Welcome to our Worship Today
15th November 2020
The Gathering of the Community
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
And also, with you.
Dear friends in Christ, we have come together this Sunday to celebrate in word and song and to affirm our faith in God, the Three in One.
Hymn: Oh God our Help in Ages Past
We say Together:
Heavenly Father, all hearts are open to you.
No secrets are hidden from you.
Purify us with the love of your Holy Spirit
That we may love and worship you faithfully,
through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen
Lord, have mercy Lord, have Mercy
Christ, have mercy Christ, have mercy
Lord, have mercy Lord, have mercy
Heavenly Father,
we have sinned in thought, word, and deed,
and have failed to do
what we ought to have done.
We are sorry and truly repent.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ
who died for us, forgive us all that is past,
and lead us in his way
to walk as children of light. AMEN
May God our Father,
who by the Lord Jesus Christ
has reconciled the world to himself
and forgives the sins of all who truly repent,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
and grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
The Gloria.
Glory to God in the highest
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship you; we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us.
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer,
For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God, the Father. AMEN
The Collect
Heavenly Father,
whose blessed Son was revealed
to destroy the works of the devil
and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life:
grant that we, having this hope,
may purify ourselves even as he is pure;
that when he shall appear in power and great glory
we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom;
grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit,
be the kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever
Readings
Thessalonians 5 1-11
The Day of the Lord
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be [a]sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks Be to God
Gospel Acclamation
Your words oh lord give Joy to my heart and light to my Soul
Matthew 25. 14-30
The Parable of the Talents
14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.
29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Thanks be to Christ
Homily
A year ago, today I had never heard of the word zoom meeting, I had never seen anyone wear a face mask in a shop before, I`d never seen people que to get in a shop, except maybe on boxing day for the Sales. I'd never known people walk into the road to avoid being close to me, Pandemic's were something that happened somewhere else far away … something that somebody else had to deal with, not me not us. This time last year we were being bombarded instead with talk of BREXIT the dreaded B word. Now of course, we have had a week all about the American election, let’s not forget about refugees crossing the Channel, Vaccines, care homes the list goes on more news 24 hours a day 7 days a week and let’s not forget what we hear about all the time now “Fake news” something else this time last year we had never heard about “Fake news” how do we know who to believe? What is true? How do we find a path to truth?
Our gospel reading in Matthew today tells of a man who is going on a journey and decides to give his wealth away to his workers to look after whilst he was away, I read somewhere this week that the monetary term used, that of Talents in modern day money would be the equivalent of £300,000. He is lucky those he intrusted were there on his return. On his return the first two had doubled his money, it just says he was away a long time, I worked out that at today’s interest rates it would take 144 years to double your money! The third though had hidden his “talent” away and was proud to be able to return it safely to his Master. Only to be faced with an angry boss!
This parable can be interpreted in a number of ways of course. Was Jesus telling people that we all have gifts and opportunities, that they are not the same for everyone, whether we start with a little or a lot we have to use what is given to us in bold and enterprising ways so that when the kingdom of God comes, we will be ready to enter his Kingdom.
Perhaps Jesus was using it as an example to his followers that they could not withdraw from the world and hide away from the murky world around them. Or maybe did Jesus intend the story to show the third workers courage in being a whistle blower to those who had risked and traded the money to get ill-gotten gains and in fact Jesus was teaching his followers to reject the ways of the world.
What do you think?
I used to think there had to be a definitive answer, and some of the answers were fake news as we say nowadays perhaps? But actually, maybe we can actually take all three messages as truth.
Yes, we do all have skills and abilities that we are blessed with in different ways, that we must take risks with, if we are to get spread the Good News of Jesus. By not sharing our faith in everything we do we are in some ways like that third worker. But that does mean sometimes we cannot hide away from being a target in this world of the doubters and those who will try and tempt us away from the truth. But like the third worker perhaps we do have to resist involvement in anything that could be considered ill-gotten gains.
So, I believe with a fresh look at the parable we can see the beauty in the story. With all possible answers being right. Yes, whatever talent we have been blessed with may seem small to us, but it was gifted to us by God, but it is our responsibility to grow it, nurture it in ourselves and to see those talents in others and help them grow too. But like the third worker we do have to be careful in what we invest our time and effort in case it distracts us from our path.
I pray this week we look again at our lives and how we invest our time and energy. Do we invest it in exploits that grow the kingdom in whatever way we are blessed, our do we hide it away? And do nothing, or do we need see what we invest in the ways of the world, in things that brings us nothing but future trouble. It’s our chance this week to look afresh at everything we do in our lives now as we come out of this lockdown with a renewed energy to bring the truth of the Good News to the world .
Amen
The Creed
I believe and trust in God the father,
who created all that is.
I believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ,
who redeemed humankind.
I believe and trust in his Holy Spirit,
who gives life to the people of God.
I believe in and trust
father, Son and Holy Creator. AMEN
Prayers
Loving Creator God:
We give you thanks and praise for the skill and integrity you give us, to bring life and health in place of sickness and suffering. Direct our will, our resources and our talents, so that none of your children may be excluded by poverty, prejudice, or misused power from the good you inspire us to do; but all may rejoice in your generous provision.
Amen
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn: Oh Lord my God When I In Awesome Wonder
The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and ever more. AMEN
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
If you would like to donate £5 to the overall work of the 12 churches in the parish, please carefully text: GIVE5 to 70970. Thank you, diolch.
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