2nd before Lent Sunday 12 February

Preparation

The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind.

Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All: And also with you.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We have come together in the name of Christ to offer our praise and thanksgiving to hear and receive God’s holy word, to pray for the needs of the world, and to seek the forgiveness of our sins, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we may give ourselves to the service of God.

All: We say Sorry

Jesus says, ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’

So let us turn away from our sins and turn to Christ, confessing our sins in penitence and faith.

All: Lord God, we have sinned against you;

We have done evil in your sight.

We are sorry and repent.

Have mercy on us according to your love.

Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.

Renew a right spirit within us and restore to us the joy of your salvation;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in His image to the praise and glory of His name through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

Blessed is the Lord,

All: For He has heard the voice of our prayer;

Therefore shall our hearts dance for joy

All: And in our song will we praise our God.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, creator and redeemer of all;

to you be glory and praise for ever.

From the waters of chaos you drew forth the world, and in your great love fashioned us in your image. Now, through the deep waters of death, you have brought your people to new birth by raising your Son to life in triumph.

May Christ your light ever dawn in our hearts as we offer you our sacrifice of thanks and praise.

Blessed be God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

All: Blessed be God for ever.

Hymn – Wonderful Grace

Collect for the Second Sunday Before Lent

Almighty God,

you have created the heavens and the earth

and made us in your own image:

teach us to discern your hand in all your works

and your likeness in all your children;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,

now and for ever.

All: Amen

.Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.

All: And Christ shall give you light.

You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.

All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.

Set your minds on things that are above,

not on things that are on the earth.

All: And Christ shall give you light.

When Christ our life appears

you will appear with him in glory.

All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

Hymn – Take My Life and Let It Be

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in endless praise,
let them flow in endless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee,
swift and beautiful for thee.

Take my voice and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from thee,
filled with messages from thee.

Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as thou shalt choose,
every power as thou shalt choose.

Take my will and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne,
it shall be thy royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee. (by Frances R. Havergal – 1838 to 1870)

Our First Reading is taken from – Romans Chap: 6

18 You were set free from sin and became the slaves of righteousness.

19 (I use everyday language because of the weakness of your natural selves.) At one time you surrendered yourselves entirely as slaves to impurity and wickedness for wicked purposes. In the same way you must now surrender yourselves entirely as slaves of righteousness for holy purposes.

20 When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.

21 What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of? The result of those things is death!

22 But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

23 For sin pays its wage – death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

Here the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to – Matthew Chap: 8

18 I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

19 All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children.

20 For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope

21 that creation itself would one day be set free from its slavery to decay and would share the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.

23 But it is not just creation alone which groans; we who have the Spirit as the first of God’s gifts also groan within ourselves as we wait for God to make us his children and set our whole being free.

24 For it was by hope that we were saved; but if we see what we hope for, then it is not really hope. For who of us hopes for something we see?

25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

This is the Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

Benedicitus

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,

All: who has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,

All: born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets God promised of old

All: to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us,

To show mercy to our ancestors,

All: and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:

All: to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship him without fear,

All: holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,

All: for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

To give his people knowledge of salvation

All: by the forgiveness of all their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God

All: the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,

All: and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1.68-79)

All: Glory to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning is now

and shall be for ever.

Amen.

Sermon

In the New Testament, St. Paul is a controversial figure, both in himself and his letters.

I’m sure that you would agree with that.

But, dare I say it, I believe that Paul, when controversies are mentioned, is being misquoted and taken out of context and partly because we are looking with 21^st century eyes at what Paul was writing to the 1^st century Christians.

I know you are probably thinking that I’m saying that because I’m a man, but that’s a topic for another reflection and study.

However, Paul’s letter to the Romans, which we heard in our first lesion, is different, Different because, once we know the gospels, Paul expands on the teaching and person of Jesus and, to be honest, perhaps in a way that is not easy to understand and follow.

So, let’s have a look at our passage today and see what we can make of it. Paul writes –

18 I consider that what we suffer at this present time cannot be compared at all with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

So, the theme of our reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans is that incomparable glory lies ahead. Glory beyond description, greater than anything you can compare it with on earth. A magnificent and fantastic prospect awaits us.

All through the Scriptures there has been a whisper of hope, a whisper of hope that runs all through the Old Testament, through the prophetic writings, and into the New Testament. This whisper speaks of a day that is coming when all the hurt and heartache and injustice and weakness and suffering of our present experience will be explained and justified, and will result in a time of incredible blessing upon the earth.

The whisper of this in the Old Testament, increases in intensity as it approaches the New Testament, where you come to proclamations like this that speak of the incomparable glory that lies ahead.

We tend to make careful note of our suffering. Just the other day, I received a letter from a man who had written out in extreme detail a report of his recent operation. He said he had had to listen himself to all the reports of other people’s operations for years, and now it was his turn!

We make detailed reports of what we go through in our sufferings.

But here the apostle says, don’t even mention them! They are not worthy to be mentioned in comparison with the glory that is to follow.

Now, that statement would be just so much hot air if it didn’t come from a man like Paul. Here is a man who himself suffered intensely. He was beaten, he was stoned with rocks, he was chained, he was imprisoned, he was shipwrecked, starved, often hungry and naked and cold.

Yet, it is this apostle who takes pen in hand and says, our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that shall be revealed in us. The glory that is coming is incomparable in intensity.

Now, let me say this and make it very clear: Our sufferings hurt us, I know that. I am not trying to make light of them or diminish the terrible physical and emotional pain that suffering can bring. It can be awful, almost unendurable. Its intensity can increase to such a degree that we scream with terror and pain. We think we can no longer endure. But the apostle is saying that the intensity of the suffering that we experience is not even a drop in the bucket compared with the intensity of glory that is coming. You can see that Paul is straining the language in trying to describe this fantastic thing that is about to happen, which he calls the revelation of the glory that is coming.

This glory is not only incomparable in its intensity, but it is also incomparable in its locality. It is not going to be revealed to us, but in us. The word, literally, means into us.

This glory is not going to be a spectator sport, where we will sit up in some cosmic grandstand and watch an amusing or beautiful performance in which we have no part.

We are to be on the stage.

We are going to be involved in it.

It is a glory that will be revealed into us, and we are part of it.

This is the incredible glory that God has prepared for those who love him’ That he has given to us.

not because we have been faithful, not because we earn it, but because we are heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ.

All Christians suffer. There are no exceptions. If you are a true and genuine believer in Jesus Christ, you will suffer. But we are not only given the privilege of suffering with him now, but also of sharing in his glory that is yet to come. We can endure the suffering, and even triumph in it, because we see the glory that is to follow.

Lord, thank you so much for the glory that awaits us. Help us to endure suffering because of the hope you have given us,

Amen

Hymn – Be Thou my vision

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word;
I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord.
Born of thy love, thy child may I be,
thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.

Be thou my buckler, my sword for the fight.
Be thou my dignity, thou my delight,
thou my soul’s shelter, thou my high tower.
Raise thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise;
thou mine inheritance, now and always.
Thou and thou only, first in my heart,
Ruler of heaven, my treasure thou art.

“True Light of heaven, when victory is won
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all

Time of Silence …..

We Say Together:

The Creed.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

All: Amen.

Prayers and Intercessions

We pray for God to fill us with his Spirit.

Generous God,

we thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit.

We ask that we may be strengthened to serve you better.

Lord, come to bless us