Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
**Please note this service is based on the format of the Anglican Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) and the hymns from the Book of Common Praise (BCP). Other hymns and prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in
our houses of worship but together, we can worship in our own homes.
Opening Prayer
God of pilgrims, teach us to recognize your
dwelling-place in the love, generosity, and support of those with whom we share
our journey, and help us to worship you in our response to those who need our
care; for all the world is your temple and every human heart is a sign of your
presence, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Opening
Hymn – God of Grace and God of Glory (BCP #577)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with
you all.
And
also with you.
Collect for Purity
The Gloria
Collect of the Day
Let us pray.
Almighty God, we are taught by your word that
all our doings without love are worth nothing. Send your Holy Spirit and pour
into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of
all virtue; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, our God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Readings
A reading from the First Book of Kings 8:22-30,
41-43
Then Solomon stood
before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and
spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no
God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast
love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant
that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you
promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand. Therefore,
O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant my father David that which you
promised him, saying, ‘There shall never fail you a successor before me to sit
on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk
before me as you have walked before me.’ Therefore, O God of Israel, let your
word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant my father David.
“But will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much
less this house that I have built! Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O
Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today;
that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which
you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your
servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your
people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling
place; heed and forgive.
“Likewise when a
foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a distant land because
of your name —for they shall hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your
outstretched arm—when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear
in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls
to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you,
as do your people Israel, and so that they may know that your name has been
invoked on this house that I have built.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks
be the God.
Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O
Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for
the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to
the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and
the swallow a nest for herself,
where
she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my
King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever
singing your praise.
Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in
whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca
they
make it a place of springs;
the
early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
the God
of gods will be seen in Zion.
give
ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God;
look
on the face of your anointed.
For a day in your courts is better
than
a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of
my God
than
live in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
he
bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
from
those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
happy
is everyone who trusts in you.
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians
6:10-20
Finally, be strong in
the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle
is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole
armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having
done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth
around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for
your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to
quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Pray in the Spirit at
all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always
persevere in supplication for all the saints. Pray also for me, so that when I
speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of
the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it
boldly, as I must speak.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks
be to God.
Gradual
Hymn – As Longs the Hart for Flowing Streams (BCP #541)
The Lord be with you.
And
also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
according to John 6:56-69
Glory
to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who eat my
flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living God
sent me, and I live because of God, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your
ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live
forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at
Capernaum.
When many of his
disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to
them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man
ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh
is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among
you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were
the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And
he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it
is granted by God.”
Because of this many
of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked
the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to
whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and
know that you are the Holy One of God.”
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise
to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
May only truth be spoken and only truth received. Amen.
Over
the last five weeks, the Gospel reading has been from John, with four of them moving
through Jesus’ “bread of life discourse” at the synagogue in Capernaum.
Throughout
the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, Jesus has been saying that he is the
bread of life;
that
he provides the only food which truly nourishes;
that
he gives us his own self, his own flesh and blood, to sustain us on our
journey;
that
we are actually to eat his flesh and blood in order to abide in him.
These
are, indeed, hard words, hard to hear, hard to understand, hard to believe.
Line
54 states, “those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life” and,
for most of us, we would read that as referring to the Eucharistic meal, that Jesus
is speaking of his presence in the Holy Communion.
But if that’s really the case, I don’t know how Jesus could have expected his listener’s to “get it.”
The last supper, the event which Christians subsequently viewed as the first eucharist, the first Holy Communion, hadn’t yet occurred. The first record of a liturgical re-enactments of that event, in something resembling what we call Holy Communion, is found in First Corinthians which wasn’t written until around 55 years after Jesus’ death.
So,
although Jesus’ words “I am the bread of life” are familiar to many Christians,
in this passage, the disciples declare this to be a “hard saying.”
In
the 6th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus feeds five thousand plus, and compares
this windfall to the manna the Israelites had received centuries before when
they wandered the wilderness.
Manna
was God’s way of looking after the people of Israel. They received the blessing every day until
they finally reached the land of promise.
Then
Jesus has a very long monologue about bread of life, which starts out nicely
but ends with the command to eat his body and drink his blood.
It’s
frightening and messy. To think that we should have life at the expense of
another human being. That is tantamount to cannibalism as Jesus’ followers
reason it: not kosher, unacceptable in any reasonable, moral system of
thinking, and a stark breaking of the Law.
They
are “offended” by Jesus’ audacity. He is declaring himself to be manna, the
“bread of life”. Just as manna gave life in the wilderness, so also Jesus gives
life.
Although
the crowd was initially enthusiastic about the idea of Jesus as one like Moses
who could provide this miraculous bread, they reject the identification of
Jesus with manna.
They
are rejecting him for who he is: the true bread from heaven whose death he
claims will be grounds for establishing “eternal life” for them.
And
they begin to walk away. They begin to desert him.
These
are people who haven’t just joined him for the day. These were not mere
hangers-on and band-waggoners who walked away.
Note
that John calls these folks not simply "the crowds," as in earlier
passages, but rather "disciples."
