Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 4 July 2021, Fifth Sunday after Trinity

‘He … began to send them out two by two’ (Mark 6: 7) … two walkers on the beach in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, at the end of the day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 4 July 2021, is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V).

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

The Continuous readings: II Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10 Psalm 48; II Corinthians 12: 2-10; Mark 6: 1-13.

The Paired readings: Ezekiel 2: 1-5; Psalm 123; II Corinthians 12: 2-10; Mark 6: 1-13.

There is a link to the continuous readings HERE

There is a link to the paired readings HERE

When I set out on journeys, too often I take too much with me … ‘A Case History’ or ‘The Hope Street Suitcases’ by John King in Liverpool (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Introducing the readings:

Until mid-June, I was still hoping that I might get to the High Leigh Conference Centre near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire for the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) next month (19 to 21 July 2021). However, because of the spread of the Delta Variant, the conference is now going to be a ‘virtual’ or on-line event.

However, even if I only get to take part in the conference virtually, I expect the combination of ‘being sent’ and ‘being dependent’ is a mission theme that I shall hear much about from USPG staff and partners. This is also a strong Biblical theme in next Sunday’s readings.

In these readings, we are challenged to see how being sent by God is always being in service and as being part of the ‘Sent Community.’

In addition, as we are sent, we are called to trust both in God and in those from whom we receive resources and support for our work. This applies, of course, not just to bishops and priests, but to all who seek to follow Christ and live as citizens of God’s Kingdom.

What do you take with you on a journey? If you can bring your mind back to pre-pandemic times, ask yourself what are the essential items you packed in your case? Was it a small bag for an overhead cabin on a Ryanair flight and a short overnight stay? Or was it a large suitcase or two for a two-week summer holiday, filled with towels, suncream and swimwear?

Apart from my passport, the requisite toothbrush, plastic cards, phone chargers, presents for hosts and friends, and changes of clothes and sandals, I always need to take my laptop and more than enough reading: books, magazine, journals and newspapers.

And I always regret that I have packed too much – not because I do not wear all those T-shorts or read each and every one of those books, but because I find there is not enough room for all the books I want to take back with me, and because restrictions on overhead bags often mean I cannot return with a bottle of local wine.

In next Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mark 6: 1-13), as the disciples prepare for their journey, we might expect them to take with them an extra wineskin, an extra tunic, an extra pair of sandals, some water, some spending money. But Christ tells the disciples, as he sends them out in mission, two-by-two, to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money, no spare shoes, no change of tunic, no coins for tips in the taverns or where they stay.

Perhaps the disciples set out filled with doubts and uncertainty, full of fear and anxiety, rather than with full suitcases.

But what the disciples would soon learn is that for the people they are going to encounter along the way, it is not food or money or clothes that they need most. What those people need most, like the women in the previous Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mark 5: 21-43), is healing. And so, Christ requires the disciples to give what is the hardest thing in the world for us to give: the hardest thing to give is ourselves.

Sometimes, the moments when we put aside the comforts of home and step into uncertainty and risk are moments when we find we are closest to God.

Perhaps this Gospel reading is challenging me us to ask myself: What baggage have I been dragging along with me in life on my journey of faith, in my journey in ministry, in my journey in mission?

Have I been carrying this baggage around not because I need it, but because I am comfortable with it?

What unnecessary junk am I still carrying around with me in life that I ought to have left behind long ago?

Maybe, I should be planning to take up my walking stick, dust off my sandals and set off on that journey into God’s abundance.

‘David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inwards’ (II Samuel 5: 9) … the city of Jerusalem depicted on a tile in a restaurant (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

II Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10:

The people of Israel join the people of Judah in making David their king, and so David becomes king over the entire nation. Then David establishes his throne in Jerusalem.

David has settled at Hebron (see II Samuel 2: 3). He is publicly anointed to rule over Judah by the council of tribal heads. Meanwhile, in the north, Abner, once Saul’s military commander, makes Ishbaal, Saul’s son, the puppet king over the northern tribes (see 2: 8).

The rival tribal coalitions each plan to annex Gibeon, north-west of Jerusalem. When they go to war, David’s troops win. Abner, recognising a lost cause, switches to David’s side (see 3: 1-10), but he is killed (see 3: 22-29). Ishbaal’s courage fails and he is murdered by two of his own, who are then killed on David’s orders, for killing ‘a righteous man’ (see 4: 11). David shows Abner and Ishbaal his respect when he has them buried at Hebron.

There is no acceptable successor to Saul, and the tribes of Israel (verse 1) the north, invite David to become their king too. He is an Israelite and has been an army commander under Saul (verse 2). The council of the north or elders of Israel (verse 3), anoint him king over them too. In this way, the two states, Israel and Judah, are united with one king.

David now conquers a city belonging to neither state, and he makes the Canaanite or Jebusite city a neutral capital. Jerusalem becomes the city of David (verse 9). David is seen to have increased in power with the help of God, the God who is common to the people of the north and the south.

‘And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet’ (Ezekiel 2: 2) … footprints in the sand on the beach in Ballybunion, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Ezekiel 2: 1-5:

For many commentators, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jonah stand alongside one another in the way they are called and sent by God on a mission.

Ezekiel was sent into exile, yet still had to fulfil his mission. Other prophets were reluctant too: Moses questioned his eloquence; Jeremiah believed he was too young, Isaiah thought himself impure; Jonah was reluctant to respond to his call.

Ezekiel, a priest whose name means ‘God strengthens’, is called in the year 563 BCE from among the exiles in land of Chaldeans in the Babylonian empire. Two prophets, Ezekiel and Isaiah, saw mystical visions of God among the heavenly host, and heard the words sung by the angels: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6: 3) and ‘Blessed be the glory of the Lord’ (see Ezekiel 3: 12, some translations).

In this reading, Ezekiel receives the first of five commissions. Here God commissions Ezekiel to be a prophet to the ‘people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me.’ He is to proclaim to them that although they are hard-hearted and rebellious, and whether they listen or not, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

‘Let Mount Zion rejoice … because of your judgments, O Lord’ (Psalm 48: 11) … ‘The Holy City,’ a batik by Thetis Blacker in the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 48:

Psalm 48 is a hymn of praise to the beauty and endurance of Jerusalem’s glory which overwhelms even enemy kings who come against it. The city has outlived all those who tried to conquer it, and it is protected by God.

God’s praise extends to the ends of the earth. The psalm celebrates the beauty and security of Jerusalem on Mount Zion, where God is to be praised.

God is present in the Temple in his steadfast love. Jerusalem is a joy to pilgrims who consider God’s gift of love when worshipping in the Temple. God is to be praised for ever and to the ends of the earth, and for all future generations

‘To you I lift up my eyes’ (Psalm 123: 1) … the London Eye at night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Psalm 123:

This Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from enemies and for God’s mercy after the mockery and shame that the proud have brought on God’s people. It is a commitment to be attentive to God, as servants are attentive to their masters and mistresses.

Verses 1-3 speak of humble submission to God’s will. We look with our eyes to God, seeking his mercy (verse 3). The speakers here are Israel or an oppressed group within Israel, and they seek God’s help and mercy, having had their fill of contempt, the scorn of the powerful, and derision.

Scorn and contempt have been laid upon the people, and they are either incapable or unwilling to fight against it alone. They turn to the Lord with confidence that they will receive mercy. An important dimension of mercy, רַחֵ֖ם (see Isaiah 49: 15), is that it can be understood as the tender love a mother has for her children. The psalmist’s wish is for the Lord to show motherly care for the people.

If you feel that there is no place to turn, no one to help, will you turn to the Lord for mercy?

In fact, will you turn to the Lord first?

Consider the innocent of the world, those suffering oppression, hunger, disease, those living in war-torn regions, those who have been kidnapped.

Can you pray to the Lord for mercy for them?

