Opening prayer: As we gather, God’s spirit is with us, thanks be to God.Read: Matthew 24 v30-35Prayer for the day: Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: help us so to hear them, to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and for ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.A word about the Bible: On Bible Sunday our prayer reminds us that the Bible is there to help us learn about God. Today’s prayer calls us to hear, read and study the word of God so that we can learn about and live our lives in keeping with God’s word. Finally, our prayer affirms that if we live in line with God’s word that we are also holding onto the promise of eternal life in Jesus. So, what can you hope to find if you take the time and trouble to read the Bible? So far, I have learnt lots about God. For God is beyond anything I can think or imagine; and God is so gracious and loving and merciful; and God has plans, plans that God always succeeds in fulfilling; and God knows what is best for us and wants to do what is best for us. I have also realised that the Bible teaches everything I need to know in order to live a life that is pleasing to God and be ready when the time comes for all creation to be judged. So, with all this in mind, I commend the Bible to you. You will find it an amazing read that opens up all sorts of insights and experiences that draw us closer to God.Closing prayer: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen
Readings: Amos 5v6-7&10-15; Psalm 90v12-end; Hebrews 4v12-16; Mark 10v17-31Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. AmenA Word : Today on the occasion of our Harvest Festival Celebrations, we join a long and ancient tradition of giving thanks for the Harvest that pre-dates Christianity. For, the people of Israel, God’s very own chosen people, had a major festival called Sukkot that was celebrated in the Autumn, when they: gathered the crops from the fields and the fruits of the orchards; and remembered their time living in the desert for 40 years, after their rescue from slavery in Egypt, before entering the promised land. An early Christian celebration of Harvest, was the custom that took place in early August (at the beginning of the harvest). In this tradition, the basis of the tradition was the idea of giving God our “first fruits”, and some of the first crops were used to make a loaf that was brought to the Church for use in the service named the “loaf mass”, or Lammas. Today, Loaf Mass continues to be a Christian holy day, but after the reformation, the tradition was discontinued by the Church of England. The modern day Harvest Festival was re-introduced into the Church when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited his Cornish parishioners to a special thanksgiving service for the harvest, at his church in Morwenstow, in 1843. From this grew the tradition of singing Harvest hymns and the custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the service.Today in the Church of England, Harvest festivals are celebrated across a number of dates, because unlike Canada and the USA, the UK does not have a national holiday for Harvest Festival. This means that some Churches celebrate in September, on the Sunday nearest the Feast of Michaelmas, when people gather for a community meal called a Harvest Supper. Others celebrate on the Sunday nearest the time of the Harvest Moon, which occurs in late September or early October. Yet others, like us, have a home-grown tradition of celebrating in October. However, whatever date this celebration takes place, and whatever the origin of the current tradition is, Harvest Festival is: a time to give thanks for the food grown on the land; it is a reminder of all the good things that God gives to us; and it is a time to take stock of how we can help and support others with the gifts we have received.Today as we take stock of what we have and how we can help and support others, I pray that we will all take some sort of Harvest Thanksgiving action. Here are a few of my own ideas:- Maybe making a gift offering of food to neighbours or food banks or schools;- Maybe giving time to make a covid secure visit to those who are lonely;- Maybe being open to give time to listen, without judgement, to those who need to talk;- Maybe using our God given skills and abilities to help someone who needs them.For, I believe that God is calling each of us to share some of what we have for the benefit of others. And, whatever you are thinking of, whether it is much or little, if we dare to share, then I also believe that we begin the journey that Jesus called the young rich man to in the gospel, of giving to those in need and following Jesus. And, as we heard in the psalm, God will prosper the work of our hands.Let us pray:Go before us O Lord, as we endeavour to worship you in spirit and truth, and lift up our hearts that we may serve you fittingly, as you desire.Lords’ 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. AmenThe Grace: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now and evermore. AMENThank you for joining us today.
Feast of All Saints (All Hallows) 1st November & Commemoration of the Faithful departed (All Souls) 2nd November Opening prayer: As we gather, God’s spirit is with us, thanks be to God.Read: Matthew 11v25-30Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. AmenA reflection: On the 1st November each year the Church keeps the Feast of All Saints, which is olden days was called the Feast of All Hallows. This is a day when we give thanks for all the Saints, for the people considered to be: sacred and blessed, godly and devout, righteous and virtuous. In the Church of England, the title of Saint includes: people considered to be devout and spiritual; people whose way of living is worthy to be imitated; as well as people in heaven, whose existence is affirmed in the prayers known as Creeds. For saints are all of the people who are made holy by God, some with the formal title of Saint and others quite ordinary, just like you and me, people who simply become more Christlike by the way they live their lives. And whether they are alive in the world or among the faithful dead in heaven, they are our elder brothers and sisters in Christ. A great crowd who strengthen and encourage us in our spiritual journey of searching for God and seeking the way to heaven. To become part of that great cloud of witnesses in heaven, alongside all the faithful departed, already in heaven. A people that the Church gives thanks for on 2nd November each year in its Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. A people who have gone before us into heaven and are now with God.A prayer of people who want to become more holy: Day by day dear Lord, of thee three things we pray. To see you more clearly, to love you more dearly and to follow you more nearly, day by day. AmenA prayer for the dead: Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let your perpetual light shone upon them. May the souls and those of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace and rise in glory. AmenClosing prayer: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen
Michael and All Angels Readings: Genesis 28v10-17; Psalm 1031v19-end; Hebrews 1v5-end; John 1v47-end. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: As we celebrate the feast of St Michael and all Angels, I thought we should take time to think about angels. Now, I am not sure what you already know about angels, but the word angel simply means God’s messenger. This messenger may be ordinary – a person just like you or me – sent with a message from God. Or it may be a messenger sent from the spiritual realm such as the God’s great and obedient arch-angels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. According to the psalm. these heavenly beings of the Lord are mighty creatures who exist to do God’s bidding, as well as to bless God whose throne is in heaven. And, as the writer declares in the letter to the Hebrews, the God of heaven and earth who sent his son into the world – has angels who work in the service of God, spirits who worship the Lord’s son and who are sent out into the natural world to serve each and every person who will inherit salvation. We see God’s angels at work in the reading from the Book of Genesis, an account sometimes referred to as “Jacob’s ladder”. For whilst Jacob slept, God drew close to him and communicated to him through a dream. In the dream, Jacob saw a staircase full of angels between heaven and earth. Then, God spoke to Jacob, promising to be with him and all the families of the earth wheresoever they may go – and promising never to leave them until all of God’s promises had been fulfilled. Later, when Jacob woke up, Jacob knew that he had been visited by God and that the place he was in was what we now call “a thin place”, places on earth where heaven can be felt. Then, in the gospel we hear an echo of Jacob’s ladder in the account of what happens between Jesus and Nathanael. For after Nathanael questions how Jesus knows him – Jesus describes something that Nathanael recognises as so profound – that he knows without doubt that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then goes on to prophesy that Nathanael will see the heavens open and angels ascending and descending as they attend to him. Scripture tells us that here and now in our time, there are angels all around us in the heavenly realm. Some of them have duties that include looking out for us as our guardian angels and when we gather to worship God we join with the whole of heaven in worshipping God most high. Imagine that! Let us pray: Everlasting God, Lord of heaven, you created a wonderful order of your holy angels who serve you in heaven and your mortal beings who serve you here on earth. Help us to know that when we gather in worship that we join with the whole company of heaven, of innumerable angels and the spirits of the saints made perfect. Lord send your holy angels to help and defend us as we make our earthly pilgrimage until we come to share in your joy in heaven. Amen Thank you for joining us.