They
were real followers who had probably been around for a while.
The
people in today's reading who now desert Jesus are precisely those who had, in
fact, believed in Jesus, those who had followed him and had given up much to do
so.
But
his words became too muddled and too offensive for most of his followers.
It
got hard, they got tired of waiting for everything Jesus said would happen to happen,
they didn’t like what he was preaching, so they left.
They
gave up and went home.
A
chapter that started with a huge crowd, ended with only twelve still willing to
stick around, and even then, one of them is destined to betray him.
In
the original manna story, the people’s response to God’s salvation is mixed.
Although they initially herald the triumph of God in the Exodus, Israel
immediately begins to “grumble” or “complain” against God and Moses in the
wilderness. They do not trust God to take care of them.
Similarly,
the group following Jesus initially receives the miraculous food and heralds
Jesus as a prophet. But they also begin to “grumble” against Jesus following
his teaching about the manna.
As
in the Exodus story, the issue is not simply the grumbling of the people but
the lack of trust in God that it represents: “some of you do not believe”.
The
faith that the disciples had put into Jesus is waning and their trust in him is
fading.
The
picture John draws for us in today's Gospel is not a pretty one, but it's
probably a pretty realistic portrait of disbelief, of disciples then and now
for whom the life of faith has become too hard.
But
the picture also includes courage and faith.
Jesus
turned to his twelve, his closest group, and said, “well I guess you want to go,
too?”
Peter
responds, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Peter’s
response to Jesus is not a word of despair or a statement that they will have
to settle for Jesus because there is nothing else.
Peter
and the others who remain have been given the gift of knowing that Jesus is the
one who can give genuine life.
It’s
not that they weren’t plagued with doubt and fear. They suffered at times from
a lack of courage, and they, too, eventually deserted Jesus – and at the very
time he needed them the most.
The
difference was that they knew where to look when things got hard. They trusted
that they could look to Jesus and lean on him.
The
words of eternal life are not always simple, cute, easy to hear. The words of
eternal life remind us that life is not always plain; solutions to our problems
are not straightforward.
It
is exactly because the words of eternal life ring true that we cannot
leave. Where would we go? Who else will tell us the truth about
life? Who else has lived the truth about
life so fully?
John’s
gospel begins with: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.” For Christians,
there is something about the Word that we cannot seem to find anywhere
else. The gospel words of eternal life
go straight to the soul.
Each
week, through the preaching of the Word, we're offered again and again the Word
of eternal life.
We're
offered the chance to be encountered by Jesus and his living Word.
Through
the speaking and hearing of the Word, Jesus' real presence is made manifest in
our world, and we are pointed to the one place amid all the tumult and upset of
this world and life we share that we can look to and know for sure that we will
find God in Christ there for us.
So
come now to hear and receive God's life-giving word, Jesus.
Come
today and always to hear in Jesus the promise that you have infinite worth in
God's eyes, that your life has purpose and meaning, and that through you God
intends to do great things in this world.
Come
and receive the Word of eternal life, Jesus the Christ, that you might believe
in him and have life in his name.
Amen.
Affirmation of Faith
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we
say the Apostles’ Creed:
I
believe in God,
the
Father almighty,
creator
of heaven and earth.
I
believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He
was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and
born of the Virgin Mary.
He
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was
crucified, died, and was buried.
He
descended to the dead.
On
the third day he rose again.
He
ascended into heaven,
and
is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He
will come again
to
judge the living and the dead.
I
believe in the Holy Spirit,
the
holy catholic Church,
the
communion of saints,
the
forgiveness of sins,
the
resurrection of the body,
and
the life everlasting. Amen.
The Prayers of the People
Let us pray to the Lord, saying, “Lord have mercy.”
Let us ask the Lord for a day of fulfillment and peace,
Lord have mercy.
Let us ask the Lord to teach us to love others as he has loved us,
Lord have mercy.
Let us ask the Lord for peace and justice in the world.
Lord have mercy.
Let us ask the Lord to strengthen and relieve those who are in need.
Lord have mercy.
Let us ask the Lord to renew the Church through the power of his life-giving Spirit.
Lord have mercy.
As we contemplate the ways we know you, Lord – as Creator of an order larger than we can grasp by understanding or imagination; as Lord, deserving our faithfulness; as Redeemer, unafraid to invest yourself in the high-risk venture of loving us – we fear that our praying may be an audacious act.
We stand in awe of you, hardly knowing how to pray, and sensing an openness before you that betrays words before they are spoken and thoughts before they are formed. Surely, you know those hesitancies that arise because of our lack of understanding and faith. You know the prayers we fear to pray because they might reveal insufficiency on our part. You know the prayers we cannot pray because we have feelings too deep for words.
But, we do pray because you have planted it in our hearts to do so, and because in this act we sense your reaching back to us as we reach out to you. We thank you for the freedom experienced when we remember that prayer is an act facilitated by your grace, and not by our goodness or religious expertise. In such moments we can put away attempts to instruct or advise you, and experience the give-and-take of real fellowship with you.
