The first Sunday after Trinity
Sunday 14th June 2020
The Scottish Episcopal Church will this Sunday at 11.00 broadcasting video coverage of its Eucharistic service via its website, social media channels and YouTube channel. The web page for the broadcast is located at www.scotland.anglican.org/broadcast-sunday-worship The website will also contain a downloadable video and audio format of the service.
SERVICE
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
Collect
Lord Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruits of your redemption;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Gospel
John 6:51-58
51 I am the living bread(A) that came down from heaven.(B) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”(C)
52 Then the Jews(D) began to argue sharply among themselves,(E) “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh(F) of the Son of Man(G) and drink his blood,(H) you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.(I) 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.(J) 57 Just as the living Father sent me(K) and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”(L)
The Nicene Creed.
I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; Begotten of
His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of
very God; Begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father; By
whom all things were made: Who for us men
and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the
Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man: And was crucified also
for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered was buried: And the third day
He rose again according to the Scriptures:
And ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of the Father:
And he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the
dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, The Lord, and Giver of Life, Who
proceedeth from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified; Who spake by the Prophets: And I
believe one Catholic and Apostolic Church: I acknowledge
one Baptism for the remission of sins: And I look for the Resurrection
of the dead: And the Life of the world to come. Amen.
The Sermon
The second phase of the Church year begins today. As previously explained, the Sunday Gospels between Advent and Trinity have been akin to jigsaw pieces which, when assembled, depict a picture of Christ on earth. During this time, church colours both on the altar and celebrant change frequently: mauve for Lent, red on Palm Sunday and Pentecost, and white during the seasons of Christmas and Easter. Now in this second phase, the colour will remain predominantly green, a period known as Ordinary Time. Like animals in a field, believers are at leisure to graze the scriptures meditatively and reflect upon other aspects of faith. One, for example, is the significance of Corpus Christi, observed by the church upon the Thursday following Trinity.
One of the last letters received from David Miller before his death was concern about the weekly Eucharist. As the sacrament was being celebrated so frequently, he feared that receiving the body and blood of Christ was becoming as routine and perfunctory as brushing teeth after a meal. David was quite justified in his questioning and bears testimony to his thoughtful and deep faith.
Until the 1960’s, the Communion service was an exception rather than the rule. Matins and evensong were the staple Sunday services, with perhaps Holy Communion just once a month. After that point, its frequency grew to become the focal point of Sunday worship. As David mused, regularity and routine risk indifference. For that very reason The Church of Scotland celebrates the Sacrament perhaps just four or five times a year.
David’s thoughts and fears accord with those of Juliana of Liège, a 13th-century Norbertine canoness. Orphaned at the age of five, she was entrusted to the care of Augustinian nuns at a convent, where Juliana, in adult life, developed a special veneration for the act of Holy Communion. She feared too that through familiarity, its deepest meaning would become flawed. In 1208, she saw a vision of Christ in which she was instructed to plead for the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, a time when believers might be reminded anew of the greatest gift of Christ. Eventually she confided the vision to her confessor, who in turn relayed it to the Bishop of Liège. In 1246 Bishop Robert ordered a celebration of Corpus Christi. In time Corpus Christi became included in the calendar of the Anglican Church.
The act of Communion began at the Last Supper when Jesus gave the disciples bread and wine as his body and blood in anticipation of his death the next day. Thus, the Eucharist takes place under the shadow of the cross and so commemorating Jesus’ death and the sacrificial love which Jesus showed both during his life and in his death. Members of Christ’s body commit to a life of self-sacrificing love and the receiving of Communion should nourish that resolve.
Food from our tables strengthens and sustains. The Eucharist though is not consumption of physical food. Christ chose the form and the imagery of a meal, and the symbolism of eating and drinking, as the way of continuing his active, transforming presence among his followers. It is a reminder that Christ is the source of our life and health, similar to the way that ordinary food gives physical life and health. We can though only appreciate this symbolism if we treat the Eucharist as partaking in the extraordinary, rather than the ordinary.
