do. A heart at peace refuses to lump masses of unknown people into lifeless categories and make them objects to be dealt with or enemies to be defeated. A heart at peace encounters everyone as a person.
What if a heart at peace is about loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, turning the other cheek, giving our shirt to one who has taken our coat, and doing to others as we would have them do to us. What if a heart at peace means being merciful and not judging, refusing to throw the first stone. What if a heart at peace offers forgiveness not seven times but seventy times seven. Are we willing to do that? What if a heart at peace means feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. Before we do that, we must regard the life, the needs, and desires of another as important as our own.
All these ‘what ifs’ about peace are not so much prescribing ways of behaviour as they are describing ways of being.
When Jesus sent out the seventy, he didn’t condition their offers of peace on who the recipients might be, their worthiness, what they had done, or what their response might be. Neither can we condition our offers of peace. Some will receive the peace and others will not. Either way, “the kingdom of God has come near” if our hearts are at peace.
The peace of Christ is not defined by the absence of conflict and it is not an ideal to be attained. It is a practice to be lived every moment of every day of our lives … that means practising peace with our friends and family, our enemies, the stranger, with those who are different from us, and with those who scare us.
Let’s not forget that when Jesus sent out the seventy, they went without purse, bag or sandals. Don’t let’s literalize that. It’s a metaphor for the baggage we carry, the baggage that continues to trip us up and deny us a heart at peace. It’s the baggage of our past experiences, fears and wounds, grudges or resentments, pre-judgements and assumptions about others, old solutions and beliefs, our need to be right or better than the other, and sometimes our desire to play the victim.
What baggage might you need to leave behind to go out into the world fully equipped with a heart at peace?
“Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!”
Amen
Let us declare our faith in God
Do you believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we all exist? We believe and trust in him.
Do you believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again? We believe and trust in him.
Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world? We believe and trust in him.
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: 391 King of glory, King of peace
Our Intercessions
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. We pray for “Peace to this house!” wherever your labourers are sent. Grant that we and all your people may grow in faith and show in our lives the love we see in Jesus.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Lord God, we give you thanks for our church here at St Clement. We pray for our own much loved 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, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Father God, we live in a troubled world where people seem to find it difficult or impossible to live peacefully with each other; where it is always someone else’s fault; where difference is to be shunned; where the haves want more and so often take from the have nots. As we think about what ‘peace’ really means, help us to find true peace in our hearts so that we become your labourers sent out into your harvest to make this world, ‘peace on earth.’
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
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.
Blessed Lord, in the comfort of your love, we lay before you the memories that haunt us, the anxieties that perplex us, the despair that frightens us, and our frustration at our inability to think clearly. Help us to discover your forgiveness in our memories and know your peace in our distress. Touch us, O Lord, and fill us with your light and hope.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Dear Lord, we bring before you all those who are suffering in body, mind, or spirit. Touch them with your healing hands; heal any broken hearts. Fill them with peace and joy that we know can only come from you at difficult times. Walk closely beside them during their journey to healing and recovery that is possible through your power alone.
We especially bring before you those on our prayer list: Reverend Diane, Ken and his brother Brian, May, Susan, Jan, Lynda, Dot, Maureen, Pam and David, Sandra, Roger, Michael and Patricia, Rob and Alison, Stella, Jeremy, Anita and Stephen, Callum and Elaine, Sue and Martin, Margaret and John, Dave and Jeanette, Carrie and John Paul, Barry, Paul, Lawson, Dinah and Barbara, those known to each of us and those with no one to pray for them.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Merciful God, into your caring hands we commit those who have died and we pray for all those who are mourning the loss of loved ones.
We remember all those whose year’s mind occurs at this time:
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Dear Lord, as we leave this place today, we put our trust in you because we know that you will never leave us. Be our guide in everything that we do. You are our shepherd and so we shall lack nothing. Quiet our minds and bring tranquillity to our hearts. Give us clarity as individuals about what each of us needs to do as your disciples in the days and weeks ahead.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St Clement, St Allen, and St Andrew,
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
We say together:
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
God’s Peace by Bob Gotti
There is a peace available, in troubled times, but not to all, A peace available all the time, greater than peace of mind, And this peace goes everywhere, to handle every tiny care, But, it has no limits to, the problems it can see you through.
The peace that I’m speaking of, will only come from above, Peace God gives to his own, flowing down from His throne, The peace of God all receive, when by faith they do believe, The Gospel Truth of His Son, Christ, who died for everyone.
Though He died, now He lives, as this peace to us He gives, Sent to believers in this life, to shelter them from daily strife, The Holy Spirit is God’s agent, in whom God’s peace is sent, The Spirit is our true comforter, giving us peace in trials sore.
This peace for us is secured, by the work done by the Lord, And the only part left for us, is to place in the Lord our trust, Then with a loving nod, Christ sends to us the peace of God, A peace into a believer’s heart, that from God will not depart.
Peace always there for those, keeping eyes on He who rose, Who gave to them a new life, centred in the peace of Christ, This as that believer lives, through the Spirit that Christ gives, Providing them God’s peace, in their heart that will not cease.
The Peace
Jesus said: ‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you are to love one another.’
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
Hymn: 235 Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go
The Blessing
May the love of Jesus Christ bring us wholeness, the grace of God the Father grant us peace, the breath of the Holy Spirit instil passion and the unity between them give us strength for this and every day.
Amen