ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 13TH AUGUST 2023
OPENING SENTENCE-
Sing to the Lord, sing praises to him.
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 be 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 Jesus 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
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.
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
May the God of love and power
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by his Spirit
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
GLORIA
sung by Sue Turner
COLLECT
Almighty and eternal God,
by your generous love
you grant to those who pray
more than is desired or deserved:
pour down your mercy upon us,
forgiving what our conscience fears
and granting what we dare not ask;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen
FIRST READING
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
read by Kay Solaja
Joseph Dreams of Greatness
Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan. These are the descendants of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him an ornamented robe. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers
Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So, he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring word back to me.” So, he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.” So, Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So, when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the ornamented robe that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
SECOND READING
ROMANS 10: 5-15
read by Mark Toner
Salvation Is for All
Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say?
“The word is near you,
in your mouth and in your heart”
(that is, the word of faith that we proclaim), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
HYMN
GOSPEL READING
Matthew 14: 22-33
read by Rev Steven Ballard
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Matthew chapter 14 beginning at verse 22
Glory to Christ our Saviour.
Jesus Walks on the Water
Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord
SERMON
I have been reading a devotional book on the ten commandments, and the tenth commandment is the only commandment which is specifically about our thoughts. The tenth commandment is “Do not covet”. The previous commandments do have implications for our thoughts as well as our actions, but the tenth commandment is about our state of mind, it’s internal not external. Keeping control of our thoughts is much harder than keeping control of your actions, and coveting is a dangerous way of thinking. What do I mean by coveting – Coveting wants to gain something for yourself, that you see belongs to someone else. Coveting is saying, “I want the same as you.”
In reading the Old Testament Passage about Joseph, I wondered if the root cause of the sibling rivalry was coveting. It may have started out as coveting for the brothers simply wanted the same love and attention from their father Jacob as Joseph received. Yet in considering this further, I believe envy is the root cause of the siblings’ rivalry. Envy says,” I don’t want you to have more than me.” In envy there is a meanness of spirit about it. Both coveting and envy are powerful and dangerous attributes, that can lead to all kinds of sinful behaviour.
This sinful behaviour rears its ugly head in the story about Joseph. It is an acrimonious family, that is divided and broken. Not so different really from any dysfunctional and broken families in our society today. What causes a family to fall apart at the seams? Why do some families fail to develop the closeness and loyalty that makes them a healthy and supportive unit? In Joseph’s case, it appears that his father’s favouritism poisoned the whole family system and stirred up envy and hatred among Jospeh’s siblings.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, had longed to marry his beautiful cousin, Rachel. After working seven years to earn her hand in marriage, Jacob was heartbroken to discover that his sneaky father-in-law had married him to Leah, Rachel’s older sister. So, Jacob worked another seven years for the honour of marrying Rachel. From the beginning, Rachel was favoured, and Leah was slighted. But God compensated Leah by allowing her to bear many sons for Jacob. Rachel, on the other hand, was barren. Rachel remedied the situation by giving her handmaiden to Jacob, so that she could bear children for him. This was a common practice in those days. After many years and many sons born to Jacob, Rachel finally became pregnant. She bore a son, Joseph. Because he was the only son of Jacob’s favourite wife, Joseph became his father’s favourite child. Later, Rachel would bear one more son, Benjamin.
This might go some way to explain Jacob’s favouritism of Joseph, but certainly it does not condone it. Siblings pick up quickly when they feel they are being unfairly treated or not given the same favours and attention as their other brothers or sisters. Certainly, this was true of Joseph’s 11 brothers. Normally in that patriarchal society, it would be the eldest who would be favoured, never the youngest. Here is Joseph receiving preferential treatment in his family. He is presented with a long coat of many colours. Let’s be clear about this-that is a very significant gift to receive for in those days clothing was an expression of status and worth. A gift obviously cherished by Joseph but strongly resented by his brothers. When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
In reading this passage I wondered why was Joseph not with his brothers working in the fields in the first place? I suspect he was given yet again special treatment and was rather spoiled. As a result, Joseph, became quite full of himself and his own importance and this kindled further the brothers’ resentment and dislike of him.