What did Saint Paul mean by his ‘thorn … in the flesh’? … a symbolic Crown of Thorns on a cross at the gate of Saint George’s Monastery in the mountains near Vamos in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

II Corinthians 12: 2-10:

The Apostle Paul refuses to boast in anything except his weaknesses, since God has given him a ‘thorn in his side’ to keep him from being conceited, and so he celebrates that in his weaknesses God’s strength is made perfect.

Saint Paul continues to rebut his critics. In the previous chapter, he has defended his Jewish heritage and his achievements. But he has refused to boast, and declared: ‘If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness’ (11: 30).

Now, in humility, he speaks as though someone else had a vision: ‘a person in Christ.’ It really did happen, 14 years ago, and it was a mysterious and mystical experience that is indescribable.

Was his ‘thorn … in the flesh’ (verse 7) that keeps Saint Paul from ‘being too elated’ a chronic condition, a physical or mental disability, a recurring illness, or strong opposition from one or more people?

Whatever it is, this affliction will not be removed, for the power of God is more apparent when it works through a sufferer. He accepts his condition, as it is, ‘for the sake of Christ,’ for when he feels weak, he is showing God’s power most effectively and so shows himself to be a true apostle.

‘He ordered them … to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics’ (Mark 6: 8-9) … sandals in a shopfront in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 1-13:

This Gospel reading comes in two parts. Christ preaches in his home town, but the people reject him because they know him, and cannot honour him. He then sends the Twelve out in pairs, two-by-two, with no resources, to preach. They go out to proclaim Christ’s message, to heal, and to cast out demons.

Saint Mark has told us of Christ’s success with the crowds. They have listened to the word expressed in parables; they have seen him heal the sick. He has commissioned and instructed the Twelve, showing them that he has power over nature, sickness and even death. Now Christ leaves the place where he has healed the woman and the daughter of Jairus, and he comes to his hometown in Galilee, with those who trust in him.

But his reception in the synagogue is different from that he received earlier in the Gospel (see Mark 1: 21-28). The people now question who he is. They ask how a mere carpenter can be so wise. None of it adds up, they take offence at him, and they reject him. The word σκάνδαλον (skandalon), translated in verse 3 as offence, also means a stumbling block or the trigger of a trap.

After his rejection in his hometown, Christ moves out into the rural areas. He then sends out the Twelve in mission, to minister, to extend the proclamation of the Kingdom of God in word and deed.

The disciples become apostles – the word apostle means one who is sent, and the Twelve are sent out in pairs, two-by-two.

Their mission and their need to trust in God are so important that they are to subordinate their material and physical concerns to the task of preaching and healing, as Christ does. They are not to spend time seeking better accommodation, nor are they to waste time with those who refuse to listen. They are move on, perhaps just like Jesus has moved on from his hometown, from those who refused to listen.

‘He … began to send them out two by two’ (Mark 6: 7) … two walkers in the narrow streets of San Marino (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Reflecting on the theme:

Two complementary ideas come together in a challenging way in these Lectionary readings: the idea of being sent by God, and the idea of being dependent on God.

Firstly, the importance of being sent for God’s people is reflected in David’s appointment as king over both Israel and Judah, in Ezekiel’s call to be a prophet, in Saint Paul’s ministry, and then, in our Gospel reading, both in Christ’s work in his home town and his sending of the Twelve to preach and demonstrate God’s reign.

Secondly, this sending is always in dependence on God. Ezekiel is called and God promises to show that he is a prophet, whether or not the people listen to him. David’s journey, which the Lectionary has been following over the last few weeks, reveals how much he depended on God in gaining the throne. Saint Paul recognises that God’s strength is made perfect in his weakness, and so he refuses to boast in anything except his dependence on God.

In a similar way, Psalm 123 reveals dependence on God for mercy.

Finally, Christ sends his disciples out, as he has been sent, with no real resources, but ready to rely on the hospitality of others for their basic needs, and depending on God for the power to fulfil their ministry.

We are challenged to embrace the call of God, and go out as servants of Christ in dependence on God’s resources, God’s strength, to sustain us.

There is no shortage of work to be done in the world today. The issues of justice are many and diverse and require people of passion, commitment and with a sense of being ‘called’ or being ‘sent.’

But, for justice to become a reality in the world, in our country, in our communities, there must be a sense in which all the individual initiatives connect and form part of a larger whole. It is not just as individuals that we are sent out into the world, but we are sent out as groups and communities. As we work together, each with our own particular gifts or focus, we can make a significant difference.

It is all too easy for us as priests or readers to begin to rely on our own wisdom, abilities, and charisma to do the work we have been called to do. But, without team work, we run the risks of being arrogant, controlling, abusive, rigid and closed to the ideas of others.

We need to accept that any calling comes only as part of a called community. We are always sent as individuals because of our connection with, and our place in, a ‘sent community.’

It is also true that we are always sent to serve, and this requires both trust in God’s message and mission, and the humility to be vulnerable to those to whom we seek to minister.

The resources we most depend on in ministry and in mission are not our own, but are gifts we receive from God, and from others who are ‘called’ too to resource God’s work. In this way, ministry and mission become one act of community-building and of mutual service and faith. And, when we begin to live and serve like this, we begin to experience life as God intended it, we begin to catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God.

‘On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue’ (Mark 6: 2) … inside Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Chania, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 6: 1-13 (NRSVA):

1 He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

‘They … anointed with oil many who were sick’ (Mark 6: 13) … chrism oils on Maundy Thursday (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical colour: Green.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
Hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Collect of the Word:

O Lord our God,
you are always more ready to bestow your gifts upon us
than we are to seek them;
and more willing to give than we desire or deserve:
in our every need,
grant us the first and best of all your gifts,
the Spirit who makes us your children.

Post-Communion Prayer:

Holy and blessed God,
as you give us the body and blood of your Son,
guide us with your Holy Spirit,
that we may honour you not only with our lips
but also with our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

‘As you give us the body and blood of your Son, guide us with your Holy Spirit’ (Post-Communion Prayer) … Communion vessels in preparation for the Eucharist in Saint Brendan’s Church, Bantry, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

II Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10:

12, God is our strength and refuge
529, Thy hand, O God, has guided

Psalm 48:

646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
380, God has spoken to his people, alleluia
354, Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise
593, O Jesus, I have promised

Ezekiel 2: 1-5:

381, God has spoken – by his prophets
387, Thanks to God, whose Word was spoken

Psalm 123:

696, God, we praise you! God, we bless you!
208, Hearken, O Lord, have mercy upon us
145, You servants of the Lord

II Corinthians 12: 2-10:

645, Father, hear the prayer we offer
352, Give thanks with a grateful heart
594, O Lord of creation, to you be all praise
387, Thanks to God, whose Word was spoken

Mark 6: 1-13:

454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
483, Jesus went to worship
618, Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy
197, Songs of thankfulness and praise

‘He … began to send them out two by two’ (Mark 6: 7) … two walkers set out into the light of day in Porto (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.

‘He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts’ (Mark 6: 8) … figures carrying heavy bags in a shop window in Santiago de Compostela (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 27 June 2021, Fourth Sunday after Trinity

‘The Daughter of Jairus’ by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 27 June 2021, is the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity IV).

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

Continuous readings: II Samuel 1: 1, 17-27; Psalm 130; II Corinthians 8: 7-15; and Mark 5: 21-43.

Paired readings: Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2: 23-24; Psalm 30; II Corinthians 8: 7-15; and Mark 5: 21-43.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

‘When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him’ (Mark 5: 21) … a boat in the South Harbour on Cape Clear Island off the coast of Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Introducing the readings:

Sunday’s Gospel reading (Mark 5: 21-43) tells the stories of how Christ responds to the plight of two very different people: a young girl is on her deathbed, and a woman who has been suffering for the previous 12 years, as long if not longer than the young girl has lived.

