This week’s Readings and Sermon for the 8th Sunday after Trinity
The Collect for This Week
Lord of heaven and earth, as Jesus taught his disciples to be persistent in prayer, give us patience and courage never to lose hope, but always to bring our prayers before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this week
God of our pilgrimage, you have willed that the gate of mercy should stand open for those who trust in you: look upon us with your favour that we who follow the path of your will may never wander from the way of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Psalm 71, verses 1 to 6
In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress,[to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Reading for this Sunday is from the book of the prophet Jeremiah Chapter 1, verses 4 to 16
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ 6 Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ 7 But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’ 9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’
11 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’ 12 Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.’ 13 The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.’ 14 Then the Lord said to me: Out of the north disaster shall break out on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For now I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord; and they shall come and all of them shall set their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will utter my judgements against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made offerings to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the Letter of St Paul to the Hebrews, Chapter 12, verses 18 to 29
You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ 27 This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 13, verses 10 to 17
Hear the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ, according to Luke Glory to You, o Lord !
Now he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ 15 But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, o Christ !
The reading for this week’s “The Family” sermon series, on the topic of “Family Growth”, is taken from the Book of Proverbs Chapter22, verses 1 to 6
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold. 2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all. 3 The clever see danger and hide; but the simple go on, and suffer for it. 4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honour and life. 5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; the cautious will keep far from them. 6 Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.
This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.
The sermon this week is delivered by Rev Samuel Hameem
“May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you O Lord my refuge and my redeemer amen.”
As we all know that for the past few weeks we are going through our sermon series of this year, and we all know that this year in our sermon series we are pondering on the topic of ‘The Family’, and as we are pondering on the topic of ‘The Family’, and for the last few weeks here in our church we are reflecting on some sub-topics under the family as our main topic. During this sermon series we are trying to learn and explore various aspects of our central theme, and today we will learn, explore and ponder on our sub-topic, which is ‘Family Growth’, and our main reading will be the reading we just read from the book of Proverbs 22:6, which goes like this that,
“Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.”
Before moving forward, I just wanted to tell you that sometimes Proverb called a ‘maxim’. Maxim is a truth condensed into a few words and stated in such way that it can be memorized with the application to a diversity of various situations of life. Although the entire Bible guides us, teach us, inspire and correct us in so many ways, this book, the book of Proverbs plays a unique and vital role in developing our spiritual and day-to-day life because this book is based on the sayings or quotes that God had King Solomon write for our guidance and direction. According to NIV Quest Study Bible,
“Solomon, the wisest king to rule Israel, wrote much of it. Agur, Son of Jeka, and Lemuel (probably a non-Israelite king) were also contributors. Solomon writes this book for the people of Isreal, particularly young people just starting out on life’s journey.”
So, before we move forward, let us see the context of today’s main reading. If we look at today’s reading, Proverbs 22:6, this verse is surrounded by other verses all linked together, and if look closely we could see that the section begins from start of the 22nd chapter and ends in 22:16, and if we study this section is clearly talking about the Lord, his sovereignty and righteousness.
As I mentioned earlier that this book, the book of Proverbs can be a guide for all the people on life’s journey, and we all that life is so unpredictable and full of uncertainties, and you don’t know what is waiting for us around the corner. Anything good or bad can pop up at any time, and in such situations, when we face any uncertainties the only thing after the God Almighty that can uphold, sustain, and encourage us, it is the family.
The family can be anything. It can be our own family, it can be our school, college, our workplace, our friends, the community we live in, the church we go to for worship or any other event, the street or building where our house is, neighborhood or area we live in or the country we reside, it can be anything. God wants us to live as family, because one, it is a biblical concept and teaching, and we could find so many examples in this regard, and secondly, he wants us to come together as one unit, one family, because it has many spiritual benefits, and the greatest benefit of being member of a family is that in the family we grow more rapidly and under the protection of others, and that is why God wants His church and its people to flourish, grow and prosper under the protection and guidance from other church members.
If we study the Holy Bible, we find the same teaching there. After creating the universe, when He made Adam and Eve, God said, “multiply and prosper.”, and the almost same thing he said when He settled the Israelites in the land of Canaan, He also prayed for them to flourish, grow and prosper.
In the New Testament, when Paul wrote letters to various churches, the reason behind them was the same: to abandon their evil ways and grow in God. That is, since the beginning of Babylon, there has been a command and prayer for God's people to grow. Let me clarify one thing here: while growing means increasing one's numbers, its real meaning is that the church must continue to grow in God, both spiritually and spiritually.
And that can only happen when our future, the future of the church is secure, and the future of the church is all those children and young people who come into contact, to those whom we know or those whom we live with. It is our responsibility to train and grow them in a way that they may know God, that they may know Christ’s redemptive work so early that they grow, physically and spiritually with that teaching, and the question is how we can do that, the simplest answer to this question in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 that,
“Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”
So, it is our duty and responsibility to play our part in the growth of our church family, so the church can be a happy, prosper, fruitful, place where we can share God’s blessings, and at the same time to worship and to praise him and by this we will grow spiritually in Him all the time.
Remember that God has called us into a family, and the head of that family is the Lord Jesus, and He has made a very painful and sacrifice so that we can be the part of his family, as well as that we can be a family with each other, love each other, and care for each other. Forgive each other and not only sacrifice for each other as much as you can but also remember and appreciate the sacrifices of others. Whether it's our own family, or our church family. Whether it's our Rosendale team family, or our family of some other kind.
With all these things in mind, let us look at our own lives and see how we are fulfilling our roles in this family. If we have all these things, then we can truly say that we are a family. And if we lack these things, can we really say that we are a family, and ask God to help us be one, so that we can have family get-togethers on every Sunday morning or during the week to support, strengthen, and encourage each other, so we may give God all the glory which he deserves.
May God bless you all. Amen.