Something of this importance and arrogance comes through in his dreams. He certainly did not help matters with his brothers when he told them that they would one day bow down and worship him, even Jacob his father, thought he had overstepped the mark here. Sharing his dreams with them and gloating about them were bad enough, but worse than that, Joseph was a bit of a tell- tale and would give a bad report about his brothers at work to his father. All these incidents, as you can well imagine, mounted up and further angered and incensed his brothers.
Such was the animosity of his brothers towards Joseph that they threatened to kill him. They ganged up against him and plotted to get rid of him when they saw him approaching at Dothan. The writer of the Bible here is profoundly accurate about the way favouritism and envy work. They don’t get angry at their father–maybe because they don’t want to face up to the truth, which is that their father loves them with a kind of inadequate love. That would hurt too much, so they take it out on Joseph. They could not speak peaceably to him, the Bible says. The peace–the shalom is broken and shattered, because each time the brothers see the robe, they die just a little bit inside.
Envy leads to resentment and hatred and the destruction of community. Envy is one of the hardest of all sins to admit. How often do you hear someone admit to being envious? But envy is universal, isn’t it? If we are honest, we have all experienced envy. You might be envious of someone’s singing voice, or their house, their marriage, their slim fit physique, their salary, their success, their academic achievements, or sporting prowess. The list could go on and on.
Envy is serious for it causes people to do sorts of evil things. Think back to the book of Genesis, where there should have been brotherhood, this expression of community that’s so precious to God, but it was destroyed by envy. Envy is why Cain killed Abel. God starts again after the Fall with Abraham because he’s going to build a new community, so he starts with these families, the family of Abraham. Abraham has two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, and they’re torn apart by rivalry. Then Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and they are torn apart by envy. Then Jacob has twelve sons, Joseph and his brothers, and their relationship is destroyed by envy. Envy is why Saul tried to kill David. Envy is just right through the Bible and runs right through to our day. It destroys community–it destroys hearts–and I believe, it works in all our hearts in one way or another.
Envy prevents us from seeing the real person. When, you envy someone, you don’t think of them as a person. You don’t think of them as someone’s son or daughter. You don’t think of them as a brother or a sister. You reduce them down to the one who possesses what it is that you envy.” Here comes the dreamer who has the dream that we will never have.” “Here comes the daddy’s boy who is our father’s favourite that we will never be.” “Here comes this arrogant, would-be ruler.” Envy takes such a hold in our minds and hearts that if not held in check leads to disastrous consequences. This is what happened to Jospeh’s siblings- they let their envy consume them and before long they have murderous intentions: “Let’s kill him and throw him into one of those cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams!
Now, notice this . . . It’s a very important part of the story. Joseph’s brothers have a very legitimate grievance. They have a legitimate complaint. They have been denied a father’s undivided love. They have a very real hole in their heart. They have not received the kind of love from a father that they needed to receive, but their way of remedying this situation is so wrong. Their solution is to destroy Joseph. That’s what envy eventually does to us; it warps our thinking and rationale, and we end up doing foolish and dangerous things. You often hear people saying after a murder or cruel incident: that was so out of character. Yeah, that is exactly what envy does.
Someone once wrote, “Envy says, “˜I want what someone else has. I want it and I’ll do whatever I can to get it. But if I cannot have what I want, I don’t want anyone else to have it either. If somebody does, I will destroy them! Either in reality or at least in my heart . . . I’ll undermine them, I’ll want to believe bad things about them, I will listen to slander and gossip about them, and I will spread it all around, maybe in real subtle ways so I don’t look unspiritual, but I will do it!’”
