Job 38.1-7 (34-41); Psalm 104.1-10,26,35c; Hebrews 5.1-10; Mark 10.35-45

Interesting. You know I suggested you look at the readings yourself first and make up your own mind about the theme before looking at any interpretations or suggestions (like this one)? Today reinforces that advice – I had decided that the subject was the glory of God, but David Adam (although he includes the glory aspect) focuses on ‘Lord, as you have called us, make us worthy of our calling‘ with the response ‘Lord in heaven, hear us and help us‘. Raymond Chapman has ‘Bless those whom you have called to be priests and ministers in the Church‘, with no mention of glory. Ah – Perhaps I’d better think it out again?

At this point, I must introduce a new source when the going gets difficult: the RSCM. I am lucky enough to be married to a former organist, who played for the services which I took over a five year period, and was an RSCM member for this time. We still have the copies of ‘Sunday by Sunday‘, which will hold good so long as Common Worship is in use. Perhaps your organist might agree to donate his old copies to a vestry library? It’s worth a try!

First issued in July 1997, Sunday by Sunday is the RSCM’s quarterly liturgy planner, offering…a guide to planning music for worship…are presented with a brief commentary to provoke reflection and assist planning.

Here is what the RSCM had to say about this Sunday in October 2009:

Ambition and conflict rear their ugly heads. The fact that their journey’s goal is Jerusalem, city of Israel’s kings, has gone to the heads of James and John. Blinkered by worldly notions of kingship, the brothers want places of honour when they get there. It’s not like that, though, says Jesus. The world’s norms will be turned upside down. We are called to model a different pattern of relationships. Honour and glory are in the gift and will of God.

And, just to settle it, let us look at the collect:

God, the giver of life, whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:
by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ and make us eager to do your will,
that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life;…

That doesn’t really settle anything, but it’s the passage from Hebrews which for me is the most memorable of today’s readings:

The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?…‘Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,so that a flood of waters may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, “Here we are”? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts,or given understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to number the clouds? Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together?…

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Lord, you deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward; in your great goodness, lead us into the ways of justice and peace, that all that we do on earth may be to your greater glory, until we rejoice in glory in your kingdom.

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The Church of Christ

Lord, bless all those whom you have called to your ministry. As the Methodists celebrate Laity Sunday today,  we too pray that your ‘disciples may transform the world through service and witness.’  Fulfil your purpose in us, that we may always be faithful to the divine priesthood of Christ. Free us from worldly ambition and guide us to serve you faithfully in all things. Lord, make us a serving church, a giving church and a loving church.

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority

Lord, whose beauty is beyond our imagining, and whose power we cannot comprehend: show us your glory so far as we can grasp it, while shielding us from more knowledge than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear.

Lord, your Spirit is around us in the air we breathe; your glory touches us in the light that we see, the fruitfulness of the earth, and the joy of its creatures. You have written for us your revelation, as you have granted us your daily bread: teach us how to use it.*

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The local community

Lord make us useful in the community in which we live. Make us gracious, make us generous, and make us aware of where we can help. We thank you for the gift of laughter with friends, and we thank you too for the moments when we see the seriousness and the meaning of life. We thank you for those whom we love, and those who love us and for all the difference it has made for us to know them.

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Those who suffer

Lord, we ask you to watch over those who are suffering, whether from physical ills or mental anguish. We pray that through their weakness you may give them strength to endure, and in their wanderings you may show them the way. We worship you, who are infinite love, infinite compassion and infinite power, and we ask you not only to be with those that suffer, but that they may be granted a sense of your presence.

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

The communion of saints

Lord, into your hands we commend the departed, that they may rest in peace and rise in glory. Light us all with your grace, and grant through your infinite mercy  that we may never be separated from you, in your kingdom where you will be our glory and everlasting light.

To the greater glory of you, O Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

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The illustration is by Bruce Rolffe via Shutterstock

*Based on words of John Ruskin,  prayer #209 from Angela Ashwin’s ‘the Book of A Thousand Prayers’