+ 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 – 3rd Sunday before AdventAlmighty Father,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of all:
govern the hearts and minds of those in authority,
and bring the families of the nations,
divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin,
to be subject to his just and gentle rule;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen
Readings:
Jonah 3:1-5,103 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
Hebrews 9: 24-28 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Mark 1: 14-2014 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! 16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James: son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Homily:I think there is something very important in all of today’s readings that we need to get a hold of.
It’s a brave preacher, however, who preaches on the Book of Hebrews ….. so, here goes!
We don’t know either the author of the book or who it was written to. Scholars used to think that St Paul wrote it but that is no longer so. We do know that these Hebrews were Jews who had converted to Christianity but were in danger of losing their faith possibly because they were living away from the great centres of the faith in the early days after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Behind all of the readings we have in Church there is obviously a history which we as 21st century Christians in England can find very different to our own history. The centre of our Sunday worship is a group of six churches in Norfolk. The centre of worship for the Jews up until A.D. 70, when it was destroyed was the Temple in Jerusalem. Every male Jew had to attend the Temple, travelling from wherever he lived, three times a year for great festivals. The rest of the time he attended the synagogue which was the local place for worship. Although the Temple has been destroyed, we know from the Old Testament what it looked like. We know its measurements and what was found inside. We know that it had a series of different areas. The outer area was called the Court of the Gentiles. Those who were not Jews but may have been learning about the faith were only allowed in this area. Further inside there was an area known as the Court of Women. Women were a little better than Gentiles but still kept at a distance from the main part of the Temple. Then further still we have the Court of the Israelites: the men, and a little further: the Court of the Priests. In the very centre of the building was the main area of the Temple with an ornate sanctuary enclosed within that.
The sanctuary was called The Holy of Holies and it was! No-one was permitted to enter that sanctuary at any time apart from the High Priest once a year on the Day of Atonement. On that day, he offered animal sacrifices on behalf of the people and prayed on their behalf. It was a once in a lifetime experience for the priest. It was believed that God would only hear prayers and forgive sins if his people made sacrifices. Every other day of the year when the Jews visited the Temple, they still had to sacrifice. You remember when Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to present Jesus and for Mary to be purified, they took a pair of doves or pigeons with them because that was what the law said they should do. When Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple, it was because they were making a ridiculous profit out of selling animals for sacrifice.
So, we begin to see a situation, first of all, of exclusion. The Gentiles were only allowed a little way into the Temple, women a bit further and so on until eventually there was only one person allowed all the way into the Presence of God and only once a year. We also see the Jewish relationship to sin and sacrifice. Just imagine all the visitors to the Temple all going to altars spread out in the different Courts and the constant burning of sacrifices to atone for sin.
This is the background to our passage from Hebrews.
As we 21st Christian now know: Jesus came to be the sacrifice which does away with all other sacrifices. The writer of the Hebrews says that Jesus did not go into a sanctuary made by human hands. He did not go into the Holy of Holies. At his Ascension he went back to heaven and there he prays to his Father for us. That’s why we end all our prayers with the words: “Through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
We have had some readings from the Bible recently which can give us the impression that we are all doomed because of our sins and failures. In Paul’s letters, we often read his list of those awful sins that we human beings are capable of and we could easily find ourselves wondering whether we are good enough to go to heaven after this life. In these days of remembrance, we are naturally thinking about those who have gone before us and maybe our thoughts sometimes turn to what has happened to them and where they are now. Our generations were taught right from wrong sometimes: very forcefully and this can leave us with the idea that we are not good enough or we always get it wrong and we should be this or we should be that. We are now turning in our thoughts towards Advent which is a penitential season in the Church. A season where it is traditional to take a bit of a hard look at ourselves, maybe fast and pray a bit more to allow us to be better Christians by Christmas. Then we run very swiftly towards Lent where we take an even harder look at ourselves.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t do this periodically. But let’s not get it out of proportion. Jesus opened a way to the Father for each of us individually to have a relationship with God: to pray regularly and tell God what is going on in our lives and what we need his help with. As a priest I do some things on your behalf. That’s a part of our ritual here on a Sunday but you don’t need an intermediary. Jesus came so that we could relate to God without that. We are saved sinners. No animals needed for sacrifice. There won’t be a debate about whether we get to Heaven. We are not excluded because we are the wrong sex or not a priest or even not the High Priest. We will not be excluded by the sins we commit either. We are all included. That’s very good news.
Intercessions:
United in the company of all the faithful
and looking for the coming of the kingdom,
let us offer our prayers to God,
the source of all life and holiness.
Merciful Lord,
strengthen all Christian people by your Holy Spirit,
that we may live as a royal priesthood and a holy nation
to the praise of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
Bless Graham, Alan and Jane our Bishops and all ministers of your Church,
that by faithful proclamation of your word
we may be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets
into a holy temple in the Lord.
We pray for the work and witness of this church in Breckles, for our Benefice and for the Deanery of Breckland. We continue to pray for discussions taking place about the future shape of Breckland Deanery, for clergy who have retired in the past few months and for our curates: Tori and Adam.
We pray for Christians of all denominations who worship in this local area.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
Give to the world and its peoples
the peace that comes from above,
that they may find Christ’s way of freedom and life.
We pray for those areas of our world where natural disasters have changed the course of peoples’ lives and for unjust regimes which oppress and terrorise the people.
We pray for our Queen’s health in her advancing years and for her family.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
Hold in your embrace all who witness to your love in the service of the poor and needy;
all who minister to the sick and dying;
and all who bring light to those in darkness.
We pray for all our health workers and those who care for sick relatives at home and especially for the staff and residents at Thorp House.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
Touch and heal all those whose lives are spent in suffering and pain
that, raised from death to life in Christ,
their sadness may be turned to eternal joy. We pray today for …..
Lord in your mercy: Hear our prayer
Remember in your mercy all those gone before us,
preserve in your faith us, your people on earth,
guide us to your kingdom
and grant us your peace at all times.
Lord, in your mercy: Hear our prayer.
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The Peace:To crown all things there must be love, to bind all together and complete the whole.
Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts
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 peace,
whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the Kingdom
and restored the broken to wholeness of life;
look with compassion on the anguish of the world,
and by your healing power
make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The Blessing:Christ our King make you faithful and strong to do his will, that you may reign with him in glory,
and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you
always. Amen