TWENTY SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 17TH NOVEMBER 2024
OPENING SENTENCE
My heart exults in the Lord
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
O Lord, forgive the transgressions of your people:
and by your goodness release us from the snare of sin,
in which, by your frailty, we have been caught;
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
1 Samuel 1:4-20
read by Billy Dewar Riddick
On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a Nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”
As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favour in your sight.” Then the woman went her way and ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.
They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”
SECOND READING
HEBREWS 10:11-14, 19-25
read by Kay Solaja
And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
A Call to Persevere
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
HYMN
GOSPEL READING
MARK 13:1-8
read by Rev Ann Wren
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Mark, chapter 13 verses 1-8
Glory to Christ our Saviour.
The Destruction of the Temple Foretold
As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”
Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord
SERMON
The little boy just received a great big ice cream cone from his mum. His eyes were wide open with excitement. On a hot day like it was, this was going to be a special treat! Quickly he took one bite, then another – life couldn’t get much better than this! That was, until the sun started beating down on his ice cream cone! He couldn’t eat it fast enough, and before he knew it, the cream was melting over his hands and down on the floor! This was horrible! What could he do? His hands were getting all messy, and he wasn’t able to keep up with the melting! In a panic he started crying and saying to his mum, “Mum, my ice cream’s melting!”
“Don’t worry about it!”, said his mum. “But mum,” the boy said, “I can’t keep it from melting!” “Just quit your crying and eat your cone. It’s not the end of the world.”
It’s not the end of the world. How many of you have been told that, or have told yourself that? It’s not the end of the world, despite the devastating news we hear on our television and computer screens. Donald Trump may well be the American choice for President, but it is not the end of the world! Putin continues with his insatiable longing for power and control as he orders further attacks on Ukraine… dreadful but it is not the end of the world! Then there are shocking atrocities happening in the Middle East.. it might seem hopeless, but it is not the end of the world! Climate change with the extreme flooding recently in Spain threatens our world but it is not the end of the world. The phrase “it’s not the end of the world” is meant to minimize the seriousness of what is happening – whilst insinuating that “things could be worse”- hard as that might be to imagine!
In our Gospel reading today Jesus says things will get worse. In his last few days in Jerusalem, before his arrest and execution, Jesus said some very controversial things, and among them were his comments about the great temple that dominated the city’s skyline. ‘All this you see – the time will come when not a single stone here will be left here in its place; everyone will be thrown down’, he says to his disciples, warning that Jerusalem was heading for disaster and that this great building was ear-marked for obliteration.
Sadly, it was a warning that was unlikely to be heeded, for the temple was considered indestructible. For a start there was its sheer size. If you stand today at the wailing wall which is all that remains of the temple you can count 24 rows of stones rising up to a height of 75 feet above you. Some of the stones weigh one hundred tons each. The Jewish historian, Josephus, said that the outer structure of the Temple was covered with gold plates such that, when the sun came up, “it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.” And Josephus tells us that there was so much white marble that “The temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow.” But there were other reasons for thinking, that this temple was indestructible. It was, after all, was a sacred place, a holy place. It was believed to be the very centre and axis of the whole world, and it was the dwelling place of Israel’s God, the God of all the earth. How could it ever be destroyed? On the contrary, God would destroy anyone who dared to strike at this holy place. If the Romans attacked, they’d be defeated! There was a whole ideology and a way of life that was based on the temple. Israel’s very identity and security was carved into this building. All this, destined for destruction, for rubble – or so said Jesus. And so, it was to be.
When you want to inflict damage upon a nation you choose very carefully which buildings you are going to attack. The 9/11 bombers chose prominent symbols of American power and identity for their act of vengeance, and when the Romans squashed a Jewish revolt some 40 years after Jesus’ words of warning, it’s no surprise that they quickly turned their attention to the temple. Inevitably it was crushed and ransacked, those mighty walls demolished and the menorah, the great seven-branched candle-stand that adorned the temple’s interior was seized and taken away and paraded as a trophy. Can you imagine what a trauma that was for the Jewish people? How could God allow this to happen? Indeed, where was God in it all? Did God lie dead in the rubble and the ruins of his house?
Well, there were some who would have interpreted this calamity in a more positive light. After all, there were certain passages of the Scriptures which suggested that any attack on Jerusalem would trigger God’s final intervention into the world on behalf of Israel. The Day of the Lord would come and then a new creation would begin. And there is always the hope that out of death and disaster something new and hopeful will emerge. Well, if Jesus’ disciples entertained hopes that any destruction of the temple would lead to a new beginning, a new creation, Jesus soon squashed them.
