6th Sunday after Trinity
+ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
The Greeting:
Grace, mercy and peace
from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ
be with you
and also with you.
Prayer of Preparation:
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.
The Gloria:
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God, the Father. Amen
The Collect – 6th Sunday after Trinity
Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as pass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love toward you
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen
Readings:
Hosea 1: 2-10
2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. 4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” 6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the LORD their God, will save them.” 8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God. 10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’
Colossians 2: 6-15:
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Luke 11: 1-13:
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Homily:
In our Old Testament reading today we meet the prophet Hosea who was called by God to exhibit in his life something which God wanted to show to his people. It may seem a bit extreme to us, but God told Hosea to take a known prostitute as his wife. Not a good, honest, Jewish girl from a nice, religious family, but a prostitute. So, that is what Hosea did and as time went by, his wife: Gomer had three children. We have explored before the importance of names to the Jews. Children were often called by names which described their family situations. “Isaac” for example means “laughter” and his mother Sarah laughed at God when she was told that she would have a baby at the age of 90. I’m not sure I would just laugh! “Jesus” means “Saviour” and that turned out to be quite a prediction of his life and death.
So, Hosea and Gomer had children and named them specifically to show, to anyone who was interested, how God would deal with the nation of Israel because it had stopped worshipping him and was killing and stealing and making profit out of the poor. The whole nation had become like a prostitute, selling itself as a nation to any other world power which might help it to become more prosperous. Hosea’s life was to be a sign to all around that God had had enough of his peoples’ immorality and wanted them to turn back to him.
Sometimes our lives are just plodding on. Sometimes we have too much to do and our friends tell us to pace ourselves. Sometimes we are running a race. Sometimes we feel like we are crawling along. We can walk the walk and talk the talk. Have you noticed how many images we use of our lives are about walking? Life is often described in terms of being on a journey with words such as: walking, plodding, pacing, sprinting, galloping. And as we walk, we learn about God’s purposes for us and whether we are journeying well or maybe falling a bit behind where we and God wants us to be. As we walk, we are not called to show in quite such a dramatic way as Hosea was, what God wants to tell his world. But in another way, we are. The way we deal with the death of those we love shows our friends and relatives what we believe about life and death. The way we deal with suffering shows others that although we don’t understand it any better than they do, we know that God is in charge. The way we treat others shows that we are trying to love everyone as we have been taught.
Our post-communion prayer today says:
“God of our pilgrimage, you have led us to the living water: refresh and sustain us as we go forward on our journey.”
A pilgrimage is the name given to a spiritual journey. Typically, it is a physical journey to a shrine or other place of importance to a person’s beliefs. It is not just connected to Christianity so Muslims will try to get to Mecca at least once in their lifetimes. We may resolve to visit the Holy Land or walk along one of the pilgrim ways which are increasingly being set up across the country. In our Benefice, we may decide to visit a place associated with St Margaret or St Peter or Paul, or St Botolph or St Martin. In this county we could pilgrimage to Walsingham. Our journey through life needs to have some highs and lows because that is when we learn the most about God.
I was on a physical walk of 26 miles from Lee Abbey to the Doone Valley at the age of 23 when I experienced God telling me that He loved me. I can’t explain any more details about it than that but whatever happened has survived enough years for me to re-tell it this morning. It affected my spiritual walk and still does today. Some of us have felt God is a special way in our gardens or in times with friends or when we have visited places like Cathedrals. For some people the next step of the journey may have come through returning to faith later in life. Sometimes, it’s good to deliberately visit somewhere we can spend some time looking at our spiritual journey and what God might be saying to us now.
On a very hot Wednesday evening this week, I went to Tori’s ordination as a priest in Swaffham Parish church. Tori is the curate in Swaffham and she missed her big ordination occasion in Norwich Cathedral in June because she caught Covid.
So, what did I learn about my spiritual journey on Wednesday evening? I learnt that Christians still love one another and show care and real compassion even on a hot evening. Most of the group that was ordained in the Cathedral in June travelled from all over the diocese to support Tori. One of them made up the shortfall of Bellringers so that they could ring. I learnt that Christians really do need to pray for one another. Bishop Jane reminded us to pray for her as she prays for us more than once in her sermon. I learnt that as Christians we will sometimes only build others up when we think less of ourselves. At the end of the service Bishop Jane asked Tori to give her a blessing and it was a lovely picture to see our Bishop kneeling on the floor and Tori with a delighted smile on her face giving her first blessing as a priest to a Bishop. That may have gone some way to making up for not going to the Cathedral. Finally, I learnt that reconciliation sometimes takes a while to happen but is great when it does. I loved processing into Church beside Paul my previous Vicar from the Fountain of Life and sharing a moment with Janet, the Vicar of Swaffham. It doesn’t have to be that much to help us to realise that things move on, sometimes without picking too much at them.
So, what is God showing you about your pilgrimage through life at the moment? Is it time to change your pace, or take the next turn or even to turn around and move in the opposite direction?
Let me just remind you of the post-communion prayer:
“God of our pilgrimage, you have led us to the living water: refresh and sustain us as we go forward on our journey.” Amen
Intercessions:
Gracious God, fountain of all wisdom,
we pray for all Christian people;
for Graham, Alan and Jane our Bishops,
and for all who teach and guard the faith.
May the word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts,
and knit us together in the bond of your love.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer.
We pray for the leaders of the nations,
And for those in authority under them.
We pray for this nation, for Elizabeth our Queen and the members of the Royal Family.
And for all leaders of government at national and local level and for those whose task it is to elect a new Prime Minister.
We pray for those nations where there is unrest and war at this time and particularly for Russia, Ukraine and Sri Lanka.
Give them the gift of your wisdom,
and a right discerning in all things.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer.
We pray for this church dedicated to St Margaret, for this village and for the Wayland Benefice.
For those who live, work and visit here.
We pray for all who seek the common good.
Speak your word of peace in our midst,
And help us to serve one another as Christ has served us.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for those who do not believe,
And for those of hesitant belief.
Open their ears to hear your voice,
and open their hearts to receive you, the very Word of Life.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer.
We pray for those bowed down with grief, fear or sickness, especially today for ………
May Christ your living Word bring them comfort and healing.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer.
We give thanks for all who have died in the faith of Christ
and we rejoice with all your saints,
trusting in the promise of your word fulfilled.
Lord, in your mercy; hear our prayer.
Lord of the Church,
hear our prayer,
and make us one in heart and mind
to serve you with joy forever.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Peace:
We are the body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Let us then pursue all that makes for peace and builds up our common life.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Final Prayer:
God of our pilgrimage
you have led us to the living water;
refresh and sustain us
as we go forward on our journey,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The 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 Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you
always. Amen