Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 19 September 2021, Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’ (Mark 9: 37) … ‘Spectral Child’ on Thomas Street, Limerick, by Dermot McConaghy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 19 September 2021, is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI) and the liturgical provisions are for Proper 20.

The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland are:

Continuous Readings: Proverbs 31: 10-31; Psalm 1; James 3: 13 to 4: 3, 7-8a; Mark 9: 30-37.

Paired Readings: Wisdom 1: 16 to 2: 1, 12-22, or Jeremiah 11: 18-20; Psalm 54; James 3: 13 to 4: 3, 7-8a; Mark 9: 30-37.

There is a link to the readings HERE

‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’ (Mark 9: 37) … Children of the Kindertransport seen in Frank Meisler’s bronze sculpture at Liverpool Street Station in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the readings:

Sophie’s Choice is a 1982 American movie based on a 1979 best-selling novel by William Styron. In this disturbing movie, Meryl Streep plays the title role of Sophie Zawistowski, a Polish immigrant who shares a boarding house in Brooklyn with Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline) and a young writer, Stingo (Peter MacNicol).

One evening, Stingo learns from Sophie that she was married, but her husband and her father were killed in a Nazi work camp, and that she was sent as a prisoner to Auschwitz with her children.

When Sophie arrived at Auschwitz, a camp doctor forced her to choose which one of her two children would be gassed and which would be sent to the labour camp. To avoid having both children killed, she chose to have her son Jan sent to the children’s camp, and her daughter Eva sent to her death. It was a heart-wrenching decision that left her in mourning and filled with a guilt that she can never overcome.

The name Sophie means wisdom, but the choice Sophie is faced with is not between good and evil, nor even between the lesser of two evils, but between evil and evil.

Sunday’s readings introduce a number of similar themes, including comparisons between the Wisdom of God and a wise wife and mother, the choices we face between good and evil, and the innocence of children in the face of competition for power and status.

The loss of innocence and the destruction of wisdom … the railway tracks at Auschwitz-Birkenau (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Proverbs 31: 10-31:

We have come to the end of our short series of readings from the Book of Proverbs that began earlier this month. This selection ends on Sunday where the book ends with this poem, a detailed description of the roles and qualities of ‘a capable wife,’ a poem that serves as a summary of the Book of Proverbs.

Before this reading begins, we are told that the words in this closing section are ‘the words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him’ (Proverbs 31: 1), and he is named again in verse 4.

Who was Lemuel?

Some say he was a member of a tribe descended from Abraham’s son Ishmael, some say he was Hezekiah, some even say he was Solomon.

Who is the good wife?

A good wife is mentioned earlier in this book: ‘He who finds a good wife finds a good thing, and obtains favour from the Lord’ (Proverbs 18: 22). Several of the qualities of this good wife are also those of Sophia, Wisdom. So, is the good wife Wisdom herself? There is a word play in verse 27, where the phrase in the NRSV ‘she looks well to’ reads in Hebrew as sophiyyah, providing a word play on the Greek Σοφῐ́ᾱ Sophia.

In four places in the Book of Proverbs, including this reading, the good wife, or Wisdom, is said to be ‘more precious than jewels’ (verse 10). The wife’s values to her husband are reminiscent of those of wisdom to her followers.

Verses 13-27 in this reading speak of the woman’s extraordinary and ceaseless activity, and her good relationship with her family. She and her husband are wealthy, while he is a leading figure in the community. She has a good business approach to managing their household, and is a hard worker, makes fine clothes for her family, and is generous to the poor and the needy.

On the following Sunday [Trinity XVII, 26 September 2021], the reading introduces us to a very different type of ‘capable wife’ with a very different sort of wisdom in the person of Esther (Esther 7: 1-6. 9-10, 9: 20-22).

Holy Wisdom with her children Faith (centre), Hope (left) and Love (right) … a fresco in a church in Rethymnon by the Cretan iconographer Alexandra Kauoki

Wisdom 1: 16 to 2: 1, 12-22:

Wisdom has been a book of the church since the earliest times. For some Christians, it is part of the Apocrypha (‘hidden books’); for others, it is included in the Bible. Until this book was written ca 50 BCE, the best that could be hoped for when one died was to exist in some inderterminate state. However, Wisdom says that that being made in the image of God includes sharing with him in immortality. Only the godly, the ethical, will be granted eternal life; those who choose to deviate from God’s ways will be punished and will disappear into nothingness.

In this reading, Wisdom is seen as a guide to happinness and immortality.

In the first part (verses 1-5), rulers and those in power are urged to love righteousness and to seek God. Widdom dwells only in a soul that is sincere, holy and disciplined.

In the second part (verses 6-11), the unglodly are told that they will not escape God’s punishment. God knows their unrighteous thoughts, words and deeds and will judge them. Wisdom is a kindly spirit, opposed to blasphemers and the unrighteous, upholding justice.

In the third part (verses 12-15), we are told that God has made us life everlasting. Immortality is a gift from God.

Then, in the rest of this reading, we are told that the unglodly oppress the righteous and those who turn to God as their father.

‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruits’ (Jeremiah 11: 19) … ripening lemons on a tree in Platanias, near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Jeremiah 11: 18-20:

This is the first of Jeremiah’s six personal laments. The others are: 15: 10-21; 17: 14-18; 18: 18-23; 20: 7-13; and 20: 14-18.