Yet, have you ever noticed when you read these stories that these two women remain unnamed, like so many women in the New Testament?

One is a young girl from a religious family who is on her deathbed; the other is an older woman who has endured a lifetime of suffering. Both suffer because of their gender and because of their age.

Sunday’s readings remind us how Christ calls the unnamed, the marginalised, and the long-suffering from the outside into the community. They hear, just as the psalmist is heard when he cries out, ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord’ (Psalm 130: 1).

Those without hope and those without status find restoration and new life in Christ.

But, how do those on the margins today hear good news in the Church today? How is the Gospel and the way we proclaim it good news for them?

‘How the mighty have fallen!’ (II Samuel 1: 19) … street art near King John’s Castle, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

II Samuel 1: 1, 17-27:

The phrase ‘How the mighty have fallen’ occurs three times in the this first reading.

Immediately before this reading, the story is told (I Samuel 31: 1-13) of a battle against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, near the Sea of Galilee. This time, the Philistines defeat the Israelites, led by Saul.

Saul’s son and heir, Jonathan, is killed in battle, and Saul is so badly wounded that he takes his own life. Meanwhile, David has returned from defeating the Amalekites (verse 1), a nomadic tribe in the southern deserts, to Ziklag (near Gaza).

A different account of Saul’s death is given by an Amalekite (II Samuel 2: 2-16). He comes to David, saying that he has escaped from the battlefield after killing the gravely injured Saul, at Saul’s own request. He brings Saul’s crown to David, his lord. David and his troops mourn the loss of Saul and his son, and Israel’s defeat.

Because the Amalekite did not fear to kill ‘the Lord’s anointed’ (verse 14), David has him killed. The way is now open for David’s ascension to the throne.

What follows (verses 18-27) is a commemorative poem for Saul and Jonathan.

‘Because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living’ (Wisdom 1: 13) … a monument to John Donne in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London, shows the priest-poet and former dean in his death shroud (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2: 23-24:

The Wisdom of Solomon is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, although his name does not appear in the book, despite a reference to him in one verse (see Wisdom 9: 8). Indeed, portions of this book reflect Solomon’s prayer for wisdom (I Kings 3: 6-9, II Chronicles 1: 8-10; see Wisdom 1: 8-10). None of these books is included in the Hebrew canon of Holy Scripture, but, apart from II Esdras, they are present in the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

These books were accepted by the Early Church Fathers as authoritative Scripture, and are included in the Latin or Western and Greek or Orthodox canons of Scripture. This book is one of the 15 so-called Apocrryphal books, rejected by many 16th century Reformers but accepted for reading by Anglicans.

The book was written in Greek by an unknown Hellenistic Jew, probably in latter part of the first century BCE and probably in Alexandria, then the largest centre of the Jewish Diaspora, and also the largest Greek-speaking city of the day. The author borrows many phrases of the Septuagint (LXX), produced by Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria. To the Jews of the Diaspora, the Wisdom of Solomon offered strength and consolation. Theirs was a true wisdom that surpassed even that of the Greeks.

The first part of the book (Chapters 1-5) deals with the gift of immortality, which is a major innovation in Biblical thinking. When the wicked behold the just person before the throne of God, they realise their mistake; the just one is numbered among the children of God, and given the portion of the holy ones in the heavenly court.

‘De Profundis’ (1943), the haunting Holocaust tour de force by Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), draws on Psalm 130: ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord’

Psalm 130:

Psalm 130 is known as De Profundis from its opening words in Latin in the Vulgate. The psalm has been set to music by composers such as Franz Lizst, John Rutter and Arvo Pärt; it has inspired a famous work by Oscar Wilde, and poems by Federico García Lorca, Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Baudelaire, Christina Rossetti, CS Lewis, Georg Trakl, Dorothy Parker and José Cardoso Pires.

Psalm 130 is one of the Penitential psalms, recited during the Ten Days of Repentance. It is a prayer for deliverance from personal trouble, but it ends with a message to all people. The first verse is a call to God in deep sorrow, from ‘out of the depths’ (Out of the deep), as it is translated in the Authorised or King James Version of the Bible and in the Book of Common Prayer. The psalm is also known by its Latin incipit, De Profundis.

David’s cry is a cry to God for deliverance from personal trouble, yet it ends with a message of hope for all. God is attentive to our pleas, despite everything that has gone wrong. God forgives, God is merciful, God offers unfailing ‘love,’ freedom from grievous sin.

The psalm opens with a call to God in deep sorrow, from ‘out of the depths’ or ‘out of the deep,’ a graphic phrase signalling closeness to despair or death, used only in one other psalm, Psalm 69. These depths are the chaotic waters, symbolising separation from God, as in Jonah’s prayer from the stomach of the great fish (see Jonah 2: 2). May God be attentive to my pleas.

God forgives, so he shall be revered. The psalmist makes the powerful and paradoxical point that God is to be held in awe not because he punishes but because he forgives. If God were to record all our misdeeds, how could anyone face him? He is merciful by nature, so I eagerly await his help, his word. I wait for him as watchmen guarding a town from enemy attack.

God understands the difficulties created by the relationship between a parent and child, and between a parent who is grieved by the bickering and battling between two children.

God’s love for us surpasses the love of any father or mother for their children.

God’s love is never petulant. God never goes into a corner and sulks.

And God’s bitter weeping and grieving when he sees our plight is expressed most perfectly in the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

And Christ understands that so well. He asks in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?’ (Matthew 7: 9).

This Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from personal trouble, but it ends with a message to all people: wait in hope for God; he offers unfailing love.

Perhaps the psalmist has now received a message for the people:

O Israel, wait for the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy;
With him is plenteous redemption
and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.

God is to be held in awe, not because he punishes, but because he forgives.

‘You have turned my mourning into dancing’ (Psalm 30: 11) … a wedding dance in Sorrento (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 30:

Jewish tradition says David wrote Psalm 30 to be sung at the inauguration of the Temple, although he knew that this would only take place in the lifetime of his son, Solomon. Many commentators suggest its title says that it was sung at the dedication of the Temple, which was desecrated in 164 BCE and rededicated in 161 BCE.

The Psalmist recalls a time when his own life, which had once been secure, was suddenly in danger. It was then that he prayed to God, ‘What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you?’

The psalmist praises God for his recovery from grave illness, but this psalm may also be allegorical: ‘Sheol’ or ‘the Pit’ (verse 3) was thought of as a place under the earth where the dead existed as mere shadows. In verses 4-5, the psalmist invites all present to join in giving thanks. In verses 6-10, he recounts what happened to him. He had felt perfectly secure and healthy, but he fell from God’s favour, as though God had hid from him – and he became ill.

Feeling he was near death, he prayed to God, pointing out that if went down to go the Sheol, no one, not even God, could hear him.

But God heard his prayer and restored him to health and favour. His sorrow was turned to joy, even to liturgical dancing. He will praise God for the rest of his life.

In this way, as we approach new beginnings, we too can express our joy, ‘so that my soul may praise you and not be silent … I will give thanks to you for ever.’

The Corinth Canal … Saint Paul writes to the Church in Corinth that is divided by deep internal disagreements (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

II Corinthians 8: 7-15:

The Church in Jerusalem is in financial need once again. Christians at Corinth began collecting funds for them the previous year, but they appear to have stopped this, perhaps because of their internal disagreements referred to earlier in this epistle.

Meanwhile, the churches of Macedonia – in Philippi, Thessaloniki and Beroea – have contributed beyond measure to the Church in Jerusalem.

The Christians at Corinth were quarrelsome and divided, but meanwhile the churches in the Macedonian cities have been earnest in giving, putting their words and beliefs into action.

The great example of self-giving is Christ, who was rich being equal to the Father, but became poor or human for our sake.

