Our Services
Welcome to our worship for the Third Sunday after Trinity, 20th June
“Peace! Be still!”
Mark 4:39
Mark 4:39
Call to Worship and Opening Prayers
Jesus, we know that
after the storm there will be calm.
Thank you that you are present
even when it seems you are
asleep to our worries.
Amen.
Jesus entered history as a servant, to give his life as a ransom for many.
Let us humble ourselves before him as we come together in worship,
and strengthen our resolve to listen for God’s call in our lives amid all the distractions, fears and temptations that beset us.
Collect
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Invitation to Confession
Mindful of all the times we have fallen on our journey,
let us bring before the Lord everything that troubles our heart and impairs our communion with God.
We do not always prioritise your call on our lives.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
We are fearful when we forget to put our trust in you.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
We are proud of our achievements and knocked sideways by our failures.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Invitation to Confession
Mindful of all the times we have fallen on our journey,
let us bring before the Lord everything that troubles our heart and impairs our communion with God.
We do not always prioritise your call on our lives.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
We are fearful when we forget to put our trust in you.
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
We are proud of our achievements and knocked sideways by our failures.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Readings for the Third Sunday after Trinity, 20th June
First Reading: Job 38. 1-11
The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?
Psalm 107
Response: Give thanks to the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, for he is gracious
Those who go down to the sea in ships and ply their trade in great waters, These have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea. R
They were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep; their soul melted away in their peril. They reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed. R
Then were they glad because they were at rest, and he brought them to the haven they desired. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children. Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the council of the elders. R
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6. 1-13
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see —we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
Gospel Reading: Mark 4. 35-end
When the evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
The Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?—
when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,
and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?
Psalm 107
Response: Give thanks to the Lord, give thanks to the Lord, for he is gracious
Those who go down to the sea in ships and ply their trade in great waters, These have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For at his word the stormy wind arose and lifted up the waves of the sea. R
They were carried up to the heavens and down again to the deep; their soul melted away in their peril. They reeled and staggered like a drunkard and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were calmed. R
Then were they glad because they were at rest, and he brought them to the haven they desired. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and the wonders he does for his children. Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the council of the elders. R
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6. 1-13
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see —we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.
Gospel Reading: Mark 4. 35-end
When the evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
Here are some thoughts on the readings this morning, from Gareth
“Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him?” – Not a bad question for us to be thinking about this morning. Having heard Jesus’ teaching and some of his healing miracles the disciples witness what must have been a tremendous show of power when he stills the storm from their little boat. They were so impressed that they were led to ask a question that we must all ask at some point in our lives of faith: Who is this person, that we are following?
Lady Charlotte Lamb, having met the poet Byron for the first time, described him as being “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”. For those of Jesus’ day, and indeed still ours, who disagreed with his teaching or dismissed his miracles, perhaps they may have seen him as mad, bad and dangerous to know. But for his disciples, having been rescued from great peril on the sea, the answer was quite different.
If you were to go to Hackney swimming baths on a Sunday, you are likely to find that there are a large number of Orthodox Jews either teaching or learning to swim. In Rabbinic Jewish teaching there is a commandment to teach children to swim. It is part of Jewish culture that water is to be respected, perhaps because so much Jewish identity is found in the story of the Jews crossing through a body of water on their escape from Egypt.
Even in our non-Jewish imagination there is something of the terror in the idea of storms and the sea. Think of stories which begin “it was a dark and stormy night”. There is something which thrills and frightens us about a powerful thunderstorm after dark. We sing a hymn in which we pray for “those in peril on the sea”. In Robin Hood’s Bay there is a memorial plaque to the people of the village and the crew of Whitby lifeboat who, during a storm one winters night in 1881, dragged the lifeboat from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay through snow drifts six feet deep to rescue the crew of the stricken brigg Visitor. So we can have some sympathy with the disciples in the boat that night, being blown to and fro by the storm and with waves crashing over the side of the boat and filling it with water.
In Mark 4:35–5:43 the gospel writer tells of four miracles to prove that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of God” and therefore has absolute authority over the forces of this physical world (4:35-41), over the powers of the spiritual world (5:1-20), over physical illnesses (5:24-34), and over death (5:35-43). These miracles were designed to answer the question, “Who is this?” (4:41). The first miracle was Jesus calming the storm on Galilee. Because the Sea of Galilee is in a basin about 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by mountains, sudden and violent storms are common (v. 37). On a clear day a storm can being very quickly.
