One of the things that a priest has to deal with when they first come to a parish, is the influence of their predecessor. That might be good influence on the people of the parish, but it’s very rarely quite so good as the people in the parish think it is. A new priest can usually see the good that their predecessor has done, but they can also see what their predecessor has done that isn’t so good, and perhaps what they simply haven’t done at all. And because the people in a parish have become so used to the ways of their old priest, especially if that priest has been in the parish for a long time, a new priest can usually see these things in a way that the people in a parish can’t. And so, among the most common things a new parish priest has to contend with when they first move into a new parish is people telling them what was or wasn’t done when their predecessor, Fr so and so, was here.

In a sense, it’s quite understandable that this should happen, but it does make the job of a new parish priest harder than it should be. They can usually see what a parish needs to do, and especially how it needs to change in order to move on and grow but, because people are so used to the ways of their old parish priest, they very often don’t see things in that way. They’re usually quite happy with the way things are and so they don’t want to change, and at times they simply won’t change and, if the new priest insists on doing things differently, they sometimes can, and do, stop going to church. If we think about it, I’m sure we all know people who’ve left this church because they don’t like what I’ve done or said, or not done and said as the case may be. Whether what I’ve done or said, or not done and said is right or not has been completely irrelevant to the people concerned, they’ve left this church simply because my ways are not the same as those of my predecessor as parish priest here. That this happens is, as I say, understandable in a way, but that doesn’t make it right, or even alright, because what this boils down to at the end of the day is simply the cult of personality and, as Jesus implies in this morning’s Gospel, there is no place for that in the Church, and there should be no place for it in the minds and hearts of Christians.

Jesus tells us that, whoever comes to us in God’s name, whether that be disciple, prophet or other  holy person, they should be welcomed as such, as someone who’s come to us in God’s name to help us to follow God and God’s ways more closely. And that should apply whether that person is a new parish priest or simply a new member of the congregation.

I’ve mentioned about how the work of a new parish priest can be made more difficult by people’s inability, or even refusal, to welcome them as Christ says we should, but how often have we come across a situation where a new member of a congregation has been ignored or perhaps even told to shut up, simply because they are new members of a congregation, as though that, in some way, makes them lacking in, or incapable of understanding and therefore incapable of having anything worth saying about the faith or about Christian discipleship to older or longer standing members of the Church? This happens too and yet, in my experience, those who are new to the Church and to the faith are often those who are most worth listening to because their faith and their enthusiasm for the faith hasn’t been tempered by Church politics or the like. Their faith is very often a pure and simple faith, and they often see things that more established members of the Church have lost sight of because of their involvement in the human institution of the Church. And so they are worth listening to. I see and hear this time and time again when I go into St Gabriel’s school to lead worship there. In one sense, children don’t understand, but in another way their understanding is quite amazing at times. What I mean by that is, If we invited a child to a PCC meeting and asked them what was going on, they might very well say that they don’t know, but if we asked them about the Christian faith, they might very well surprise us about just how much they do know and how well they do understand. But who would listen to a child who tried to teach us something about the Christian faith? Wouldn’t people be much more likely to think, and perhaps say, “What do you know about it?” and either tell them to be quiet or just ignore them?

The Church is Christ’s creation so it’s a divine institution, but it’s also a human institution because it’s organised and run by human beings, and as a human institution it’s flawed because human beings are flawed. And one of the ways the Church is flawed is by the cult of personality. The Church can, and often does, see and treat people just like the world, or at least the society the Church exists in, sees and treats people. But this is not the way the Church should be and, as this morning’s Gospel implies, it’s not the way Christ intended the Church to be. 

One of the great disputes in Church history was the Donatist Controversy which raged during the 3rd and 4^th Centuries. One of the issues in this controversy was whether the personal qualities of a minister affected the validity of the sacraments. In other words, if the priest wasn’t a good person, if they weren’t perfectly holy, did that invalidate the sacraments they administered. The Donatists argued that it did whereas the Catholic wing of the Church argued that the personal qualities of the priest were irrelevant to the validity of the sacraments they administered. It boiled down to an argument about whether the sacraments were effective on account of the one who works, i.e. on the personal qualities of the minister, or were they effective on account of the work itself, which is the work of grace and of Christ. In the end, the Catholic view prevailed and quite rightly so. As Pope Innocent III said in the late 12^th Century, in defending the Catholic view,

“…the sickness of a doctor does not destroy the power of his medicine.”

Or, as one of the Church of England’s 39 Articles of Religion puts it,

Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.

