30 July 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
A very busy weekend at St Mary's with our Church Fete on Saturday, when we were blessed with blue skies and dry weather if a little windy! All the usual stalls and activities, the Fete was opened by the ' King and Queen' who had also appeared at the Sidlesham School Coronation! The Tug of war competition between the village and the Chichester City Band was won this year by the village! Revenge for the Band's victory last year!
Some very tired people came to church this morning for our Eucharist. We had a joyous thanksgiving for the Fete a wonderful community event and a financial success which helps to keep us on the road!
The Choir sang 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring' by J S Bach as the Anthem. The Sunday School children bought us their thanksgiving poster and the thank you cubes they had made.
There was coffee after the service.
A reading from the first book of Kings.
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night;
and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’
And Solomon said,
‘You have shown great and steadfast love
to your servant my father David,
because he walked before you in faithfulness,
in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you;
and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love,
and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.
And now, O Lord my God,
you have made your servant king in place of my father David,
although I am only a little child;
I do not know how to go out or come in.
And your servant is in the midst of the people
whom you have chosen, a great people,
so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind
to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil;
for who can govern this your great people?’
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
God said to him,
‘Because you have asked this
, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches,
or for the life of your enemies,
but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,
I now do according to your word.
Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind;
no one like you has been before you
and no one like you shall arise after you.
Romans 8: 26-39
A reading form the letter of Paul to the Romans.
The Spirit helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but that very Spirit intercedes
with sighs too deep for words.
And God, who searches the heart,
knows what is the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints
according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good
for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn
within a large family.
And those whom he predestined he also called;
and those whom he called he also justified;
and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things?
If God is for us, who is against us?
He who did not withhold his own Son,
but gave him up for all of us,
will he not with him also give us everything else?
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?
It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
It is Christ Jesus, who died,
yes, who was raised,
who is at the right hand of God,
who indeed intercedes for us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will hardship, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Jesus put before the crowd another parable:
‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed
that someone took and sowed in his field;
it is the smallest of all the seeds,
but when it has grown
it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,
which someone found and hid;
then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has
and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
in search of fine pearls;
on finding one pearl of great value,
he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net
that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;
when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down,
and put the good into baskets
but threw out the bad.
So it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will come out
and separate the evil from the righteous
and throw them into the furnace of fire,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’
They answered, ‘Yes.’
And he said to them,
‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven
is like the master of a household
who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