This is just like life - everything can be going smoothly and then storms can come out of nowhere. We can be afraid of sinking under them. Illness, family crisis, unemployment, accidents, any number of things can seem to be swamping us. When such times happen it is normal and natural to think “why us”? as people of faith, where we read passages like this in Scripture, this feeling can be even more acute. And so we are forced to consider the question, who is this Jesus?
When Mark was writing his gospel there were persecutions against the early Church – doubtless many of the early Christians thought that Jesus was perhaps napping on a celestial cushion somewhere and wondered why he didn’t do anything. But what would Mark's church have heard in such stories, and what can they be saying to us? As best we can discern, Mark's church was living in the shadow of the traumatic war of the Jews against Rome that ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. If Mark's account of Jesus' life and ministry were to be "good news" for the church, it would have to proclaim that message in the midst of the storms through which they were living (and in which many were dying). It would have to shine a light of hope in the night time of the life of the church, and not only proclaim the coming "day" of Christ's longed-for return in power. This story affirms that still in that night time, when the long and perilous journey is in process, the cosmic authority of the crucified and risen Christ is with us. God is with us, and we are not alone.
Having Jesus in the boat didn’t stop the storm happening, any more than having Jesus in our lives will stop the storms of life happening. But Jesus was able to calm the storm, to bring peace and equilibrium to the lake once again. Though we may not understand why the storms of life happen, and why we may not see the winds and waves of life being calmed in a powerful and dramatic way, we can have faith in Jesus who brings peace. Perhaps some of that peace comes from knowing that we are not alone through the storms of life. That though we may be, as the words of one of the prayers for Compline puts it, wearied by the changes and chances of this life, that we are not walking alone, but with Jesus, risen and ascended.
I will finish with a poem by William Cowper, which is sometimes sung as a hymn and which speaks of the hope that comes from having Christ with us in the boat during life’s storms:
The billows swell, the winds are high
Clouds overcast my wintry sky;
Out of the depths to thee I call,
My fears are great, my strength is small.
O Lord, a Saviour's part perform,
And guide and guard me through the storm;
Defend me from each threatening ill,
Control the waves, say, "peace, be still."
Amidst the roaring of the sea,
My souls still hands her hope on thee;
Thy constant love, thy faithful care,
Is all that saves me from despair.
Dangers of every shape and name,
Attend the followers of the Lamb,
Who leave the world's deceitful shore,
And leave it to return no more.
God of my life, to thee I call,
Afflicted at thy feet I fall;
When the great water-floods prevail,
Leave not my trembling heart to fail!
Lady Charlotte Lamb, having met the poet Byron for the first time, described him as being “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”. For those of Jesus’ day, and indeed still ours, who disagreed with his teaching or dismissed his miracles, perhaps they may have seen him as mad, bad and dangerous to know. But for his disciples, having been rescued from great peril on the sea, the answer was quite different.
If you were to go to Hackney swimming baths on a Sunday, you are likely to find that there are a large number of Orthodox Jews either teaching or learning to swim. In Rabbinic Jewish teaching there is a commandment to teach children to swim. It is part of Jewish culture that water is to be respected, perhaps because so much Jewish identity is found in the story of the Jews crossing through a body of water on their escape from Egypt.
Even in our non-Jewish imagination there is something of the terror in the idea of storms and the sea. Think of stories which begin “it was a dark and stormy night”. There is something which thrills and frightens us about a powerful thunderstorm after dark. We sing a hymn in which we pray for “those in peril on the sea”. In Robin Hood’s Bay there is a memorial plaque to the people of the village and the crew of Whitby lifeboat who, during a storm one winters night in 1881, dragged the lifeboat from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay through snow drifts six feet deep to rescue the crew of the stricken brigg Visitor. So we can have some sympathy with the disciples in the boat that night, being blown to and fro by the storm and with waves crashing over the side of the boat and filling it with water.