Here Jeremiah describes himself as ‘a gentle lamb led to the slaughter’ (cf Isaiah 53: 7). He learns that he is the unwitting object of evil deeds and schemes, an assasination plot, and he prays to God, the Lord of hosts, for protection.

‘They are like trees planted by streams of water’ (Psalm 1: 3) … willows by the banks of the River Suir in Golden, Co Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 1:

This psalm is an introduction to the Psalms. It contrasts the fate of the godly and the ungodly.

The psalm begins by comparing the ways of the wicked and the ways of the godly. The godly do not live as the ungodly do. Instead, day and night, they meditate o the law of God. They are like trees that yield good fruit, and they are promised that they will prosper in all that they do.

On the other hand, the wicked are like chaff, blown about by the wind, who are lost when it comes to values of the Kingdom of God.

‘Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth’ (Psalm 54: 2) … candles in the cathedral in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 54:

Psalm 54 is a short psalm of seven verses. It is a psalm of lament and a prayer for deliverance from personal enemies.

This title is almost a direct quotation from I Samuel 23: 19. It is one of the psalms containing prayers against false accusations, linked with an ordeal, the taking of an oath, or an appeal to God as the higher court.

The psalmist cries out for help as he is oppressed by his enemies. But, despite his plight, he trusts in God for deliverance, and seeks to show his thanks to God in true worship.

‘Where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind’ (James 3: 16) … the gates of Auschwitz (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James 3: 13 to 4: 3, 7-8a:

We have also come to the end of our short series of readings from the Book of Proverbs, which began earlier this month (2 September 2018). This selection ends on Sunday with Saint James seeking to correct the arrogance and intemperate speech he finds in the community, and warning about the evil dangers of violence and war.

He reminds his readers of the qualities of wisdom, and his understanding of wisdom is like that of the Wisdom writers and of Saint Paul. In doing this, he contrasts earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom.

If we show gentleness, then we are showing heavenly wisdom. But if show envy and selfish ambition, and if we are boastful, then we are not being true to Christian values and are showing earthly values.

Godly wisdom is pure, peace-loving, merciful and bears good fruits, and seeks to make peace.

He continues by contrasting those who make peace with those who stir up strife and conflict, and contrasting the proud with the humble.

‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands and they will kill him’ (Mark 9: 31) … the crucifixion window in the parish church in Ballybunion, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 9: 30-37:

This Sunday’s Gospel reading comes immediately after a story that is passed over in the Sunday lectionary readings, the story of a young boy who is healed of epilepsy or an unclean spirit (Mark 9: 14-29). The disciples are left puzzled, wondering why Jesus could cure him, but they could not.

Now, as they travel from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, they re-enter Jewish territory as they pass through Galilee. He tells them that he is the ‘Son of Man,’ that he is going to be betrayed and killed, and that he will rise again.

They do not understand what he is saying – how could they, they cannot yet expect the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Both these future events, no matter how much closer they are getting to them as they move closer to Jerusalem, are beyond their understanding and they are afraid to ask Jesus, either because they do not want to show their ignorance or because they are afraid that they too may become innocent victims and suffer the consequences of what he is talking about.

By the time they arrive in Capernaum, the disciples have been arguing over who among them is the greatest. But Jesus chides them, telling them being a disciple is not about rank or power, position or prestige, but is about service.

To illustrate his point, Jesus takes a little child and places him or her among them. The Greek word used here, παιδίον (paidíon), is diminutive, and means a little child, either male or female, and could also be used for a young servant or even a child slave.

When someone welcomed a child slave or servant sent on an errand or with a message, they welcomed or received the master. Jesus reminds the disciples that whoever receives the servant receives the master, whoever receives a child receives Christ, whoever receives Christ receives God the Father, who sent him.

‘Then he took a little child and put it among them’ (Mark 9: 36) … a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Nenagh, Co Tipperary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A reflection on the Gospel reading:

How can we relate the first part of the Gospel reading (verses 30-32), when Jesus talks about his own impending betrayal, crucifixion and resurrection, with the part of the Gospel reading (verses 33-37), when Jesus takes an innocent, small child and makes him or her an example of how we should behave with Kingdom values?

Sometimes, I fear, we make it too difficult to talk about the Crucifixion, and so we make it too difficult to talk about the Resurrection, unless we are talking about them in the context of Holy Week, Good Friday and Easter.

But sometimes too, I fear, we make it too easy to talk about children because we romanticise childhood in our comfortable settings, yet too difficult to talk about children because too often we have to turn away, mentally and emotionally, when we see the suffering of children in the world today.

I think all of us have been disturbed for some years now about the terrors that are rained down on children in the world today.

I say ‘children’ and not ‘innocent children,’ because there is no such being as a guilty child – there are only innocent children.

And the suffering and plight of children is all the more distressing when it is caused by the calculations of adults who dismiss this suffering as merely the collateral damage brought about by war.

For Christians, this distress must always be acute, must always demand our compassion, must always call for our response.

It cannot matter to us what label is placed on these children – whether the suffering Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip are Christians or Muslim; whether the children fleeing Syria as refugees are Christian or Muslim; whether the children targeted by Saudi fighter bombers in Yemen are Shia or Sunni, going to a school or a wedding; whether the children separated forcibly from their parents on the border between Texas and Mexico speak Spanish or English; whether the homeless children who sleep in a cramped hotel room with their mothers tonight are travellers or settled children.

When the disciples argue in this Gospel reading about who is the greatest among them (verse 34), they are shamed into silence when they realise Jesus overhears what they say.