Christ healing the woman in the crowd … a modern Orthodox icon

Mark 5: 21-43:

This Gospel reading (Mark 5: 21-43) tells the stories of how Christ responds to the plight of two very different people: a young girl is on her deathbed, and a woman who has been suffering for the previous 12 years, as long if not longer than the young girl has lived.

Both of them remain unnamed, like so many women in the New Testament.

One is the daughter of a leading male figure in the synagogue. But religious position and social status in the local community are of precious little value when a small girl is struck down with a death-threatening illness or disease.

In both cases, hope has run out for a little girl and for an old woman. In restoring their health, Christ teaches what faith means, Christ offers new hope, and Christ shows what love is.

In both cases these women are ritually unclean … a bleeding woman, a dying or dead women. Jesus should not touch them. Yet their plight touches the heart of Jesus, and he reaches out to them with a healing touch.

One young woman is restored to her place in her family and in her community. One older woman, who has lost everything, who is at risk of being marginalised even by the Disciples, is offered the hope of her proper place.

In the Gospel reading, a large crowd is pressing in on Jesus … the crowd outside the parish church in Tsesmes, near Rethymnon in Crete, waiting for the Resurrection light at Easter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Reflecting on the Gospel reading:

In this Gospel passage, there is a large cast of dramatis personae … of people who receive the gentle, caring, loving pastoral attention of Christ in equal measure, each within the list of people we are told should be our priority:

The crowd who gather around Jesus by the lake are going to learn what the Kingdom of God is like not through another sermon or another lecture, but by seeing what Jesus does. After the episodes in this Gospel reading, would each and every one of them been happy to wear one of those wristbands with the initials ‘WWJD’ – ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ If they looked at our actions for an example of Christian lifestyle, would they know what Jesus does?

Jairus is a respected provincial leader of the day. He shows what true worship is when he throws himself at the feet of Jesus. He prays, entreats, begs, not on behalf of himself, but on behalf of a sick and dying girl. If we were to look at ourselves today, would we see ourselves placing our lives at the feet of Christ and making our first priorities the needs of others who cannot speak for themselves?

By now the large crowd is pressing in on Jesus. They really want to see what he is about, what the Christian lifestyle is about. And who becomes the focus of attention within this crowd?

Too often in a crowd, it is those who get to the front first, who have the loudest voices, who are heard, whose demands are met.

But in this case, though, it is not the loud and the proud, the rich or the famous, who grab the attention of Christ – it is a weak, timid, neglected impoverished, exploited and sick woman. All her money has gone on quacks, and she has no man to speak up for her.

But look at what Christ does for her. Without knowing it, he heals her. And when he realises what has happened, he calls her ‘Daughter.’

In a society where men had the only voices, where to have a full place in society was to be known as a Son of Israel, she is called ‘Daughter.’ She too has a full and equal place in society, she is commended for her faith, she is restored personally and communally, she is offered healing, and she is also offered peace. From now on she can be at one with herself, with her society, with the world and with God.

But perhaps there was a danger that all this could become a sideshow for the crowd. Poor Jairus appears to have been forgotten. His household – perhaps religious and community leaders too – tell him to give up on Christ. The girl is dead. Was Christ only worth what he could do for their inner circle? If so, why bother with him any further?

Christ does not want to put on a show, either to impress the pressing crowd or to prove wrong the inner circle around Jairus. Instead, with just his three closest friends – Peter, James and John … the three disciples who would soon witness the Transfiguration – he goes directly to the house of the dying girl, where her family and neighbours are in the greatest distress.

It is shocking that when she dies the first reaction of some of the key local figures is to upbraid her father for seeking whatever help he can find for his daughter, and not to offer him comfort and sympathy. We can see that in his despair this man was finding no hope from his own community.

Their lack of compassion and sympathy contrasts sharply with the compassion Christ shows for the woman who has been suffering for 12 years. She has spent all her money with consultants and doctors and specialists. None of them has been able to offer a cure, and now that all her money has run out all her hope has run out too. It is all compounded by the fact that she is ritually unclean … no man should come near her.

Even as he was being told not to bother coming, even when he was being laughed at, Christ keeps focussed on who is important here – not those who shout the loudest and who press their demands.

Twelve-year-olds have no say and no voice and no power. But Jesus now offers her new life, new hope, a new future, a full place in society. When Jesus was her age, he was in the Temple. Now she is walking with her God.

In the middle of the story of Jairus’s daughter, Christ uses the word daughter to describe a woman who has no man to speak up for her, presumably a widow who has lost her money, her status and her place in society, lost being considered a Daughter of God along with the other children of God.

Women students and ordinands preparing for a carol service organised by the Church of Ireland Theological Institute … how is the Gospel good news for women? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Good news for women?

I was still hoping until last week to take part in the annual conference of the Anglican mission agency USPG (the United Society Partners in the Gospel) in High Leigh, Hertfordshire, next month. However, the impact of the Delta Variant means the conference was cancelled last week, and is being replaced by a virtual event. Even then, I am still hoping to hear how the Gospel is good news in the many places USPG works in partnership with Anglican churches and dioceses.

Some years ago, at the USPG conference in High Leigh, I heard powerful and engaging stories of how projects supported by USPG are empowering women from these islands to South Africa, from the West Indies and West Africa to India and Pakistan.

Canon Delene Mark, from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, gave harrowing accounts of gender-based violence, people trafficking, child murder and forced prostitution, all being challenged by her group, Hope for Africa.

Sheba Sultan from the Church of Pakistan described the varied lives of women in Pakistan, from tribal people with few resources and many restrictions, to the elite women who have lives of luxury but find cultural values also stop them from living life to the full.

Sheba reminded us of the assassinated prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who had said women in Pakistan cannot achieve anything without tackling bigotry and intolerance, and of the story of Malala Yousafzai, the activist for women’s education and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace laureate.

Anjun Anwar, a Muslim woman born in Pakistan, spoke beyond her experiences on the staff of Blackburn Cathedral.

We heard in a Bible study with the Revd Dr Monodeep Daniel of the work of the Delhi Brotherhood in challenging gender-based violence, including rape and murder in India.

The Revd Dr Rachele Evie Vernon spoke of women challenging injustice and violence in Jamaica and in Liberia.

The Revd Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes from Durham talked about gender justice, which is much wider than ending gender-based violence. She shared a vision of equality for men and women who are created equally in the image and likeness of God, who are made one in Christ, who are called and equipped by the Holy Spirit, and who live with the promise of abundant life for all.

Canon Andi Hofbauer of Wakefield Cathedral put careful thought and joy into the way she led us in worship each day.

We were challenged each day that week to ask ourselves: how is the Gospel good news for women?

Speaker after speaker insisted the Gospel is Good News – but only if we read it, accept its consequences for us, and then live it out.

These stories came in the same week that we celebrated Saint Mary Magdalene [22 July], the first witness to the Resurrection, and in the week Rachel Treweek was being consecrated Bishop of Gloucester in Canterbury Cathedral.

The Gospel is Good News for the two women in our Gospel reading next Sunday: they are at opposite ends of the scale in terms of both social status and age. Yet one does not come before the other. Christ has equal compassion for both, and restores them to full life, physically, spiritually and socially, despite objections from men on the scene – the privileged men who have access to the house of Jairus, or the men around Christ who find that a poor, old sick woman is embarrassing.

The Gospel is Good News for women like these two women. But only if we read it and then put it into practice.

‘When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him’ (Mark 5: 21) … a crowded boat in the Mediterranean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 5: 21-43 (NRSVA):

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ 24 So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ 29 Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ 31 And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ 32 He looked all round to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

‘Christ raises the daughter of Jairus’ (left), in the Hardman window by JH Powell at the west end of the nave in Saint Nicholas Church, Adare, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green

The Collect of the Day:

O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
Increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal
that we finally lose not the things eternal:
Grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ’s sake, our Lord.

