Sunday readings and prayers

 I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.

1. Brother, sister, let me serve you;

let me be as Christ to you;

pray that I may have the grace to

let you be my servant too.

2. We are pilgrims on a journey,

and companions on the road;

we are here to help each other

walk the mile and bear the load.

3. I will hold the Christlight for you

in the nighttime of your fear;

I will hold my hand out to you,

speak the peace you long to hear.

4. I will weep when you are weeping;

when you laugh I'll laugh with you;

I will share your joy and sorrow,

till we've seen this journey through.

5. When we sing to God in heaven,

we shall find such harmony,

born of all we've known together

of Christ's love and agony.

6. Brother, sister, let me serve you;

let me be as Christ to you;

pray that l may have the grace to

let you be my servant too.

Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

First Bible Reading Zechariah Chapter 9 Verses 9-12

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the warhorse from Jerusalem; and the battle-bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.   

Entry into Jerusalem 103—1040 Vanderbilt Library

Psalm 145:8-15

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great kindness.

The Lord is loving to everyone and his compassion is over all his works.

All your works praise you, O Lord, and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom and speak of your power;

That the peoples may know of your power  and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; your dominion endures throughout all ages.

The Lord is faithful in all his words  and merciful in all his deeds.

The Lord upholds all those who fall;  he lifts up those who are bowed down.

Second Reading:  Romans Chapter 7 : 15-25a

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Gospel Reading: Matthew 11 : 16 - 19, 25 - 30

At that time Jesus said, ‘To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.”

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.

I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

When Jesus was teaching his disciples, he often came up against the religious leaders of his time. They had hundreds of rules about what clothes you could wear and when, what foods you could eat and when, what you could or could not do on the Sabbath.  While Jesus wanted to bring people to know a God of liberating love and mercy, the Pharisees and the Saduccees focused on the rules, some very trivial,  putting the emphasis on the letter of the law rather than the spirit. The result was to laden people with guilt.

Jesus offers his yoke instead of the burden of the rules and regulations of the Pharisees. It is an easy yoke but a yoke might seem an unlikely way of finding rest! When Jesus spoke these words the yoke was a familiar symbol of burden. Yokes were laid on the necks and shoulders of oxen and carpenters, like Jesus, would have been employed to make them. The yoke joined two animals together, they were partnered, and so a young animal could learn from a trained animal who shared the load. Thus, when Jesus says take my yoke upon you, he is offering to walk alongside us and share the load. This is the way which we are meant to live our lives, with God at our side, helping us, working with us, showing us the way.

Jesus believed that the obsession with rules and their interpretation missed the point. What God wanted was for people simply to behave with love towards one another and God. Instead of bringing people closer to God, the laws had become oppressive and weighed everybody down.

Our God is one of mercy who takes away the burden of sin and frees us up to concentrate our energies on living in harmony with others. Paul was originally an assiduous follower of the Jewish Law until he saw the light and in our epistle today we see him struggling with the way we often do what we know we should not do, especially when the temptation is too strong or tiredness gets the better of us. But we are not captive to sin. Thanks to Jesus who died for us, we should never be paralysed by guilt. Our God is always there alongside us, encouraging us to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Almighty Father, we thank you that whatever befalls us, you are always there beside us to share our joys and our burdens.

As we mark the 78^th anniversary of the founding of the NHS, we give thanks for all who down the years have dedicated their lives to caring for the sick and  promoting healthier life styles in our country. God of healing, make your presence known to all who work in our hospitals, surgeries and in the community that they may find encouragement and reassurance at a time of unprecedented stress and uncertainty.

We continue to pray for Ukraine  and other wartorn countries and for the refugees that have been welcomed into our neighbourhoods. Almighty God, whose love is beyond our understanding, we pray for justice, peace and reconciliation; when the challenges seem too many, remind us of your resurrection power; when the task seems overwhelming, remind us of the miracle of love; And when apathy threatens us, remind us of your vision of a world made whole. May we be guided by your Spirit as we seek to play our part in building your Kingdom, in our parishes and further afield.

Heavenly Father, we pray for those in need, asking you to heal the sick, strengthen the fearful, befriend the lonely and guide the perplexed.  We pray in particular at this time for ............

We pray for the repose of the souls of those who have recently departed this world, thinking of ........................  & for strength & reassurance for those they have left behind.

We pray that each day we may reflect the love of Christ in our lives and never fail to see the image of Christ in those that we encounter along the way.