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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?’
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.
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.
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
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
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