Obviously, this is concerned with the worthiness or otherwise of priests and so it does have a direct bearing on what I said earlier about the cult of personality that can make a new parish priest’s work so much more difficult than it should be when they first move into a parish. But it also applies to anyone who comes to us in God’s name, however they come to us and whatever they come to us to do. Who they are and what they are matters less than what they do, and if what they do is from God, who they are and what they are shouldn’t matter to us at all. The fact is though, that all too often, who and what someone is does matter to us and it does affect the value we place on what they say and do.

For example, since I’ve been here as your vicar, I’ve spoken about a number of things that we could, and probably should, do in order to move the parish forward and to stimulate some growth. But very often, the response I’ve had has been something along the lines of,

“We’ve never done this kind of thing here before.”

But what is that response other than another way of saying,

“The last vicar didn’t ask us to do this so why should we do it now?” 

Well, perhaps the last vicar didn’t ask you to do these things, but what has what you did under the last vicar that got to do with it? Perhaps the last vicar should have asked you to do them. In any case, times change and what was done and worked 30, 20 and even 10 years ago probably isn’t going to work, or at least not work so well, now.

Or let me put it another way. Twice in the last few weeks I’ve been in the company of people who’ve disagreed about something to do with the Church or the Christian faith. One has said something, the other has disagreed, and they’ve argued. In the end they’ve asked for my opinion and, I’ve had to say that the person who made the first statement was right. And that’s settled the issue, the other person has then accepted what was said. As a priest I am ordained and am here as your vicar to settle this kind of dispute by giving advice and teaching, but if something said about the Church or the faith is true, does it really matter who says it? It shouldn’t, but clearly, it does.

The Donatist Controversy, which I spoke about a little earlier, took place in North Africa. Now, that’s a predominantly Muslim part of the world, but then it was strongly Christian. For many people it was the ravages of the Donatist Controversy, the damage it did to the Church, that enabled Islam to displace Christianity and become the dominant religion of that part of the world. But have we learned anything from that? In spite of the fact that the Catholic view of sacramental efficacy won out all those years ago, are we really any better than the Donatists at looking beyond personalities, at looking beyond who and what people are so that we can see what they might be offering to us in God’s name, to the gifts that God might be offering to us in and through them?

Jesus said that those who welcome a prophet, a holy man or a disciple will receive their reward. I think the implication is that the opposite is also true, if we don’t welcome those who come to us in God’s name we’ll lose our reward. I’m sure we all want our heavenly reward, so let’s rid ourselves of the cult of personality and start to look beyond who and what people are so that we can see what God might be trying to give is in and through each and every person whoever and whatever they are.

Amen.

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Propers for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 4) 2nd July 2023

Entrance Antiphon
All nations clap your hands.
Shout with a voice of joy to God.

The Collect
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 lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)      
1 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19
Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Matthew 10:37-42

RCL (St Gabriel’s)         
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

When I was a teenager, one of the things myself and few of my mates used to do from time to time was walk the two miles into Hyde, which was the nearest town to where we lived, have a bit of a wander round there, and then walk back home. And as we were going home, if it was open, we’d call in a chip shop, get something to eat, and eat it as we were walking back. On one occasion we did this, as I held my hand out for the change from the money I’d handed over to pay for my chips, the man serving me said,

“I’ll toss you for it. If you win, I’ll give you your change; if you lose, I keep it.”

Well, even as a teenager I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that, so I asked,

“And if I call right, what do I win?”

He said,

“Your change.”

So I explained to him that this was no bet at all because the change was mine anyway, so I had nothing to gain if I won the bet whereas he, on the other hand, had nothing to lose if he lost the bet. So I offered him another bet: if I called wrong, he could keep the change, but if I called right, he gave me all my money back and I had my chips for free, that way we both stood to win something or lose something. He looked at me for a moment, and then, without another word, slapped my change down on the top of the counter and moved on to serving the next person.

I’ve told you that story because I think when it come to our Christian discipleship, we can sometimes be a bit like the man in that chip shop. We all  want to win something, in this case, the reward of discipleship, the resurrection to eternal life, but we’re not necessarily prepared to lose something in order to win that reward. In this case, that means we’re not prepared to do what Christ tells us we need to do to win the reward, if that means losing out on doing what we want to do. We want to gain from being a disciple of Christ, but we want that gain without the risk of it costing us too much, or perhaps anything in terms of how we live our lives.