The closing of churches has of course given new emphasis to Corpus Christi. Easter and Pentecost in particular have passed without a service of Holy Communion. Am I the only one anguished to view the cup and wafer standing unshared in the course of the Provincial Zoom service? As I write, there is still no indication when churches might fully open again. What safeguards might be required before Communion can again be celebrated? We can only hope and pray. One of the rare benefits of lockdown might be to cherish anew the sacrament of sharing one with another the body and blood of Christ our Saviour.
Reflection
by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI 2005-13
What does Corpus Christi mean to me? It does not only bring the liturgy to mind:
for me, it is a day on which heaven and earth work together. In my mind’s eye it
is the time when spring is turning into summer; the sun is high in the sky, and
crops are ripening in field and meadow. The Church’s feasts make present the
mystery of Christ, but Jesus Christ was immersed in the faith of the people of
Israel and so, arising from this background in Israel’s life, the Christian feasts are
also involved with the rhythm of the year, the rhythm of seedtime and harvest.
How could it be otherwise in a liturgy which has at its centre the sign of bread,
fruit of earth and heaven? Here this fruit of the earth, bread, is privileged to be
the bearer of him in whom heaven and earth, God and man have become one.
The Prayer
Let us pray for the willingness to make present in our world the love of Christ shown to us in the Eucharist,
Lord Jesus Christ,
we worship you living among us
in the sacrament of your body and blood.
May we offer to our Father in heaven
a solemn pledge of undivided love.
May we offer to our brothers and sisters
a life poured out in loving service of that kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit
one God for ever and ever.
Amen
Confession
Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against Thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly Thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent and are heartily sorry for these our misdoings: The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please Thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of Thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Absolution
The Almighty and merciful Lord, grant me pardon and absolution of all my sins. Amen.
The Comfortable Words, Preface. and Sanctus.
Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all who truly turn to Him.
Come unto Me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. St. Matt. xi. 28.
So God loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, to the end
that all that believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. St. John iii. 16.
Hear also what Saint Paul saith.
This is a true saying, and worthy of all men to be received, That Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Tim. i. 15.
Hear also what Saint John saith.
If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous; and He is the Propitiation for our sins. 1 St. John ii. 1, 2.
Therefore
with Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud
and magnify Thy glorious Name; evermore praising
Thee, and saying,
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Lord God of hosts, Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory: Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High. Amen.
In union, O Lord with the faithful, I desire to offer Thee praise and thanksgiving. I present to Thee my soul and body with the earnest wish that may always be united to Thee. And since I can not now receive Thee sacramentally, I beseech Thee to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to Thee and embrace Thee with all the affections of my soul. Let nothing ever separate Thee from me. May I live and die in Thy love. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Todays hymn Listen on YouTube ? Just skip the Ads – sorry
1 Jesu, thou joy of loving hearts,
thou fount of life, thou light of men;
from the best bliss that earth imparts
we turn unfilled to thee again.
2 Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood;
thou savest those that on thee call;
to them that seek thee thou art good,
to them that find thee, all in all.
3 We taste thee, O thou living bread,
and long to feast upon thee still;
we drink of thee, the fountain-head,
and thirst our souls from thee to fill.
4 Our restless spirits yearn for thee,
where’er our changeful lot is cast,
glad when thy gracious smile we see,
blest when our faith can hold thee fast.
5 O Jesu, ever with us stay;
make all our moments calm and bright;
chase the dark night of sin away;
shed o’er the world thy holy light.
Ray Palmer (1808–1887)
based on Jesu, dulcedo cordium, (Latin, 12th century)
The nineteenth century witnessed a renewed interest amongst hymn compilers for those dating from the medieval period. This hymn was written by Bernard of Clairvaux, a twelfth century nobleman and translated by Ray Palmer, an American pastor in 1858.
Blessing
Christ, who has nourished us with himself the living bread,
make us one in praise and love,
and raise us up at the last day;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among us and remain with us always.
Amen
This weeks Resources from the Diocese