Collect of the Word:

O Christ for whom we search,
our help when help has failed:
give us courage to expose our need
and ask to be made whole,
that, being touched by you,
we may be raised to new life
in the power of your name.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
comfort of the afflicted and healer of the broken,
you have fed us at the table of life and hope.
Teach us the ways of gentleness and peace,
that all the world may acknowledge
the kingdom of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

‘A great crowd gathered round him’ (Mark 5: 21) … among a crowd in Limerick gathered to welcome the Limerick All-Ireland hurling team (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested hymns:

II Samuel 1: 1, 17-27:

592, O Love that wilt not let me go

Psalm 130:

564, Deus meus adiuva me (O my God, in help draw near)
620, O Lord, hear my prayer
9, There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
627, What a friend we have in Jesus

Wisdom 1: 13-15; 2: 23-24:

425, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts
49, Lord, bring the day to pass
59, New every morning is the love

Psalm 30:

554, Lord Jesus, think on me
592, O Love that wilt not let me go
196, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
528, The Church’s one foundation

II Corinthians 8: 7-15:

352, Give thanks with a grateful heart
168, Lord, you were rich beyond all splendour
177, Once in royal David’s city (verses 1, 2, 6)
114, Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown

Mark 5: 21-43:

511, Father of mercy, God of consolation
455, Go forth for God, go forth to the world in peace
211, Immortal love for ever full
513, O Christ, the healer, we have come
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing

Old newspaper cuttings … when and how is the Gospel good news for people on the margins?

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.

‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little’ (II Corinthians 8: 15) … a now-worthless 5 million drachmas banknote from war-time Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Thursday 24 June 2021, The Birth of Saint John the Baptist

Saint John the Baptist as a child with his mother Saint Elizabeth … a stained-glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Dingle, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

Thursday next, 24 June 2021, is the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist.

The appointed readings for the Feast of Saint John the Baptist in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:

The Readings: Isaiah 40: 1-11; Psalm 85: 7-13; Acts 13: 14b-26 or Galatians 3: 23-29; Luke 1: 57-66, 80.

Saint John the Baptist (right) with the Virgin Mary and Christ in a stained glass window in Saint Mary’s Church, Lichfield … the births of these three alone are celebrated in the Church Calendar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist:

Saint John the Baptist, in many ways, is the bridge between the old and the new, between the stories of the Prophets and the Gospel stories.

Most saints are commemorated in the Church Calendar on days that are supposed to be the anniversaries of their death.

Three feasts alone commemorate the birth of Biblical figures: the Birth of Saint John the Baptist (24 June), the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary (8 September), and Incarnation of Christ, or Christmas Day (25 December).

Saint Luke’s Gospel takes a full chapter before the evangelist gets to the story of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. Saint Matthew’s Gospel introduces its account of Christ’s ministry by telling us first the story of Saint John the Baptist. Saint Mark begins his Gospel with the appearance of Saint John the Baptist. And the first person we meet in Saint John’s Gospel is Saint the Baptist.

But Saint Luke is alone in telling the story of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and the birth of Saint John the Baptist.

Saint John the Baptist with his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth in a mosaic in the Monastery of Saint John in Tolleshunt Knights, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A reflection on the readings:

In Anglicanism at the moment – not only in the Church of Ireland and the Church of England, but throughout the world – we are exploring what mission theologians call a ‘mixed economy.’

But Alison Milbank and Andrew Davison, in their study For the Parish: A Critique of Fresh Expressions (London: SCM, 2010), point out that a major flaw in this ‘mixed-economy ecclesiology’ is the danger of separating form and content, practices and belief.

There is a danger of giving priority to fashion and to individualism, and of losing sight of communion and community. There is a danger that what is fashionable today will be forgotten tomorrow. ‘The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of God will stand for ever’ (Isaiah 40: 9).

But the traditional witness, faithful life and quiet, stable and steady presence of our parishes and churches must never be under-estimated or under-valued.

Our churches in our parishes stand as a constant witness, across the centuries and down the generations. Like Elizabeth and Zechariah, into their old age, these places have been faithful, steady, constant witnesses … in maintaining liturgical worship, in steady attention to the word of God, in working at loving care and hospitality.

Elizabeth and Zechariah could never see what their steady, faithful witness would lead to, and their neighbours’ response is marked by doubts and scepticism. They would never live to see the consequences of their faithfulness. Saint John the Baptist goes off into the wilderness, and is lost sight of for a while. And even when he begins his ministry, that is not what is important.

We may never fully realise what you are achieving today. But we are inviting countless, unseen generations into the light and love of God – and to see the connection between the love of God and the love of our neighbour.

As Alison Milbank and Andrew Davison point out, ‘to become a Christian is to cease to be an atomized individual but to enter the life of communion. To know God … is to love one another’ (p 133).

Like Saint John the Baptist, the presence of our churches and our parishes is not to be dismissed as a presence in some sort of wilderness, is not to be dismissed because of the numbers who come or do not come here, but is a presence that constantly points to the light and love of God, and is a challenge to all around us to realise that to know God means that we must love one another.

Saint John the Baptist depicted in a mosaic above a door in Saint Colman’s Church, Gort, Co Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Luke 1: 57-66, 80 (NRSVA):

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ 61 They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ 62 Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. 66 All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

A fresco depicting Saint John the Baptist in the village church in Piskopiano, in the mountains above Iraklion in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical colour: White

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
by whose providence your servant John the Baptist
was wonderfully born,
and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Saviour
by the preaching of repentance:
lead us to repent according to his preaching
and, after his example,
constantly to speak the truth, boldly to rebuke vice,
and patiently to suffer for the truth’s sake;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.

Introduction to the Peace:

We are fellow-citizens with the saints
and the household of God,
through Christ our Lord,
who came and preached peace to those who were far off
and those who are near: (Ephesians 2: 19, 17).

Preface:

In the saints
you have given us an example of godly living,
that, rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Merciful Lord,
whose prophet John the Baptist
proclaimed your Son as the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world:
grant that we who in this sacrament have known
your forgiveness and your life-giving love,
may ever tell of your mercy and your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Blessing:

God give you the grace
to share the inheritance of Saint John the Baptist and of his saints in glory:

An icon of the Birth of Saint the Baptist from the Monastery of Anopolis in the Museum of Christian Art in Iraklion, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested hymns:

Isaiah 40: 1-11:

120, Comfort, comfort ye my people
122, Drop down, ye heaven from above
644, Faithful Shepherd feed me
6, Immortal, invisible, God only wise
535, Judge, eternal, throned in splendour
134, Make way, make way, for Christ the King
141, These are the days of Elijah

Psalm 85: 7-13:

695, God of mercy, God of grace
539, Rejoice, O land, in God thy might
140, The Lord will come and not be slow

Acts 13: 14b-26:

250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
689, Come, sing praises to the Lord above
460, For all your saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verses 1, 2i, 3)
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
161, I know a rose-tree springing
135, O come, O come, Emmanuel
136, On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry

Galatians 3: 23-29:

250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
389, All who believe and are baptized
218, And can it be that I should gain
496, For the healing of the nations
522, In Christ there is no east or west
101, Jesus, the very thought of thee 358, King of glory, King of peace

Luke 1: 57-66, 80:

685, Blessed be the God of Israel
706, O bless the God of Israel

These hymns are also suitable:

119, Come, thou long-expected Jesus
459, For all the saints, who from their labour’s rest
126, Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding
124, Hark the glad sound! The Saviour comes
471, Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!

The Church of Saint John the Baptist in Knightstown on Valentia Island, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

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.