In Mark 4:35–5:43 the gospel writer tells of four miracles to prove that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of God” and therefore has absolute authority over the forces of this physical world (4:35-41), over the powers of the spiritual world (5:1-20), over physical illnesses (5:24-34), and over death (5:35-43). These miracles were designed to answer the question, “Who is this?” (4:41). The first miracle was Jesus calming the storm on Galilee. Because the Sea of Galilee is in a basin about 700 feet below sea level and is surrounded by mountains, sudden and violent storms are common (v. 37). On a clear day a storm can being very quickly.
This is just like life - everything can be going smoothly and then storms can come out of nowhere. We can be afraid of sinking under them. Illness, family crisis, unemployment, accidents, any number of things can seem to be swamping us. When such times happen it is normal and natural to think “why us”? as people of faith, where we read passages like this in Scripture, this feeling can be even more acute. And so we are forced to consider the question, who is this Jesus?
When Mark was writing his gospel there were persecutions against the early Church – doubtless many of the early Christians thought that Jesus was perhaps napping on a celestial cushion somewhere and wondered why he didn’t do anything. But what would Mark's church have heard in such stories, and what can they be saying to us? As best we can discern, Mark's church was living in the shadow of the traumatic war of the Jews against Rome that ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. If Mark's account of Jesus' life and ministry were to be "good news" for the church, it would have to proclaim that message in the midst of the storms through which they were living (and in which many were dying). It would have to shine a light of hope in the night time of the life of the church, and not only proclaim the coming "day" of Christ's longed-for return in power. This story affirms that still in that night time, when the long and perilous journey is in process, the cosmic authority of the crucified and risen Christ is with us. God is with us, and we are not alone.
Having Jesus in the boat didn’t stop the storm happening, any more than having Jesus in our lives will stop the storms of life happening. But Jesus was able to calm the storm, to bring peace and equilibrium to the lake once again. Though we may not understand why the storms of life happen, and why we may not see the winds and waves of life being calmed in a powerful and dramatic way, we can have faith in Jesus who brings peace. Perhaps some of that peace comes from knowing that we are not alone through the storms of life. That though we may be, as the words of one of the prayers for Compline puts it, wearied by the changes and chances of this life, that we are not walking alone, but with Jesus, risen and ascended.
I will finish with a poem by William Cowper, which is sometimes sung as a hymn and which speaks of the hope that comes from having Christ with us in the boat during life’s storms:
The billows swell, the winds are high
Clouds overcast my wintry sky;
Out of the depths to thee I call,
My fears are great, my strength is small.
O Lord, a Saviour's part perform,
And guide and guard me through the storm;
Defend me from each threatening ill,
Control the waves, say, "peace, be still."
Amidst the roaring of the sea,
My souls still hands her hope on thee;
Thy constant love, thy faithful care,
Is all that saves me from despair.
Dangers of every shape and name,
Attend the followers of the Lamb,
Who leave the world's deceitful shore,
And leave it to return no more.
God of my life, to thee I call,
Afflicted at thy feet I fall;
When the great water-floods prevail,
Leave not my trembling heart to fail!
Prayers for Sunday 20th June
Mighty God, when the waves of life threaten to overwhelm us, forgive us if we blame you or others for our troubles. Teach us to find you in the storms of life and give us the faith those early disciples lacked, to always believe that you will bring calm and peace.
Everlasting God, we pray for your church here in Pickering, for our Clergy Churchwardens, PCC and their families. We ask for your blessing on our work as we seek to create a church community that welcomes visitors and strangers, provides a refuge for those who feel threatened or alone, a refuge from life’s troubled waters.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Loving God, as we see the brokenness of our world, we pray for healing among the nations; for fair shares of the Coronavirus vaccines; for food where there is hunger; for freedom where there is oppression; for joy where there is pain; that your love may bring peace to all your children.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Holy God, we thank you for the joy of human love, and for all those among whom we live and work. We especially pray for those among our friends and families who do not know you, or whose faith has been shaken. Help them to see that you are our anchor in the storms of life.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Merciful God when our lives feel chaotic and desolate because of illness or sorrow, help us to hear your holy word, for by that word Jesus calmed the storm, and by it he healed and made people whole. We pray for those who have requested our prayers; help them to put their trust in You and in the knowledge and skills of the doctors and nurses who are treating them.
