The Collect

God our redeemer, you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your Son: grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.  Amen.

¶ The Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Acts 17.22-31

Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,
“For we too are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

Psalm 66.7-18

Bless our God, O you peoples; *make the voice of his praise to be heard,
Who holds our souls in life *and suffers not our feet to slip.
For you, O God, have proved us; *you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the snare; *you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; * but you brought us out into a place of liberty.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows, * which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer you fat burnt sacrifices with the smoke of rams; * I will sacrifice oxen and goats.
Come and listen, all you who fear God, * and I will tell you what he has done for my soul.
I called out to him with my mouth * and his praise was on my tongue.
If I had nursed evil in my heart, * the Lord would not have heard me,
But in truth God has heard me; * he has heeded the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, * nor withheld his loving mercy from me.

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3.13-22

Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you – not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Gospel Reading: John 14.15-21

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Prayers of Intercession

The RSCM rather briskly offers the following:

The Holy Spirit is discerning about the company he keeps. His presence is not just for anyone (the world) but only those who recognize him because they love Jesus. Discrimination is a dirty word in our politically correct society, eliciting cries of ‘It’s not fair!’ and ‘It’s my right!’ – but the Holy Spirit is indiscriminate in his availability. He is there but we have to choose to welcome him (and the rest of the Trinity). It is we who have to discriminate.

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, help us to distinguish between the shadow and the reality, between the false gods that we make for ourselves and the true god that is your Holy Trinity.  Help our Church to keep before us at all times the one true faith, and the holy city shining on a hill. Help us to walk the narrow path that reinterprets the message of the gospel for our own time, without recasting it entirely in our own image. And help us to seek at all times to do your will.

Lord, it is in you we live and move and have our being: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

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

Lord, help us as we struggle to maintain truth as the basis for our human society, without descending into dogmatism. May we learn to respect each other’s truths and not to defend our own certainties and traditions at the expense of other groups and traditions. Prepare us sometimes to leave the relative safety of our own fortresses and venture out among the alien corn, seeking a Way which is both journey and discovery, where other pilgrims join to take refreshment and seek enlightenment in each other’s company.

Lord, it is in you we live and move and have our being: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The local community

Lord, as we were not made to live alone so help us to delight in one another’s company. Though we may be conscious of each other’s failings, enable us to rise above occasional irritation with our friends and neighbours to see them in the light of your love.  May we talk together, laugh together, share our lives together and weep together. May we offer our vulnerability to each other as we open ourselves up to relationship. And, in your name, may we be a blessing to each other.

Lord, it is in you we live and move and have our being: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶Those who suffer

Lord, we pray for all those who suffer, whether that be mental or physical. We pray that they may have strength to face the unknown. We pray that they may have fortitude to endure. We pray that they may sense our prayers and be buoyed up by the loving support that prayer can offer. Lord, give us the insight to see any way in which we can offer practical help as we bear one another’s burdens.

Lord, it is in you we live and move and have our being: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The communion of saints

Lord, welcome into your kingdom those who have departed this present life to be with you. Grant them rest and a place with the heavenly host. Give them the life that knows not age, the reward that passes not away.

Lord, it is in you we live and move and have our being: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Copyright acknowledgement: Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops’ Council 2000 Collect (6th of Easter, Short) © The Archbishops’ Council 2005

The illustration is Paul in Athens by Raphael, c1515 Uffizi Galleries