Sunday, 24/08/2025
Trinity 10/Pentecost 11
SENTENCE FROM SCRIPTURE:
You are my hope, O Lord God; my confidence since I was young. (Psalm 71)
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 eternal God,
by your generous love
you grant to those who pray
more than is desired or deserved:
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
PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD
FIRST READING Jeremiah 1.4–10 read by Gill Swales
4 The word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ 6 Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ ✝ 7 But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.’ 9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’
SECOND READING Hebrews 12.18–29, read by Andrew Ratnam
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18 You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, 19 and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ 27 This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of what is shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
GRADUAL HYMN
GOSPEL READING -Luke 13 10-17, read by Kay Solaja
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke Chapter 13. beginning at verse 10.
Glory to Christ our Saviour
10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ 15 But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’
17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.
SERMON
Our Gospel reading today tells of Jesus’ healing of a woman who has suffered for 18 years. Unusually, rather than the one to be healed presenting themselves before Jesus, He “called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’…” [Luke 13 v 12] The healing, of course, takes place in the synagogue on the Sabbath and the leader of the synagogue is, as a consequence, indignant. However, he does not, in his indignation, challenge Jesus directly but, rather, tells the crowd to bring their sick for healing on any other day of the week except the Sabbath. Jesus’ response [Luke 13 v 15] challenges their hypocrisy by reminding them how they would each treat their livestock, again using the language of ‘setting free’: “Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to the water?”. Untied and led to water. Water – without which life itself is impossible.
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I find myself asking: ‘What binds me? What holds me back? What, in my life, prevents me from being truly the best that I can be, the person that God created me to be? From what do I need to be untied that I can be set free and led to the water of life? These are the questions that today’s Gospel challenges each one of us to ask of ourselves.
For the truth is that we, each one of us, fall short of being the people that we can be, the people that God has created us to be.
Our world, too, falls short of God’s will and purpose for it. We see so much pain, hardship and suffering in our world with conflicts around the world, inequalities and injustice; the abuse of power; the abuse of the natural world. And we, and the Church, can too easily withdraw into the comfort of our familiar hymns and rituals and, in so doing, deny both our own need and the need of the world.
For the truth is that our need and the need of the world is met by God, in His love for us. His love lies at the heart of all that is. He is come to us in Jesus, His Son, living, dying and rising. In Him is life. He is the one who sets us free from all that separates us from God. He is the one in whom is hope for our world. Our reading today from the Epistle to the Hebrews tells of “Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” [Hebrews 12 v 24], a new relationship with the living God in which is life itself.
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So we are today challenged to follow the One, Jesus, who will lead us to the water of life; who will free us from all that separates us from the living God; who will then challenge us to work in this His world to build His Kingdom of love, justice, peace and hope, which is His will for us and for all people.
Amen.
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
Taking our cue from today’s Gospel and the miracle story which tells of the healing of the crippled woman, we use the bidding, “Lord forgive our sins.” The response is “heal our infirmities.”
Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the words given to us in the prophet Jeremiah today, that from our conception in the womb and throughout the whole of our lives you have been present in us, sustaining us with your constant love. We praise you Father, our Creator, Jesus, the Son, our Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, the Life giver and our Sanctifier.
Lord, forgive our sins.
And heal our infirmities.
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During this week, and to the end of their visit on Wednesday, we pray for the children from Ukraine who have come to our area as a brief respite from the war. May they continue to enjoy the time they have here. Bless and give strength to their leaders. We give thanks especially for the vision and the ministry of Tatyana, our choir member, and for her wonderful initiative now in its third year. We pray, Lord, that you will bring peace to Ukraine, with justice.
We ask you to bring healing and hope also, Heavenly Father, to all nations which suffer from the scourge of war, and especially we pray for merciful release in the case of the suffering people of Gaza, and the Israeli hostages held there
Lord, forgive our sins.
And heal our infirmities.
Father, we give thanks for all works of renewal and restoration and ask your blessing upon all who seek to bring peace and healing to families and communities. We pray for those who work in the rehabilitation of alcoholics, drug abusers, and prisoners.
Lord, forgive our sins.
And heal our infirmities.
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We give thanks for our local community, and all those who maintain its well-being. We pray for good housing, and we give thanks for all places of beauty locally. Give vision to our town planners, architects, and builders, as we give thanks for the hard work of those who maintain our parks and gardens. We remember all those who live in poverty and deprivation and pray for all whose lives are diminished through not having sufficient money to put decent food on their table. We think especially here of those who have the care of children and find it impossible to make ends meet.
Lord, bless us all in our endeavours and help us to build up our local community as a caring place.
Lord, forgive our sins.
And heal our infirmities
Father, as we reflect on the healing of the crippled woman, we pray for those whose lives are stunted through past abuse. We pray for all who have a poor opinion of themselves and all whose lives are darkened by crippling illness, either physically or mentally. Give hope and peace to those who are afraid to venture out and live in a prison within their own homes.
Lord, forgive our sins.
And heal our infirmities
We give you thanks that you are God who makes all things new, and that you heal and restore us. We pray for our loved ones who have passed through death and who now rejoice with the whole company of heaven.
Help us to trust you Lord, through all our days. Give us grace to continue on our journey until we come to the light that is everlasting.
Merciful Father
Accept these prayers through 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