In response, he calls a child, puts the child among them, and tells them: ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all’ (verse 35). Then he takes a little child and puts it among them, then takes the child in his arms and says to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me’ (verse 37).

We are not told whether this child is a boy or girl, free or slave, Jew or Samaritan, Greek or Roman, a street urchin or the child of one the Disciples.

Indeed, in all likelihood, the Disciples never noticed, for at that time a child was of no economic value and a burden on families until the child could earn his or her own way, or until the child had the potential of being the equivalent of a pension scheme for parents.

But in Saint Matthew’s version of this story (Matthew 18: 1-14), Christ tells us: ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven … it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost’ (verses 10-14).

The Kingdom of Heaven is like little things. Throughout the Gospels, Christ reminds us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like:

● Sowing a seed;

● Giving a nest to the birds of the air;

● Mixing yeast;

● Turning small amounts of flour into generous portions of bread;

● Finding hidden treasure;

● Rushing out in joy;

● Selling all that I have because something I have found is worth more – much, much more, again and again;

● Searching for pearls;

● Finding just one pearl;

● Casting a net into the sea;

● Catching an abundance of fish;

● Drawing that abundance of fish ashore, realising there is too much there for my personal needs, and sharing it.

In this Gospel reading, we are told that Kingdom is like a little child.

Quite often, we romanticise this little child, thinking of a well-dressed, well-fed, well-loved child from our own family or own parish.

But for one moment imagine a playing child not knowing he is about to die on a beach in Gaza, a child falsely feeling secure on a school bus in Yemen, a frightened child in a Syrian mother’s arms cramped into a tiny boat in the Mediterranean, a wailing, distressed child on the Mexican border who has no idea where her parents are, a child in an hotel room tonight whose mother does not know where they are going to sleep tomorrow night.

These are last in the world’s priorities, yet Christ says ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last … Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’ (Mark 9: 35, 37).

‘… and three days after being killed he will rise again’ (Mark 9: 31) … the resurrection window in Saint Michael’s Church, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 9: 30-37 (NRSVA):

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me’ (Mark 9: 37) … a stained-glass window in the north transept in Saint Mary’s Church, Youghal, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green

The Collect:

O Lord, Hear the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect of the Word:

God and Father of all,
you have taught us through your Son
that the last shall be first,
and have made a little child
the measure of your kingdom:
give us the wisdom from above,
so that we may understand that in your sight
the one who serves is the greatest of all.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of mercy,
through our sharing in this holy sacrament
you make us one body in Christ.
Fashion us in his likeness here on earth,
that we may share his glorious company in heaven,
where he lives and reigns now and for ever.

‘For the beauty of the earth’ (Hymn 350) … by the river bank in Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

Proverbs 31: 10-31:

350, For the beauty of the earth
543, Lord of the home, your only Son
636, May the grace of Christ our Saviour
544, O perfect love, all human thought transcending

Psalm 1:

649, Happy are they, they that love God
56, Lord, as I wake I turn to you
383, Lord, be thy word my rule

Wisdom 1: 16 to 2: 1, 12-22:

10, All my hope on God is founded
700, Holy God, we praise thy name

Jeremiah 11: 18-20:

118, Behold, the mountain of the Lord
273, Led like a lamb to the slaughter
140, The Lord will come and not be slow

Psalm 54:

218, And can it be that I should gain
638, O for a heart to praise my God
620, O Lord, hear my prayer

James 3: 13 to 4: 3, 7-8a:

10, All my hope on God is founded
297, Come, thou Holy Spirit, come
563, Commit your ways to God
311, Fruitful trees, the Spirit’s sowing
533, God of grace and God of glory
551, How can we sing with joy to God
553, Jesu, lover of my soul
99, Jesus, the name high over all
635, Lord, be my guardian and my guide
619, Lord, teach us how to pray aright
593, O Jesus, I have promised
507, Put peace into each other’s hands
8, The Lord is King! Lift up your voice

Mark 9: 30-37:

11, Can we by searching find out God
219, From heav’n you came, helpless babe
651, Jesus, friend of little children
228, Meekness and majesty
231, My song is love unknown
439, Once, only once, and once for all
627, What a friend we have in Jesus
145, You servants of the Lord

‘Jesus, friend of little children’ (Hymn 651) … a stained glass window in Saint John’s Church, Sandymount, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

‘They are like trees planted by streams of water’ (Psalm 1: 3) … willows by the banks of the River Cam in Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 27 September 2020, Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

He said to his sons, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today’ (see Matthew 21: 28) … working in a vineyard in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Next Sunday, 27 September 2020, is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI).

The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are in two groupings: the Continuous Readings and the Grouped Readings:

The Continuous Readings: Exodus 17: 1-7; Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16; Philippians 2: 1-13; Matthew 21: 23–32.

There is a link to the Continuous Readings HERE.

The Paired Readings: Ezekiel 18: 1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25: 1-8; Philippians 2: 1-13; Matthew 21: 23–32.

There is a link to the Paired Readings HERE.

Rome or Paris … are all decisions a clear choice between conflicting contrasts? Wallpaper in a restaurant in Templeogue, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the Readings:

Black or white?

Dog or cat?

Land or sea?

Wet bob or dry bob?

Paris or Rome?

Wine or beer?

It’s the sort of game we all play in our families at one time or another. I loved playing ‘Matching Pairs’ with my sons when they were at the early learning stage.

For adults, there are similar jokes about two kinds of people we compare or contrast: ‘There are two types of people: those who divide people into two categories, and those who don’t.’
For the mathematicians: ‘There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don’t.’

