Opening Prayers

 

God the Father forgives us in Christ and heals us by the Holy Spirit. 

Let us therefore put away all anger and bitterness, all slander and malice, 

and confess our sins to God our redeemer.

 

Father, you come to meet us when we return to you:

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

 

Jesus, you died on the cross for our sins:

Christ, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

 

Spirit, you give us life and peace:

Lord, have mercy.

 

 

Holy God,

faithful and unchanging:

enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,

and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,

that we may truly worship you,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

 

 

Readings

 

Genesis 1.1-2.4

Read by Osaki Fredericks

 

2 Corinthians 13.11-13

Read by Alison Wright

Gospel Reading

 

 

Matthew 28.16-20

Read by Matthew Bull

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

Hymns

 

My God, how wonderful thou art,
thy majesty how bright!
How beautiful thy mercy seat,
in depths of burning light!

Wondrous are thine eternal years,
O everlasting Lord,
by holy angels day and night
unceasingly adored!

O how I fear thee, living God,
with deepest, tend’rest fears,
and worship thee with trembling hope
and penitential tears!

Yet I may love thee too, O Lord,
almighty as thou art,
for thou hast stooped to ask of me
the love of my poor heart.

No earthly father loves like thee,
no mother half so mild
bears and forbears, as thou hast done
with me, thy sinful child.

How wonderful, how beautiful,
the sight of thee will be,
thine endless wisdom, boundless pow’r,
and awesome purity!

Father of Jesus, Love divine,
what rapture it will be,
prostrate before thy throne to lie,
and gaze and gaze on thee!

 

 

Father, we adore you,

Lay our lives before you,
How we love you!

Jesus, we adore you,
Lay our lives before you,
How we love you!

Spirit, we adore you,
Lay our lives before you,
How we love you!

 

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav’n to earth come down:
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter ev’ry trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
into ev’ry troubled breast;
let us all in thee inherit,
let us find the promised rest:
take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.

Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be:
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
’til in heav’n we take our place,
’til we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.

 

 

Reflections

Margaret Glover and Stephanie Warner respond to Black Lives Matter protests.

 

Margaret Glover:

When Julia asked if I might reflect on my thoughts and feelings as an American at this moment, I soon heard Buffy Sainte-Marie’s beautiful and wrenching song, ‘My country ‘tis of thy people you’re dying’. Written 54 years ago, these words ring true, not only for her own people yet all ‘people of colour’ who are ravaged most and healed least in the current pandemic.

The song refers to the small pox epidemic, but one among many factors in the genocide of her people, the free and the brave who fed and clothed my people when we arrived on the shores of what is now the state Massachusetts. The time has come to apply the word genocide to the crimes against another people whose freedom and bravery have been systematically and systemically denied for centuries and in my own memory since 4^th April 1968.

Over three days and nights following Martin Luther King’s assassination, neighbourhoods surrounding Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Hartford burst into flames of grief and rage. I bore witness to these fires from the same balcony where I’d watched fire-works celebrating our ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ each 4^th of July. As we drove to church on Sunday 7th, I saw devastation, which to my eyes resembled televised images from the war in Vietnam. I had so many questions then; I have some of the same now, and more.

The country where I was born is filled with people who themselves fled or whose ancestors fled countries where governments were and/or persist in targeting their own people – with bullets, neglect, teargas, starvation, humiliation, all manners of abuse. The same is true of the country, which I now call home. How do we as children of God respond when a place of refuge becomes a place of denial, rejection, degradation not only of the people yet also of the values both seeker and host believe to be in that place?

The obedient person remains a re-actor; he or she only fulfils that

which is assigned; s/he is required to sacrifice his/her spontaneity on

the altar of obedience. But it is precisely spontaneity for which Jesus

sets us free.

That which he requires does not presuppose the order of the world;

that order has yet to be established in the future. Insofar as the human

must discover what God’s will is, the future of the world remains open.

Dorothee Sölle, Creative Disobedience

 

We hold so many worlds inside us. So many futures. It is our radical

responsibility to share these worlds, to plant them in the soil of our

society as seeds for the type of justice we want and need.

Adrienne Marie Brown, ‘Outro’

 

Stephanie Warner:

Stephanie thought this broadcast by Trevor Noah on The Daily Show might evoke some reflection of what is happening with the Black Lives Matter movement. She says: “the speaker rambles on a bit but I think he highlights some systemic points”.

 

 

Intercessions

 

We come boldly to the throne of grace, praying to the almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for mercy and grace.

 

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Father of heaven, whose love profound

a ransom for our souls has found:

We pray for the world, created by your love,

for its nations and governments …

Extend to them your peace, pardoning love, and grace.

 

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Almighty Son, incarnate Word,

our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord:

We pray for the Church, created for your glory,

for its ministry to reflect those works of yours …

Extend to us your salvation, growth, mercy and grace.

 

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Eternal Spirit, by whose breath

the soul is raised from sin and death:

We pray for families and individuals, created in your image,

for the lonely, the bereaved, the sick and the dying …

Breathe on them the breath of life

and bring them to your mercy and grace.

 

We plead before your throne in heaven.

Thrice holy! Father, Spirit, Son,

Mysterious Godhead, Three in One:

We pray for ourselves,

for your Church, for all whom we remember before you …

Bring us all to bow before your throne in heaven,

to receive life and pardon, mercy and grace for all eternity, as we worship you, saying,

 

 

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest. Amen.

 

 

Piano from Romee:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closing Prayers

 

Almighty and eternal God,

you have revealed yourself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

and live and reign in the perfect unity of love:

hold us firm in this faith,

that we may know you in all your ways

and evermore rejoice in your eternal glory,

who are three Persons yet one God,

now and for ever.

Amen.

 

The Lord bless you and keep you:

The Lord make his face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you:

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you

and give you peace:

Amen.

from Numbers 6.24-26

 

PENTECOST DAILY PRAYERS

Fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection the Church celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Celtic Christian tradition there follows is a 40-day period of ‘walking in the Spirit’ during which these worship patterns are especially suitable.

 

Read this week’s Vicar’s Message.