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Intercessions for Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 10) Year A – 13 July 2014

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The Collect

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord 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.

¶ The Liturgy of the Word

 

First Reading: Genesis 25.19-34

These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. The children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is to be this way, why do I live?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.’ When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. Afterwards his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!’ (Therefore he was called Edom.) Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ Esau said, ‘I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?’ Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Psalm 119.105-112 14 Nun

Refrain: O deal with your servant according to your faithful love.

Your word is a lantern to my feet * and a light upon my path.
I have sworn and will fulfil it, * to keep your righteous judgements.
I am troubled above measure; * give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
Accept the freewill offering of my mouth, O Lord, * and teach me your judgements.R
My soul is ever in my hand, * yet I do not forget your law.
The wicked have laid a snare for me, * but I have not strayed from your commandments.
Your testimonies have I claimed as my heritage for ever; * for they are the very joy of my heart.
I have applied my heart to fulfil your statutes: * always, even to the end.R

Second Reading: Romans 8.1-11

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law – indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 13.1-9,18-23

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen! Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Prayers of Intercession

Let us pray to God, through whose grace our words are given life. *

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, who gave us a life to enjoy and a life together that we might cherish each other in the Body of Christ, we beseech you not only to give us the intellects to obsess over points of doctrine but also the hearts that are capable, in your service, of powerful commitment and costly love. Enlarge these our hearts, we pray, so that in choosing life in all its abundance we may fix on the constant that is love of your Holy Trinity with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. And give us the grace to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as we love ourselves.

Lord, help us to fix ourselves entirely on you as our goal: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

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

Lord, stop us in our tracks with the beauty of your world. Open our eyes to look outwards, beyond our daily preoccupations, beyond ourselves, to see the glory of all that you have made.  Help us to understand that we, too, are a part of your creation, and that the best of ourselves is also a part of all that wonder.  And help us to look deep within ourselves and find there, too, the mystery of your art.

 Lord, help us to fix ourselves entirely on you as our goal: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The local community

Lord, you charge us to do your work with what we have, as far as we can and where we are. Though love and service of the people in our community is not all that you ask of us, it is a necessary part of it. Give us the gift of kindness, we pray: kind words and a kind heart. Make us good companions to others, whether our time together is to be marked by seconds or decades.

 Lord, help us to fix ourselves entirely on you as our goal: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶Those who suffer

Lord, we ask those who suffer to repeat to themselves ‘And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’ We know full well ourselves that there are moments when fear gnaws at trust. We know that the courage to say ‘and all shall be well’ does not mean being able to avoid pain. But this too we know: all may yet be well if we face what is to come, placing all our trust in you. All may yet be well if we ask you to be with us always throughout our journey.

 Lord, help us to fix ourselves entirely on you as our goal: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

¶The communion of saints

Lord, you have promised to set those who live in the Spirit free from sin and death. And we shall see unclouded, and drenched with light, seeing and knowing at last in the company of that great un-numbered throng.

 Lord, help us to fix ourselves entirely on you as our goal: in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 


*I have begun to include a few words of introduction to the prayers, because in listening to intercessions generally I have found that this settles the congegation and enables the prayer for the Body of Christ, ie the Church, to be heard properly. However, I advise you on no account to make this too long – don’t forget the social contract with the congregation that the service should not be so much longer than expected as to interfere with the orderly production of Sunday lunch.
Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above): Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops’ Council 2000 Collect (4th after Trinity) © The Crown/Cambridge University Press: The Book of Common Prayer (1662)

3 comments on this post:

minidvr said...
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Thanks Laura

08 July 2014 14:56
sharon said...
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what a beautiful clip.

Lay Anglicana said...
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Thank-you Sharon – I was rather pleased with the updated version of ‘a light unto my feet’ :>)

11 July 2014 23:29
11 July 2014 23:22

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