The entrance to the Hospital of Saint John Baptist without the Barrs, Lichfield … Thursday 24 June is the Feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 20 June 2021, Third Sunday after Trinity Father’s Day

‘Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him’ (Mark 4: 36) … fishing boats in a sheltered harbour at Loughrea, Co Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021)

Patrick Comerford

Sunday next, 20 June 2021, is the Third Sunday after Trinity (Trinity III).

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

The Continuous readings: I Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49 and Psalm 9: 9-20; or I Samuel 17: 57 to 18: 5, 10-16, and Psalm 133; II Corinthians 6: 1-13; Mark 4: 35-41.

The Paired readings: Job 38: 1-11; Psalm 107: 1-3, 23-32; II Corinthians 6: 1-13; Mark 4: 35-41.

There is a link to the continuous readings HERE.

Sunday is also Father’s Day and World Refugee Day. Unlike Mothering Sunday, there is no one set of Liturgical resources for Father’s Day in the Church of Ireland, but resources from Common Worship in the Church of England are provided in the latter part of this posting.

There is a link to the paired readings HERE.

‘Where were you … when I made the clouds its garment? … who shut in the sea with doors?’ (Job 38: 4, 9, 8) … clouds above the sea and the beach at Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Introducing the Readings:

As we work our ways through the storms of life, we have many questions to ask about the purpose of meaning of life. Often, we can feel guilty about putting those questions to God. Yet, should we not be able to put our deepest questions and greatest fears before God.

In the first reading, David seeks to assure Saul about his suitability to do battle with Goliath, and tells him: ‘Let no one’s heart fail.’ David casts off Saul’s heavy armour, disregards Goliath’s disdain, and puts his faith in God.

In the alternative first reading, God responds to Job’s questions with his own challenging questions and reminds Job that God is control of all forces in nature.

Three psalms are offered for this Sunday. In Psalm 9, we are reminded that God hears the cry of the poor and promises justice for the oppressed and those in trouble. In Psalm 133, unity and peace among the people are compared with the gifts of God bestowed through the cycle of nature.

In the epistle reading, Saint Paul recalls the sufferings he and his companion, Saint Timothy, have endured during their ministry.

In the Gospel reading, the frightened disciples challenge Christ and ask him whether he cares that they are perishing (verse 38). But he offers them words of peace before doing anything to remedy the plight in which they have been caught, and goes on to ask them his own challenging questions: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verses 40)? They, in turn, end up asking their own challenging question about who Christ is for them.

The scene on the boat in the Gospel reading also connects with the previous readings. Surprisingly, then, in the epistle reading, Saint Paul does not recall any shipwreck among all his woes and sufferings. But, in the alternative first reading, God reminds Job of ‘who shut in the sea when it burst out from the womb’ (Job 38: 8).

Psalm 107 speaks of those ‘went down to sea in ships, doing mighty business on the waters’ and saw God’s ‘wondrous deeds in the deep’ as ‘he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea’ (verses 23-23). When they cried to the Lord in their trouble, ‘he brought them out from their distress; he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed’ (verses 28-30).

Michelangelo’s David was originally placed in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and shows David naked with his sling before his battle with Goliath (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49:

In the first principal reading for next Sunday, Saul lives in fear and is haunted by his dreams (I Samuel 17: 10-12), while David overcomes his greatest fear by facing it in the person of Goliath (verse 32-49).

At the time, Israel’s arch-enemy was Philistia. The two armies face each other across a river valley in the hills west of Bethlehem. In ancient times, a dispute between nations might be decided by individual combat, as with David and Goliath here.

Goliath the Philistine is very tall, wears a heavy coat of mail and bronze shin pads, and carries a javelin, and all are intimidated by the sight of him. David prepares himself to fight this giant who ‘defies the armies of the living God?’ and offers to represent Israel. When Saul questions David’s military experience, David tells him that as a shepherd he has killed lions and bears to protect his sheep, and now intends to kill Goliath using the same weapon, a sling. God has protected him from wild animals, and will protect me from Goliath.

Saul has little choice but to accept David’s offer. David is not used to heavy armour and finds it cumbersome, so he removed the armour offered by Saul, and instead takes his sling and stones from the riverbed. The Philistine disdains David, curses him and insults him. David answers: ‘I come … in the name of the Lord.’ He believes God will give him victory so that ‘all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,’ and that God prevails over material advantage. David is highly accurate in his slingshot, stuns Goliath with his stone, and then slays him with his sword (verse 51).

This victory marks the beginning of David’s accession to the throne.

‘Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb’ (Job 38: 8) … ships and boats in the enclosed harbour in Kuşadasi on the west coast of Turkey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Job 38: 1-11:

When I began working as a young journalist, first as a freelancer with the Lichfield Mercury and the Tamworth Herald, and then on the staff of the Wexford People, it was drilled into me that the key components of every news report were found by asking six essential questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

Only after asking these essential questions, and confirming the answers, could one write a news story. And it was only then that one could proceed to any analysis. Writing an opinion piece could only come separately, and only after pursuing all these questions thoroughly and weighing up all the answers.

Job is thorough with the questions he puts to God. He has complained of God’s apparent indifference and injustice to him. He has asked why misfortune has befallen. He has pleaded with God to hear him and answer him.

Now God appears in a whirlwind (Job 38: 1), as God does in so many other Biblical scenes, and he answers Job by asking a number of rhetorical questions.

First, God asks Job: who are you to doubt, in your ignorance, the sum total of my plans and works? Stand up like a man (verse 3), and answer the questions I put to you (verses 2-3). Only then can Job come to any analysis and opinion about what is happening.

This reading is only a small part of God’s speech. He puts five main questions to Job:

● Were you present at creation (Job 38: 4-15)?
● Do you know your way around the cosmos (Job 38: 16-30)?
● Would you know how to operate it (Job 38: 31-33)?
● Would the creation and the creatures obey your commands (Job: 38: 34-38)?
● Are you capable of providing for the animals and the birds (Job 38: 39 to 39: 40)?

Question 1, in verses 4-15, has three parts: earth, sea and light.

In verses 4-7, the earth is pictured as a building: who was the architect (verse 5a) and who was the surveyor (verse 5b)?

Who laid the foundations or bases for the earth (verse 6a)?

Who laid its cornerstone (verse 6b)?

On that festive occasion, the stars sang together (verse 7) and all the beings shouted for joy (verse 7).

Later, after all these questions have put to him, Job replies: ‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? … I will not answer’ (40: 4-5).

God’s questions invalidate the very basis of Job’s complaint. He is at last able to express what he has been suspecting all along: he and his friends thought they understood the world, but now he realises that they do not. And so Job’s complaint against God evaporates.

‘He does not forget the cry of the afflicted’ (Psalm 9: 12) … Christian prisoners in an Ottoman jail depicted in a sculpture on the Charles Bridge in Prague (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 9: 9-20:

Psalm 9 is known in earlier editions of the Book of Common Prayer by its opening words in Latin, Confitebor tibi, ‘I will give thanks to you, Lord.’ This psalm is a reminder that the success of evil is only temporary, and in the end, the righteous will endure.

Psalm 10 is considered part of Psalm 9 in the Greek Septuagint and in most pre-Reformation Bibles. These two consecutive psalms have the form of a single acrostic Hebrew poem. The Psalm is an acrostic Hebrew poem, and with Psalm 10 forms a single combined work. This is the first of the acrostic Psalms, covering half of the Hebrew alphabet, with Psalm 10 covering the rest of the alphabet.

There is some tension between psalms 9 and 10. Psalm 9 expresses thanksgiving; Psalm 10 laments that deviants from God’s ways, who hold God in contempt, pursue those devoted to God.

Psalm 9 has a tone of victory over evil and its ancient Chaldean title suggests that it was written to celebrate David’s victory over Goliath. Then, as the acrostic continues into Psalm 10, the tone becomes a lament: God seemingly stands afar off. Victory over evil may be ‘here and not yet.’

