Blog RSS Feed
The Collect
Merciful Lord, absolve your people from their offences, that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed; grant this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
¶ The Liturgy of the Word
First Reading: Joshua 5.9-12
After the Israelites had crossed over the Jordan river, the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.’ And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Psalm 32
Refrain: Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord.
Happy the one whose transgression is forgiven, *and whose sin is covered.
Happy the one to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, *and in whose spirit there is no guile.
For I held my tongue; *my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.
Your hand was heavy upon me day and night; *my moisture was dried up like the drought in summer. R
Then I acknowledged my sin to you * and my iniquity I did not hide.
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ * and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all the faithful make their prayers to you in time of trouble; * in the great water flood, it shall not reach them.
You are a place for me to hide in; you preserve me from trouble; *you surround me with songs of deliverance. R
‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; * I will guide you with my eye.
‘Be not like horse and mule which have no understanding; *whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, or else they will not stay near you.’
Great tribulations remain for the wicked, *but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord.
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; *shout for joy, all who are true of heart.
Refrain: Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord.
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5.16-21
From now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Gospel Reading: Luke 15.1-3,11b-32
All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’
First, a thought on today’s lectionary. The Fourth Sunday in Lent is Laetare Sunday, marked by the refrain to the psalm, ‘Rejoice’! It is also Mothering Sunday. During the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church, the main church or cathedral of the area, for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone “a-mothering”, although whether this preceded the term Mothering Sunday is unclear.
Most churches will celebrate the day chiefly as Mothering Sunday, but I am hoping that, like apple pie, the sentiments to be expressed about motherhood will come naturally and effortlessly to you, should you be leading intercessions in your church. I am therefore using the readings for Lent 4. Thank-you, RSCM, for the helpful comment in 2010: We think of today’s Gospel as the parable of the prodigal son, and yet in so many ways it is the prodigal father who is most remarkable. This Father is totally prodigal – extravagant – with his love, with his forgiveness, with his accepting restoration of his son. The son has abused his trust, squandered all that the Father has given him, yet the Father watches for him day and night and, abandoning all decorum, runs to meet him. What a beautiful picture of God’s extravagant, overwhelming, forgiving love for us!
Prayers of Intercession
Almighty God and Father of us all, help us to be still in your presence, that we may know ourselves to be your people, and you to be our God.
[You might like to insert, here or between two of the other sections, the General Thanksgiving: Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men; We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may he unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.]
¶The Church of Christ
Lord, make us, your Church, into the people that you want us to be, and forgive us where we fall short. Teach us to be generous in judgement, bold in commitment and sensitive in listening. When we stray from the right path, help us to turn back to you in the assurance of your acceptance. Where we find no love, let it be us that brings love to your people, and help us to become more like you.
Lord, who has given us so much, we ask one thing more, grateful hearts: in your mercy, hear our prayer *
¶Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority
Lord, if our lips could sing as many songs as there are waves in the sea; if our mouths filled the whole firmament with praise; if our faces shone like the sun and moon together in reflection of you; if our feet were to run across mountains as swiftly as the snow leopard and our hands hovered in the sky like powerful eagles; all this would not suffice to pay you the tribute that you are owed by your whole creation.
Lord, who has given us so much, we ask one thing more, grateful hearts: in your mercy, hear our prayer
¶The local community
Lord, you have told us that you will ask much of those to whom much is given; may we, who enjoy so rich an inheritance of faith, work together the more fruitfully, by our prayers and labours, to share with those who do not know you the gifts that we so plentifully enjoy; and, as we have entered into the labours of others, so may others enter into ours.
Lord, who has given us so much, we ask one thing more, grateful hearts: in your mercy, hear our prayer
¶Those who suffer
Lord, you asked all those who carry heavy burdens to come to you, and promised that you would refresh them with your presence and power. We ask you now to be close to those that suffer, and to give them ease by bringing them close to things infinite and eternal. Open their minds and hearts to you so that in your light and peace, they may see light and sense peace. And, in your name, grant us to be a source of strength to all those whom we attempt to serve.
Lord, who has given us so much, we ask one thing more, grateful hearts: in your mercy, hear our prayer
¶The communion of saints
We pray for all those whom you have called home into your kingdom, where sorrow and pain are no more. May they rest in your peace, and rise in your reflected glory.
Lord, who has given us so much, we ask one thing more, grateful hearts: in your mercy, hear our prayer
*Based on the prayer of George Herbert (1593-1633):
Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more – a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleases me,
As if thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose very pulse may be
Thy praise.
At a school where I once taught this parable was called ‘The Kind Father’. I thought that was a good idea since it led the immediate focus of discussion away from the sons.
It seems to me that in telling the story Jesus demonstrates His awareness of the outrage felt by those who believed themselves victims of what my granny called ‘partial dealings’. He doesn’t say it’s right of course, nor does He ask whose side the listeners would be on.