Ultimately, the story tells us that instead of killing Joseph the brothers decided to sell him into slavery, make some profit from it, and not be guilty of shedding his blood. Then they take the robe and dip it in goat’s blood and take it to their father. They tell him that Joseph had been devoured by an animal and killed.
It is their envy that leads them to deceive their father. One of the great ironies of this story is that in the end, the brothers are no closer to their father than when the story began. They hadn’t won the love of Jacob; they had only lost their brother to slavery and were riddled with guilt. Envy leads to destruction and oppression, and to crippling you with guilt and anger. I believe that envy is at the root of many of our problems in society. Envy led to Joseph’s slavery. Those people who bought Joseph in my mind are no better than the brothers. They are gaining money in a sinful manner. You would think over all these years of history that we would learn, and slavery would be no more.
Far from it, envy is at the heart of many slave owners. They envy the rich and wealthy and so they have slaves that they use, and abuse to gain their wealth. Slavery in our modern world is a huge problem. Today, more than a quarter of the world’s slaves are children. These children are forced to commit commercial sex acts, forced into a system of domestic servitude or employed in occupations that are mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Supply needs and industry demand for cheap, unskilled labour are some of the leading causes of child labour. Specifically, production processes that require certain physical attributes, such as small stature and agility, lead to the employment of children. In addition, price pressures encourage suppliers – especially those at the top of the supply chain – to find the cheapest labour. Poverty leads these children to accept the job, or their parents ask them to work to supplement the family income.
What antonym, or if you prefer what is the opposite attribute to envy that we need to build and nurture in our lives – that attribute is generosity. We need to have a spirit of generosity in our mind, heart and actions, to counteract envy, as well as an attitude of contentment and gratitude. So, in my mind there are three antidotes to envy – generosity of spirit, contentment, and gratitude- these are the attributes we need to cultivate to become more Christlike. Amen
NICENE 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,
eternally begotten of the Father,
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.
Heavenly Father, in your love
draw us deeper into your presence.
Give to your church
grace to imitate your Son,
in his generosity, contentment and gratitude.
Thank you that your Son,
is sensitive and alert to our needs,
and comes to us in your hour of distress
and brings peace and calm.
Thank you that Jesus wants us to realise our potential
and experience new depths of being.
Thank you for the water walking experience, that Peter enjoyed,
help us to be open to new adventures
that will deepen our faith and trust in you.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, calm our words
that we may use them to build up
and nurture others in your ways.
Take out of our lives
all that strangles your love
and give us hearts of grace and kindness.
Sustain those who strive to build up nations
in the way of justice and peace.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father be with those that are depressed,
and give them the right help and support
so that they recover and enjoy life.
When the going is hard
save us from despair and faltering.
Put behind your people the complaining,
and renew within us a song of gratitude and thanksgiving.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, prevent the envious
from being consumed by evil intent and bitterness.
Strengthen the weary and weak,
and all who are struggling
with the troubles of life.
In your tender love
restore them,
with your purpose, hope and wisdom.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, bring your compassion and tenderness
to those who are struggling
with different illnesses or injuries.
Bless all who care and watch over them
and grant your healing touch to all in need.
In the quiet we pray for those known to us.
Be their guide, friend and healer.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, who have marked your children
with the seal of redemption,
hear our prayer for those who are dying
may they pass through death to life with you.
May they rest in peace and rise in glory.
Be with those who mourn,
comfort them, uphold them and give them your peace.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father we thank you
for your daily blessings given to us,
those gifts of food, shelter, water,
health, education and family.
May we never take these for granted
and help us to be mindful of those
who are not as blessed as we are.
God of all power and wisdom
Hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice
that the ordinary things of this world
are saturated with your extraordinary love,
open our eyes to behold your glory.
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 for ever. Amen.
HYMN
BLESSING
The peace of God,
which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord:
and the blessing of God the Father,
the Son and Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen
DISMISSAL
Go or stay in peace to love and serve the Lord. In the name of Christ. Amen
