Regular services at St Mary's

 

Sunday Service of the Word

All Souls November 8th 2020

We continue to invite everyone who is not attending our Sunday Eucharist to join together in a Service of the Word at the same time of 9:30 am, though you are welcome to pray this service at whatever time suits you.

To worship with us, please listen to the audio file and join in the responses in bold.

Listen to the Service of the Word

Hymn

Let saints on earth in concert sing
With those whose work is done;
For all the servants of our King
In earth and heaven are one.

One family, we dwell in him,
One Church, above, beneath;
Though now divided by the stream,
The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,
To his command we bow;
Part of his host has crossed the flood,
And part is crossing now.

E'en now to their eternal home
There pass some spirits blest,
While others to the margin come,
Waiting their call to rest.

Jesu, be thou our constant Guide;
Then, when the word is given,
Bid Jordan's narrow stream divide,
And bring us safe to heaven.

 

O Lord open our lips
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.


Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayers of Penitence

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

God has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of his glory
in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels
to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.
As we acknowledge our human frailty,
we call to mind our sins of word, deed and omission, and confess them before God our Father. .

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you
and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry
and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
who died for us,
forgive us all that is past
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name.
Amen.

May Almighty God have mercy on us,
forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

 

The Collect


Almighty ever-living God
life of all that is mortal and joy of the Saints
we humbly pray to you for the departed
that, freed from the bonds of mortality
they may posses your Kingdom in everlasting glory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Readings

A reading from the Wisdom of Solomon
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt-offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them for ever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect.



This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.

The Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.
‘It is the will of him who sent me,’ says the Lord, ‘that I should lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up on the last day.’
Alleluia

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
Glory to you, O Lord.

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he found that his friend Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, 1and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go.”

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Sermon

You can listen to the sermon on the audio file.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Intercessions

Prayers for the departed follow, ending with:

Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord
And let light perpetual shine upon them.

May they rest in peace
and rise in glory.

 

And at the end:
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers,
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

 

The Benedictus

I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live.

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,  who has come to his people and set them free.

He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, 
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets God promised of old 
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us,

To show mercy to our ancestors, 
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:  to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

Free to worship him without fear,  holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,  for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of all their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,  and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live.

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Saviour taught us, so we pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

 

Anthem

The choir sing the anthem We will remember them

remembrance
They shall grow not old as we that are lefr grow old
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

 

The Last Post is played.


The Blessing

May God give you his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.
All :  Amen.

 

Voluntary

The organ voluntary is Elegy by Thalben-Ball

 

 

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Music scholarships at St Mary'sCalendar

November
1 All Saints
8 Remembrance / 3 before Advent
15 Second before Advent
22 Christ the King
29 Advent Sunday

December
6 Advent 2
13 Advent 3
20 Advent 4
25 Christmas Day
27 St John