+ 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 – 12th Sunday after Trinity
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of 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:
Jeremiah 18: 1-11
18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me. 6 He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.
Philemon: 1-21
1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— 2 also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. 8 Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, 9 yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— 10 that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you. 13 I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. 14 But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favour you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. 15 Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back—not to mention that you owe me your very self. 20 I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
Luke 14: 25-33
25 Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
Homily:
When I was clearing out my parents’ home after my Mother died, I came across letters written by my Father to my Mother when he was away at sea during the war. Even though I was reading what my own Father had written, there was a sense that I was stepping into a private life that only they shared and that I was not really entitled to do that. We get a bit of the same sense in our New Testament reading which is from one of Paul’s private letters: to Philemon. In fact, we read the whole of that letter – just 21 verses. It is the only surviving private letter we have of Paul’s. We have many of his letters to newly founded Christian churches which he sent as he went about his missionary journeys. At the beginning of those, Paul usually describes himself as “an apostle of Christ”. In the letter to Philemon he chooses to cast aside that official title and he refers to himself as “a prisoner of Christ Jesus”. He was at the time under house arrest, constantly shackled to a guard, in Rome. He probably knew that he would not be leaving that place alive and as it turned out he was executed there.
The letter is to a friend in Colossae: Philemon and concerns one of Philemon’s slaves: Onesimus. who has been with Paul for some time. Paul was clearly very fond of Onesimus as he describes him as “my child, whose father I have become during my imprisonment”. The circumstances of how Onesimus came to be in Rome caring for Paul are not clear but what does seem to be clear is that there was some sort of incident at Philemon’s home and Onesimus ran away. Maybe he damaged some of Philemon’s property or stole it because we read that Paul offers to pay for whatever damage has been caused. It would seem to be a coincidence that Onesimus ends up caring for Paul who knows his Master. Maybe it was when they realized their connection that Onesimus confessed to being a runaway.
Paul knew that Onesimus had to go back, however. In those days apparently there were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire. It would therefore be difficult to imagine life without the slave workforce. They had to be very carefully monitored because if that many people decided to revolt against the Roman Empire, they could easily overthrow it. So, slaves were literally owned by their Master. One Roman writer says: “the Master can box their ears or condemn them to hard labour – making them, for instance, work in chains upon his lands in the country, or in a sort of prison-factory. Or, he may punish them with blows of the rod, the lash or the knot; he can brand them upon the forehead, if they are thieves or runaways, or, in the end, if they prove irreclaimable, he can crucify them.” Onesimus’ future did not look too bright.
So, Paul wrote this letter for him to take back home. It is interesting to note that this is not a letter which condemns slavery and asks Philemon to set Onesimus free. We would perhaps think that as both Paul and Philemon are Christians this would be the opportunity to behave in a more Christian way. Down the ages of course many Christians notably William Wilberforce did fight and gain a lot of ground against slavery but Paul obviously decided to work within the system as changing it would have been impossible at that time. Paul appeals to Philemon to treat Onesimus as a brother in Christ. He does not pull any punches. He says that Onesimus was useless as a slave but he had become useful to Paul and would be useful to Philemon if he took him back and used his gifts in his service. He urges Onesimus to welcome him back, still a slave, but treated in the way that Christians are commanded to treat one another.
This letter gives us an example of how we as Christians are called to treat our fellow human beings. The love that we are told to show means that we will always look for an opportunity to restore the relationships which have gone wrong rather than keeping up the resentment which can build amongst us. The reading from Jeremiah today talks of God as a Potter who is constantly re-shaping the pots which he is making. As we move through life, we are faced with many challenges and they are there to help us to become better and more mature human beings. God is shaving off a bit here and reshaping a bit there so that the next time we meet that particular challenge we will deal with it with a little more love and a little less anger. We are all on a journey of shaping and re-shaping. Those pots which get put on the shelf and not re-shaped will collect dust and not be suitable for sale. God, the Potter, helps us to grow into pots which are strong to face everything which we have to face. He smooths out the cracks which could cause us to break and be of no further use.
We don’t know what happened when Onesimus arrived home to face up to his Master and what he had done. We can only hope that Philemon had taken Paul’s letter to heart and welcomed home a brother in Christ whom he could then love as he had loved Paul.
Intercessions:
We have chosen to serve the Lord.
Let us pray to him now.
We pray for those whose faith
is being challenged or undermined
by inner doubts or outside influences.
We give thanks for those who were strong influences in our lives and
all those who continue to build up our faith.
We pray for Graham, Alan and Jane our Bishops
and all who strive to proclaim the Gospel
in language that people understand.
We pray for all Christian missionaries and Bible translators.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
We pray for our torn and fragmented world,
And those working for peace amidst those who work for power.
We pray for the people of Afghanistan, Russia and Ukraine and all other areas of unrest:
that many may have the courage to walk God’s way.
We pray for this church dedicated to St Margaret, giving thanks for all who have served and continue to serve God here.
We pray for this Benefice and all we try to do in cooperation to further God’s Kingdom. We pray for our schools returning after the summer break this week.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our loved ones;
for those who give us encouragement day by day.
For those we meet or work with whom we warm to
and those with whom there are frequent misunderstandings.
We thank God for our opportunities of forgiveness.
We pray for our neighbours.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
We pray for all those who are marginalized,
Scorned or rejected.
For those isolated through illness or imprisonment
And for those who feel that no one understands.
Surround them all with such love
that they may know they are precious to you.
We pray for the residents and staff of Thorp House and for …….
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
We pray for those approaching death,
that through our prayers they may know themselves
accompanied with love on that journey.
We pray for those who have died
that they may come to know the full joy of heaven.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer.
We thank you, Holy God,
for making yourself known to us,
both in daily living
and in church, in the breaking of bread.
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 all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
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