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Intercessions for Seventh Sunday after Trinity Year A (Proper 13): 3 August 2014

Archbishop's_Chapel,_Ravenna

The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. Basilica di Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo. Ravenna 6th c

The Collect

Lord of all power and might,the author and giver of all good things:graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same; 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:Genesis 32.22-31

Jacob got up, took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

Psalm 17.1-7,16

Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; *listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips.
Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *let your eyes behold what is right.
Weigh my heart, examine me by night, *refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.
My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; *I have heeded the words of your lips.
My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; *my feet have not stumbled in your paths.
I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *incline your ear to me, and listen to my words.
Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, *O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.
As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness; *when I awake and behold your likeness, I shall be satisfied.

Second Reading:Romans 9.1-5

I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit – I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Gospel Reading:Matthew 14.13-21

When Jesus heard that Herod had beheaded John the Baptist, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.


Jeffrey John writes about the two ways of looking at parables (unthinking acceptance or debunking) in general here. One of the reasons it feels as if we keep coming across the story of the loaves and the fishes is that we do! The feeding of the 5,000 is covered here in Matthew,  Mark 6.30-44 (Year B Proper 11) and Luke 9.12-17. And then there is the feeding of the 4,000 which is in Matthew 15.32-38 and Mark 8.1-9. So it seems an important parable. In The Meaning of the Miracles Jeffrey John comments on pages 62-70 (which you can find here by searching ‘superabundance’). To paraphrase, Jesus is the new Moses, and the new Elisha, fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. He is feeding the Jews and the Gentiles with the Word of God. And symbolically, the loaves and fishes of course represent the Eucharist.

 

Prayers of Intercession

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, to praise you is to breathe. To give you thanks is to know we are alive. As a leaf responds to the sun, so our song rises to you. As you feed us with bread and wine, you refine the dross in us and renew the good. Show us, O God,  the bridges between our world and yours, and may your peaceable kingdom be a land we learn how to enter often and know well. Lord of rescue and refuge, of shelter and of strength, when all is turning upside down may we turn to you, our still centre.

Lord of all power and might, in your mercy hear our prayer.

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

Lord, where the oppressed hunger for hope let justice roll like a river. Where the orphaned battle bitterness and long for love, let your healing be shed upon them.  If hope at times is hard to hold, you are still our God. Though wild winds may rattle our walls, and storms may shake us, you are our sure foundation and your hold on us is our hope. You hide the path you want for us under the path we already walk. You bury wisdom in the places we already pass. Give us, we pray, the determination to dig. 1

Lord of all power and might, in your mercy hear our prayer.

¶The local community

Lord, you promised that if we set out to give freely and widely of your love, our store will never run dry but be constantly replenished.  May the needs of our neighbours speak loud to us today, and may we find that in giving, we grow closer to you. And then, link by link and chain by chain, may we so encircle the globe with your love that all violent conflict will cease,  as humans  beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.

Lord of all power and might, in your mercy hear our prayer.

¶Those who suffer

Lord, be with all those who mourn today. Those who weep for their own sufferings, and those who weep for the wanton destruction of human life in the Middle East and Ukraine. Let us recall that tomorrow is the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, and in remembering that terrible series of events, we ask you, O God,  once more to strengthen our resolve to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

Lord of all power and might, in your mercy hear our prayer.

¶The communion of saints

Lord, grant refreshment, light and peace to all those who no longer have need of the bread of this world for they are in communion with you. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Lord of all power and might, in your mercy hear our prayer.

1 This passage is based on ideas in ‘Twitturgies’ by Gerald Kelly. I normally do not base these intercessions on political events, because I leave you to include these from your local perspective. However, the international situation has been so agonising to watch for the last several weeks that I am breaking my own rule.


Copyright acknowledgement: 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 (7th after Trinity) © The Crown/Cambridge University Press: The Book of Common Prayer (1662)

3 comments on this post:

philandjanrees said...
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Love these interecessions.

29 July 2014 12:08
layanglicana said...
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Thank-you so much.

29 July 2014 12:15
minidvr said...
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Thanks Laura.

30 July 2014 10:58

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