Including Angus MacDonald, Jane Sampson, Jo Bonham, Nigel Greenfield, Roger Coupland, Anthony Nichol, Paul Sheppard and Thelma Taplin.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Loving God we pray for those saddened by the death of someone close and dear to them, for members of our families who have died, including Eleanor Titova and whose anniversary we recall, including Marjorie Bowes, Marjorie Asquith, Cyril Richardson, David Renshaw and Jean Woodward. Help us to experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit within us, and the fellowship of the church family around us until we are reunited once more in your heavenly kingdom.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, help us to know that the one who calmed the waves on the Sea of Galilee is present with us day by day, and that he cares for us and can calm the waves of our lives. Help us to trust more fully and more deeply in you, in all that we are involved with in the days to come.
Merciful Father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Everlasting God, we pray for your church here in Pickering, for our Clergy Churchwardens, PCC and their families. We ask for your blessing on our work as we seek to create a church community that welcomes visitors and strangers, provides a refuge for those who feel threatened or alone, a refuge from life’s troubled waters.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Loving God, as we see the brokenness of our world, we pray for healing among the nations; for fair shares of the Coronavirus vaccines; for food where there is hunger; for freedom where there is oppression; for joy where there is pain; that your love may bring peace to all your children.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Holy God, we thank you for the joy of human love, and for all those among whom we live and work. We especially pray for those among our friends and families who do not know you, or whose faith has been shaken. Help them to see that you are our anchor in the storms of life.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Merciful God when our lives feel chaotic and desolate because of illness or sorrow, help us to hear your holy word, for by that word Jesus calmed the storm, and by it he healed and made people whole. We pray for those who have requested our prayers; help them to put their trust in You and in the knowledge and skills of the doctors and nurses who are treating them.
Including Angus MacDonald, Jane Sampson, Jo Bonham, Nigel Greenfield, Roger Coupland, Anthony Nichol, Paul Sheppard and Thelma Taplin.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Loving God we pray for those saddened by the death of someone close and dear to them, for members of our families who have died, including Eleanor Titova and whose anniversary we recall, including Marjorie Bowes, Marjorie Asquith, Cyril Richardson, David Renshaw and Jean Woodward. Help us to experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit within us, and the fellowship of the church family around us until we are reunited once more in your heavenly kingdom.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, help us to know that the one who calmed the waves on the Sea of Galilee is present with us day by day, and that he cares for us and can calm the waves of our lives. Help us to trust more fully and more deeply in you, in all that we are involved with in the days to come.
Merciful Father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Please pray for:-
the sick, and those who care for them, including Angus MacDonald, Jane Sampson, Jo Bonham, Nigel Greenfield, Roger Coupland, Anthony Nichol, Paul Shepard and Thelma Taplin.
those who have lit candles, and those for whom candles have been lit
those who have recently died, including Eleanor Titova,
those whose anniversary of death falls at this time, including Marjorie Bowes, Marjorie Asquith, Cyril
Richardson, David Renshaw and Jean Woodward
the sick, and those who care for them, including Angus MacDonald, Jane Sampson, Jo Bonham, Nigel Greenfield, Roger Coupland, Anthony Nichol, Paul Shepard and Thelma Taplin.
those who have lit candles, and those for whom candles have been lit
those who have recently died, including Eleanor Titova,
those whose anniversary of death falls at this time, including Marjorie Bowes, Marjorie Asquith, Cyril
Richardson, David Renshaw and Jean Woodward
Post Communion Prayer:
O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen
Ending Prayer
May God the Father keep us rooted in place.
May God the Son inspire us to live in service.
May God the Holy Spirit abide with us through all things.
Amen
Church of England online service
Here is a link to the Church of England’s service, which comes from a different place each week.
Click here
Click here
CHURCH GIVING
A few people have asked how they can support the church financially whilst they can't do their normal weekly giving. We do still require your offerings of money! We have ongoing expenses and commitments and the coffers will inevitably drain a bit low! Please continue to use Pam’s letterbox to drop off church donations – either envelopes, cheques (made payable to PCC of Pickering Church) or other loose cash (In a sealed envelope marked for the Church). If you are unable to go outside, please ring, and we will see if there is an alternative way to collect.
Pam Robb at 16 Garden Way, Pickering, YO18 8BG. 07769 801708
WITH VERY MANY THANKS.
