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Posts Tagged "Intercessions for Proper 19 Year B":

Zeal: Intercessions for the 15th Sunday after Trinity Year B (2012)

The collect for this Sunday begins:

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit upon your Church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel

The other readings are Proverbs 1.20-33 (all about Wisdom, and her revenge if she is ignored), Psalm 19.1-14 (the glories of  God’s handiwork), James 3.12 and Mark 8.27-38.

The epistle includes the following:

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire…no one can tame the tongue, a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord…and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.

And the gospel reading includes:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

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I looked for an image to illustrate religious fervour until I realised that in Christianity it is probably music that rouses ‘the burning fire of [our] love’. You will each have your own piece that ‘works’ for you. I offer the Hallelujah Chorus, which sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it. For me, today’s readings carry the message that we should be fervent in our faith, to the point of taking up our own cross,  but that we should temper this fervour with wisdom.

There is an all too vivid illustration of what can happen when religious zeal is not modified by wisdom, which we commemorated on Tuesday: the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon in 2001.

Perhaps the recurrent phrase might be ‘May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it’.


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Bidding prayer

O Lord, give us boldness to proclaim your redeeming love and saving power in the world; may we be ready to bear the cross and give ourselves for others and the advancement of your kingdom.

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


The Church

Lord, empower your Church to follow the example of Christ in all things, courageous to face the hard demands of the Gospel. As the moment approaches for the selection of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit down upon those charged with the decision. May they find someone who is able to lead all your flock in unity, though not in uniformity, to bring your kingdom to this green and pleasant land.

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


The World

Lord, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, and no strength known but the strength of love: so guide and inspire, we pray, the labours of those who seek to establish righteousness and peace among the nations, that all peoples may find their security, not in forces of arms but in the the fellowship of the gospel and the perfect love that casts out fear.

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


Our Community

As the Leveson report into the behaviour of the press is prepared for publication, we pray for all who influence our minds through print, broadcast and cyber media. May they be true to the BBC prayer  that good seed sown may bring forth a good harvest, that all things hostile to peace or purity may be banished… and that the people, inclining their ear to whatsoever things are beautiful and honest and of good report, may tread the path of wisdom and uprightness.

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


Human Need and  Suffering

Enfold, O Lord, within your loving kindness all those who feel rejected, unwanted or alone. Hear our prayer for prisoners and all who are caught up in processes of law; for those enclosed within a private world of desolation by incapacity of mind or body, by age or grief or sickness, or because society has passed them by. Draw near and comfort them wherever they may be; and move the hearts of us and all your people to care more deeply for the pains of others.

Timothy Dudley-Smith

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.


The Communion of Saints

Receive, O Lord, in tranquillity and peace, the souls of your servants who, out of this present life, have departed to be with you. Grant them rest, and give them the life that knows not age, the good things that pass not away.

St Ignatius Loyola

May we be fervent in our faith, and wise in applying it: Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.





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The Hallelujah Chorus is from Andre Rieu’s “Live From Radio City Music Hall” , performed in New York City 2004, with the Johann Strauss Orchestra and the Harlem Gospel Choir.



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