In this reading, we are told that those who know God (verse 10) will trust in him, for he is faithful to those who seek him. God is the avenger of blood (verse 12) and will remember the pleas of those hurt by the wicked.

God is asked to show his mercy, and to save the petitioner from the ‘gates of death’ (verse 13), so that he may praise God in the Temple (verse 14).

Verses 15-18 express his renewed confidence: others may fall into a trap of their own making, but God is just. God will remember the needy and give hope to the poor, while the nations shall be judged for their oppression.

Moses and Aaron depicted in a stained glass window in Saint Columba’s Church, Drumcliffe (Ennis), Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 133:

Psalm 133 is a ‘song of ascent’ and a short poem on the blessings of harmony between members of one family. It may be a reference to the divisions between the kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south, with a hope for their reconciliation and reunification.

When Aaron was ordained as High Priest, Moses poured anointing oil over his head (see Exodus 29: 7). Aaron is the ancestor of, and model for, all high priests. A high priest was ordained with great quantities of oil, so living in community has manifold blessings.

Mount Hermon was the highest mountain in the north, and its height provided relief from the hot climate. Zion was in Judah, and the waters that formed from the dew on Mount Zion was welcomed as a blessing from God on Jerusalem.

Both images – of oil on the priest’s head and dew on the mountain – are metaphors of plenitude and God’s blessings in life.

‘Some went down to the sea in ships’ (Psalm 107: 23) … tall ships and ferries in Dublin Port (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 107: 1-3, 23-32:

Psalm 107 is a song of thanksgiving to God, who has been merciful to his people and gathered all who were lost. It is beloved of mariners due to its reference to ships and the sea (verse 23). Psalm 107 is the opening hymn in the fifth book of psalms. In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible, and in its Latin translation, the Vulgate, this is Psalm 106.

Psalm 107, with 43 verses, is one of the longer psalms in the Bible. It is often divided into seven sections, each section having a related but distinct theme.

These sections are:

1, verses 1-3;
2, verses 4-9;
3, verses 10-16;
4, verses 17-22;
5, verses 23-32;
6, verses 33-38;
7, verses 39-43.

Sunday’s reading from Psalm 107 is sections 1 and 5.

An interesting feature of Psalm 107 commonly found in the poetic books in the Bible is its overall regularity. The line lengths are different, but the size of the original sectional divisions is pleasingly even. The theme of the psalm moves forward from section to section. In the Masoretic Hebrew text, there are seven inverted nuns (׆).

Psalm 107 is one of Israel’s historical psalms, along with Psalm 106 and many of the royal psalms. The overall outline of the historical psalms is to tell a story of a God who accomplishes ‘wonders’ or ‘wonderful works’ (verse 8), although the people have been faithless. In the psalmist’s view, acts of infidelity often seem to correspond to an eventual awe-inspiring work of mercy from God.

The psalm also includes several more specific themes that emphasise the general tone of praise and thanksgiving for the God of Israel.

In the introduction, the first section (verses 1-3), God is said to gather ‘the redeemed … from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south’ (verses 2, 3).

Following this, the next four sections address individuals who ‘wandered in desert wastes’ (verse 4), ‘sat in darkness and in gloom’ (verse 10), ‘were sick through their sinful ways’ (verse 10), and ‘went down to the sea in ships’ (verse 23).

Each description corresponds to a cardinal direction mentioned in Verse 3. The desert wastes (verse 4) seem to indicate a ‘great, eastern desert’ on which the sun beats down from its rising in the east; the sun sets in the west, where people sit ‘in darkness and in gloom’ (verse 10). The correlation between darkness and helplessness, without the aid of God, harkens back to descriptions of Abraham (see Genesis 15: 12).

In early Hebrew history, north was the direction associated with evil and iniquity, and so is pointed to in the fourth stanza, beginning, ‘Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction’ (verse 17).

Finally, to the south lay the sea, paralleling the opening of the fifth section, ‘some went down to the sea in ships’ (verse 23).

Psalm 107, above all, commemorates the power of God. Despite the transgressions of the people, the Lord forgives them. This is a hymn of thanksgiving to God.

Many Christian writers link the fifth section of Psalm 107 (verses 23-32) with our reading in Mark 4, and the plight and eventual rescue of those on the sea. The language of both passages is similar, supporting the mirrored imagery and situation that the stories share. God who calms the storm is one and the same.

A shipwreck off the small island of Gramvousa off the coast of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

II Corinthians 6: 1-13:

In the epistle reading (II Corinthians 6: 1-13), Saint Paul takes courage and faces his greatest fears, including ‘sleepless nights,’ and speaks frankly with an open heart (verses 11-13).

As Saint Paul and Saint Timothy (1: 1) work together as God’s servants, they urge the Christians at Corinth to accept the grace of God positively and ‘not … in vain.’

Quoting from the Prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah 49: 8), Saint Paul tells them that now is the acceptable time, the day of salvation, when God pour out his grace and his love for us; now we are being restored to union with God.

As the servants of God, Paul and Timothy have endured physical and mental suffering and hardships, and in honour and dishonour they have stood against their critics and opponents, who have not been true to God. In the light of the other readings, some readers may be surprised that Saint Paul does not refer to any shipwreck among the long list of harships and sufferings he has endured in his years of ministry.

They may as well have been dead in the eyes of their opponents, but they truly are alive in Christ. They have been forced to live in poverty, but they are rich spiritually, possessing everything that matters.

They have been totally honest and loving with the Church in Corinth. Now all they ask is that they respond in love – ‘open wide your hearts also.’

An icon of the Church as a boat, including Christ, the Apostles and the Church Fathers (Icon: Deacon Matthew Garrett, www.holy-icons.com)

Mark 4: 35-41:

What are your dreams?

What are your worst nightmares?

As we grow up and mature, we tend to have fewer fears of the outside world, and as adults we begin to cope with the fears we once had as children, by turning threats into opportunities.

The fears I had as a child – of snakes, of the wind, of storms at sea, of thunder and lightning – are no longer the stuff of recurring nightmares they were as a child – I have learned to be cautious, to be sensible and to keep my distance, and to be in awe of God’s creation.

But most of us have recurring dreams that are vivid and that have themes that keep repeating themselves. They fall into a number of genres, and you will be relieved to know if you suffer from them that most psychotherapists identify a number of these types of dreams that most of us deal with in our sleep at various stages in adult life.

They include dreams about:

● Drowning.

● Finding myself unprepared for a major function or event, whether it is social or work-related.

● Flying or floating in the air, but then falling suddenly.

● Being caught naked in public.

● Missing a train or a bus or a plane.

● Caught in loos or lifts that do not work, or overwork themselves.

● Calling out in a crowd but failing to vocalise my scream or not being heard in the crowd or recognised.

● Falling, falling into an abyss.

There are others. But in sleep the brain can act as a filter or filing cabinet, helping us to process, deal with and put aside what we have found difficult to understand in our waking hours, or to try to find ways of dealing with our lack of confidence, feelings of inadequacy, with the ways we confuse gaining attention with receiving love, or with our needs to be accepted, affirmed and loved.

The plight of the disciples in the Gospel reading (Mark 4: 35-41) seems to be the working out of a constant, recurring, vivid dream of the type that many of us experience at some stage: the feelings of drowning, floating and falling suddenly, being in a crowd and yet alone, calling out and not being heard, or not being recognised for who we are.

Yet, the disciples are seasoned fishers and sailors, and they know the real dangers of sudden storms and swells that can blow up on a lake and they know the safety of a good boat, as long as it has a good crew.

Christ is asleep in the boat when a great gale rises, the waves beat the side of the boat, and it is soon swamped by the waters.

Christ seems oblivious to the calamity that is unfolding around him and to the fear of the disciples. They have to wake him, and by then they fear they are perishing.

