28 July 2024
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
Don't forget that next Sunday, 4th August we shall be celebrating Evensong in church at 3.30pm. Come and join us for a prayerful, relaxing afternoon service followed of course by the traditional St Mary's tea and cake in the Parish Rooms.
Today we all felt slightly exhausted after the Fete! We had a Parish Eucharist at 10 am with Father Chris as the celebrant. The Choir sang the Ave Verum in the setting by Edward Elgar as the anthem. There was coffee afterwards, with a further opportunity to buy Sidlesham Souvenirs!
The Fete was a great success as you can see from the photos. This year we had, after the main part of the fete, live music from some local bands, followed by hot food and beer which continued into the evening. Beautiful Weather helped to create a wonderful day with something for everyone!
A reading from the second book of Samuel.
In the spring of the year,
the time when kings go out to battle,
David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him;
they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah.
But David remained at Jerusalem.
It happened, late one afternoon,
when David rose from his couch
and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house,
that he saw from the roof a woman bathing;
the woman was very beautiful.
David sent someone to inquire about the woman.
It was reported,
‘This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’
So David sent messengers to get her,
and she came to him, and he lay with her.
(Now she was purifying herself after her period.)
Then she returned to her house.
The woman conceived;
and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant.’
So David sent word to Joab,
‘Send me Uriah the Hittite.’
And Joab sent Uriah to David.
When Uriah came to him,
David asked how Joab and the people fared,
and how the war was going.
Then David said to Uriah,
‘Go down to your house, and wash your feet.’
Uriah went out of the king’s house,
and there followed him a present from the king.
But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house
with all the servants of his lord,
and did not go down to his house.
When they told David,
‘Uriah did not go down to his house’,
David said to Uriah,
‘You have just come from a journey.
Why did you not go down to your house?’
Uriah said to David,
‘The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths;
and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field;
shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife?
As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.’
Then David said to Uriah,
‘Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.’
So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day.
On the next day,
David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk;
and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord,
but he did not go down to his house.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab,
and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
In the letter he wrote,
‘Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting,
and then draw back from him,
so that he may be struck down and die.’
Ephesians 3:14-21
A reading from the scnd letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
I pray that, according to the riches of his glory,
he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being
with power through his Spirit,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,
as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints,
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to him who by the power at work within us
is able to accomplish abundantly far more
than all we can ask or imagine,
to him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
for ever and ever. Amen.
John 6:1-21
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee,
also called the Sea of Tiberias.
A large crowd kept following him,
because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.
Jesus went up the mountain
and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.
When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him,
Jesus said to Philip,
‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’
He said this to test him,
for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread
for each of them to get a little.’
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother,
said to Jesus,
‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.
But what are they among so many people?’
Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’
Now there was a great deal of grass in the place;
so they sat down, about five thousand in all.
Then Jesus took the loaves,
and when he had given thanks,
he distributed them to those who were seated;
so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
When they were satisfied, he told his disciples,
‘Gather up the fragments left over,
so that nothing may be lost.’
So they gathered them up,
and from the fragments of the five barley loaves,
left by those who had eaten,
they filled twelve baskets.
When the people saw the sign that he had done,
they began to say,
‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’
When Jesus realized that they were about to come
and take him by force to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came,
his disciples went down to the lake,
got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum.
It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
When they had rowed about three or four miles,
they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat,
and they were terrified.
But he said to them,
‘It is I; do not be afraid.’
Then they wanted to take him into the boat,
and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.
