29 October 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This morning we almost had to swim to church because the rain that has fallen this week meant that the roads were full of big puddles, some of which met in the middle of the carriageway! However quite a few people did make it for our Parish Eucharist. Father Chris was the Celebrant and the Gospel Story this week was a follow on from past week, when the Jews asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment. In his Sermon Father Chris told us that the Jews have hundreds of instructions for living a good life recorded in the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Jesus summarised God's instructions into 2 commandments, Love God and love your neighbour! He spoke about the need to love everyone, even those who are for any reason difficult to love, as this is the Christian way.
The Choir sang 'Ave Verum' in the setting by W.A. Mozart as the anthem.
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo,
to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho,
and the Lord showed him the whole land:
Gilead as far as Dan,
all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh,
all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,
the Negeb, and the Plain—
that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—
as far as Zoar.
The Lord said to him,
‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying,
“I will give it to your descendants”;
I have let you see it with your eyes,
but you shall not cross over there.’
Then Moses, the servant of the Lord,
died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command.
He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab,
opposite Beth-peor,
but no one knows his burial place to this day.
Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died;
his sight was unimpaired and his vigour had not abated.
The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days;
then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
1 Thessalonians2:1-8
A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters,
that our coming to you was not in vain,
but though we had already suffered
and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi,
as you know, we had courage in our God
to declare to you the gospel of God
in spite of great opposition.
For our appeal does not spring from deceit
or impure motives or trickery,
but just as we have been approved by God
to be entrusted with the message of the gospel,
even so we speak, not to please mortals,
but to please God who tests our hearts.
As you know and as God is our witness,
we never came with words of flattery
or with a pretext for greed;
nor did we seek praise from mortals,
whether from you or from others,
though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
But we were gentle among you,
like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.
So deeply do we care for you
that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God
but also our own selves,
because you have become very dear to us.
Matthew 22:34-46
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together,
and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’
He said to him,
‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it:
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together,
Jesus asked them this question:
‘What do you think of the Messiah?
Whose son is he?’
They said to him,
‘The son of David.’
He said to them,
‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
If David thus calls him Lord,
how can he be his son?’
No one was able to give him an answer,
nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
