Sunday readings and prayers

Robert Bridges (1844-1930)
 

The collect for the FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; 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.

With the many unsettling events that fill the headlines each day, we might well ask “Where is God?” In our Bible readings this week we are assured that our God is a God of mercy, a God of love who will always be there when we call to him. The two people in our Gospel reading are examples of faith in a God who listens and cares. Have faith…. and who knows what will happen!.

First Bible Reading Hosea 5.15 – 6.6

I will return again to my place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. In their distress they will beg my favour: ‘Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.’ What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,  like the dew that goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,  I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgement goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings.

Hosea married a prostitute named Gomer and despite her unfaithfulness Hosea never abandoned her but showed her unswerving love and devotion. In the same way God was always faithful to his people, despite Israel's waywardness. God continues to be a God of mercy all these centuries later.

Psalm 50: 7-15

‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you.  I am God, your God.
 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds.
For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.

 ‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,  and pay your vows to the Most High.
Call on me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

We are continually reminded that God is ahead of us, and that we love the One who has always first loved us.

Second Reading  Romans 4.13–25

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Abraham offering hospitality to the angels: Ravenna

St. Paul gives Abraham as an example of one who trusted implicitly in God’s goodness and whose trust was rewarded. He uprooted his family and moved to a foreign land, trusting in God’s promise that he would become “the father of many nations”. We perhaps have even more reason to trust as we know that God gave his only son, Jesus, to die for us and to rise again. Difficult to accept at times – but have faith!

Gospel Reading  Matthew 9.9–13,18–26 

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district. 

Healing of a woman C15 Vanderbilt Library

Jesus quotes from Hosea: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  He did so in response to criticism concerning the company which he kept. We know that Jesus engaged with people of all backgrounds as he could see the image of God in them all. The woman with the flow of blood would have been an outcast, unclean, but her faith healed her. The leader of the synagogue would probably have been wary of Jesus with his teachings so different from those of other established religious leaders but he had faith and his daughter was restored to life.

By faith I gaze up to the heavens and know within its vastness that this is your creation
planned and effected within eternity

By faith I pluck an ear of corn and know within its symmetry lies the chemistry of life
the potential of creation within my hand

By faith I listen for your voice and know the whisper that I hear breathed a world into existence
yet listens to the prayer within my soul

By faith I strive to do your will and know the door that I approach may lead me to shadows
where my role is to become your light

By faith I cling to your word and know the strength that I receive has its source within the love
that is at the centre of all things  www.faithandworship.com

We pray for those whose lives have been blighted by war. 

We pray for those in this country whose circumstances make it difficult to be positive about life. 

We pray for those who work on the land at this busy time of year. 

We pray for those who are unwell ........................................................... 

   Lord, in your mercy:  hear our prayer