In that spirit, rather than telling you what to do with our concerns and those for whom we care, we come to share them with you, and to experience your sharing them with us. In that sharing we find blessing and, at least sometimes direction.
We pray for those who are experiencing the trials of poverty, anxiety, bereavement and illness. We ask your blessing for those made victims of the fury of the elements and the violence of other persons.
We pray for the people of the Afghanistan and all other areas of the world where peace is non-existent. We pray for all those who are involved in those conflicts. For ourselves, we ask for an awareness of your Presence and humility to respond to your lordship.
We pray for all those affected by the fires across the country, for those displaced by the fires and receiving no help, for the firefighters, and for rain.
We pray in the name of Jesus, the Christ, God’s beloved Son.
Amen
Confession and Absolution
Dear friends in Christ,
God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy;
God welcomes sinners and invites them to the
table.
Let us confess our sins, confident in God’s
forgiveness.
Most merciful God,
We
confess that we have sinned against you
in
thought, word, and deed,
by
what we have done,
and
by what we have left undone.
We
have not loved you with our whole heart;
we
have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We
are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
for
the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have
mercy on us and forgive us,
that
we may delight in your will,
and
walk in your ways,
to
the glory of your name. Amen.
As we speak the truth of our lives, God who is
faithful and just, restores us and brings us home again and again.
Almighty God have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you in eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Peace
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And
also with you.
Offertory
Hymn – Eat This Bread (BCP #63)
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although
not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would
encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off
or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the
church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking
place.
Let us pray.
God of glory, receive all we offer this day as
a symbol of our love, and increase in us that true and perfect gift. We ask
this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This service was created for live worship on Zoom. For
those worshiping on your own, you may either read the Eucharistic prayer, or
skip ahead to the Lord's Prayer and then the Doxology.
Eucharistic Prayer 1
The Lord be with you.
And
also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We
lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It
is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right that we should praise you,
gracious God,
for you created all things.
You formed us in your own image:
male and female you created us.
When we turned away from you in sin,
you did not cease to care for us,
but opened a path of salvation for all people.
You made a covenant with Israel,
and through your servants Abraham and Sarah
gave the promise of a blessing to all nations.
Through Moses you led your people
from bondage into freedom;
through the prophets
you renewed your promise of salvation.
Therefore, with them, and with all your saints
who have served you in every age,
we give thanks and raise our voices
to proclaim the glory of your name.
Holy,
holy, holy Lord,
God
of power and might,
heaven
and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna
in the highest.
Blessed
are they who come in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna
in the highest.
Holy God, source of life and goodness,
all creation rightly gives you praise.
In the fullness of time,
you sent your Son Jesus Christ,
to share our human nature,
to live and die as one of us,
to reconcile us to you,
the almighty God of all.
He healed the sick
and ate and drank with outcasts and sinners;
he opened the eyes of the blind
and proclaimed the good news of your kingdom
to the poor and to those in need.
In all things he fulfilled your gracious will.
On the night he freely gave himself to death,
our Lord Jesus Christ took bread,
and when he had given thanks to you,
he broke it, and gave it to his disciples,
and said, “Take, eat:
this is my body which is given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.”
After supper he took the cup of wine;
and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them,
and said, “Drink this, all of you:
this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Whenever you drink it,
do this for the remembrance of me.”
Gracious God,
his perfect sacrifice
destroys the power of sin and death;
by raising him to life
you give us life for evermore.
Therefore we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.
Recalling his death,
proclaiming his resurrection,
and looking for his coming again in glory,
we offer you, God, this bread and this cup.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us
and upon these gifts,
that all who eat and drink at this table
may be one body and one holy people,
a living sacrifice in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory is yours, almighty God,
now and for ever.
Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us,
we are bold to pray,
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.
Save
us from the time of trial,
and
deliver us from evil.
For
the kingdom, the power,
and
the glory are yours,
now
and for ever. Amen.
Breaking of the Bread
This is the body of Christ.
Behold what you are.
Become what you receive.
Amen.
Communion
This is the table of Christ. It is made ready
for those who love him, and for those who want to love him more. Come, whether
you have much faith or little, have tried to follow, or are afraid that you
have failed. Come. Because it is Christ's will that those who want to meet him,
might meet him here.
These are the gifts of God for the People of
God.
Thanks
be to God.
Share
in the Eucharist
Prayer After Communion
As we have feasted around the table, let us
pray.
Living God, increase in us the healing power of
your love. Guide and direct us that we may please you in all things, for the
sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Doxology
As a congregation, we declare our doxology, as
we say together,
Glory to God,
whose
power, working in us,
can
do infinitely more
than
we can ask or imagine.
Glory
to God from generation to generation,
in
the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for
ever and ever.
Amen.
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 the Holy and Undivided
Trinity be with you and remain with you always, in the Name of Love, ☩ the Glory of Love, and the Power of Love. Amen.
Closing Hymn – Amazing Grace (BCP #352)
Dismissal
Go
forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
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