22nd OCTOBER 2023

Conflicting Priorities - A Reflection on Matthew 22:15-21 - St. Ignatius  Catholic Community

OPENING SENTENCE

Ascribe to the Lord honour and power.

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 be 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 Jesus 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.

Description: Description: Description: Confession under section 67 NDPS Act to be admitted or not, yet to ...

CONFESSION

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.

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

May the God of love and power
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by his Spirit
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

GLORIA
sung by Sue St Joseph

COLLECT

O Lord,
watch over your household with constant love
that, with you as our shelter,
your family may be free from all distress
and devoted to good works:
for the glory of your name;
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
Exodus 33: 12-23
read by Annette Beagrie

Moses’s Intercession

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.’ Now if I have found favour in your sight, please show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favour in your sight. Consider, too, that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”

The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have asked, for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 

OUT OF EGYPT pt. 4 Show Me Your Glory. EXODUS 33:4-5 NRSV When the people  heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. For  the. - ppt download

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord,’ and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

SECOND READING
1 Thessalonians 1.1–10

read by David Kerr


Salutation

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters, beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons, we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution, you received the word with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For they report about us what kind of welcome we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Week 2 (1 Thessalonians 1:4-10) — Community Church of East Gloucester

HYMN

GOSPEL READING
Matthew 22: 15-22
read by Rev Janice Aiton

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Matthew chapter 22 beginning at verse 15

Glory to Christ our Saviour.

The Question about Paying Taxes

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.

What Is God's (Matthew 22:15-22) — saralandchristians.com

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious gospel

Praise to Christ our Lord

SERMON

Not Trusting God Leads to Stress - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

A young lady was soaking up the sun’s rays on a Florida beach when a little boy in his swimming trunks, carrying a towel, came up to her and asked her, “Do you believe in God?” She was surprised by the question, but she replied, “Why, yes, I do.” Then he asked her: “Do you go to church every Sunday?” Again, her answer was “Yes!” He then asked: “Do you read your Bible and pray everyday?” Again, she said, “Yes!” By now her curiosity was very much aroused. The little lad sighed with relief and said, “Will you hold my ten pounds while I go in swimming?”

The little boy was straightforward and honest in his questions because he wanted to entrust to the lady something valuable. Today we meet people questioning Jesus, but their questioning is far from being honest and straight forward. They come with those trick questions, that no matter what you answer you give, you will end up offending someone. The Pharisees are deceitful and cunning. They are not really looking for an answer to their question, rather they are hoping Jesus will incriminate himself by his reply and then they will have grounds to get rid of this trouble making Nazarene.

Video Illustration about Matthew 22:15-22 - SermonCentral.com

To achieve this goal, they had recruited the help of their arch enemies, the Herodians.

Together they are in for the kill. United they converse with Jesus so that they can trick him into something incriminating and what better way to do it than a trick question on taxes- is it lawful to pay taxes to Emperor Caesar or not? The question of paying tax to the Roman Emperor was one of the hottest topics in the Middle East in Jesus’ day, just as at present our hottest topic in domestic politics is the ever- widening gap between the rich and poor. The need for food banks speaks of the injustice in the economic system and strong emotions and feelings about this growing problem anger so many. It is a system riddled with injustice and prejudice, and it provokes strong feelings from the marginalised.

The Jews felt marginalised, and they would share the same depth of emotions about their system of paying taxes to the Romans. After all the Romans- the enemy have occupied their land and now have the cheek then to demand taxes as a reward for occupying it! Feeling in relation to taxes ran high and so the Pharisees and Herodians rub their hands gleefully as they await Jesus’ reply of incrimination. They are sure they have entrapped him.

God and Government - Hillcrest Baptist Church

For -if Jesus speaks out against taxes, it will be sedition against Rome. The Herodians want to keep Herod in power at the behest of the Romans. The Romans keep Herod there to collect taxes. So, the Herodians will witness this sedition and Jesus will be subject to prosecution. If on the other hand, Jesus submits to the Roman tax, he will discredit himself as a prophet and lose his following. The people who follow Jesus hate Roman taxes for theological as well as economic reasons. If the land belongs to God, what right do Romans have to collect taxes on everything from fruits of the earth and animals to the fish of the sea? Also, this taxation was crushing, not a reasonable percentage but an intolerable burden that included bribery and cheating. If Jesus sanctioned the taxation laws, it would contradict much of his preaching and teaching.

