Resources for Worship at Home for Sunday 7 July – Fourth Sunday After Trinity - The United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough (Church of Ireland)

General

04.07.2020

Resources for Worship at Home for Sunday 7 July – Fourth Sunday After Trinity

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Resources. Many parishes are returning to in–church worship this Sunday. These online weekly resources will continue to be provided in July and August for those who do not yet feel confident about attending. Where there are two or more praying together, it is suggested that before commencing you decide on who will lead which parts of the service. Please note that words in bold indicate the responses and refrains at various parts of the service and words otherwise said together as a group. In today’s service, the parts to be allocated are: 1. A person to lead the Preparation Section, the Apostles’ Creed and the Dismissal. 2. A person to read or sing the Psalm and Hymns. 3. A person to read the Scriptures. 4. A person to lead the Prayers. Where there are less than four people present, roles may be combined. You can find below the full text of the service:

SERVICE OF THE WORD – 5 JULY 2020

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Preparation

GREETING

The Lord be with you

and also with you.

OPENING PRAYERS

Almighty God,

we praise you for the many blessings

you have given to those who worship you

in houses of prayer:

and we pray that all who seek you in these places may find you,

and, being filled with the Holy Spirit,

may become living temples acceptable to you;

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.

Be with all those who will gather together once more in church buildings

and help us, Lord,

to offer you our prayers and praises wherever we may be. Amen.

PENITENCE

Let us confess our sins to God.

Gracious God,

you call us to offer ourselves to you

in adoration and worship,

but we have held back in selfishness and pride.

You call us to renewal through your Holy Spirit,

but we have grown dull and tired,

clinging to comfortable old ways.

You call us to declare the saving power of your Son,

but we have muffled your message

with our doubts and indifference.

You call us to share Christ’s ministry of love,

but we have turned aside from those in need.

You call us to witness to Christ’s rule over the nations,

but we have not allowed Christ to rule in our lives.

Forgive us and help us to respond anew

to your call to worship and service.

Merciful Lord,

Grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,

That we may be cleansed from all our sins,

And serve you with a quiet mind;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE COLLECT OF THE DAY

O God, the protector of all who trust in you,

without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:

Increase and multiply upon us your mercy;

that with you as our ruler and guide,

we may so pass through things temporal

that we finally lose not the things eternal:

Grant this, heavenly Father,

for Jesus Christ's sake, our Lord. Amen.

Opening Hymn: NEH 509 “All glory, laud and honour”(vs 1-4, 8)

Listen to and sing along with this hymn at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHN8UAk6Yow

All glory, laud, and honour

to thee, Redeemer, King,

to whom the lips of children

made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou art the King of Israel,

thou David's royal Son,

who in the Lord's name comest,

the King and blessèd one:

The company of angels

are praising thee on high;

and mortal men and all things

created, make reply:

To thee, before thy Passion,

they sang their hymns of praise;

to Thee, now high exalted,

our melody we raise.

Within that blessed city,

thy praises may we sing,

and ever raise hosannas

to our most loving King.

St Theophilus of Orleans (d.821)

tr. John Mason Neale (1818-66)

Ministry of the Word

The First Reading: Zechariah 9: 9-12

The reading below may be read, or an audio version listened to at

https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/zechariah/9/

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the war-horses from Jerusalem,

and the battle-bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;

even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

The Second Reading: Romans 7: 15-25

The reading below may be read, or an audio version listened to at

https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/romans/7/

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Hymn before the Gospel: CH 97 “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun”(vs 1, 3-5)

Listen to and sing along with this hymn at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U4IMtvp6bg

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun

does its successive journeys run;

his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,

till moons shall wax and wane no more.

To him shall endless prayer be made,

and praises throng to crown his head;

his name, like sweet perfume, shall arise

with every morning sacrifice.

People and realms of every tongue

dwell on his love with sweetest song,

and infant voices shall proclaim

their early blessings on his name.

Blessings abound where'er he reigns:

the prisoners leap to lose their chains,

the weary find eternal rest,

and all who suffer want are blessed.

Let all creation rise and bring

honours peculiar to our King;

angels descend with songs again,

and earth repeat the loud Amen.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

based on Psalms 72: 12-19

The Gospel: Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

The reading below may be read, or an audio version listened to at

https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/matthew/11/

“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

“‘We played the pipe for you,

and you did not dance;

we sang a dirge,

and you did not mourn.’

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

SERMON

Philip McKinley has prepared a sermon podcast which you may listen to at:

https://www.dublinandglendaloughsermons.com/sermons/restoration-risks-and-rewards-philip-mckinley

COLLECT OF THE WORD

Gracious God, our heavenly Father,

your mercy attends us all our days.

Be our strength and support

amid the wearisome changes of this world,

and at life’s end grant us your promised rest

and the full joys of your salvation;

through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Response

SCRIPTURAL AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

We say together in faith:

Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God almighty,

who was, and is, and is to come.

We believe in God the Father,

who created all things:

for by his will they were created

and have their being.

We believe in God the Son,

who was slain:

for with his blood,

he purchased us for God,

from every tribe and language,

from every people and nation.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit:

the Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’

Even so come, Lord Jesus! Amen.

cf Revelation 4: 8, 11; 5: 9; 22: 17, 20

AFFIRMATION OF THE CHRISTIAN WAY

As we follow the Way of Christ,

we affirm the presence of God among us,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God calls us to share in worship.

Jesus said, where two or three are gathered in my name,

I am there among them.