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Intercessions for Trinity + 3 (Proper 7) Year B: 21 June 2015

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Calming the storm, Hitda-Codex, 11th century via Commons Wikimedia

The Collect

Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; 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: 1 Samuel 17.(1a,4-11,19-23)32-49

The Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah.  A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield-bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to the camp. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” Early in the morning David left the flock with a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and greeted his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. David said to Saul, “Let no-one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield-bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.” As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

Psalm 9.9-20

Then will the Lord be a refuge for the oppressed, * a refuge in the time of trouble.
And those who know your name will put their trust in you, * for you, Lord, have never failed those who seek you.
Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion; * declare among the peoples the things he has done.
The avenger of blood has remembered them; * he did not forget the cry of the oppressed.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; * consider the trouble I suffer from those who hate me, you that lift me up from the gates of death;
That I may tell all your praises in the gates of the city of Zion * and rejoice in your salvation.
The nations shall sink into the pit of their making * and in the snare which they set will their own foot be taken.
The Lord makes himself known by his acts of justice; * the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands.
They shall return to the land of darkness, * all the nations that forget God.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten * and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Arise, O Lord, and let not mortals have the upper hand; * let the nations be judged before your face.
Put them in fear, O Lord, * that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6.1-13

As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see – we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything. We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return – I speak as to children – open wide your hearts also.

Gospel Reading: Mark 4.35-41

When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

The Revd John Proctor writes in The Ministry Handbook: ‘We too may be entering times when Christianity will be widely despised, even pitied. What commends the gospel will not be the social prominence of those who follow and represent Christ, but the resilience, integrity, and inner worth of our lives – our inner peace amid the storm –  …Tradition has thought of the boat as Christ’s Church, battered and fearful amid turbulent times, yet always secure and protected in the company of Jesus. More personally, the disciples would remember that night…Jesus controlled the situation and restored it: suddenly they were encompassed by majestic calm. Even the realm of life we know best, he understands.”

Prayers of Intercession

¶The Church of Christ

Lord, you know that our Church is storm-tossed like the disciples’ boat on the Sea of Galilee. We seek above all to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to all that have ears to hear, but the winds and the waves blow us constantly off target. Calm the fears of your people and help us, we pray, to ride out the storms as we work together to remain afloat. And, in the moments of intervening calm, may we know your peace.

Lord, give heed to our pleas when we cry unto you for help: in your mercy, hear our prayer

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

Lord, you have promised to be a refuge for your people in time of trouble. Look with compassion, we pray, on all the peoples of the world who are so cruelly or incompetently governed that they can only flee, abandoning all that they have. The hope of the weary grows dim as they struggle beneath a pitiless sky to find a place of safety. Work in us the costly ways of peace, that in justice and with gentleness your will may be done throughout all the earth.

Lord, give heed to our pleas when we cry unto you for help: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The local community

Lord, help us in our daily tasks to play our part,  remaining steadfast with our eyes fixed on the goal. Walking by faith and putting one foot in front of  the other, lend us both courage and hope to rise above those things which frighten us, so that we may continue to carry out our daily tasks and care for those in our immediate surroundings, with new resolve every morning.

Lord, give heed to our pleas when we cry unto you for help: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Those who suffer

Lord, give us the grace to walk by faith, and through every storm of life to keep our gaze fixed on you. Watch over us, so that in the small hours of the morning when our hope is at its lowest ebb, you will remember our frailty and strengthen our sinews so that we may withstand the daunting waves of the open seas. Help us to keep watch with you and maintain our course in the direction you would have us sail, until dawn returns and the world resumes its familiar and comforting contours.

Lord, give heed to our pleas when we cry unto you for help: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The communion of saints

Lord, we bring before you those who have departed this life in recent days….Bring us all at last to the quiet haven of our hearts’ desire where, in the company of all the saints,  you live and reign for ever and ever.

 

Merciful Father, accept these prayers…

Prayer after Communion

O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen

Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above): 1 Samuel 17.(1a,4-11,19-23)32-49 © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Pub. Hodder & Stoughton Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA Post Communion (3rd after Trinity) © 1992 Janet Morley: All Desires Known (SPCK) Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops’ Council 2000

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