The Collect

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.  Amen.

¶ The Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Jeremiah 8.18 – 9.1

The word of the Lord through the prophet: My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: ‘Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?’ (‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?’)  ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.’ For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.  Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm 79.1-9

O God, the heathen have come into your heritage; * your holy temple have they defiled and made Jerusalem a heap of stones.
The dead bodies of your servants they have given to be food for the birds of the air, * and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the field.
Their blood have they shed like water on every side of Jerusalem, * and there was no one to bury them.
We have become the taunt of our neighbours, * the scorn and derision of those that are round about us.
Lord, how long will you be angry, for ever? * How long will your jealous fury blaze like fire?
Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you, *and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.
For they have devoured Jacob *and laid waste his dwelling place.
Remember not against us our former sins; * let your compassion make haste to meet us, for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; *deliver us, and wipe away our sins for your name’s sake.

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2.1-7

My dearly beloved, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all – this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Gospel Reading: Luke 16.1-13

Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

The Revd Miranda Threlfall-Holmes offers a useful analysis of the gospel reading in her blog, which includes the following:

You may have seen ancient Egyptian paintings of the soul being weighed – the idea being that the good and the bad we have done are weighed against each other, and the gods see which is more significant. Jesus’s economic parables turn that idea on its head. God is more likely to throw the scales across the room, and come dancing forward to embrace us. God’s grace is ridiculous, unfair, profligate – that’s why the pharisees were so annoyed by Jesus. It is lavished on us, regardless of whether we deserve it. But time and again, in parable after parable – the lost sheep, the prodigal son, the unjust steward – Jesus continues to insist that like it or not, that is what God’s grace is like.

Prayers of Intercession

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, in faithful  fulfilment of your covenant with Church and people, steady our hearts and wills in these times of great turbulence, so that we may in turn fulfil in all that we do your purpose for us as heralds of your just and lasting peace.  And when we fall short of that ideal, as we surely must, we humbly ask you to not to weigh our merits but to pardon our offences, in the name of your son.

Lord, open us to the perfect love revealed to us in your Son: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority

Lord, give us your Spirit of compassionate anger, that we may live and work in harmony with you for the healing of the body of this planet. We have polluted rivers and oceans; flattened beautiful cities; and ransacked places of prayer. We have forgotten the language of reverence, and ignored the weak and the vulnerable. The survivors stumble in shock and their children inherit their wounds. Help us to care for the water, the air and the soil. Help us to plant more trees than we uproot. Help us to be tender, not violent, towards each other and to cherish beauty in nature, buildings and people.

Lord, open us to the perfect love revealed to us in your Son: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The local community

Lord, as your Spirit wells up within us, we ask you to spin the threads that connect us with those that we live amongst. May we be ready to share in each other’s joys and in their woes. May we offer love, companionship and support to our neighbours as together we build and strengthen our community. As each thread connects us one to another, may it also bind us to one another in a web of silken chords, strong enough to stand stresses and strains but so delicate that the chains are only of gossamer.

Lord, open us to the perfect love revealed to us in your Son: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶Those who suffer

Lord,  let the Spirit move beyond us in waves to touch those we now bring into our mind’s eye and our heart’s care. We breathe out towards them the Spirit of love: compassion, justice, mercy, wisdom, peace and joy. May the burden of their suffering be lightened, or may they become more able to bear the weight of their distress.

Lord, open us to the perfect love revealed to us in your Son: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The communion of saints

Lord, we bring before you all those who have departed this life, especially those whom we love. May they now rejoice in the fullness of your presence and your glory, through the redeeming power of your mercy and grace.

Lord, open us to the perfect love revealed to us in your Son: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The illustration is a depiction of St Luke by Domenico Ghirlandaio (late 15th c)

The prayers are based on those used in ‘Out of the Silence’ by Jim Cotter and Paul Payton.