Parish of

St Fagans and Michaelston-super-Ely

Service for

5th Sunday after Trinity

FB broadcast

12th July, 2020

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“.. You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,"

Isaiah 55.12

If you have an object of devotion - eg an icon, a cross or an open Bible - place it in front of you, as this service begins. And perhaps also light a candle beside it.

Introduction Welcome to this service of Morning Prayer, for Sunday 12th July, which in the church calendar, is the 5th Sunday after Trinity. Welcome to those watching live on Facebook, to those who will see this on video later, on Facebook or via the website. Welcome also to those who are following the text of this Order of Service, and worshipping quietly within their own homes.

Opening prayers:

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

God is spirit. Let us worship him in spirit and truth.

The Lord is with us. Let us praise his name together.

In today’s service we shall be thinking in various ways about the Word of God: how we can hear and receive God’s word into our hearts; how we can let the word of God take root in us, and shape our lives; above all, how we encounter the Word of God in Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God made flesh.

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Lord, speak to us that we may hear your word. Move among us that we may behold your glory. Receive our prayers that we may learn to trust you. Amen. Our first hymn has words that may look unfamiliar, but they are sung to a tune that is well-known. They set the scene for our gospel reading today, the Parable of the Sower, which has directly inspired them.

Hymn: The word of God, like seed, is sown upon the waiting land, and life-renewing water flows from God's attentive hand. His word can never fruitless be, his purpose will succeed, for grace abundant will fulfil the deepest human need.

Whatever pains we now endure can never be compared with all the glory yet to come, by Providence prepared. The Spirit joins with us, to share the groaning of the earth, which, by the grace of God will be the pains of joyful birth.

The seed of life is freely spent on good and barren ground, and in the plenitude of grace the harvest will abound. In justice and in liberty, the Lord will show his face, revealing his abundant love to all the human race.

Michael Forster (born 1946)

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Confession

The Word of God is living and active. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So let us come to God, from whom no secrets are hidden, and ask for his forgiveness and peace. Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.

May the God of love bring you back to himself, forgive you your sins, and assure you of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

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Readings Old Testament: Isaiah 55. 10-13

[The Lord says:] For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Hear the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.

Psalm: 65. 9-13

You visit the earth and water it : you make it very plenteous. The river of God is full of water : you prepare grain for your people, for so you provide for the earth. You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges : you soften the ground with showers and bless its increase.

You crown the year with your goodness : and your paths overflow with plenty.

May the pastures of the wilderness flow with goodness : and the hills be girded with joy.

May the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep : and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they shall laugh and sing.

Gospel: Matthew 13. 1-9, 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there,

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while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!’

[To the disciples Jesus said:] ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

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

Reflection

The Parable of the Sower must be one of the best known stories in the Bible, and most of us would say we’re very clear what Jesus is talking about.

A picture coloured in this week by Isla is a great illustration: here’s the sower setting out, scattering the seed on the ground. You can see he’s left some on the path behind him, and the birds are already there gobbling it up. Some has fallen between the rocks, where there’s almost no soil, so they’ll soon wither and die.

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There’s a thornbush beside the path, and some has got tangled up in that. And some you can see has fallen accurately into the furrow, and will grow in the good soil there, and produce a bumper crop. You can also see that, of all the seed in the picture, considerably less than half has actually landed in the good soil – but, Jesus tells us, each of those will produce 100, 60, 30 times as much as the fruit of their growth.

At first thought, we can understand that Jesus was urging his disciples to listen well to everything he taught, and to become good soil – not distracted by cares in the world, or so fickle in their attachment to him, that they could not cope when things got tough, and would give up on him and abandon him. That makes sense – and it’s warning lesson to each of us, as we try to deepen our faith, and become ever closer to Jesus ourselves, that it’s easy to get distracted or discouraged, if we let other things fill our lives and crowd out our central devotion to prayer and worship. Without being rooted and grounded in our relationship with him, we shall lack the nourishment we need to hold to our faith, in bad times as well as good. But by the same logic, if we can be good soil in the way we receive Jesus’s words, then we can each of us be immensely fruitful, way beyond anything we might ourselves have imagined.

But now, take a look at the sower. In the parable, we could think of Jesus as the sower, spreading his message of love and trust in God as widely as he can, as he moves through the towns and countryside of Galilee. But think how extraordinarily wasteful this sowing process is, when the sower knows that so much will be lost, and will yield nothing for all his labour in sowing it. But we know that this was all deliberate on Jesus’s part. He did not come just to call those

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who were already people of rich faith, who were already good soil, which would be rewarded by being fruitful. He came to invite everyone, regardless of status or holiness, to examine their own lives, and make a decision to become receptive soil, which could receive his Word and allow it to grow in them and transform their lives. Often these were not the people we might have expected to be most welcoming of his word – but by their fruits they could be recognised, and their transformation would be manifold – 30, 60 100 times.

