A Service for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, 1st August, 2021
Preparation:
Before beginning to read this short service, you may wish to find a space for prayer in front of a cross, a candle, or a special place.
May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.
The Acclamation of Christ at the Dawning of the Day
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
May Christ, the true, the only light
banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.
O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving
and be glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God
and a great king above all gods.
Come, let us worship and bow down
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God;
we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Blessed are you, creator of all,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As your dawn renews the face of the earth
bringing light and life to all creation,
may we rejoice in this day you have made;
as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep,
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to do your will,
that the world may rejoice and give you praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
The Collect
Silence is kept.
Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your Church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
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
The First Hymn
Dear Lord and Father of mankind: please access Simon’s accompaniment here:
1 Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence praise.
2 In simple trust like theirs who heard
beside the Syrian sea
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.
3 O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!
4 Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.
5 Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!
The First Reading:
Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.” ’ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked towards the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” ’
In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
Psalm 78: 23-29
Refrain: O Lord, how glorious are your works.
23 So he commanded the clouds above ♦
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down upon them manna to eat ♦
and gave them the grain of heaven.
25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; ♦
he sent them food in plenty. [R]
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens ♦
and led out the south wind by his might.
27 He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust ♦
and winged fowl like the sand of the sea.
28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp ♦
and round about their tents.
29 So they ate and were well filled, ♦
for he gave them what they desired.
Refrain: O Lord, how glorious are your works.
God our deliverer,
as you led our ancestors through the wilderness,
so lead us through the wilderness of this world,
that we may be saved through Christ for ever.
The Second Reading:
Ephesians 4: 1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
The Gospel:
John 6: 24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Homily
At St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, where I served for six years, the gathering point for the clergy and choir takes place at the confluence of corridors and steps from vestries and the song-room, and from here the procession flows into the cathedral. At the place of gathering there is an oil painting that depicts the incident in today’s Exodus reading, as the people of Israel are discovering the gift of manna. Standing there so often waiting for a choir member or a verger or preacher who had forgotten something, my eye often rested on this picture. The artist manages to capture both the amazement and the thanksgiving that the people were experiencing. We can imagine how they felt.
The audience that Jesus had may well have been even more mystified by his words, as he spoke to them of himself as the bread of life and the eternal nature of what he offered. Our minds are naturally cast back a couple of chapters in St John’s Gospel to the Samaritan woman at the well and our Lord’s indication to her that the living water that he gives wells up in us for always.
Grasping the eternal nature of our faith is one that becomes easier as we get older. We have the sense - or develop the sense - to learn from the times when either we or others struggle with our faith. What we discover is that it isn’t something that works in a transient way like the gathering of manna. Eternally we are one with Christ because he does not fail us or ever leave us.
When you receive the Eucharist, what does it mean to you? I suggest that we think of receiving the bread not so much to strengthen and satisfy the soul and spirit that lies within our being, much as Christ does feed us in this way, but rather to remind us that we are loved and held in that love eternally. Every time we reach out and the Eucharistic bread is placed in our hands, think of it as Christ saying, “I love you”. That is my shorthand for John’s record of the actual words of Jesus: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”
John Mann
Second Hymn
- https://youtu.be/89JjHCtuvwc
1 King of glory, King of peace,
I will love Thee;
and that love may never cease,
I will move Thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
Thou hast heard me;
Thou didst note my working breast,
Thou hast spared me.
2 Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing Thee,
and the cream of all my heart
I will bring Thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
Thou didst clear me;
and alone, when they replied,
Thou didst hear me.
3 Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise Thee;
in my heart, though not in heaven,
I can raise Thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
to enrol Thee:
e'en eternity's too short
to extol Thee.
Prayers
Heavenly Father, we pray for your Church in all the world, especially for this Diocese of Salisbury and for Karen our Bishop. Bring light and comfort, strength and peace to those whose desire to worship, sing and receive Holy Communion is frustrated by the remaining restrictions that continue mean they are isolated from the fellowship of other Church members at this time. Help us to feel as one with each other, and ever conscious of the higher unity of the Spirit that binds us in love.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord Jesus, you taught your followers recognise you as the one anointed by the Father to bring reconciliation and healing to a broken world. Look in your mercy upon those who are binding up the wounds of this world’s injuries and sorrows. Grant to the people of all troubled areas of this world the touch of your loving, consoling presence, and bring to all peoples of the world who are aching with distress the help and support for which they long.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, continue, we pray, to make known the ways of love and joy. Keep your people conscious of the need to work for a just and free world, and for an end to poverty and prejudice. Grant to our national politicians wisdom in their deliberations and direction in their decisions, and in local government, bless the town council of Swanage, and parish council of Studland, and all who live and work here and those who visit us from abroad.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, we remember before you the sick in body, mind and spirit. Bring healing to those who have asked for our prayer as we bring them to mind in a moment of silence:
Silence
May your blessing rest on those for whom we pray, known or unknown; and may the comfort of your Holy Spirit enfold the bereaved, the distressed and those living through times of doubt and hopelessness. Give strength to the weak, rest to the weary, support and reassurance to all who are close to death. Stand beside, and when needed carry, all who are exhausted with caring for others assuring them that their loved one is carried too.
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Merciful Father accept these our prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Peace
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said, “Peace be with you.” Then were they glad when they saw the Lord
The Lord’s Prayer
A few moments of silence before we pray:
Holy Father,
who gathers us around the table of your Son
to share a meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Conclusion
The Lord bless us and keep us:
Amen.
The Lord make his face to shine upon us,
and be gracious to us:
Amen.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon us
and give us peace:
Amen
Numbers 6.24-26
The Lord God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
the holy and undivided Trinity,
guard us, save us,
and bring us to that heavenly city,
where he lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
Voluntary: Sonata no 1 Slow Movement - Mendelssohn: https://youtu.be/abz3YeveAn8
If you would like to make a donation to the church in Swanage, we will be most grateful. At present this is best done by BACS of which the details are:
Nationwide Building Society
Account name: Swanage PCC
Account Number: 70585005
Sort code: 07-00-55
Please give your name as reference.