Third Sunday after Pentecost

The Lord is the strength of his people,
a saving refuge for the one he has anointed.
Save your people, Lord, and bless your heritage,
and govern them for ever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Silence

Lord Jesus, you have shown us the way to the Father:

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you have given us the consolation of the truth:

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd, leading us into everlasting life:

Lord, have mercy
Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God have mercy on us,
forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

Let us pray.

All-powerful God,
in Jesus Christ you turned death into life,
and defeat into victory:
increase our faith and trust in him,
that we may triumph over evil,
in the strength of the same Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

℟. You, O Lord, are gracious and full of compassion

1    Bow down your ear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and in misery.
2  Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful;
save your servant who trusts in you.
3  Be merciful to me, O LORD, for you are my God;
I call upon you all the day long. ℟.

4  Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
5  For you, O LORD, are good and forgiving,
and great is your love towards all who call upon you. ℟.

6  Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications.
7  In the time of my trouble I will call upon you,
for you will answer me.
8  Among the gods there is none like you, O LORD,
nor anything like your works. ℟.

9  All nations you have made will come and worship you, O LORD,
and glorify your name.
10  For you are great; you do wondrous things;
and you alone are God. ℟.

16  Turn to me and have mercy upon me;
give your strength to your servant; and save the child of your handmaid.
17  Show me a sign of your favour,
so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed;
because you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me. ℟.

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

For the word of the Lord,
thanks be to God.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus summoned the twelve and sent them out with the following instruction: ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.’

For the Gospel of the Lord,
praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 "… [Hagar] lifted up her voice and wept." Genesis 21:16

Holy and all-seeing God,

In your being every secret is named; every truth is told; every hair is counted; every human is valued.

We come with our prayers – naming, telling, counting and valuing - opening ourselves to the Spirit who comes to us in the ache and the grace of community, even across the distances between us.

We pray for those who carry unfair and unsustainable burdens
in the struggle for justice and inclusion -
those who lament lives lost, those who carry bruises on their hearts and bruises on their bodies, those who toil with courage, with fear, with anger, with tears, with determination.

Gracious God,
Mingle your sorrow with their sorrow
Mingle your love with their love
Mingle your voice with their voice.

Enter their weariness, fear and pain,
their disgust at how broken the world is,
how fractured,
how fragmented by its fighting,
its biases,
its empty promises,
its hungers,
its fostering of the powerful,
its ceaseless repetition of the history it refuses to acknowledge and rise above.

Holy One, have mercy on all who ache and weep,
all who speak and work for a different world.

In your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for ourselves and for the whole church
that we would be open to the sweep of the Spirit
through the church and through our lives.

Open our eyes to see the injustices in which we are complicit.
To see the privilege that is ours by virtue of the bodies we inhabit,
the places where we find ourselves, the wealth we can claim,
and all the other ways, earned and unearned, that advantage us over others.

Open our eyes to the times we have chosen to look the other way,
or to distract ourselves with other things; or to be silent in the face of the struggles of others.

Hold us in the deeps of our own ambiguity long enough to
enlarge our field of vision,
to reshape our perceptions and
reshape our patterns of living.

Holy One,
have mercy on all who ache and weep,
all who speak and work for a different world.

In your mercy, hear our prayer.

Holy One,
Have mercy on us in the ache and grace of community
as together we wrestle with what it means for us to
to pray more earnestly, live more authentically and love more fiercely.

Hear our prayer
In Jesus name
Amen.

Living God,
receive all we offer you this day.
Grant that hearing your word and responding to your Spirit,
we may share in your divine life.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.

We give you thanks and praise, almighty God,
through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
our Saviour and Redeemer.
He is your living Word,
through whom you have created all things.

You sent him from heaven to take our flesh:
born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,
he was revealed as your Son.
He lived and died as one of us,
to reconcile us to you,
the God and Father of all.

In fulfilment of your will
he stretched out his hands in suffering,
to bring release to those who place their hope in you;
and so he won for you a holy people.

He chose to bear our griefs and sorrows,
and to give up his life on the cross,
that he might break the chains of evil and death,
and banish the darkness of sin and despair.

By his resurrection
he brings us into the light of your presence.

Now with all creation we raise our voices
to proclaim the glory of your name:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy and gracious God,
accept our sacrifice of praise,
through your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ;
who on the night he was handed over
to suffering and death,
took bread and gave you thanks,
saying to his disciples, ‘Take, and eat:
this is my body which will be given for you.’

In the same way he took the cup,
saying, ‘This is my blood which will be shed for you.
When you do this, you do it in memory of me.’

In remembrance of his death and resurrection,
with this bread and this cup,
we give you thanks that you have counted us worthy
|to stand in your presence and serve you.

Send your Holy Spirit upon the celebration of your Church:
gather into one all who share in these holy mysteries,
filling them with your Spirit
and confirming them in the truth,
that together we may praise you and give you glory
through Jesus your servant.

All glory and honour are yours,
Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit
in the holy Church,
now and for ever. Amen.

We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
We who are many are one body,

for we all share in the one bread.

While the bread is broken Agnus Dei is sung –

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there, and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

Almighty and eternal God,
may we who have received this eucharist
worship you in all we do,
and proclaim the glory of your majesty.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.

Shout for joy! The Lord has let us feast;
Heaven’s own fare has fed the last and least;
Christ’s own peace is shared again on earth;
God the Spirit fills us with new worth.

No more doubting, no more senseless dread:
God’s good self has graced our wine and bread;
all the wonder heaven has kept in store
now is ours to keep for evermore.

Celebrate with saints who dine on high,
witnesses that love can never die.
‘Hallelujah!’ – thus their voices ring:
nothing less in gratitude we bring.

Praise the Maker, praise the Maker’s Son,
praise the Spirit – three yet ever one;
praise the God whose food and friends avow
heaven starts here! The kingdom beckons now.