Hymn – When You Walk with the Lord (Trust and Obey)
1 When we walk with the Lord
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2 Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
3 But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favour he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
4 Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we’ll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. (by John H. Sammis – 1846 to 1919)
The Greeting
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
All: And also with you
The Peace
We are the body of Christ.
In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
Let us then pursue all that makes for peace
and builds up our common life.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
All: And also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of peace.
(Please turn to those around you, offering your hand, and say
‘The peace of the Lord be with you’)
Prayer of Preparation
All: Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer of Penitence
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our Cod is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your Cod with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
All: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ
to save us from our sins,
to be our advocate in heaven,
and to bring us to eternal life.
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith,
firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments
and to live in love and peace with all.
All: Father eternal, giver of light and grace,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour,
in what we have thought,
in what we have said and done,
through ignorance, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We have wounded your love
and marred your image in us.
We are sorry and ashamed
and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
who died for us,
forgive us all that is past
and lead us out from darkness
to walk as children of light.
Amen.
Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Collect for the Seventeenth Sunday of Trinity –
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
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
Our First Reading is Philippians Chap: 2
1 Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another.
2 I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind.
3 Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves.
4 And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own.
5 The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had:
6 He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God.
7 Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness.
8 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross.
9 For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name.
10 And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees,
11 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation,
13 because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.
This is the word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Hymn – From heaven you came helpless babe (The Servant King)
Here the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to – Matthew Chap: 21
23 Jesus came back to the Temple; and as he taught, the chief priests and the elders came to him and asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.
25 Where did John’s right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?” They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we answer, “From God,’ he will say to us, “Why, then, did you not believe John?’
26 But if we say, “From human beings,’ we are afraid of what the people might do, because they are all convinced that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.
28 “Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
29 “I don’t want to,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. “Yes, sir,’ he answered, but he did not go.
31 Which one of the two did what his father wanted?” “The older one,” they answered. So Jesus said to them, “I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you.
32 For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
Sermon
- You know the type.
- Somebody says all the right things — talks a great game — and then never actually does anything about it.
- And then there’s the other type: the person who says “no,” maybe even pushes back a little, and then turns around and quietly does the work anyway.
- Jesus tells a story about those two people in Matthew 21.
- And Paul, writing to the Philippians, shows us Jesus himself choosing to be the second kind of person — the one who acts instead of just talking — all the way to a cross.
- Put these two passages together, and you get one question that’s hard to dodge:
- Is our faith something we say, or something we actually do? And where do we even get the strength to do it?
- So the religious leaders come at Jesus in the temple: “Who gave you the right to do this stuff?”
- it’s not really a question — it’s a challenge.
- They’re not curious, they’re threatened.
- Jesus turns it back on them by bringing up John the Baptist, and suddenly they’re stuck.
- If they answer honestly, it’s going to cost them either way.
- So they do what people do when they don’t want to commit to the truth: “We don’t know.”
- Grown men, religious experts, and they won’t give a straight answer because an honest one would cost them something.
- Then Jesus tells the story.
- And asks, “So which one actually did what the dad wanted?”
- Even the religious leaders can’t dodge that one. Obviously the first.
- And then Jesus drops the line that must have stung
- “tax collectors and prostitutes are getting into the kingdom of God before you do.”
- Not instead of you — before you, while there’s still time to catch up.
- Why?
- Because the people with terrible reputations heard the truth and actually changed.
- The people with all the right religious credentials heard the same truth and didn’t budge — even after watching it happen right in front of them.
- The kingdom doesn’t go to whoever gives the best answer.
- It goes to whoever actually shows up and does the work.
- Philippians 2 is where we find out what this actually looks like when it’s done right — and it’s Jesus who shows us.
- Paul’s asking the Philippians to get on the same page, love each other, quit the selfish ambition and the showing off, and instead put other people ahead of themselves.
- Then he backs it up with maybe the biggest statement in the whole New Testament.
- Have this mindset — the same one Jesus had. Jesus was literally God, and he didn’t grab onto that or use it for his own advantage. Instead he let it go. Emptied himself. Became a servant. Became human. And then went even further — obedient all the way to death, and not just any death, death on a cross.
- Compare that to the religious leaders.
- They had a tiny bit of borrowed authority and guarded it so hard they wouldn’t even give an honest answer to a simple question.
- Jesus had actual equality with God — the real deal — and gave it up anyway.
- He went down, not up: servant, human, obedient, crucified.
- And here’s the turn: because of that — because he did all that — God lifted him up and gave him the name that’s above every other name. Someday every knee bows, every tongue admits Jesus Christ is Lord.
- The way up goes through the way down. You don’t get the exaltation without the obedience. There’s no shortcut.
- So Paul says: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
- Not work for it — like you’re earning something Jesus hasn’t already given you.
- More like work out — the way you work out a problem, or work out a muscle that’s already there.
- And right after, he tells us why we can even do that:
- because God’s the one working in us, giving us both the want-to and the follow-through.
- That’s basically the difference between the two sons.
- The second sons “yes” was just talk — nothing behind it.
- The first son’s obedience was messy and reluctant, but his feet actually moved.
- Paul’s saying that real obedience — the kind that trembles a little, the kind that costs something — is possible for us because God’s doing the lifting underneath it.
- So here’s the question this leaves us with.
- It’s not “do we say the right things about Jesus”
- It’s whether our “yes” actually gets our feet moving.