The 17^th Century philosopher, Blaise Pascal touched on this problem in an argument that’s come to be known as Pascal’s Wager. Strictly speaking, Pascal was speaking about whether or not it’s rational to be Christian, or at least to live a Christian life, given that, by logical argument, the existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven. He argued that being a Christian was a game of chance, a bet if you like, hence the name, Pascal’s Wager.

Pascal said that people can choose to believe in God or can choose to not believe in God, and that God either exists or he doesn’t. If a person believes in God and God does exist, they gain infinite happiness; they go to heaven. If a person doesn’t believe in God and God exists, they receive infinite suffering; they go to hell. On the other hand, if a person believes in God and God doesn’t exist, then they receive some finite disadvantages, a finite loss, from a life of Christian discipleship, but no infinite loss; whereas if a person doesn’t believe in God and God doesn’t exist, then they receive some finite pleasure from a life unhindered by Christian discipleship but gain nothing more than that. To sum up, Pascal says,

“Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”

We could though sum up Pascal’s Wager in this way: if we believe in God and live accordingly, if God doesn’t exist, we’ve risked, and lost, a little. But if God does exist, we’ve risked a little and gained an infinite reward. If, on the other hand we either don’t believe in God, or live as though God doesn’t exist, and God doesn’t exist, we’ve risked nothing and gained something finite. But, if God does exist, we’ve risked nothing and made an infinite loss. In other words, believing in God or not and being obedient to Christ or not, is wagering a finite loss or gain, against an infinite loss or gain. 

Strictly speaking, all people, once they’re aware of God, or the possibility of the existence of God, have to play this game. They have to decide what they believe and what they’re willing to wager on being right. But, as Christians, we’ve made that decision. As Christians, we know what the stakes are, we know what we stand to win and lose, and we know what we have to do if we want to win. The trouble is that whilst we want to win this game, this bet, we don’t always want to stake the full amount that we need to in order to win. We can be like people playing cards who want to see what the other person is holding, but we want to ‘call’ them without matching their bet. We want to win without risking too much or, just like the man in that chip shop, without risking anything at all. But we can’t do that. Jesus didn’t give us that option. And that’s really the gist of what he says in this morning’s Gospel.

Jesus says,

“…everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

As Christians, we’ve chosen to play this game and we want to win. We know that means we can’t have Jesus denying or disowning us before the Father. We know that to win we have to do what Jesus taught us to do and to do the things he did. But having chosen to play to win, how often do we do and say things that lessen our chances of winning? How often do we do and say things that do deny and disown Jesus? We know that to deny or disown someone is to break off ties with them, to have nothing to do with them, and how often do we do and say things that have nothing to do with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ? Sometimes, as we confessed a little earlier, we do this through negligence and weakness, but sometimes we do this through our own deliberate fault. We deliberately deny and disown Jesus, and yet we still want Jesus to acknowledge us before his heavenly Father. But isn’t this wanting to win the infinite reward without even paying the finite cost?

Later in the Gospel, Jesus goes on to say,

“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.”

Now this is a very hard saying indeed because Jesus is saying that he, and obedience to him is more important than anything else, even our own families. We have sayings don’t we, ‘Charity begins at home’, ‘Look after yourself and your own’. But Jesus is saying that to truly be his disciples, to fully acknowledge him in the world so that he will acknowledge and own us before the Father, we can’t think like that or act like that. If we want to win our infinite reward, the cost is putting him first, before everyone and everything else. The cost is being obedient to him, even if that means making enemies in the world, even if that means making enemies in and of our own families.

In the grand scheme of things, of course, even this is a small price to pay, a small stake to risk, when we consider the game we’re playing and reward we’ll get for winning the game. But from our own human perspective, if this is what winning the game costs us, it seems a very high price to pay indeed, whatever the reward.

And this is the problem we have. We know what we hope to win, and we know what the cost of winning is but from a human perspective, the cost can seem so high that we can’t always bring ourselves to pay it. So we don’t pay it, or at least, we don’t pay it in full. We might do our best and pay what we can, and hope that’s enough, but do we always really do even that?

Do we always do our best and pay what we can, or do we rather pay what we’re comfortable with paying, so much and no more because paying a little more, being obedient to Christ when that means we can’t do what we want to do, might make our lives a little harder than we’d like them to be? And how often to we hedge our bets? How often do we try to keep a foot in both camps so to speak, saying that we believe in God, but living as though we don’t, or at least as though we aren’t sure? And saying that we’re Christians but living as though we aren’t, or are in name only? We can, and often do, do these things through negligence and weakness but we also do these things through our own deliberate fault. And if were honest, isn’t it true that at least sometimes when we do these things deliberately and in full knowledge that what we’re doing isn’t in keeping with our belief in God nor our Christian discipleship, isn’t it because whilst we want to win our infinite reward, we really don’t want to lose out on all of the finite pleasures that might cost us?

