Iona Morning Worship for the 7th Sunday after Trinity
26th July, 2020
¶ Welcome & Introduction
Opening Responses
L: The world belongs to God,
All: The earth and all its people,
L: How good it is, how wonderful,
All: To live together in unity,
L: Love and faith come together,
All: Justice and Peace join hands,
L: If Christ’s disciples keep silent
All: These stones would shout aloud.
L: Open our lips, O God,
All: And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.
Hymn
We rejoice to be God’s chosen
We rejoice to be God’s chosen,
not through virtue, work, or skill,
but because God’s love is generous,
unconformed to human will.
And because God’s love is restless,
like the surging of the sea,
we are pulled by heaven’s dynamic
to become, not just to be.
We rejoice to be God’s chosen,
to be gathered to God’s side,
not to build a pious ghetto
or be steeped in selfish pride;
but to celebrate the goodness
of the One who sets us free
from the smallness of our vision
to become, not just to be.
We rejoice to be God’s chosen,
to align with heaven’s intent,
to await where we are summoned
and accept where we are sent.
We rejoice to be God’s chosen
and, amidst all that we see,
to anticipate with wonder
that the best is yet to be.
We rejoice to be God’s chosen
and, amidst all that we see,
to anticipate with wonder
that the best is yet to be.
Words: © John L Bell & Graham Maule
Music: Nettleton, American traditional
Confession
L: Holy God, Maker of all
All: Have mercy on us.
L: Jesus Christ, Servant of the poor
All: Have mercy on us.
L: Holy Spirit, Breath of life
All: Have mercy on us.
L: Let us in silence confess our faults and admit our frailty.
Silence
L: Before God, with the people of God,
I confess to my brokenness:
to the ways I wound my life,
the lives of others,
and the life of the world.
All: May God forgive you, Christ renew you,
and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
L: Amen.
All: Before God, with the people of God,
we confess to our brokenness:
to the ways we wound our lives,
the lives of others,
and the life of the world.
L: God forgive you, Christ renew you,
and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
All: Amen.
Prayer for God’s help
L: Move among us, O God; give us life:
All: Let your people rejoice in you.
L: Make our hearts clean within us:
All: Renew us in mind and in spirit.
L: Give us again the joy of your help:
All: With your Spirit of freedom sustain us.
Gloria
Glory to God above!
Heavens declare his love;
praise him, you angels,
praise him all you high and heav’nly host.
Worship him, sun and moon;
stars complement their tune;
grounded in God’s good purpose,
let his grace become your boast.
O sing hallelujah
praise God for evermore.
Glory to God below
let depths of ocean show;
lightning and hail, snow,
wind and cloud perform at his command!
Let ev’ry mountain range,
forest and grove and grange,
creatures of earth and air and sea
praise God in ev’ry land.
O sing hallelujah
praise God for evermore.
‘Glory to God!’ now sing
commoner, queen and king;
women and men of
ev’ry age unite to praise the Lord.
Worship God’s holy name
and let your lives proclaim
God’s saving pow’r extends to those
who love and serve his name.
Psalm 148, paraphrased by John L Bell
© 1993 WGRG, Iona Community
The Collect
L: Let us pray:
A period of silent prayer is kept.
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same:
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.
All: Amen.
¶ The Liturgy of the Word
New Testament Reading
Romans 8:26-end
L: Listen now for the Word of God.
For the Word of God in scripture,
for the Word of God among us,
for the Word of God within us
All: Thanks be to God.
Reader: A reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans:
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Gradual Hymn
A Touching Place
Christ’s is the world in which we move,
Christ’s are the folk we’re summoned to love,
Christ’s is the voice which calls us to care,
and Christ is the one who meets us here.
To the lost Christ shows his face;
to the unloved he gives his embrace;
to those who cry in pain or disgrace,
Christ makes, with his friends, a touching place.
Feel the people we most avoid,
strange or bereaved or never employed;
feel for the women, and feel for the men
who fear that their living is all in vain.
Feel for the parents who’ve lost their child,
feel for the women whom men have defiled,
feel for the baby for whom there’s no breast,
and feel for the weary who find no rest.
Feel for the lives by life confused,
riddled with doubt, in loving abused;
feel for the lonely heart, conscious of sin,
which longs to be pure but fears to begin.
Words: © John L Bell & Graham Maule
Music: Dream Angus, Scottish traditional
Duncan Alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Gospel Reading
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
All: Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
At the end:
R: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Reflection
Fr Christopher
Affirmation of Faith
L: With the whole Church:
All: We affirm
that we are made in God’s image,
befriended by Christ, empowered by the Spirit,
L: With people everywhere
All: We affirm
God’s goodness at the heart of humanity,
planted more deeply than all that is wrong,
L: With all creation
All; We celebrate
the miracle and wonder of life;
the unfolding purposes of God,
forever at work in ourselves and the world.
Amen.
Prayers of Gratitude and Concern
Pray for the needs of the world, for our local communities, our loved-ones and our friends.
Int: God, in your mercy,
All: Hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer
Int: And now, as Jesus taught us, we pray:
All: 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.
Lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Hymn
The Summons
(BBC SoP with lyrics)
Will you come and follow me
if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know
and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you
and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind
if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you
and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see
if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
and so such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you
and you in me?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide
if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found
to reshape the world around
through my sight and touch and sound
in you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true
when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go
where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow
in you and you in me.
Words: © John L Bell & Graham Maule
Music: Kelvingrove, Scottish traditional
Closing Prayer
L: Lord God,
whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion that,
in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
All: Amen.
Closing Responses
L: This is the day that God has made;
All: We will rejoice and be glad in it.
L: We will not offer to God
All: Offerings that cost us nothing.
L: Go in peace to love and to serve;
All: We will seek peace and pursue it.
L: In the name of the Trinity of Love,
All: God in community, holy and one.
When a priest is leading:
L: And the blessing of God almighty,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you, and those whom you love,
today and always.
All: Amen.
Voluntary
Inspired by love and anger
(omitting vv 3 and 4)
Inspired by love and anger,
disturbed by need and pain,
informed of God's own bias,
we ask him once again:
"How long must some folk suffer?
How long can few folk mind?
How long dare vain self-interest
turn prayer and pity blind?"
From those forever victims
of heartless human greed,
their cruel plight composes
a litany of need:
"Where are the fruits of justice?
Where are the signs of peace?
When is the day when prisoners
and dreams find their release?"
God asks, "Who will go for me?
Who will extend my reach?
And who, when few will listen,
will prophesy and preach?
And who, when few bid welcome,
will offer all they know?
And who, when few dare follow,
will walk the road I show?"
Amused in someone's kitchen,
asleep in someone's boat,
Attuned to what the ancients
exposed, proclaimed and wrote,
A saviour without safety,
a tradesman without tools
Has come to tip the balance
with fishermen and fools.
Tune: Sally Gardens (Irish trad.) © Wild Goose Publications
Director of Music: James Lilwall
Some material: Iona Abbey Worship Book © 2001 The Iona Community;
Music: © Iona Abbey Music Book, Wild Goose Publications,
140 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3DH.