And for those with a more subtle sense of humour: ‘There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.’

The readings for next Sunday give us contrasting pairs:

In the first reading (Exodus 17: 1-7), we see contrasts between adults and children; water and wilderness; testing and thirsting; obeying and quarrelling; responsible freedom and slavery without responsibility.

The Psalm (Psalm 78) contrasts images of ancestors and children, day and night, rock and river, and so on.

In the Epistle reading (Philippians 2: 1-13), the Apostle Paul gives us the stark contrasts offered in Christ of slavery and freedom, deity and humanity, fear and trembling, heaven and earth.

This helps us to prepare for the matching pairs or clashing contrasts we find in our Gospel reading (Matthew 21: 23-32).

‘Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink’ (Exodus 17: 6) water from the rocks at Ballybunion, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Exodus 17: 1-7:

The freed people continue their long from Egypt to the Promised Land, from slavery to freedom, through the wilderness and the Sinai Peninsula.

God has shown his power during their slavery, winning their freedom from Pharaoh and his forces. But he tests their faith in him, as provider and ruler, ten times. This reading is about one of those ten tests. But, we might ask, who tests whom? (see verses 2, 7).

Earlier, at Marah, the people had water – but it was bitter. Now, at Rephidim, an oasis in the Negev or Sinai, there is no water at all. The well at the oasis has run dry.

The Israelites challenge Moses. The Hebrew translated as quarrelled in verse 2 is a legal term. The people bring a case against Moses. No wonder that this challenge is seen by Moses for what it is: their charge is against God. The names Massah and Meribah (verse 7) come from the words for test and quarrel.

The people doubt that God can feed them, that this God can be their god in this hostile desert.

God responds as he responds to their other tests. God simply grants the people’s request, without rebuking them. He orders Moses to take some of the elders of Israel, representatives of the people, to the rock at Horeb.

There, the elders see God show his power. The parallel with Egypt continues: the staff Moses uses to bring forth water is the same rod Moses used to poison the Nile.

In giving manna or bread from heaven to eat earlier, and now water from an earthly rock to eat, God shows he is the Lord of creation.

‘He split the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as from the great deep’ (Psalm 78: 15) … Saint Finian’s Bay near Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16:

Psalm 78 was used at major festivals. This psalm tells the story of the people of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of David. It serves to teach that God has continued his saving acts in history in spite of the unfaithfulness of his people.

The Hebrew word translated as ‘parable’ in verse 2 has a wide meaning. Here, it means wise instruction, based not only on knowledge but also on long experience of God’s ways. It is important that coming generations know about God and his marvellous interventions in human affairs, his wonderful works and marvellous things, so that all may live by his Law.

The field of Zoan in verse 12 refers to Ramases, the city where the Exodus began.

The psalm then recalls God’s presence in the wilderness – how he divided the sea and led the people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

The reading from this psalm concludes by recalling the events described in the first reading, when God gave water from a rock so that they might drink and know the promise of life.

‘He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross’ (Philippians 2: 8) … ‘Crucifixion’ by Georgia Grigoriadou in an exhibition in Rethymnon, Crete, marking the 400th anniversary of El Greco (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Philippians 2: 1-13:

In this epistle reading, the Apostle Paul offers the Christians in Philippi ‘encouragement in Christ.’ He prays that through this, and moved by God’s love for them, they may ‘be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord ...’

He urges them to ‘regard others as better than [them]selves’ and to behave without selfish ambition or conceit, in humility and with respect for others.

In verses 5-11, we hear an early Christian hymn, into which Saint Paul inserts verse 8b.

The ‘Christ-Hymn’ in this reading is the earliest extant material underpinning later Christology and the New Testament’s most explicit exposition of the nature of Christ’s incarnation. The closest approximations are found in: Colossians 1: 15-20; I Timothy 3: 6; and I Peter 3: 18-22 (see also John 1: 1-5).

Saint Paul urges us to be like Christ, who was ‘in the form of God’ and shared in God’s very nature. Even so, he humbled himself ‘emptied himself,’ making himself powerless, in the same way as a slave is powerless and without rights.

It is so easy, too often, to forget the pre-existent Christ. Yet, this is he who became human like us, with all that entails, including death. Becoming human, he lowered or humbled himself, and throughout that life he was fully human and totally obedient to God, even to the point of going through death.

Saint Paul adds here that Christ did this even to point of experiencing the most debasing form of death – crucifixion was a punishment reserved for slaves and the worst criminals.

God actively responded to this total denial of self, Christ’s complete living and dying for others, by honouring him exalting him above all other people making Lord of all creation, above and below. This authority had previously been reserved for God the Father.

Saint Paul then recalls God’s words spoken through the Prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah 45): ‘From every corner of the earth [all are to] turn to me and be saved; for I am God ... to me every knee shall bow … to me every tongue shall swear, saying ‘In the Lord alone are victory and might … all Israel’s descendants will be victorious and will glory in the Lord.’

The Philippians shall declare that ‘Jesus Christ is Lord,’ proclaiming the victory and might of God. The ultimate goal is to give glory to God the Father, reclaiming God’s sovereignty over creation.

If we take Christ’s example of obedience and lowliness, we can continue to look forward to salvation, for God is at work in us to bring about what he pleases.

‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (Matthew 21: 25) … a window in a church in Ardagh, Co Longford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Matthew 21: 23-32:

In the final week of his earthly life, Christ has just shown the importance of faith in understanding God’s ways. Now, as he teaches in the Temple, representatives of the Sanhedrin, the chief priests and the elders, ask who has given him the power and authority to say and do all that he has said and done in his ministry.

However, Christ declines to answer them until they first answer his question, one that will show whether they have the faith needed to understand his answer.

Those who come to question Christ are skilled in the Law. But this is of little help when to comes to deciding whether a prophet is genuinely from God, in this case Saint John the Baptist.

If they say that Saint John the Baptist was from God, they ought to have repented as he urged them.

If they say John was not from God, they risk losing face and credibility with the crowd who are now following Christ.

The Sanhedrin judged such issues, but their answer shows their incompetence.

In the second part of this reading (verses 28-30), Christ tells a parable about admission to the kingdom. Like the first son in this parable, people once regarded as disobedient and having lived evil lives, such as tax collectors and prostitutes, have turned to God. But people like the second son, who have given lip-service to the law of God, have not lived out what they say they believe.

The second son in the parable addresses the father as κύριος (kyrios), not merely Lord, but in the Septuagint a way of addressing God, yet remains disobedient.

However, there is still time.

Doing and Being … advice on a T-shirt in the Plaka in Athens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Reflecting on the Readings:

The Gospel reading is set in the immediate aftermath of Christ’s entry in triumph into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his cleansing of the Temple.

When he returns to the Temple the following day, he is confronted by the religious and civic leaders, the guardians of belief and tradition, who challenge and question him about his power and authority.

The ‘chief priests and the elders of the people’ are the leaders in the Temple hierarchy, and also at the apex of society in Jerusalem – questioning Jesus about what gives him authority. In particular, they ask what gives him the right to behave as he does, and especially the right to claim he is acting in God’s name when he is behaving like that.

It is a question that Christ might have expected, under the circumstances. The exchange takes place when he enters the Temple. The day before had been an eventful day: when Christ enters Jerusalem and the crowds hail him as king. He next goes into the Temple courts, he overturns the tables and the seats of the money changers and the dove sellers, and he speaks about the destruction of the Temple.

The Temple authorities have been offended. Quite naturally, they have to confront him.

Who does he think he is?

What gives him the right to force his way in and stir things up?

What authority has he to behave like this?

But, in a clever manoeuvre, Christ answers their questions by asking his own question.

A clever manoeuvre, indeed. It was acceptable then, but every bar room lawyer knows now that you are not allowed to ask questions that allow only a choice between two convicting answers, loaded questions like: ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’

Loaded questions are loaded with presuppositions, often with built-in fallacies and false dichotomies.

And the chief priests and the elders fall into a trap that every sixth-form debater would know how to set and how to escape.

There is a great deal of humour here. Those who are skilled in the Law failed to see the flawed legal trap. And in doing this they display their innate inabilities, their incomparable incompetence, their own failures in judgment.

In this Gospel reading, Christ answers with a two-part question. And once again, he turns the tables on those who confront him. They are taken aback; they are caught in a dilemma. If they answer one way, they are caught out; if they answer the other, they are still caught out. It is a dichotomy. And either way they cannot win.

As they are left mulling this over, Christ tells the parable of two sons and a father. The second dichotomy, the second comparison, the second either/or choice, is posed when Christ tells this parable about a father who sends his two sons, a willing son and an unwilling son, to work in the family vineyard.

It is a sharp contrast between being and doing.

The two sons remind me once again of the T-shirt I have joked about for years and that eventually I bought a few summers ago in the Plaka in Athens with these words:

‘To do is to be’ – Socrates

‘To be is to do’ – Plato

‘Do be do be do be do’ – Sinatra

The American publisher Cyrus Curtis (1850-1933) once said: ‘There are two kinds of people who never amount to much: those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.’

But the two sons illustrate a serious dilemma:

Those who respond negatively to what they are asked to do, may eventually do it … and recognise their initial wilfulness.

Those who say they are going to do something they are tasked with, but then refuse to follow-up, to deliver, to do, refuse to recognise their own wilfulness yet persist in their sinfulness.

How often have you responded to people because of their words rather than their deeds and found you have completely misjudged them?

The two sons are asked to go to work in the family vineyard.

One son says: ‘I will not.’ In a Mediterranean village culture, in which there is no such thing as personal privacy, this son’s reaction to his father shames the father publicly.

The other son says: ‘I go, sir.’ In public, he appears to be what a good son should be.

But the tables are turned when we learn that the son who mouths off actually goes to work in the vineyard, while the son who seems at first to be good and dutiful turns out to be disobedient.

So, those who say they are compliant and say they are doing the right thing have headed off to do things their own way, while claiming they are doing what God wants.

On the other hand, Christ tells all present that even prostitutes and tax collectors who appear to be disobedient might actually end up with a true place in the vineyard. In today’s context, who are the people I keep excluding from the kingdom yet are being called in by God?

Paradoxes aside, most of us are not like one son or the other … most of us are like both sons, and wrestle with their responses and their approaches throughout our lives.

Have you ever received an invitation to a party, a book launch, a wedding, with those four little letters at the end: ‘RSVP’?

Have you ever been one of those people who, anxious not to offend, sends back a reply saying yes, I’ll be there, and then … and then something else crops up, and I fail to turn up?

It has happened to me. I have been invited to parties and book launches, ignored the RSVP line in the bottom corner, and then, at the last moment, turned up. And, I have to confess, I have, at least one or twice, accepted … and not turned up.

