May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.
Collect
Gracious Father, by the obedience of Jesus you brought salvation to our wayward world: draw us into harmony with your will, that we may find all things restored in him, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Confession
Let us call to mind our sins, and make confession to our heavenly Father.
Almighty God, long-suffering and of great goodness, we confess with our whole heart our neglect of your commandments: our wrong doing and thinking, the hurts we have done to others, and the good we have left undone. Forgive us, Lord, and raise us to newness of life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Readings - 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, verses 7 to the end :-
You are so rich in everything - in faith, speech, knowledge, and diligence of every kind, as well as in the love you have for us - that you should surely show yourselves equally lavish in this generous service! This is not meant as an order; by telling you how keen others are I am putting your love to the test. You know the generosity of our Lord Jesus Christ: he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.
Here is my advice, and I have your interests at heart. You made a good beginning last year both in what you did and in your willingness to do it. Now go on and finish it. Be as eager to complete the scheme as you were to adopt it, and give according to your means. If we give eagerly according to our means, that is acceptable to God; he does not ask for what we do not have. There is no question of relieving others at the cost of hardship to yourselves; it is a question of equality. At the moment your surplus meets their need, but one day your need may be met from their surplus. The aim is equality; as scripture has it, ‘Those who gathered more did not have too much, and those who gathered less did not have too little.’
I thank God that he has made Titus as keen on your behalf as we are! So keen is he that he not only welcomed our request; it is by his own choice he is now leaving to come to you. With him we are sending one of our company whose reputation for his services to the gospel among all the churches is high. Moreover they have duly appointed him to travel with us and help in this beneficent work, by which we do honour to the Lord himself and show our own eagerness to serve. We want to guard against any criticism of our handling of these large sums; for our aims are entirely honourable, not only in the Lord’s eyes, but also in the eyes of men and women.
We are sending with them another of our company whose enthusiasm we have had repeated opportunities of testing, and who is now all the more keen because of the great confidence he has in you. If there is any question about Titus, he is my partner and my fellow-worker in dealings with you; as for the others, they are delegates of the churches and bring honour to Christ. So give them, and through them the churches, clear evidence of your love and justify our pride in you.
Mark, chapter 5 verses 21 to the end :-
As soon as Jesus had returned by boat to the other shore, a large crowd gathered round him. While he was by the lakeside, there came a synagogue president named Jairus; and when he saw him, he threw himself down at his feet and pleaded with him. ‘My little daughter is at death’s door,’ he said. ‘I beg you to come and lay your hands on her so that her life may be saved.’ So Jesus went with him, accompanied by a great crowd which pressed round him.
Among them was a woman who had suffered from haemorrhages for twelve years; and in spite of long treatment by many doctors, on which she had spent all she had, she had become worse rather than better. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak; for she said, ‘If I touch even his clothes, I shall be healed.’ And there and then the flow of blood dried up and she knew in herself that she was cured of her affliction. Aware at once that power had gone out of him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ His disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing round you and yet you ask, “Who touched me?”’ But he kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, trembling with fear because she knew what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace, free from your affliction.’
While he was still speaking, a message came from the president’s house, ‘Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any more?’
But Jesus, overhearing the message as it was delivered, said to the president of the synagogue, ‘Do not be afraid; simply have faith.’ Then he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and James’s brother John. They came to the president’s house, where he found a great commotion, with loud crying and wailing. So he went in and said to them, ‘Why this crying and commotion? The child is not dead: she is asleep’; and they laughed at him. After turning everyone out, he took the child’s father and mother and his own companions into the room where the child was. Taking hold of her hand, he said to her, ‘Talitha cum,’ which means, ‘Get up, my child.’ Immediately the girl got up and walked about - she was twelve years old. They were overcome with amazement; but he gave them strict instructions not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
A Reflection on the Readings - this is a shortened version of the address given in church and on-line
Two long readings today, and in consequence a short reflection. We have Paul encouraging the Corinthian Church to be generous in its giving - this is a topic that parish clergy dread, but they know they have to do it. Without generous giving the church can’t maintain its presence, its ministry, and its mission. And then we have two remarkable miracles of healing performed by Jesus, one of which happened literally while his back was turned.
And what links them all together is the theme of belonging. Paul was asking the Church in Corinth to contribute to the welfare of their sisters and brothers in Jerusalem, for whom times were hard. “It’s about equality,” he told them. “You’re doing OK, so you need make sure others have sufficient too.” In Christ we belong together, big churches and little churches, rich churches and poor.
The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment had been written off by those around her. The nature of her disease rendered her unclean and therefore unacceptable. But no-one is unacceptable to God, and, as Jesus told her, not only God’s power but also her own faith had made her whole.
Maybe the little girl wasn’t dead, but in some sort of catatonic state; what matters though is that those around believed her to be dead, and therefore there was no longer any need for Jesus to be there. Jesus shows them otherwise. We often write off both people and situations as lost causes, and give up when we should persevere (maybe that might even be our attitude to the financial problems we face as churches and as a diocese). But there are no lost causes with God - nor should there be for those who follow his Son.
Statement of faith - We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayers - Pray that the Church everywhere may seek constantly to live in the light and strength of Christ and to be renewed in his image. Pray for Christians in Pakistan and for the United Church of Pakistan. In our own Diocese, pray for Bishop Richard, and for the churches and communities of the Abbeydore deanery. Pray too for those to be ordained as priest at the end of this week.
Pray for the world: where there is conflict and war may God bring peace; where people are belittled, abused or exploited may he establish justice; and where people are hurt, afraid or in a desperate place, may he enable the hungry to be fed and the hurt and frightened to find solace. Continue to pray for nations to co-operate in the fight against Covid, and for vaccines to be quickly supplied to those who need them.
Pray for all in need today: those who are grieving, lonely, worried or anxious, and all who are ill. Pray for places were new variants are causing numbers of Covid cases to rise. Pray for the care, treatment and recovery of all who are ill, and for the health and safety of all who care for them. Pray too for those who live with loss of both sight and hearing, and for assistance and support for them.
Pray for families and friends, and for the life of our communities. May we not be too frustrated by the delays in removing restrictions. In Children’s Art Week, pray for all that helps children to express their feelings, joys and hopes in painting and other forms of art. And may we all act with care and thoughtfulness, looking out for one another and keeping safe ourselves.
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. Amen.
Blessing - May the almighty and eternal God sanctify and govern our hearts and minds in the ways of his commandments; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, surround and sustain us now and always. Amen.
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