As Christians, we’ve made our choice on how we want to play this game. We want to win the game; we want our infinite reward. So let’s play to win. Sometimes the cost of staying in the game might seem to be a bit high and we might be tempted to fold and sit this hand out, or maybe even throw in our hand and walk away from the game, but those are the times when we have to remember what we’re playing for. As Jesus put it,

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

And the life we’ll find by losing our lives for his sake will be our infinite reward, an eternity of indescribable joy and happiness with God. 

Amen.

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Propers for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 3) 25th June 2023

Entrance Antiphon
God is the strength of his people.
In him, we his chosen live in safety.
Save us, Lord, who share in your life, and give us your blessing;
be our shepherd for ever.

The Collect
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin,
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts,
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
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 Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)        
Jeremiah 20:10-13
Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
Romans 5:12-15
Matthew 10:26-33

RCL (St Gabriel’s)         
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:8-20
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39

When we come to Church to worship and praise God, one of the ways we do those things is by acclaiming his Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Saviour. And it’s quite right that we should do that because that’s what Jesus is. But as we read the Gospels, it’s quite apparent that Jesus became our Lord and Saviour, that is, the Lord and Saviour of all people, after his earthly life and ministry were over. To all intents and purposes, Jesus says this himself. When a Canaanite woman asked him for mercy for her demon-possessed daughter, Jesus initial response was,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

And later, when some Greeks approached Philip asking to see Jesus, Jesus’ response was to speak about his own glorification and death and he said,

“…I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

And as we read in this morning’s Gospel, when Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to proclaim the Gospel, he sent them with this instruction; 

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

The Great Commission to proclaim the Gospel to the world was something that Jesus entrusted to his disciples, but not during his own earthly life, that was something for them to do after he’d been lifted up. It was only then that all people would be drawn to Jesus so that the whole world could acclaim him as their Lord and Saviour. 

Obviously, as Jesus’ disciples in our own time and place we share in the work of proclaiming the Gospel today. It’s up to us and people like us, those who do acclaim Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, to carry out the Great Commission in the time and place in which we live. And it’s imperative that we do that. We must proclaim the Gospel and draw people to Jesus today if we want there to be people acclaiming Jesus as their Lord and Saviour in this place in the future. I’m sure we all know and understand that. But as well as bringing people to faith, new people to faith that is, we also have a duty to look for our own lost sheep too and to bring them back into the fold. I’m talking here, of course, about those who used to come to church but don’t now.

If we look around church this morning, I’m sure we can all think, very easily, of people who aren’t here, and who don’t come here anymore, but who did in the past. Some of those people don’t come to church now because of age or illness and that can’t be helped.

But I’m sure we can all think of people who used to come to church and who could very easily still be coming to church but don’t. And these are the people I mean when I speak about our lost sheep.

At the APCM last month, I spoke about the importance of building viable parish churches. I said that viability was about a number of things, including the size of a congregation and the financial health of a parish church. If we think about our lost sheep, it’s not hard to see how much more viable this church would be if those people were still coming here on a regular basis. So it’s important that we do encourage these people to come back to church. Having said that, I know it’s not easy to achieve. I must admit that since I became a vicar, I’ve found that I’m far less likely to get any kind of real explanation from someone about why they’ve stopped coming to church than I might have expected previously. So judging from my own experience, you might have more luck in that department when you speak to people about this. And I hope you do speak to people about why they don’t come to church anymore because it’s important that you do.

Judging from my own experience, when you ask people about why they’ve stopped coming to church, whilst people can be very inventive with their reasons, there are a few that are used time and time again: you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian; I wasn’t getting anything out of it; an argument with another member of the Church; the hypocrisy of other Church members. And it is almost invariably other people’s hypocrisy that’s given as the reason for someone not coming to church anymore. In fact, in over forty years as an adult member of the Church I only remember one person saying that they stopped going to Church because they thought they were a hypocrite! These are the reasons people use time and again for not coming to church, so how do we deal with them?

