Prayers 9th These can be formal or improvised and This can be sung or said as a poem before or after the end with: closing prayer May The Lord’s Prayer 1. Praise to the Holiest in the height, Sixth Sunday 2021 and in the depth be praise: Our Father, in all his words most wonderful, who art in heaven, most sure in all his ways. hallowed be thy name; of aster A warm welcome to all 2. O loving wisdom of our God! E thy kingdom come; When all was sin and shame, who worship with us, thy will be done; a second Adam to the fight wherever you are … on earth as it is in heaven. and to the rescue came. Give us this day our daily bread. 3. O wisest love! that flesh and blood, Introductory Sentence Hymn And forgive us our trespasses, which did in Adam fail, Whoever says he abides in him This can be sung or said as a poem before or after the as we forgive those who trespass should strive afresh against the foe, ought to walk in the same way in introductory sentence against us. should strive and should prevail; which he walked. 1. All hail the pow’r of Jesus' name! And lead us not into temptation; 4. And that a higher gift than grace 1 John 2.6 Let angels prostrate fall; but deliver us from evil. should flesh and blood refine, bring forth the royal diadem, For thine is the kingdom, Prayers of Penitence God's presence and his very self, and crown him, crown him, crown him, the power, and the glory and essence all-divine. Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, crown him Lord of all. for ever and ever. 5. And in the garden secretly, 2. Crown him, ye martyrs of your God, Amen. and on the cross on high, we confess that we have sinned should teach his brethren, and inspire in thought, word and deed. who from his altar call; Closing Prayer to suffer and to die. We have not loved you with our praise him whose way of pain ye trod and crown him, crown him, crown him, Heavenly Father, 6. Praise to the Holiest in the height, whole heart. we share together the blessing and in the depth be praise: We have not loved our neighbours crown him Lord of all. of your presence. in all his words most wonderful, as ourselves. 3. Ye prophets who our freedom won, Give us in this life knowledge most sure in all his ways. In your mercy forgive what we ye searchers, great and small, of your truth, John Henry Newman (1801-1890) have been, by whom the work of truth is done, and in the world to come John Henry Newman help us to amend what we are, and crown him, crown him, crown him, life everlasting; Starting life as an evangelical, and direct what we shall be; crown him Lord of all. that we may do justly, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Newman became part of the 4. Let every tribe and every tongue love mercy, Amen. Oxford Movement which sought to him their hearts enthrall: to recover for the Church of and walk humbly with you, lift high the universal song England its ‘High Church’ ideals. our God. and crown him, crown him, crown him, He later converted to be a priest Amen. in the Roman Catholic Church and was crown him Lord of all. Collect Just a thought: made a Cardinal in 1879. His hymn "Praise Edward Perronet (1726-1792) (tune: ‘Miles Lane’) Love and compassion are to the Holiest in the Height" is part of his long Risen Christ, necessities, not luxuries. poem ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ - which was by the lakeside you renewed Edward Perronet your call to your disciples: Edward was born in 1726 in Without them humanity subsequently turned into one of the great choral works by Sir Edward Elgar. help your Church to obey Sundridge, Kent. He was the son cannot survive. Wikipedia your command of an Anglican priest. He worked and draw the nations to closely with and his Material on these pages is copyright © The Archbishops' Council of the the fire of your love, brother for many or reproduced with permission from years in the 18th century other copyright owners. to the glory of God the Father. Images by Blog World Cliparts Free Amen. . He died in 1792 and is and Clipartix.com buried in Canterbury Cathedral. CCLI No. 290228 Wikipedia How many of you have what you can call true friends? These are The Acts of the Apostles Acts 10.44-48 people that you can tell anything, knowing that they will not share that secret While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. with anyone else. They will also support you in times of trouble or grief, always The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift giving genuine help and guidance. You are able to turn to them at short notice and of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them tell them things that you find families are too close to tell. Friends like this are very speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold special and treasured people. To be a true friend to someone means a form of the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we commitment that can be binding for life. have?” So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they When we commit ourselves to a life of Faith in our Heavenly Father, we do a invited him to stay for several days. number of different things. We take on a new sense of what being ‘human’ is. We start to look at the world in a different light. We try to off­load old burdens (I say try, Synopsis on Acts 10.44-48 because we are but human beings and as the old saying goes ‘old habits die hard’). This passage marks a decisive moment in the Church’s life: when Jewish We spend time - precious time - praying and listening to God. This one is imperative Christians were challenged to accept gentile converts for the first time. in our faith life. But we are given a special, beautiful gift and that is the love of God. The move was made - with difficulty. Such moments of the widening of But we need to be careful what we mean by love. Although it is a word that is vision are always difficult - even today. perhaps one of the most used in the English language, it is also one that is used too casually, e.g. I love chocolate, or I would love go on holiday to Italy, etc … The love of God is a love that transcends all the other loves. This love is so special. It can be a life-saver to those in need. It can come in small pieces, like the love we feel after praying to God and feeling his presence with us at that time, or it can be like an all embracing love that wraps around us like a giant warming hug. God’s love, though, isn’t just for us, it is like receiving a portion and The Gospel John 15.9-17 then dividing it amongst all people that we meet. As Jesus says in the Gospel As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep reading today,”Love one another as I have loved you.” When we love one another, my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s we also allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and grow in us. How it grows will depend commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my on our connection to God, and to each other. The stronger our faith, the more we joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my command- will do. The things we do brings glory to God and strengthens the Holy Spirit in us. ment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love But it is not only love that we are given from God, and that we must give to others; than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do as the Gospel reading also says: “I have said these things to you so that my joy what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because What do we mean by ‘Joy’? The most obvious reply is happy; but here we are I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did talking about Christian joy. This joy comes from the Holy Spirit and it makes our not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that soul sing! It generates a very different and individual feeling between us all. will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am The most special thing that we are given is true friendship with our heavenly Father. giving you these commands so that you may love one another. As I was saying earlier about how special true friends are, having a special friend in God, and his loving, far surpasses earthly friendship. God’s love is unfathomable. Synopsis on John 15.9-17 When Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you”, the love generated from The Gospel of John gives us only one command to obey and it must this action is so great that there is probably no word in any language to describe it. embrace all the ‘duty’ that we take on: that we love one another. It sounds Jesus also said, “… I chose you.” That is, you and you and you, ad infinitum. Wow! simple but it only becomes so if it really embraces our whole way of life. One poet that I read and enjoy is, E.E. Cummings. This is a part of one of his most beautiful poems.

Let us always carry God’s heart in our hearts, and love one another as God loves us, and the world will be a very different, very wonderful and very spiritual place.