Trinity 13 / Pentecost 14: Sunday, 30/08/2026
Sunday, 30/08/2026
SENTENCE FROM SCRIPTURE:
Sing to the Lord, sing praises to him. (Psalm 105)
HYMN-
GREETING
Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
COLLECT FOR PURITY
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SUMMARY OF THE LAW
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”
The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.
SILENCE
God our Father,
we confess to you
and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry.
Forgive us our sins,
and deliver us from the power of evil,
for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
ABSOLUTION
God, who is both power and love,
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
GLORIA
sung by Dougie Byers
COLLECT
Almighty and merciful God,
by whose grace alone
your faithful people offer you service and praise:
grant that we may hasten without stumbling
towards the things that you promise;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end. Amen.
PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD
FIRST READING:
Exodus 3.1–15,
read by Gill Swales
1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.
3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ ✝ 5 Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.‘ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the LORD said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ 11 But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12 He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’ 13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’
14 God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “I AM has sent me to you.”’ 15 God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”: This is my name for ever, and this my title for all generations.‘
SECOND READING:
Romans 12.9–21,
read by Carolynne Sorrell
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’
20 No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
GRADUAL HYMN
GOSPEL
Matthew 16.21–28,
read by Rev Dr Steven Ballard
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Chapter 16, beginning at verse 21
Glory to Christ our Saviour
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ 23 But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27 For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.
SERMON
Moses has found himself in a very difficult position. He was siding with the people of his origin, who have been made into slaves to the people of power, (and to whom, incidentally, he has obligations of his own). He has found himself deeply identifying with his own people which has landed him in trouble. Moses’ confrontation, because of the anger he felt in what he saw, caused the death of an Egyptian. He has had to move away from the comfort of the palace and find refuge with his wife’s family in obscurity.
Created with Copilot
So in this Exodus reading we find him tending his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep in the middle of Horeb, the derelict wasteland: arid and dry; a place of lifelessness. He feels what sees around him: low, desolate and wasted. The confrontation has destroyed everything he had.
In the gospel we meet Jesus, on Mount Horeb, (the potential site of the transfiguration, some 50 or so miles north of Jerusalem), potentially somewhere in the middle of his mission. He is reflecting on what God is calling him to do next and where this path is leading him. He can see that he is being led into a confrontation with the Jewish authorities. He knows, if things carry on the way they have, what the end is likely to be. He shares this with his disciples. Peter’s response is, “God forbid. This must never happen to you.”
Jesus turns on him and gives him a dressing down. Jesus understands the task ahead as well as a potential conflict.
Meanwhile, Moses, in his confusion, thinking that God may have abandoned him, finds that even there in the dry arid desolation of the Sinai desert, God speaks to him from Holy ground.
Moses and Jesus alike are both facing a task which seems enormous and potentially impossible, accepting the power of God the Father.
For us to understand that God reveals his Will, even in the most unlikely places and at the most unlikely times, is something that we need to reflect on.
Both stories are set deep in nature, in the lowlands of ‘mounts of revelation’. Both characters are searching for the direction of their work for the rest of their life, and both are conflicted by what that work might mean.
God, however, walks with them and does so in the most unlikely places to make the point that he is always there, regardless of what we expect.
THE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one substance with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father.
With the Father and the Son,
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYERS
Intercessions for Sunday, 30/08/2026
The response today is from today’s Psalm, 139: Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
So when I say, ‘Sing praises to the Lord, will you join in with, ‘sing praises to him.’
Given the news today that we have now identified, and had the Bishop’s agreement to appoint a new Rector for St John’s, this is a good time to reflect on how God has looked after us over this Vacancy and, in fact, to…
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
The book of Proverbs tells us:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
So…we’ve tried, many of us as individuals, as a Congregation, a Vestry and a Vacancy Committee, to do just that. We acknowledge that that’s not to say all of us have done this, or that any of us quite manage to do it all the time.
Nonetheless, O Lord, you have been willing to bless us hugely over the past 18 months or so, so we will take a moment just to pause and acknowledge at least some of those blessings. This won’t be a comprehensive list: Psalm 139 says, How precious are your thoughts about me, O God…they outnumber the grains of sand.
But here goes:
When Janice announced her retirement, Jim was ready to step up (again) and look after us
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
St J’s is blessed with a large number of people who can, and are used to, ‘doing’ things
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
The Vacancy Committee that was elected has worked well together, and has reached consensus on all important points
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
A lot of reflection has been done about St J’s: whether we might have to amalgamate with some other charge; what we should do about the Rectory, what we were looking for in a new Rector, and so on.
As well as a talented congregation, which has enabled St J’s to grow, not stand still or shrink, as many charges do during a Vacancy, we have been blessed with our new Bishop, with external people, with people who knew our new Rector…and by the application of the candidate, and the ‘good fit’ with St John’s they look like they’ll be, albeit that we expect them to challenge and lead us into new things.
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
Replacing the Rectory has been a major undertaking: again we have been blessed in a way you ‘couldnae make up’ in those advising us, and the frankly surreal way that the house sale and purchase have dovetailed together, and the people involved.
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
It’s always very difficult to find people to be Treasurers and that kind of thing for any organisation: we give thanks for the care, attention and skill Christopher has brought to the job…and on his retirement, here is Inna.
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
We thought we’d be short staffed for the Holiday Club a few weeks ago, yet the team of helpers, led by Annabelle, was able to run a hugely fun, successful and safe, Holiday Club for about 38 children; many of whom were known to us already, but which included some newcomers, with whom we hope to develop a relationship over time.
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
These are just a few instances of the ‘grains of sand’, but they are indications of how outrageously God has favoured us over this time, and we need to acknowledge it both to ourselves and more widely, and to give thanks for it.
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
Thus far, God has looked after us, as Samuel said. We are immensely grateful, Lord; help us stay faithful and bless us, and what we do henceforward.
We must also not forget, amongst our rejoicing, those people, and places who need our prayers. As well as asking for you to continue to hold accountable nations, leaders and governments and all in positions of power, throughout the world, we bring before you, in particular, Ukraine & Russia; Israel, Palestine, Lebanon & Gaza; all those affected by the current Middle East war; Turkey & Syria, Sudan, countries in the Horn of Africa, Congo, Kenya and Nigeria; Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, China and North Korea and, in particular, for all the Christians in those countries; those – anywhere – without food or shelter; those threatened by violence. We remember also the people of Cuba, of Venezuela, Tibet and Nepal, and all those either directly affected by the landslides there, or who are awaiting news of friends or family missing, or who have received news of loss. And, in a moment of silence, we bring before you any peoples or places particularly on our own minds. […] In each circumstance that I find myself, said St Paul, I will praise my God. So:
Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
Deliver us and all people from tyrants and aggressors, from the cruel, the reckless, the incompetent and the corrupt; those who seek to spread lies, hatred or unkindness, to steal or defraud.
We bring before you all those known to us in need of our prayers: […]; and ask you also to support and comfort those who have recently lost loved ones.
And finally, Lord, we ask your continued blessings on us, on this Congregation as we look forward to a new phase, and ask that we follow faithfully where you are leading us and with joyful hearts. Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved, says Isaiah; in quietness and confidence is your strength.
Nonetheless, Sing praises to the Lord, sing praises to him.
Amen.
Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Do not bring us
to the time of trial
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
BLESSING
Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.
HYMN –
DISMISSAL
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
In the name of Christ. Amen
