Trinity 2 & Pentecost 3 Sunday, 07/06/2026

SENTENCE FROM SCRIPTURE:

Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own! (Psalm 33)

HYMN-

GREETING

Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

COLLECT FOR PURITY

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

SUMMARY OF THE LAW

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.

SILENCE

God our Father,
we confess to you
and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry.
Forgive us our sins,
and deliver us from the power of evil,
for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ABSOLUTION

God, who is both power and love,
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

GLORIA
sung by Dougie Byers

COLLECT

O God, our hope and strength,
the source and end of all our prayers:
because our mortal nature is weak
we can do nothing good without your help;
support us with your grace,
that in keeping your commandments,
we may ever remain in your love;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen

PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD

FIRST READING
Genesis 12.1–9,
read by Jess Fergusson

¹ The LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ ⁴ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ^{✝ 8} From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb.

SECOND READING
Romans 4.13–25,
read by Grant Fergusson

¹³ The promise that Abraham would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. ¹⁶ For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷ as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’) – Abraham believed in the presence of the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸ Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations,’ according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ ¹⁹ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.

²⁰ No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²² Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ ²³ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him,’ were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴ but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

GRADUAL HYMN

GOSPEL
Matthew 9.9–13, 18–26,
read by Catriona Appleby Strivens

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Chapter 9, beginning at verse 9

Glory to Christ our Saviour

⁹ As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. ¹⁰ And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’

¹² But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’ ¹⁸ While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ ¹⁹ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. ²⁰ Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, ²¹ for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’

²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. ²³ When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, ²⁴ he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. ²⁵ But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. ²⁶ And the report of this spread throughout that district. Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.

SERMON

This morning’s Gospel reading tells first of the call of Matthew. “As Jesus was walking along”, we are told, He sees Matthew and says to him: “Follow me” and Matthew gets up and follows Him. [Matt 9 v 9]

The way the story is told it all feels very casual, almost opportunistic, and yet from this simple beginning, this man’s faith journey, his following of the Lord Jesus begins. Of course, we are not told, and have no way of knowing, whether this is the first time that Matthew has met Jesus or whether what we read in the Gospel account is the culmination of a process, a series of meetings between the two of them, which has led to this call and to Matthew’s response. What we do know is that Jesus draws to Himself a man who exists on the margins of his society, who by his work as a tax collector supports the hated imperial Roman occupying forces. But from this encounter and his response to it, Matthew’s life is changed for ever. He cannot know what his decision to leave his current life and follow this man, Jesus, will mean, but his faith journey has begun and now, as the subsequent shared meal shows, he has moved from the margins of society into a place of belonging, of welcome, alongside Jesus.

Our Gospel reading then tells of two people who see in Jesus someone to whom they can turn to meet their particular need, in whom they can place their trust, in whom they can have faith and both of them have that need met in Jesus. The leader’s daughter is restored to life and the woman is healed, Jesus saying to her: “… your faith has made you well.” [Matt 9 v 22]

Faith – that word sits at the heart of each of this morning’s readings. But if we ask ourselves, ‘What is faith?’ or ‘How do I go about getting faith?’ – then, it seems to me that we’re starting in the wrong place. All starts with God and His wondrous, outpouring of love for our world and for each one of us. He is come to us in Jesus, His Son, who has shared our life, died our death and is raised to glory. It is through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that we can be put right with God, our relationship with Him restored – “justification” as Paul puts it in our reading from the letter to the Romans. [Rom 4 v 25]

We do nothing to earn, deserve or merit this gracious love of God poured out to us, which draws us to Himself. This was the error of the pharisees, who condemn Jesus for drawing to Himself the outcasts and marginalised of His society. They thought that by their observance of the law, being “righteous”, they could earn their salvation. Jesus challenges them to think again, to change, just as much as He has challenged Matthew and those with whom He sits at table. This is the significance of Jesus’ words to them: “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’…” [Matt 9 v 13]

And, as we open ourselves to the truth of God’s love for each one of us in Jesus, we are challenged, just as Matthew was challenged, to ‘follow’ – to begin, or to continue, our faith journey, our journey through life with God our companion, guide and friend. We cannot know what that journey will bring. To have faith does not prevent us from going through times of hardship, difficulty or testing. Nor does our faith always remain strong or certain. We may well go through times of doubt, uncertainty and questioning. However, it will often be through these most difficult times that our faith is strengthened. Faith is, quite simply, our response to the love of God for us, which we see in Jesus; to recognise that this is the direction that our lives must take.

“Follow me”, says Jesus. May we follow where He may lead and so find in Him our hope, our belonging, meaning, purpose and direction in this life and for eternity. Amen.

THE CREED

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one substance with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father.
With the Father and the Son,
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYERS

Blessed are you, Lord, our God. You call not only patriarchs, prophets and your first evangelists. You call us today to know you, and to love you.

Lord, may we come to know you, and in knowing you, love you and, in loving you, serve you, because we know that in your service there is perfect freedom. Blessed are you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Lord

Heal us and raise us up

Father, we ask your guidance on all who are seeking to discern your call in their lives. We ask your blessing upon all those who have set out on the journey of a recent vocation. As you have called us to proclaim the Gospel, give us strength and zeal, and the wisdom to share the Gospel message in a way that people may best understand and respond. We pray for preachers and evangelists, and we ask your guidance for all who witness to you.

Lord

Heal us and raise us up

Father, we remember before you all those who suffer from rejection and scorn. We pray for homeless people and those who have fled because of war or climate change. We ask your blessing upon all who are used as cheap labour or who are abused by taskmasters. We pray for all victims of modern slavery and those who suffer from injustice or the lack of fair trade.

Lord

Heal us and raise us up

Father, we thank you for our homes and our loved ones. As we ask your blessing upon them, we remember homes where there is sorrow and suffering. We pray for those who are struggling due to the illness of a loved one. Be close to those who have been deeply traumatised following a murder or violence in their family, or a tragic death by accident of those they love. We pray for those who have got deeply into debt, and all who feel drained and exhausted.

Lord

Heal us and raise us up

Father, we give thanks for all those who work in the healing professions. We pray for our own doctors and health workers. We remember all those who are denied healing and help through poverty or war. We ask your blessing upon all those who are caring for a loved one who is terminally ill, and for the work of hospices.

Lord

Heal us and raise us up

Father, we rejoice that both the dead and the living are in your care. We rejoice with all the faithful departed, where sorrow and pain are no more. So, to you, Heavenly Father, we commit to you this world, our loved ones, and ourselves now and forever.

Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Do not bring us
to the time of trial
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.

BLESSING

Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

HYMN –

DISMISSAL

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
In the name of Christ. Amen