04 August 2024
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This Sunday we had our all age Eucharist at 10 am with Father Chris as the celebrant. The children were in church with us and we had a very interactive sermon with lots of contributions from the congregation. It is now August so as is traditional at St Marys the Choir is in recess so no anthem
At 3:30 however the choir and congregation met for Sung Evensong. The Canticles were in the setting by C V Stanford in B flat and the anthem was Jesu Joy of mans desiring. After this calm and contemplative service, which was a lovely contrast from our lively and busy morning service, there was Tea and cake in the Parish rooms.
We are most fortunate to have the opportunity for sung evensong on the first Sunday in the month, please do join us at this and any of our other services.
A reading from the second book of Samuel.
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead,
she made lamentation for him.
When the mourning was over,
David sent and brought her to his house,
and she became his wife,
and bore him a son.
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
and the Lord sent Nathan to David.
He came to him, and said to him,
‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had very many flocks and herds;
but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought.
He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children;
it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup,
and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a traveller to the rich man,
and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd
to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him,
but he took the poor man’s lamb,
and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’ T
hen David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man.
He said to Nathan,
‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;
he shall restore the lamb fourfold,
because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’
Nathan said to David,
‘You are the man!
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel:
I anointed you king over Israel,
and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;
I gave you your master’s house,
and your master’s wives into your bosom,
and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah;
and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.
Why have you despised the word of the Lord,
to do what is evil in his sight?
You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword,
and have taken his wife to be your wife,
and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house,
for you have despised me,
and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
Thus says the Lord:
I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house;
and I will take your wives before your eyes,
and give them to your neighbour,
and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.
For you did it secretly;
but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’
David said to Nathan,
‘I have sinned against the Lord.’
Nathan said to David,
‘Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.'
Ephesians 4:1-16
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.
I, the prisoner in the Lord,
beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling
to which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love,
making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit,
just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace
according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it is said,
‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.’
(When it says, ‘He ascended’,
what does it mean but that he had also descended
into the lower parts of the earth?
He who descended is the same one who ascended
far above all the heavens,
so that he might fill all things.)
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ,
until all of us come to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
We must no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine,
by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.
But speaking the truth in love,
we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
from whom the whole body,
joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped,
as each part is working properly,
promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
John 6:24-35
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples
were at the place where Jesus had given the bread,
they themselves got into the boats
and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
When they found him on the other side of the lake,
they said to him,
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
Jesus answered them,
‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me,
not because you saw signs,
but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
Do not work for the food that perishes,
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’
Then they said to him,
‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’
Jesus answered them,
‘This is the work of God,
that you believe in him whom he has sent.’
So they said to him,
‘What sign are you going to give us then,
so that we may see it and believe you?
What work are you performing?
Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness;
as it is written,
“He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’
Then Jesus said to them,
‘Very truly, I tell you,
it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven,
but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God
is that which comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world.’
They said to him,
‘Sir, give us this bread always.’
Jesus said to them,
‘I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
