Worship & Prayers for

The Eighth Sunday after Trinity

Opening Rite

If you’re at home you might wish to light a candle, make sure you are sitting comfortably and take a few deep breaths to still yourself. 

The Lord is here  His Spirit is with us

 Prayers of Penitence

When we cry out to the Lord in our trouble, he will deliver us from our distress.

God will bring us out of darkness and out of the shadow of death.

May your loving mercy come to me, O Lord, and your salvation according to your word: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light to my path: Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.                                  

O let your mercy come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight: Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days. Amen.

Let us give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, and the wonders he does for his children.

Let us offer him sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his acts with shouts of joy.

cf Psalm 107

The Collect  

 You might like to keep a few moments of silence

 Almighty Lord and everlasting God, we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern both our hearts and bodies in the ways of your laws and the works of your commandments; that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

1 Kings 3.5-12

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.

Psalm 119.129-136

/R:

Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The opening of your word gives light. it gives understanding to the simple.     /R:

I open my mouth and draw in my breath, as I long for your commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.     /R:

 Order my steps by your word, and let no wickedness have dominion over me. Redeem me from earthly oppressors so that I may keep your commandments.     /R:

Show the light of your countenance upon your servant and teach me your statutes. My eyes run down with streams of water, because the wicked do not keep your law.     /R:

Romans 8.26-end

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes* with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Gospel According to Matthew        13.31-33,44-52

 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’  He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’  ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

 This is the gospel of the Lord Praise to you O Christ

 Reflection

Matthew stresses the priority of Jesus’ teaching, ‘instructing his twelve disciples’, and going on ‘to teach and proclaim his message’ to the people (11.1; see 4.23; 9.35). To highlight Jesus’ role as authoritative teacher of God’s people, Matthew compares him with Moses, who also came ‘out of Egypt’ (2.15; see Exodus 2) and departed from a mountaintop (28.16-20; see Deuteronomy 34). As there are five books of the Law of Moses, so Matthew groups Jesus’ teaching into five discourses, each one ending, as with the verse immediately following today’s reading, ‘When Jesus had finished’ (13.53; see 7.28; 11.1; 19.1; 26.1; and, for Moses, Deuteronomy 31.1; 32.45).  Jesus the teacher offers guidance for living well in aphorisms and beatitudes, parables and wise sayings. When, at the end of this third section of teaching, he asks his disciples, ‘Have you understood all this?’ we learn from their answer, ‘Yes’, that those who listen to Jesus are enabled to grow in faith and wisdom. Listening to Jesus, and by collecting and arranging traditions about him and showing how they fulfil the Jewish Scriptures, Matthew is one of those scribes trained for the kingdom ‘who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’.  Jesus and Matthew are in the tradition of Jewish sages like Ben Sira, who wrote about ‘the one who devotes himself to the study of the law’, ‘seeks out the wisdom of all the ancients’ and ‘penetrates the subtleties of parables’ (Ecclesiasticus 39.1-3). Ben Sira represents a school of wisdom, traditionally associated with King Solomon, which ‘serves among the great and appears before rulers’ (39.4). He is clear that ‘the wisdom of the scribe depends on the opportunity of leisure’, and asks, ‘How can one become wise who handles the plough…?’ (38.24-25). In marked contrast, Jesus invites those with little leisure to find wisdom precisely through their everyday realities of farming and fishing, earning a living and feeding a family. Have we great expectations of God, and what small signs encourage us? Where have we caught sight of something really precious, and what will we risk to possess it?

Reproduced with permission www.rootsontheweb.com 2002-2021  

Prayers

Spend a few moments praying for the people you know and love, for the world, for peace and for the relief of refugees everywhere

On the Ninth Sunday after Trinity

Gracious Father, revive your Church in our day, and make her holy, strong and faithful, for your glory’s sake in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Praying for the Earth                                     Biodiversity

 Through the process of evolution you have created a rich diversity of life on earth. Help us to recognize and appreciate the intricacy and variety of life in all its fullness. Bless all the teachers and scientists as they reveal to others, young and old alike, the wonders of creation. Amen

From the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer for the Church

Porvoo Communion: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania and The Diocese of Derry and Raphoe (Ireland)

 Anglican Communion: 

The Anglican Church of Tanzania Primate: The Most Reverend Maimbo Mndolwa

 Diocese of Newcastle: Communications Department: Rod Stuart, Leigh Johnson, Joseph Tulip and Bethany Browning 

 Those living with disability: Those living with severe food allergies

From our Parish Prayer Cycle this week 

Pray for all transport and community safety workers servicing this parish

For the sick and those being cared for in hospital or at home      

For those in residential care    

For those who have died recently

 Liz Clarke

For those whose year’s minds are this week 

 Jessica Williams, Gordon Richardson, Alun Hutcheson, George Ridley, Gladys Thain, George Tiffin, Robert Laws and William Barnes

You might like to end your prayers with The Lord's Prayer  

 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 Conclusion

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen

 Let us bless the Lord! Thanks be to God!