Now move a step further, and see the sower as God himself, sending forth his Word into the world, with ludicrous wastefulness, flooding all of creation with his living love, and watching / waiting / nurturing it to produce good fruit, which would be the signs of his kingdom on earth. Remember that it was by the active Word of God that the whole of creation was brought into being: “God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation’ and ‘let the earth bring forth living creatures’” etc. Our passage from Isaiah this morning speaks of this ‘ As the rain and the snow water the earth before they return to heaven, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth … it shall not return to me empty, but will accomplish that which I purpose’. And the culmination of God’s sowing of the seed, his Word in the world, was of course Christ Jesus himself: in Jesus ‘the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth’. (John 1.14)

So in telling this parable, Jesus is calling forth a response – not just in a theoretical way, that people might hear the words he spoke, and respond to his teaching, by believing what he said. The invitation is rather for them to receive Jesus himself, and allow him to take root in their hearts and lives, and to live in them; then they will be infinitely fruitful, because it will be not their own creation, but the fruit of God’s kingdom, which will be growing through them, and changing the world. Perhaps this is why to the crowds Jesus

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scattered his teaching widely and liberally, but in parables, to see who has ears to hear; while to the closest disciples, who had already received him into their hearts, and thereby shown their receptivity to God’s word, he spoke explicitly. To them also the promise of fruitfulness 30,60, 100 times must be taken as reassurance and comfort – for when persecution and hardship come, they would know that even with the tiniest speck of true faith, of real relationship with Jesus, God can still watch over them and bring about infinite good.

And finally, take this thought one further step – to ask where and how God’s Word is already at work in and around your life, and where is its good fruit already visible, and even ready to be realised. It isn’t necessarily about the good works you yourself undertake – though these are obviously desirable; rather, it may be about where you see evidence of Christ’s loving presence in the activity and quality of life of those around you. Then as you open yourself up to see where the Word is living and growing, your openness and response will become part of the rich and good soil it needs in which to flourish even further. With you, or without you, God’s love will never falter, and his Word will never fail; but with you, you will come to know and see his glory in the world, and be able to rejoice that our prayer is being fulfilled – that his kingdom will come. A hymn to reflect these thoughts …

Hymn: Seek ye First the Kingdom of God

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you, hallelu, hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelu, hallelujah!

You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, hallelu, hallelujah! Chorus

Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you, hallelu, hallelujah. Chorus

Karen Lafferty (born 1948)

Prayers [with additions from the Weekly Sheet]

Gracious God, fountain of all wisdom, we pray for all people of faith, especially Christian leaders, and those who guard and teach the faith …. May the Word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts, and knit us together in love. Through our lives and by our prayers …

We pray for the leaders of nations, and those in authority under them. Give them the gift of your wisdom, and a right discernment in all things. Through our lives and by our prayers …

We pray for our own community in St Fagans and Michaelston, and all in the NW Cardiff Ministry Area …

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for all who live and work and visit here. Speak your Word of peace in our midst, and help us serve one another as Christ has served us. Through our lives and by our prayers …

We pray for those bowed down with anxiety, grief or sickness, especially … May your living Word bring comfort and healing to all in need … Through our lives and by our prayers …

We give thanks for those who have died in faith, and now rejoice with Christ and all your saints, trusting in the promise of your Word fulfilled ….. Through our lives and by our prayers … Lord of the Church, hear our prayer, and make us one in heart and mind to serve you with joy for ever. Amen. As our Saviour has taught us, so we pray:

Our Father ………..,

Notices – and Junior Church contributions

Thank you for participating in the service this morning. Do join us if you can on Wednesday evening as usual, at 7.00pm for the Parish Zoom group – informal chat and sharing of ideas. See the Weekly Sheet for details. We look forward to welcoming you again next Sunday at 10.30 for the next live-streamed service.

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Final Hymn: Now Thank we all our God

Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom his world rejoices; who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us, with ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us; and keep us in his grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills in this world and the next.

ll praise and thanks to God the Father now be given, the Son, and him who reigns with them in highest heaven, the one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore, for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

Ending:

God of glory, you nourish us with your living Word, Jesus Christ our Lord. fill us with your Holy Spirit that through us the light of your glory may shine in all the world.

So now the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come upon you, and remain with you, always. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord: In the name of Christ. Amen. CCLI No: 1943392