On which evening do you think I was most appreciated, most welcomed?

An obvious answer, I think.

It is more forgivable to be socially awkward than to be wilfully rude.

When we strive with the demands of Christian living, with Christian discipleship, it is easy to be like one of these sons.

There are times when we may find it difficult to do what God is asking you to do. We wait, we think, we ponder, but eventually we answer that RSVP and seek to do God’s will.

We say ‘No’ countless times, and then realise how worthwhile it all is: labouring in the vineyard should be hard work, but it leads to a good harvest and good wine.

I have to be careful to distinguish between God’s will and my own will. When they coincide, there are countless blessings. But when they are in conflict, I need to beware of pretending that one is the other, that I am answering the Father’s call and doing his work, when in reality I am doing what I want to do myself, and telling others what I want rather than what God wants.

In the words of the Collect of the Day, we pray that we may all, each one of us, that we may ‘both perceive and know’ … but these two are not good enough on their own; instead, we pray that we may ‘both perceive and know what things’ we ‘ought do’ … so that with God’s grace we actual do them.

Being and doing come together; we know what to do, and we do it.

In The Great Divorce, CS Lewis claims: ‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done”.’

And we encourage one another to do God’s will and we find that when we do God’s will, it is God’s will for us, when in the Church, as Saint Paul encourages us in the Epistle reading, we are ‘of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind’ (Philippians 2: 2).

‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (Matthew 21: 25) … a window the Cathedral of Christ the King, Mullingar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Matthew 21: 23-32 (NRSVA):

23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ 24 Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” 26 But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ 27 So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” 29 He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

‘John came to you in the way of righteousness’ (Matthew 21: 32) … Saint John the Baptist in a fresco in a church in Piskopiano, near Iraklion in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green (Year A, Ordinary Time)

The Collect of the Day:

O Lord,
Hear the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect of the Word:

Grant, O merciful God,
that your people may have that mind that that was in Christ Jesus,
who emptied himself,
and took the form of a servant,
and in humility became obedient even to death.
For you have exalted him and bestowed on him
a name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, the Lord;
who lives and reigns with you in unity with the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of mercy,
through our sharing in this holy sacrament
you make us one body in Christ.
Fashion us in his likeness here on earth,
that we may share his glorious company in heaven,
where he lives and reigns now and for ever.

‘As the deer pants for the water’ (Hymn 606) … mosaic work in Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Ballsbridge, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Suggested Hymns:

Exodus 17: 1-7:

607, As pants the hart for cooling streams
606, As the deer pants for the water
645, Father, hear the prayer we offer
646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
431, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour
435, O God, unseen, yet ever near
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me

Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16:

254, At the Lamb’s high feast we sing
262, Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me

Ezekiel 18: 1-4, 25-32:

638, O for a heart to praise my God

Psalm 25: 1-8:

17, Lead me, Lord, lead me in thy righteousness (Treoragh mé, treoragh mé, a Thiarna)
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
712, Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

Philippians 2: 1-13:

250, All hail the power of Jesus’ name
684, All praise to thee, for thou, O King divine
218, And can it be that I should gain
630, Blessed are the pure in heart
496, For the healing of the nations
454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
91, He is Lord, he is Lord
523, Help us to help each other, Lord
211, Immortal love for ever full
94, In the name of Jesus
275, Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious
168, Lord, you were rich beyond all splendour
636, May the mind of Christ my Saviour
228, Meekness and majesty
102, Name of all majesty
392, Now is eternal life
173, O Jesu so meek, O Jesu so kind
285, The head that once was crowned with thorns
112, There is a Redeemer
114, Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
117, To the name of our salvation
116, To our Redeemer’s glorious name

Matthew 21: 23-32:

86, Christ is the King, O friends, rejoice
593, O Jesus, I have promised
136, On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry

‘On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry’ (Hymn 136) … an icon of Saint John the Baptist in a small church in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The hymns suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

‘Rock of ages, cleft for me’ (Hymn 557) … water pouring down rocks at High Leigh Conference Centre in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 16 September 2018, Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

‘Look at ships … it takes strong winds to drive them’ (James 3: 4) … a late summer sunset at Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Next Sunday, 16 September 2018, is the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVI). The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted in the Church of Ireland, are:

Continuous Readings: Proverbs 1: 20-33; Psalm 19 or the Canticle The Song of Wisdom (Wisdom 7: 26 to 8: 1); James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38.

Paired Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 116: 1-8; James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

Introducing the readings:

There is an interesting theme about Wisdom running through the Continuous Readings provided for next Sunday. The qualities of wisdom as an image of God are described in the first reading. The Psalm describes how wisdom can be searched out and found. An alternative to the Psalm is found in the Canticle, ‘The Song of Wisdom,’ which describes the characteristics of wisdom.

The New Testament reading, however, warns us against unwise use of our tongue in talk and conversation, and the Gospel reading is an introduction to how the disciples, personified in Saint Peter, find it difficult to be wise about who Christ is.

‘Wisdom cried out in the street … at the entrance of the city gates she spoke’ (Proverbs 1: 20-21) … a gate in the city walls in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Proverbs 1: 20-33:

Wisdom, who is personified as a woman, makes her first appearance in this book in this reading and delivers warnings of her own.

She speaks in public places where she can be heard – as did the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah – reaching ordinary people in the street and the busy people who work at the city gates. She calls to the simple, to the scoffers and to fools, all of whom reject wisdom.