Christ wakes, rebukes the wind, calm descends on the sea, and Christ challenges those on the boat: ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ (verse 40).

Instead of being calmed, they are now filled with awe. Do they recognise Christ for who he truly is? They ask one another: ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’ (verse 31).

Was the storm on the water an illusion?

Was the fear in the disciples the product of over-worked minds while they too were sleeping?

Did they not fully realise the powers of Christ and who he truly is?

Did the wind cease when they too woke from their dreams?

All of these questions are over-analytical and fail to deal with the real encounter that takes place.

Even before the Resurrection, Christ tells the disciples not to be afraid, a constant theme in the post-resurrection accounts.

Do those in the boat begin to ask truly who Christ is because he has calmed the storm or because he has calmed their fears?

In our epistle reading, Saint Paul almost chides us for these questions, reminding us that we too can have a variety of experiences that help us to grow in faith (see II Corinthians 6: 1-13).

Since the early history of the Church, the boat has symbolised the Church.

The bark (barque or barchetta) symbolises the Church tossed on the sea of disbelief, worldliness, and persecution but finally reaching safe harbour. Part of the imagery comes from the ark saving Noah’s family during the Flood (I Peter 3: 20-21). Christ protects Peter’s boat and the Disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee (see also Matthew 14: 22-33; John 6 16-21). The mast forms the shape of the Cross.

It is an image that appears in Apostolic Constitutions and the writings of Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria. We still retain the word nave for the main part of the church, which, architecturally often looks like an up-turned boat.

So, I am not suggesting that on Sunday morning any of us should encourage playing stupidly in boats in choppy waters or storms.

But if we are to dream dreams for our parish, the diocese, for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we need to be aware that it comes at the risk of feeling we are being marginalised by those we see as brothers and sisters, and risk being seen as dreamers rather than people of action by others: for our dreams may be their nightmares.

If we are going to dream dreams for our parish, for the diocese, for the Church, for the Kingdom of God, we may need to step out of our safety zones, our comfort zones, and know that this comes with a risk warning.

And if we are going to dream dreams for our parish, for the Church, for the diocese, for the Kingdom of God, we need to keep our eyes focussed on Christ, and to know that the Church is there to bring us on that journey.

Let us dream dreams, take risks for the Kingdom of God, step outside the box, but let us keep our eyes on Christ and remember that the boat, the Church, is essential for our journey, and let us continue to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The sails of a boat and the shape of the cross in the harbour at Collioure in the south of France (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 35-41 (NRSVA):

35 When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ 36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. 37 A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ 39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. 40 He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ 41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

‘ … they took him with them in the boat, just as he was’ (Mark 4: 36) … boats in the small harbour at Georgioupoli in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
Give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect of the Word:

O God our defender,
storms rage about us and cause us to be afraid:
rescue your people from despair,
deliver your sons and daughters from fear,
and preserve us all from unbelief:
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

O God,
whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
Give us a glimpse of your glory on earth
but shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

A Father’s Day image by Sheba Sultan

Resources for Father’s Day:

Father’s Day: Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

[Let us pray to God, our heavenly Father.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.]

Sovereign Lord,
your Son has revealed you as our heavenly Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

You have made your Church a spiritual family,
a household of faith.
Through baptism we are reborn as the brothers and sisters of Christ.
Deepen our unity and fellowship in him.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

You sent your Son to give his life
as a ransom for the whole human family.
Give justice, peace and racial harmony to the world he died to save.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

You gave your Son a share in the life of a family in Nazareth.
Help us to value our families, to be thankful for them,
and to live sensitively within them.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

Your Son drew around him a company of friends.
Bring love and joy to all who are alone.
Help us all to find in the brothers and sisters of Christ
a loving family.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

You are the God of the dead as well as of the living.
In confidence we remember those of the household of
faith who have gone before us.
Bring us with them to the joy of your home in heaven.
Father of all
hear your children’s prayer.

This or some other prayer of thanksgiving may be used:

Blessed are you Lord our God,
creator and redeemer of all;
to you be glory and praise for ever.
Blessed be God for ever.

You father us from all eternity giving life to creation
and pouring your love into all you have made.
Blessed be God for ever.

From the beginning we have known you as ‘Father’,
and all our families have their origin in you.
Blessed be God for ever.

Through the love of earthly fathers you give us a glimpse
of your everlasting love.
Their guidance and wisdom reveal to us the eternal life of heaven.
Blessed be God for ever.

In following their example we become more like you,
growing into the people your heart longs for us to be.
Blessed be God for ever.

May the love of our fathers draw us ever nearer to you
and perfect in us the image of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.

Heavenly Father,
you entrusted your Son Jesus,
the child of Mary,
to the care of Joseph, an earthly father.
Bless all fathers
as they care for their families.
Give them strength and wisdom,
tenderness and patience;
support them in the work they have to do
protecting those who look to them,
as we look to you for love and salvation,
through Jesus Christ our rock and defender.
Amen.

Final Prayer:

In darkness and in light,
in trouble and in joy,
help us, heavenly Father,
to trust your love,
to serve your purpose,
and to praise your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sending Out:

The Lord God almighty is our Father:
he loves us and tenderly cares for us.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour:
he has redeemed us and will defend us to the end.

The Lord, the Holy Spirit is among us:
he will lead us in God's holy way.

To God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be praise and glory today and for ever. Amen.

‘ … he made the storms be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed’ (Psalm 107: 20) … a small boat in calm waters off the island of Spinalonga off the coast of Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested hymns:

I Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49:

643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
566, Fight the good fight with all thy might
668, God is our fortress and our rock
593, O Jesus, I have promised
487, Soldiers of Christ, arise
488, Stand up, stand up for Jesus
662, Those who would valour see (He who would valiant be)
372, Through all the changing scenes of life

Job 38: 1-11:

612, Eternal Father, strong to save
581, I, the Lord of sea and sky
95, Jesu, priceless treasure
29, Lord of beauty, thine the splendour
34, O worship the King all-glorious above
369, Songs of praise the angels sang
36, The spacious firmament on high

Psalm 9: 9-20:

668, God is our fortress and our rock
12, God is our strength and refuge

Psalm 133:

518, Bind us together, Lord
522, In Christ there is no east or west
525, Let there be love shared among us
438, O thou, who at thy eucharist didst pray
507, Put peace into each other’s hands
661, Through the night of doubt and sorrow

Psalm 107: 1-3, 23-32:

683, All people that on earth do dwell
666, Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side
612, Eternal Father, strong to save
353, Give to our God immortal praise
128, Hills of the north, rejoice
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
30, Let us, with a gladsome mind
484, Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
384, Lord, thy word abideth
527, Son of God, eternal Saviour

II Corinthians 6: 1-13:

643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
566, Fight the good fight with all thy might
417, He gave his life in selfless love
587, Just as I am, without one plea
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
487, Soldiers of Christ, arise
488, Stand up. Stand up for Jesus

Mark 4: 35-41

666, Be still my soul: the Lord is on thy side
563, Commit your ways to God
612, Eternal Father, strong to save
2, Faithful one, so unchanging
648, God be with you till we meet again
300, Holy Spirit, truth divine
553, Jesu, lover of my soul
95, Jesu, priceless treasure
584, Jesus calls us! O’er the tumult
588, Light of the minds that know him
18, Lord, I come before your throne of grace
593, O Jesus, I have promised
527, Son of God, eternal Saviour
47, We plough the fields and scatter
22, You shall cross the barren desert

‘Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm’ (Mark 4: 39) … boats in the calm waters at Mesongi on the island of Corfu (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 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.

Material for Father’s Day from Common Worship © The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England, 2000-2004

‘Let us go across to the other side’ (Mark 4: 35) … waiting gondolas near Saint Mark’s Square in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)