This is the plot that the Pharisees have hatched, the two- edged sword that they hope will slice Jesus on either side. But the first move is to grease the skids. They excessively flatter Jesus as part of their strategy to get him to ‘speak plainly’ and reveal himself. They comment on his truthfulness and his refusal to say what people want to hear, especially those in authority. Therefore, he will not try to pander to those in power. They want Jesus to talk in a vacuum, to completely disregard those to whom he is talking-after all truth is independent of its audience. The flattery may be right. Jesus may not gear his speech to a person’s status, but he does gear his speech to a person’s moral standing and the moral status of the Pharisees is malicious. The thoughts of their heart and mouth are completely different. They are not interested in taxes and God. They are interested in undercutting the influence of Jesus.

Sermon Speakers Pastor Donald Peterson III - Emmanuel Lutheran Church

But they got much more than they bargained for! Jesus completely outwitted them. How did Jesus manage this? Well, he did not have a Roman coin on him, so he asks for one. This alone is an indication of where he is coming from. The Pharisees have asked a duplicitous question, so now Jesus includes them in the answer. When they produce the coin, they are showing that they themselves are handling the hated currency. Among the reasons it was hated was what was on the coin. Jews were not allowed to put images of people, human faces on their coins, but Caesar of course had his image stamped on his, and around the edge of the coin, proclaiming to all the world who he was, Caesar had the words that would send a shudder through any loyal or devout Jew ‘Son of God – High priest.’ How could any Jew be happy to handle stuff like that?

We watch the scene as Jesus takes the coin from them, like someone being handed a dead rat. He looks at it with utter distaste: “Whose is this image,” he asks? “And who is it that gives himself an inscription like that?” The answer Jesus received was Caesar. Well, then, said Jesus, give it back to Caesar, it is his. Give to Caesar what belongs to him and give to God what belongs to him.’ With this unique wisdom Jesus lays down a very great and important principle- that of citizenship!

Video Illustration about Matthew 22:15-22 - SermonCentral.com

Every Christian has a double citizenship. Christians are citizens of the country in which they happen to live. To it they owe many things. They owe the safety against lawless people which only settled government can give; they owe all public services. To take a simple example-few are wealthy enough to have a lighting system or a cleansing system or a water system of their own. These are public services. Because Christians are men and women of honour, they must be responsible citizens – so sorry folks if you thought I might offer a loophole out of paying taxes this year- we have a duty to ‘Caesar’, in other words to the government in return for the privileges which the rule of Rishi Sunak’s team gives us.

But Christians are also citizens of heaven. God has made us. We are God’s coins, so to speak. In the book of Genesis we read, God said ‘Let us make humankind in our image.’ We ourselves bear God’s image. So, we are to render to God what is God’s. What is God’s? What do we owe God? We owe God enough time on a regular basis to discern, sort through what seems to be his will, his plan, his calling in our personal and relational lives. What is God’s? What do we owe God? We owe him a passion regarding our relationships — our families, our co-workers and neighbours. God sees civility as our unconditional acceptance of the other, because the other is unconditionally loved and accepted by God. What is God’s? What do we owe God? We owe God our service and partnership in the ongoing salvation of creation and our world. We are to be good stewards of the environment and of all the world resources.

Wentzville United Methodist Church | Wentzville MO

What is God’s? What do we owe God? We owe God our wholehearted commitment. In Isaiah: God says “I am the Lord; there is no other.” God wants to be at the centre of our lives. We need to spend a lifetime naming and rooting out of our lives the subtle idolatries that keep us from God. What is God’s? What do we owe God? I believe we need to offer to God daily, a moral inventory. On a regular basis, God and other people deserve from us attitudes and behaviours of reconciliation. And something we certainly owe God is to live in a spirit and posture of praise and thanks. All is gift — all is grace. All has come to us freely from God. Each person in our lives, even difficult people, is a blessing, a grace. God deserves praise for these gifts.