If only they would change their ways, she would make God’s ways known to them. But, even though she has stretched out her hand, they have not changed their ways and they laugh at her.

But, she warns them, she will have the last laugh. Their downfall will be sudden and unpredictable, like a storm or a whirlwind, when they will realise it too late. Then, because they hated knowledge and chose not to hold God in awe, because they did not accept the advice of Wisdom, nor listened to her criticism of their ways, they will reap what they have sown. But those who listen to Wisdom’s call will live ‘without dread of disaster.’

‘The sun … comes forth like a like a bridegroom out of the chamber’ (Psalm 19: 5) … a winter sunrise at the Rectory in Askeaton (Photograph; Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 19:

This Psalm is familiar to many churchgoers because its closing words were often used in the past by preachers as the opening prayer as they began their sermons: ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer’ (Psalm 19: 14).

In the Psalm, the heavens and the firmament are depicted as telling us of God’s glory and work. The firmament was understood as almost like a pudding bowl over the earth, and beyond this was a hierarchy of heavens.

God’s glory is told day and night to all without needing to use words. The sun rises early in the morning, making God’s presence known with its heat.

Verses 7-9 present the wonders of the law as an expression of God’s will for humanity. It revives the soul, gives wisdom to the innocent, rejoices the heart and gives light to the eye.

‘Wisdom is a reflection of eternal light’ (Wisdom 7: 26) … the reflections of evening lights at the harbour in Skerries, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Canticle Song of Wisdom (Wisdom 7: 26 to 8: 1):

The lectionary provides the Canticle The Song of Wisdom as an alternative to the psalm on Sunday. This is one of the 20 canticles provided for use at Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer (see pp 132-133), but unlike other Biblical canticles in this section – such as Venite and Jubilate, we are offered only one form of this canticle.

The Book of Wisdom is important for our ideas of Christ. As in the first reading (Proverbs 1: 20-33), Wisdom is once again personified as a woman. She has 21 characteristics of wisdom – although some are repeated to reach this number. In Hebrew literature, the number 7 signifies perfection, while the number 3 is the divine number. So, the number 21 represents divine or absolute perfection.

Wisdom flows from eternal light, is a flawless reflection of God’s activity, and an image of his goodness. Wisdom can do all things, is constant unchanging, gives life to each generation, and enters the souls of the godly. Wisdom is morally perfect and ‘orders all things well.’

‘Look at ships … though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them’ (James 3: 4) … a sail ship at the quays in Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

James 3: 1-12:

The author of this Epistle is a teacher who realises the expectations for teachers is greater than those for others, and warns that none of us can live a perfect, Christian, moral life.

The tongue is small, but like a horse’s bit or a ship’s rudder, it can steer and move the rest of the body, with grave consequences. The tongue can be set on fire by hell, is difficult to be tame, and is capable of spreading evil. It can be used for good or evil, to honour God or to curse other people, who are ‘made in the likeness of God.’ It should only be used for good.

In nature, a spring only produces good water or bad water, fig trees do not yield olives, nor do vines yield figs, and salt water cannot yield fresh water.

What do we produce that are signs of a living Christian faith?

Saint Peter … an Earley window in the porch of the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Athlone (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Mark 8: 27-38:

In this Gospel reading, Christ travels north from the Sea of Galilee to the villages around Caesarea Philippi, a town known for its shrines to the god Pan. It was first settled in the Hellenistic period, and was also known as Caesarea Paneas and Neronias.

On the way to Caesarea Philippi, Saint Peter tells Christ that he believes he is the Messiah (Mark 8: 29-30). Peter has that rock-like faith on which the Church is going to be built (see Matthew 16: 18-19).

But Christ then tells his disciples that it is not all going to be a bed of roses, indeed it is going to be more like a crown of thorns. He tells them that on the journey he is going to suffer, be derided, and face his own execution.

Saint Peter is upset. This is not what he expects. This is not what anyone of the day expects of the Messiah. He takes Jesus aside, and he rebukes him.

But he has got it wrong. Christ in turn rebukes Peter and reminds those present that if they want to be his followers they must take up their cross and follow him.

Later, during the trial of Jesus, Peter denies he is a follower of Christ, not just once, or even twice, but denies Christ three times before the cock crows.

This is the same Simon Peter who has a faith that is going to be so rock solid that the church could stand on it. This is the same Peter who drew his sword in the garden in a futile attempt to stop the arrest of Christ (John 18: 10-11; but see Matthew 26: 51-54, Mark 14: 47 and Luke 22: 49-51, where Peter is not named).

But, when push comes to shove, Peter denies Christ, and denies him three times in the course of just one night (Matthew 26: 69-75; Mark 14: 66-72; Luke 22: 54-62; John 18: 15-17, 25-27).

Yet this Peter is to find his potential, or rather Christ sees his potential, in an Easter story, a story of hope (John 21: 15-17).

The Risen Christ meets the disciples on the shore early in the morning. After breakfast, Christ asks Peter: ‘Do you love me?’ Peter answers, ‘Yes Lord; you know that I love you.’ Christ tells him: ‘Feed my lambs’ (verse 15).

A second time, Christ asks him, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter answers, ‘Yes Lord; you know that I love you.’ Christ tells him: ‘Tend my sheep’ (verse 16).

A third time, Christ asks him, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter feels hurt, and he sounds exasperated and exhausted as he answers a third time, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ This time Christ tells him: ‘Feed my sheep’ (verse 17).

