The Collect

O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; 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 21.8-21

Isaac grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Psalm 86.1-10,16-17

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, *for I am poor and in misery.
Preserve my soul, for I am faithful; *save your servant, for I put my trust in you.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; *I call upon you all the day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant, *for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, *abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer *and listen to the voice of my supplication.
In the day of my distress I will call upon you, *for you will answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, *nor any works like yours.
All nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, *and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wonderful things; *you alone are God.
Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *give your strength to your servant and save the child of your handmaid.
Show me a token of your favour, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; * because you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me.

Second Reading: Romans 6.1b-11

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 10.24-39

Jesus summoned the twelve and sent them out with the following instruction: ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father,  and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;  and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.’

Prayers of Intercession

 ¶The Church of Christ

Lord, guide your Church as differences amongst us seem at times to threaten our very existence. We face each other, but do not see the face. We look over, we look through, we look beyond, we look askance. Tectonic plates pull us inexorably apart. We have made ‘an other’ of one another. Help us now to look again,  to see the shape of the face and read the anguish of the soul; to read the hopes, aspirations and desires which make no sense to us.  Lead us to that place where we do not try to ignore or forget, but remember well and look kindly: where we can know the peace of truth, and judgement of mercy, not through understanding all, but by renewing in us the Spirit of your love. *

Lord, you are persistent in faithfulness and constant in love: in your mercy, hear our prayer

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

Lord, we are part of the tension and injustice of the world: heal the resentment between people, of which we are a part, and intervene in the world’s conflicts, in which we share by being human. Lord, help us to walk humbly, and let us not walk alone. When we come to the crossroads and have to choose a path, lead us to the path of justice. Steer us away from the place of self and help us to find the way to restitution and reconciliation.

Lord, you are persistent in faithfulness and constant in love: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The local community

Lord, help us to be gentle. Gentle with others, gentle with ourselves. Give us, we pray, the calm that makes for consideration, the respect for others that makes us courteous. Take from us the brusque word, the cynical look. Let us be to others as we need them to be to us. And let others be to us as we seek to be to them. When we fail, forgive us. When they fail, heal us. When we hurt each other, reconcile us. **

Lord, you are persistent in faithfulness and constant in love: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶Those who suffer

Lord, we pray for all those who are afflicted by physical or mental ills. As trust and doubt, delight and distress wax and wane through the years, keep their eyes fixed on you, and give them the courage to face the trials and temptations that may come. Even in the worst of times, may they not abandon their trust in you.

Lord, you are persistent in faithfulness and constant in love: in your mercy, hear our prayer

¶The communion of saints

Lord, your love reaches even to the depths of the grave. At the end of our days on earth we know you will be there, in the encounter whose nature we cannot predict. We thank you for the hope that draws us on and remember those whom we love and have gone before us. Abiding is your love, everlasting are your truths, eternal is your glory, O God, who is our God.

Lord, you are persistent in faithfulness and constant in love: in your mercy, hear our prayer

^{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 (1st after Trinity) © The Crown/Cambridge University Press: The Book of Common Prayer (1662)}

* This prayer is based on  ‘Reconciliation‘ by Stephen Cherry in ‘Barefoot Prayers’ (p.123).

**And this one is inspired by ‘Gentleness’, pp93-94.g