Hymn, readings and prayers for Sunday

Robert Bridges (1844-1930)
 

The collect for the first Sunday after Trinity                                                                                                      

 Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth: send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you. Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen. 

We are now at the start of the long period in the Church’s year known as Ordinary Time which will take us all the way through to Advent, green being the liturgical colour. It is the time of the year when, energised by the great festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, we get on with living our everyday life, knowing that Christ is with us wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

The First Reading: Isaiah 65:1-9

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks; who sit inside tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine's flesh, with broth of abominable things in their vessels; who say, "Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you." These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long. See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps their iniquities and their ancestors' iniquities together, says the Lord; because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions. Thus says the Lord: As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, "Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it," so I will do for my servants' sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there.

Israel went into exile in Babylon in 586/7 BC.  Just over 45 years later, when the Persians defeated the Babylonians, Cyrus, the first king of Persia, officially announced that captives were free to return home  and to rebuild their temples and worship their gods. Contrary to what one might expect, few actually did so and those that did return home during the period 528 - 398 BC, the period to which our text relates,  were greatly disappointed. The reality bore no resemblance to the promised land of the earlier prophecies of Isaiah that we read with such expectation at Advent: economic hardship and famine was not what the returning exiles had bargained for and this led in time to the sometimes acrimonious splintering of the community. It was easy to think that God had abandoned them but no, God is saying: “You have not looked for me, I am still here! You have only to call upon me!”

Psalm 22:18-27

Be not far away, O Lord; you are my strength; hasten to help me. Save me from the sword, my life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.

I will declare your Name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

Praise the Lord, you that fear him; stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; but when they cry to him he hears them.

My praise is of him in the great assembly; I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: "May your heart live for ever!"

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall bow before him. For kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules over the nations.                                    

Christ Pantocrator Germany 1220

The Epistle: Galatians 3:23-2

Before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ; There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Gospel reading: St. Luke 8:26 -39                                                                                                   

Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’ – for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.  

Jesus and the Gerasene  (the Ottheinrich Bible)

In the reading from Isaiah the people were incapable of recognising God.  In the Gospel it is the seemingly ‘mad’ man who recognises God in Jesus.  Rather than ignore the man with demons, Jesus simply asks him his name.  To Jesus he is a human being, a person with a name,  not someone to be avoided but someone who needs to meet with God again.  We are part of a Church which needs constantly to follow Jesus’s example and to see the opportunities to bring kindness and healing to those among whom we live

Heavenly Father, we thank you calling us to be part of the Body of Christ, that great fellowship of people that stretches across time and space. Help us to see Christ in each other and in those whom we meet that each encounter may bring a glimmer of light to a troubled world.

We pray for all communities where divisions run deep because of prejudice, misunderstanding or past history and pray that the Holy Spirit will being healing.

We pray that we may all learn to listen and build bridges where differences could so easily divide.

We pray for families where relationships have been worn thin and put under strain by economic hardship. Father, we pray that you will help harmony to prevail and new opportunities to open up.

Loving Father, we ask you to heal the sick, thinking especially of ...................................................................  May they find comfort in your never failing presence. We ask you, Father, to strengthen and encourage those who care for them.

We pray for the repose of the soul of those who have recently departed this life. We ask you too to comfort the bereaved in their distress.

Heavenly Father, may we ever be thankful for your gift of  hope.                                                       

Hope for your healing,

Hope for your peace,    Hope for your world.                                               

Amen.