- Whether whatever bit of authority or influence we’ve got
- as a parent, at work, with friends
- gets used the way Jesus used his: poured out for other people, instead of protected for ourselves.
- And if you’re more like that first son
- if your life has said “no” to God for a long time — here’s the good news: the door’s still open.
- You’re not behind the people with all the right answers. You might actually be ahead of them.
- The mind of Christ isn’t first about believing the right stuff.
- It’s the way you stand —
- empty yourself out,
- obey even when it’s costly,
- and trust that the God who started this work in you isn’t going to walk away before it’s finished.
- Let that same mindset be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
Amen,
We say together
The Creed
Let us declare our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
All: 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.
Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
During the intercession this response is used: Lord, in your mercy
All: Hear our prayer.
Prayers for King Charles
Through this tritium of prayer we ask God’s continuing blessing on our new King Charles
Prayer
O God, to whom every human power is subject,
grant to your servant our sovereign Charles
success in the exercise of his high office,
so that, always revering you and striving to please you,
he may constantly secure and preserve
for the people entrusted to his care
the freedom that comes from civil peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
All: Amen
Prayer for the Royal Family
Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,
we humbly beseech thee to bless
Queen Camilla, William Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and all the
Royal Family:
Endue them with thy Holy Spirit; enrich them with thy heavenly
grace; prosper them with all happiness;
and bring them to thine everlasting
kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the Father.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
you promised through your Son Jesus Christ
to hear us when we pray in faith.
Strengthen Sophie our bishop and all your Church in the service of Christ, that those who confess your name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glory in the world.
Bless and guide Charles our King; give wisdom to all in authority; and direct this and every nation in the ways of justice and of peace; that we may honour one another, and seek the common good.
Give grace to us, our families and friends, and to all our neighbours, that we may serve Christ in one another, and love as he loves us.
Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind,
or spirit……;
Give them courage and hope in their troubles; and bring them the joy of your salvation.
Hear us as we remember those who have died in the faith of Christ……;
According to your promises, grant us with them a share in your eternal kingdom.
Rejoicing in the fellowship of St. Laurence, St. John and all your saints, we commend ourselves and the whole creation to your unfailing love.
Merciful Father,
All: Accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
you have promised through your Son Jesus Christ, that when we meet in his name, : and pray according to his mind, he will be among us and hear our prayer: in your love and mercy fulfil our desires, and give us your greatest gift, which is to know you, the only true God, and your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
The Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord is here.
All: His Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts,
All: We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give thanks and praise.
It is indeed right,
it is our duty and our joy,
at all times and in all places
to give you thanks and praise,
holy Father, heavenly King,
almighty and eternal God,
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
For he is your living Word;
through him you have created all things from the beginning, and formed us in your own image.
All: To you be glory and praise for ever.
Through him you have freed us from the slavery of sin, giving him to be born of a woman and to die upon the cross;
You raised him from the dead and exalted him to your right hand on high.
All: To you be glory and praise for ever.
Through him you nave sent upon us your holy and life-giving Spirit, and made us a people for your own possession.
All: To you be glory and praise for ever.
Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and saying:
All: Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Accept our praises, heavenly Father,
through your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,
and as we follow his example and obey his command,
grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit
these gifts of bread and wine
may be to us his body and his blood;
who, in the same night that he was betrayed,
took bread and gave you thanks;
he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way, after supper he took the cup and gave you thanks; he gave it to them, saying: Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
All: To you be glory and praise for ever.
Therefore, heavenly Father, we remember his offering of himself made once for all upon the cross; we proclaim his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; we look for the coming of your kingdom, and with this bread and this cup
we make the memorial of Christ your Son our Lord.
All: Christ has died: Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Accept through him, our great high priest, this our sacrifice of thanks and praise, and as we eat and drink these holy gifts in the presence of your divine majesty, renew us by your Spirit, inspire us with your love and unite us in the body of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: To you be glory and praise for ever.
Through him, and with him, and in him, m the unity of the Holy Spirit,
with all who stand before you in earth and heaven, we worship you, Father almighty, in songs of everlasting praise;
All: Blessing and honour and glory and power be yours for ever and ever.
Amen.
Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
Breaking of the Bread
We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
All: Though we are many, we are one body, because we all share in one bread.
All: Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world,
Grant us peace.
Giving of Communion
Draw near with faith
Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ
which he gave for you,
and his blood which he shed for you-
Eat and drink
in remembrance that he died for you,
and feed on him in your hearts
by faith with thanksgiving.
Amen
We say together the –
Post Communion
All: Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Trinity Blessing
May the Father, who created you in love,
the Son who redeemed you by grace,
and the Holy Spirit who empowers you with truth,
go with you into the world.
Walk in unity, live in peace,
and bear witness to the love that holds all things together.
All: Amen.
Hymn – Who Is on the Lord’s Side?
- Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine! - Not for weight of glory, nor for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died:
He whom Jesus saveth marches on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine! - Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,
But with Thine own lifeblood, for Thy diadem;
With Thy blessing filling each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine! - Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe,
But the King’s own army none can overthrow;
’Round His standard ranging, victory is secure,
For His truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine! - Chosen to be soldiers, in an alien land,
Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain’s band;
In the service royal, let us not grow cold,
Let us be right loyal, noble, true and bold.
Master, wilt Thou keep us, by Thy grace divine,
Always on the Lord’s side—Saviour, always Thine! (by Frances R. Havergal – 1836 to 1879)
Final Prayers and the Dismissal
Go in faith to love the Lord.
All: In the Name of Christ
Amen
© 702211