These are resources for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost) on Sunday, July 12, 2020. The resources are gathered from a variety of sources and, while assembled mainly for The Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, on the island of Crete in Greece, others may find them useful.

And the Lord said to [Rebekah],
“Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
    the elder shall serve the younger.”
²⁴ When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵ The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.^{[That is He takes by the heel ]} Genesis 25.23-26

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There are several ways you can join in worship this coming Sunday, July 12, 2020.

First, you can join us for worship in person.

• We meet this coming Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 11:00 am EEST at the Tabernacle of the Church of St Thomas, Kefalas.
• It will be a Holy Communion according to Common Worship.
• People should come only if they are comfortable with being out and about as the pandemic restrictions are being lifted, and are in good health.
• Those of you were were there last week and are coming again, please remember to return with your hymn book, psalter, and service booklet!

You can join us in the worship service via Zoom. Click on the link below, or enter the information at right into your Zoom app: Meeting ID: 850 4483 9927 Password: 010209:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85044839927?pwd=TkQ1cHEzNUNjSjVCNTNJVUJwSkZaQT09

Third, you can simply do it all yourself – read the lessons and pray the prayers below, as well as listen to the recorded sermon, and intersperse it all by clicking on the links to the hymns.

Read

The readings according to the Church of England Common Worship Lectionary and the Revised Common Lectionary are: Genesis 25:19-34, Psalm 119:105-112, Romans 8:1-11 and Matthew 13:1-9,18-23. As in previous weeks, we will exercise the option of having only the first reading and the gospel, and omit the reading from Romans.

For the psalm portion we may use this version, based on a translation by Ronald Knox. Psalm 119 is an acrostic. It has 22 sections of eight verses each, which makes for 176 verses – the longest by far of the 150 psalms. Every verse announces somehow the psalmist’s devotion to the Torah, describing it as Law, Judgement, Precept, Word, Teaching, and so forth. Each section begins each of the eight verses with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet – aleph, beth, gimel, daleth, and so forth, down to the last letter, waw. Most English translations do not attempt to reproduce this, but the English Roman Catholic priest Ronald Knox (1888-1957) did so, publishing it in 1950. The text below is a slight revision.

105 No lamp like your Word to guide my feet,
a light on my path.
106 Never will I retract my oath
to keep your just Judgements.
107 Nothing, Lord, but affliction;
preserve my life according to your Word.
108 Noble utterances of your mouth give me, Lord,
teach me your Judgements.
109 Now my life is in your eternal hands,
I am ever mindful of your Teaching.
110 Nearly the snares of the wicked caught my feet,
yet would I not swerve from your Precepts.
111 Now your Decrees are my inheritance,
and ever my heart’s delight.
112 Now to perform your Statutes is my heart’s aim;
eternal will be my reward.

Reflect

I will be posting my sermon on this blog after I preach it this Sunday.

In Romans 9.1-18 Paul talks about Jacob and Esau as a kind of prefiguring of how God is granting salvation to Gentiles as well as Jews, and how some Jews have turned from their heritage and will not receive grace. Here is a Lenten meditation I did on this three years ago.

Assuming that Fr Leonard Doolan pre-records his sermon for this coming Sunday, I will post it here when I get it.

Pray

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,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

(or)

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Intercessions
In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ,
let us pray to the Father.

For the peace of the whole world,
for the welfare of the Holy Church of God,
and for the unity of all,
let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For Robert Innes & David Hamid, our bishops;
for Justin Welby our archbishop, and Stephen Cottrell the Archbishop of York;
for the churches and peoples of  Djibouti and Somalia (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer Cycle);
for the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea and its archbishop, The Most Revd Allan Migi (Anglican Cycle of Prayer); and
(from the Prayer Diary of the Diocese in Europe) give thanks for our relationship with the Lutheran Churches of the Porvoo Agreement;
for the Porvoo Contact Group
and the Lutheran Church in Great Britain; and
for our partnership with USPG:
for the leaders of our sister Churches,and for all clergy and people,
let us pray to the Lord.  Lord, have mercy.

For Katerini Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece,
and Kyriakos Mitsotakis the Prime Minister of Greece;
for Elizabeth the Queen of the United Kingdom
and Governor of the Church of England,
and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of her British government;
for the leaders of the nations, and for all in authority,
let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.

For this community of Apokoronas and this island of Crete;
for every city, town and village,
and for all the people who live within them,
let us pray to the Lord.    Lord, have mercy.

For good weather,
and for abundant harvests for all to share,
let us pray to the Lord.     Lord, have mercy.

For those who travel by land, air, or water,
and for all medical staff testing and tracing tourists;
for the sick and the suffering,
remembering the over 4.5 million active cases of the novel coronavirus;
for prisoners and captives,
especially the over one million Uigers being held in detention in China;
for refugees and migrants,
especially those on Lesvos and in other camps in Greece;
for their safety, health and salvation,
let us pray to the Lord.   Lord, have mercy.

For our deliverance from all affliction, strife and need,
and for the absolution of our sins and offences,
let us pray to the Lord.   Lord, have mercy.

Remembering Thomas our patron and the twelve disciples, Isaac and Rebekah, Esau and Jacob, Mary Magdalene the apostle to the apostles, and Mary the Mother of God,
with all who have gone before us in faith,
and in communion with all the saints,
we commit ourselves, one another,
and our whole life to Christ our God; to you, O Lord

Sing