Trinity 5/Pentecost 6
Sunday, 20/07/2025
SENTENCE FROM SCRIPTURE:
You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness? (Psalm 52)
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 Sue St Joseph
COLLECT:
O God of power and might,
all good things belong to you:
sow in our hearts the love of your name,
and make us grow in the life of faith;
nurture the things that are good,
and tend them with your loving care;
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 Amos 8.1–12, read by David Kerr
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This is what the Lord GOD showed me – a basket of summer fruit. ✝ 2 He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the LORD said to me, ‘The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. 3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,’ says the Lord GOD; ‘the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!’ 4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 5 saying, ‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practise deceit with false balances, 6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’
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7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. 8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
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9 On that day, says the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. 11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.
SILENCE
SECOND READING Colossians 1.15–28, read by Kate Lidwell
15 Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
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19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. 21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him – 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. 24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
GRADUAL HYMN
SILENCE
GOSPEL Luke 10.38–42, read by Rev Ann Wren
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke, Chapter 10, beginning at verse 38.
Glory to Christ our Saviour
38 Now as Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.
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40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.
SERMON
Amos (786 – 746 BC) came when Israel was extending its boundaries and heaping up prosperity, they regarded this as God’s blessing, but Amos spoke from his lowly position as a herdsman and tree dresser, he saw life from a different perspective.
Amos uses many images within his prophetic message to Israel, there will be disorder, displacement, a time of suffering, their traditions of life and worship will be taken away before God’s re-creation begins.
Amos was the trail blazer for all the other prophets, he spoke to secular and religious authorities directing his words to the rulers of society, disrupting their complacency. His image of a basket full of fruit seen by many as a blessing is for Amos a sign of what will be stripped away. He tells them why, “Your wealth is squeezed out of the poor, your unjust systems bring hardship to the vulnerable, the little ones. You are complacent, relying on military might and a shallow piety. God will bring judgement, you will be taken into exile.”
Amos’ words were not popular, and he was thrown out of the sanctuary
I first read the book of Amos as my first assignment as I began my ministry training. My tutor said, “Read the text….no books…. no commentaries…. read the text…. and read it again…and again…. Write three sentences in response to the question, “Is there any hope in Amos ?” He was encouraging us to understand life from Amos’ situation, the experience of his life as a prophet, how his conversations and prayer with GOD developed. Not the book but the person who wrote it.
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This was in contrast to my mother’s words, don’t bother with the OT it is dull and boring. On the contrary these are the texts that inspired Jesus, as he struggled to show in word and deed the God who was loving and merciful, inspired him to go out to find the lost, diseased and hurting people but in doing so highlighted and condemned the systems and injustices that held these people and created their need for healing in the first place. He looked for people who would listen, understand, people like Mary.
“Jesus said, ”The Kingdom of God belongs to these little ones.” How did we miss this teaching of the Kingdom God desires? Are we too busy and distracted by our many tasks?
Mary shows us the way that leads to a life of compassion and mercy, Jesus teaches, a New Way, a New Commandment which is based on the way of Love.
So is there any hope in Amos? Yes, as would be understood by a herder and tree dresser, it is grounded in a wholesome celebration of a “good land” (9:13-15) “Let justice flow like water and integrity like an unfailing stream.” (5;24); the initial anger moves into sadness and grows finally into reverence.
Richard Rohr in his book , “The Tears of Things” points to a secular model or restoration and transformation, It is one used by Alcoholics Anonymous’ 3 pillars of engagement
Finally, Amos comes to worship a merciful and compassionate God – The God we would recognise in Jesus, his Son and his Way
It is a love that changes everything….. or at least it should, it did for Mary.
This is the hope of Amos: he was a trail blazer for others to follow, is this your calling too?
Wild fires raging last week, extending 68 miles across the highlands; roads closed, disruption. In some areas the land is so dry, valuable peat was burning in the earth. Investigations were promised.. Who is responsible? Lives are at risk.
Look at the wider picture, temperatures rising, extreme weather, climate change… Who is responsible, who is responding, lives are at risk, the world on which we depend is suffering.
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
The prayers today are structured with the intention of a pause before the response to give you the opportunity to pray for those situations/places/people important to you
We offer these prayers to Almighty God
Guide and unify your holy Church; Keep all ministers, and church servants sound in doctrine and holy in life;
Restore all who have fallen away;
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Strengthen those who suffer persecution for the sake of the gospel;
Send us as faithful labourers into your harvest, that all may be gathered into your family;
Lord in your mercy Hear my prayer
Direct all governments in the way of justice and peace, that your will may be known and done among the nations;
Lord in your mercy Hear my prayer
Enable us to make wise use of the world you have entrusted to us;
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Lord in your mercy Hear my prayer
Send help to all who are in danger, trouble, or anguish;
Grant healing and the constant assurance of your love to the sick;
Enable the dying to put their trust in you
Lord in your mercy Hear my prayer
Hear us, gracious Lord and God.
Have mercy on your whole creation;
and hasten the day when the kingdom of the world shall become your kingdom.
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