Jesus speaks of wars and rumours of war, and earthquakes and famines and plagues, and persecutions for God’s people. In other words, things will go on much the same and there will be no let- up in the tortuous convulsions of human history. In light of Jesus’ prediction of war and rumours of war we should not be surprised that every year the list of the fallen grows longer and longer.
The question that keeps arising is where is God in all of this? Is there any good news in
this passage? What does the Gospel actually offer us now? What does it promise us? What can we take to give us hope here and now in the struggles and traumas of life as we face our own crushing experiences of loss and collapse?
In her classic work Revelations of Divine Love Julian describes how Jesus appeared to her and spoke the words ‘You will not be overcome.’ She says, ‘This word, ‘you will not be overcome, was said very distinctly and firmly to give us confidence and comfort for whatever trouble may come. Jesus did not say, ‘You will never have a rough passage, you will never be overstrained, you will never feel uncomfortable’, but he did say, ‘ you will not be overcome’. And Julian concludes, ‘God wants us to pay attention to these words, so as to trust him always with strong confidence through thick and thin. For he loves us, and delights in us… so all will be well. God loves us and delights in us and that is the secret of endurance when all around us the world is crashing, and we are being crushed. It’s the love of God by which we are lifted up from the depths and endure!
Time after time we see characters in Scripture- ordinary everyday people who in the midst of difficulties trusted God in the thick and thin until hope was eventually reborn. There was the character of Job in the Old Testament who lost his family, his house and wealth and even his own health but throughout he trusted in God, even if at times he questioned what was happening, his confidence was rooted in God. He found his questions unanswered but paradoxically he grew to a greater understanding of God, and in the end, Job was gifted with a new family and wealth.
Then there was Joseph who was cruelly treated by his brothers when he was sold into slavery and taken to a foreign land. There it started off well but soon he was accused of a crime he did not commit and then he ended up in prison. Throughout all his troubles, he trusted God and God brought him freedom, restoration with his brothers and a prestigious role in society. In the end all was well.
Furthermore, there was Esther, who found herself in a difficult situation, in her role as Queen and in dealing with the Jewish people. Her life was in danger, but she trusted in God and her people were safe. She had done a great work for her people.
All of these characters had two things in common. Firstly, they trusted firmly in God, in his sovereignty and love, and secondly, they had great perseverance and courage. These two qualities are key in any storm of life. Admittedly there are times when these two qualities are present, but the result is not the desired outcome, and yet there is still hope in the different outcomes. I remember my French Head of Department telling me “God is no man’s debtor”. I believe that to be true, and I believe God’s love will lift us out of the depths in due course. So, do not be swayed, stay the course, keep your eyes on God and you will discover the truth of Paul’s saying I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day!” 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.
PRAYERS
God of all power, might and love,
we thank you that you are sovereign
and have all things in control, despite what we see and feel.
Teach us to have our confidence in you, to trust in you
and to persevere in the difficult and challenging times,
that we might grow in faith
and testify to your goodness and compassion.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, you have designed
the world in such a marvellous way
with such diversity and intricate detail,
inspire in us good stewardship of these riches,
and turn us away from abuse of your creation
and greed in hoarding resources.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, in our country,
we are blessed despite its failings
with a good health service.
We thank you for the skills and expertise
of our nurses, doctors, and consultants.
As we enter these winter months,
protect the hospital staff from illness
and in doing so, be better equipped to offer us
good and effective medical care.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, we thank you for
those that are elected to govern our country.
We ask that they prioritise the nation’s needs
over their own political ambitions and goals.
We pray that they might have wisdom
and that their purposes and values
are wholesome and good.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God we bring before you
those lands torn and troubled by war.
We lift to you Ukraine & Russia, Israel and Palestine
and ask for a lasting peace, and cessation of hostilities.
We pray for good diplomacy
that will result in the war ending
and in the establishment of reconciliation
and the rebuilding of lives and communities.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, as the darker nights set in
and the temperatures drop,
we pray for those who are homeless and destitute.
We thank you for the food banks and hostels,
that help to alleviate people’s suffering,
but we pray that the root cause of this problem would be tackled
and that that the urgent issue of poverty would be addressed.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, thank you that you knit us together
whilst we were still in the womb,
and we are wonderfully made.
Teach us to look after ourselves well,
and for those whose health is not good,
whether it be in body, mind or spirit,
draw near and bless with your hand of healing and love.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Generous God, thank you for your unfailing
and unconditional love for us.,
We are grateful for the way you watch over us
and have your hand upon us.
Help us to be filled with thanksgiving
and live our lives in contentment.
Merciful Father accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
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.