Christ’s three questions to Peter serve as a way of reversing the three denials the previous week. Now he is given a triple charge: to feed the lambs of the Good Shepherd; to tend his sheep; and to feed his sheep.

Despite this, Saint Peter still does not manage to get it quite right all the time. He argues with Saint Paul at Antioch, and Paul rebukes Peter for seemingly trying to insist that Gentiles must become Jews if they are to convert to Christianity (Galatians 2: 11-13).

Even when he gets it wrong in Antioch, Saint Peter goes on to get it right at the first Council of the Church in Jerusalem (see Acts 15: 7-20). He goes on to refer to Saint Paul as ‘our beloved brother’ and his letters as ‘scripture,’ even when they may be difficult to understand (see II Peter 3: 16-17).

A later Church tradition says Saint Peter and Saint Paul taught together in Rome, founded Christianity in the city, and suffered martyrdom at the same time, so that an icon of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, standing side-by-side, is a popular icon of Church unity and ecumenism in the Orthodox Church.

Saint Peter depicted in a window in the north nave in in Saint Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Reflecting on the Gospel reading:

Like the people who are listening to Christ in Sunday’s Gospel reading, we are called to take up our cross and follow Christ (Mark 8: 34). Along the way, we may fall and stumble, we may wonder where we are going and why. But the Easter message is always a reminder that the journey in faith leads to is one of hope and love.

If Saint Peter knew what was ahead of him, he might have been even stronger in rebuking Christ in this Gospel reading. But the triumph comes not in getting what we want, not in engineering things so that God gives us what we desire and wish for, so that we get a Jesus who does the things we want him to do. The triumph comes at Easter, in the Resurrection.

We cannot separate who Christ is from what Christ does. In Sunday’s Gospel reading, Christ asks his disciples, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ (Mark 8: 29). The suffering of the Suffering Servant is an image that is drawn on when Christ talks in our Gospel reading this morning from Saint Mark’s Gospel.

There he talks about his coming passion and crucifixion, when he says that ‘the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected … and be killed …’ (Mark 8: 31).

If we say we believe Christ suffered and died for our sins, then we must also say that he takes on the ways we are sinned against.

When people are taunted and spat on in the streets, when their ethnicity and their language become a matter for rejection and humiliation, then how do we respond to it when we think that it is Christ himself who is being spat upon, that Christ himself takes on the insults and the injuries?

But suffering and rejection must never have the last word. As Christ reminds us in this Gospel reading, all sufferings must end in hope: the Son of Man ‘after three days [will rise] again’ (Mark 8: 31). All suffering must eventually be put to an end, because that is the promise of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

To be true followers of Christ means taking up our cross and following him (Mark 8: 34). There is no shame in being Christ-like (Mark 8: 38). And so, we too must be willing to see any insult or taunt, any expression of prejudice or rejection, any racism or any discrimination based on ethnicity or language, gender or sexuality, colour or looks, is prejudice against Christ, is prejudice against the Body of Christ, is prejudice against all of us, is prejudice against me.

Some years ago, in my book Embracing Difference, I pointed out that immigrants and asylum seekers in Ireland suffer disproportionately when it comes to industrial accidents and poor wages. Statistics show they are more likely than Irish-born residents to be the victims of violent crime, including murder, to end up in prison, to be the victims of racism, to be killed in road traffic accidents, and to be the victims of workplace accidents, including fatal accidents.

Those same statistics show that a disproportionate number of the children admitted to our hospitals are the children of asylum seekers. If they suffer like this, then how ought we to respond as Christians?

Saint Peter and Saint Paul … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Mark 8: 27-38 (NRSV)

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ 28 And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ 29 He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Saint Peter depicted in one of the paired east windows in Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Clonfert, Co Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green

The Collect:

O Lord,
Hear the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of mercy,
through our sharing in this holy sacrament
you make us one body in Christ.
Fashion us in his likeness here on earth,
that we may share his glorious company in heaven,
where he lives and reigns now and for ever.

‘Look at ships … though they are so large … yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the pilot directs’ (James 3: 4) … a ferry leaving the harbour in Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

The hymns suggested for next Sunday in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling, include:

Proverbs 1: 20-33:

643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
11, Can we by searching find out God
324, God, whose almighty word

Psalm 19:

606, As the deer pants for the water
153, Come, thou Redeemer of the earth
351, From all that dwell below the skies
631, God be in my head
696, God, we praise you! God, we bless you!
616, In my life, Lord, be glorified
97, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
384, Lord, thy word abideth
432, Love is his word, love is his way
638, O for a heart to praise my God
34, O worship the King all-glorious above
35, The spacious firmament on high

The Song of Wisdom:

643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
33, O Lord of every shining constellation

Isaiah 50: 4-9a:

230, My Lord, what love is this
235, O sacred head, sore wounded
239, See, Christ was wounded for our sake

Psalm 116: 1-8:

494, Beauty for brokenness
374, When all thy mercies, O my God

James 3: 1-12:

31, Lord of the boundless curves of space
589, Lord, speak to me that I may speak
33, O Lord of every shining constellation
446, Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands

Mark 8: 27-38:

666, Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side
460, For all your saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verse 1, 2j, 3)
533, God of grace and God of glory
588, Light of the minds that know him
59, New every morning is the love
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
599, ‘Take up thy cross,’ the Saviour said
112, There is a Redeemer
605, Will you come and follow me

‘Wisdom cried out in the street … at the entrance of the city gates she spoke’ (Proverbs 1: 20-21) … a gate in the city walls in Collioure in the south of France (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org