What is God’s? What do we owe God? I do not think God needs anything from us. But I do think God wants us to become holy. What is holiness? It is prayerfulness, a discerning spirit, a critical awareness, a passion for relationships and communion, partnership with God, a servant heart toward each other and the world.,

A cross in the dark

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We live in a culture of Caesars. We need to be realistic enough to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But let us not allow Caesar to wash away our souls, and our minds. In holiness, let us give to God what is God’s. Amen.

Christ The Savior Lutheran Church

NICENE 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,
eternally begotten of the Father,
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.

Praying Moms – LRPC HOME

PRAYERS

Lord Jesus, Lover of all people
we thank you for your great and constant love,
which never stops seeking us out,
never fades
and never lets us go.
We thank you for the love and kindness
that we experience every moment of each day,
for everything you have blessed us with.
We lift to you today
those who feel unloved,
unwanted and rejected.
Draw near to them and
enfold them in your everlasting arms of love.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Our Blog - God Can Heal The Brokenhearted

Lord Jesus, Healer of the broken hearted,
we pray for those whose relationships have been broken,
whether through separation, divorce or bereavement.
We pray for those who have never enjoyed
the relationships they might have had-
children unwanted by parents,
parents alienated from their children,
family members estranged from one another.
Bring your healing touch,
and fill them with your love.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Lord Jesus, Servant King,
born in poverty and soon a refugee,
be with families today who are poor
and live in hunger and want.
Guide the aid agencies to their plight
and help us all play our part,
in alleviating the suffering of so many.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

JESUS Is THE Way, THE Truth, And THE Life! Part 2 | Trinity and Humanity

Lord Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life,
as you grew in wisdom and favour
with your Father and with the people,
in the family of Joseph the carpenter,
bring wisdom and your holy presence
into the work and growth of families today.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Jesus The Great Physician: Dr. W.F. Hannay: 9781912522484 -  Christianbook.com

Lord Jesus, you know our motives and our attitudes,
help us to be honest and sincere
in what we ask, think, and do.
Awaken in us a deep appreciation of who you are
and help us to give you the devotion that is rightly yours.
May we sort out our priorities and commitments
and serve you wholeheartedly.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Lord Jesus, you are the great Physician
we lift to you all who are struggling with sickness.
depression, anxiety, and fear,
and ask that you will grant them
your courage, strength and peace.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Lord Jesus, the Resurrection and Life,
when you were dying
you called Mary and John to care for one another.
Provide today for those who lose their families:
Thinking of all the bereaved and childless,
orphans and widows in Israel and Palestine,
in Ukraine and Russia and in Sudan.
Bring your comfort and strength to them
in this time of need.

A rock in a cave

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Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Lord Jesus the creator of this world,
we cry to you for our planet Earth,
and for the alarming results of climate change.
Lord help us to arrest
this destruction of your creation
and empower and guide us
to be better stewards of all who have entrusted to us.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Lord Jesus the ruler of this earth,
you appoint kings and queens,
politicians and governors
to direct the affairs of this land.
We lift to you our concern for the United Kingdom
in a time of economic upset,
rising inflation and the cost- of- living crisis.
Take away from our leaders
this hunger for ego and image
and instead give them a heart of care
for those they govern,
that we might find our fears for this winter allayed
and our burdens lifted.

Lord in your mercy
reach out in love.

Saviour of the world – Seeking the kingdom

Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the World,
help us by the power of the Holy Spirit,
to love you with all our heart, with all our soul,
with all our mind and with all our strength,
and to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Merciful Father accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
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 for ever. Amen.

HYMN

A blue text on water

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BLESSING

The peace of God, which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord:
and the blessing of God the Father,
the Son and Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen

DISMISSAL

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

Welcome

St John the Evangelist, Dumfries, is a parish of the Scottish Episcopal Church also serving Methodist parishioners locally.

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Notices

Contemporary Service

Contemporary Service

The Contemporary Service is at 6pm, on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, followed by refreshments in the hall.

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