Let’s start with the ‘You don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian’ reason; or is it an excuse? Actually, there is a lot you could say to someone who uses this excuse, but I think one of the simplest and most succinct ways to counter this argument is to remind people that being a Christian is about modelling your own life on the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. People who use this excuse often say that means living a good life, and so it does. But following Jesus’ example also means going to Church to worship God because we know that Jesus himself habitually attended public worship. The Gospels tell us he did:

‘…he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day…’

And at his trial, Jesus himself spoke about his regular attendance at both the synagogue and the temple when he said,

“I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.”

So when someone says you don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian you can simply remind them that being a Christian means doing what Jesus said and did. And that does include going to Church because that’s where we gather with other people to worship God, and that’s something Jesus always did.

A lot of people though do seem to have a misunderstanding about what coming to church is about and that comes across in the ‘I wasn’t getting anything out of it’ excuse for not coming to church. Some people, many people perhaps, seem to think that the main purpose of coming to church is so that they can have a nice time and go home feeling good about themselves. And so, when that doesn’t happen, they’re not getting what they want, and expect, and so they stop going to church. Sometimes we can get that good feeling from coming to church and it’s nice if we can and when we do, but that isn’t what coming to church is really about. The main purpose of coming to church is to worship God and worship isn’t God’s gift to us, it’s our gift to him. So we don’t come to church to get something from God, we come to church to give something to God. And it’s only when we understand that, that we come to church to give rather than to receive, that we actually do begin to receive and get more from coming to church. So when someone uses this as an excuse for not coming to church, simply remind them that we come to church to give, to offer our worship to God, to give God thanks and praise for what he’s already given us. We shouldn’t come to simply ask for nor expecting to be given even more. 

And it’s really this understanding that we come to church to make an offering to God that holds the answer to those who stop coming to church because of the behaviour of other members of the Church, whether that’s because it’s caused an argument, or because people are upset and angry about the hypocrisy of other people in the Church.

Sometimes, when I hear these things being given as excuses for not coming to church, I’m reminded of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”

When it come to our dealings with other people, I think we can all be far too much like the Pharisee in this parable, holier than thou, if there’s a problem, it’s the other person that’s at fault, they’re the hypocrite, not me, and so on. In fact, we ought to be much more like the tax collector, humble before God and accepting of our own sinfulness and our need of forgiveness. None of us are perfect and, as we ourselves are sinful and in need of forgiveness, so we should be more tolerant and forgiving of the faults and sins of others. That’s the first answer to those who stop coming to church because of the faults and actions of other people. But there’s another answer to this excuse too.

We come to church to make our offering to God in thanks for all he’s done for us, so why should we stop doing that because someone else is a hypocrite or has acted in an un-Christian way? Is what they’ve done or said God’s fault or theirs? It’s their fault surely, not God’s, so why should we stop coming to church to offer our gift to God because someone else is a sinner and a hypocrite? Of course, because the Church is the Body of Christ, a corporate body, what happens in the Church affects us all in some way. But on a personal level, coming to church to worship God in thanks for all he’s done for us is part of our own personal response to our own faith in God. So what have the sins and hypocrisy of others got to do with that? Why should the sins and hypocrisy of others damage our personal relationship with God? Why should the sins and hypocrisy of others cause us to stop giving thanks to God for all he’s done for us? And that is the answer to this excuse for not coming to church. The faults, the behaviour and hypocrisy of other Church members may be very annoying and upsetting, but what have other people’s faults and failings got to do with God’s love for us, personally, and our own love for him? We can damage that relationship easily enough through our own faults and failings, our own sins and hypocrisy, without letting other people’s problems do that for us.

People do use lots of excuses for not coming to church anymore, and on the whole, I think they very often are excuses and not reasons, but those I’ve spoken about are amongst the most common. Perhaps these are the most common excuse given for not coming to church because those who use them think they’re the hardest to argue with, but actually, they’re not, they’re very easy to counter. And so, when you meet people who used to come to church here but don’t now, perhaps you could raise the subject with them with confidence that you can counter their excuses for why they don’t come to church and their arguments about why they won’t come back to church, and we could bring at least some of our lost sheep back into the fold.

Amen.

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Propers for the 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 2) 18th June 2023

Entrance Antiphon
Lord, hear my voice when I call to you.
You are my help; do not cast me off, do not desert me, my Saviour God.

The Collect
Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit,
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)      
Exodus 19:2:6
Psalm 100:2-3, 5
Romans 5:6-11
Matthew 9:36-10:8

RCL (St Gabriel’s)       
Exodus 19:2:8
Psalm 100
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8