Services for this coming week
Sunday, 9th November, Remembrance Sunday
8.00 am Holy Communion
9.30 am Holy Communion at Levisham
10.00 am Parish Communion with Act of Remembrance
10.45 am Holy Communion at Lockton
2.00 pm Town Remembrance Service
No Evensong this week
Sunday, 9th November, Remembrance Sunday
8.00 am Holy Communion
9.30 am Holy Communion at Levisham
10.00 am Parish Communion with Act of Remembrance
10.45 am Holy Communion at Lockton
2.00 pm Town Remembrance Service
No Evensong this week
Wednesday, 12th November
10.00 am Holy Communion
Sunday, 16th November, Second before Advent
8.00 am Holy Communion
10.00 am Parish Communion
10.00 am Holy Communion at Marishes
6.00 pm Evensong
Welcome to our worship for Remembrance Sunday, 9th November
God, our refuge and strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease and poverty and pain shall end, that earth may know the peace of heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In the Diocesan Cycle of prayer, praying especially today for The Church in the Province of the West Indies
Collect
Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Readings for Today
First Reading: Job 19. 23-27a
O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he[b] will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Psalm 17. 1-8
Response: Incline your ear to me, O Lord, and listen to my words
Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips. Let my vindication come forth from your presence; let your eyes behold what is right. R
Weigh my heart, examine me by night, refine me, and you will find no impurity in me. My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; I have heeded the words of your lips. R
My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; my feet have not stumbled in your paths. I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; incline your ear to me, and listen to my words. R
Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them. R
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings. R
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2. 1-5, 13-end
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
Gospel Reading: Luke 20. 27-38
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man[a] shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’
Reflection on these readings
from Reader, Petronella Spivey
Lord, may I speak the words you want me to speak, may we hear the words that you want us to hear. Amen
The church celebrates this early part of November as a season of remembering. Or perhaps, we might call it, a season of stories.
We began by giving thanks for the Bible, that huge book of stories of individuals and communities, and supremely the story of God’s revelation to us. We moved on to tales of the saints (the superheroes of the Christian faith) before remembering that we are all saints – after all that is the word St Paul used to address believers. Last Sunday evening we held a service for All Souls and gave thanks for all those we love but see no more. And now, we remember the dead of over a century of war, giving thanks for their sacrifice, and remembering too, the service of people who came back from war but who were forever changed by what they had seen and done.
And for every one of these saints, and for every one of these souls and for every one of these soldiers, there is a story. And every one of these stories is not simply an entertainment, a diversion. Their stories contain truths about the world we live in. They tell us about the people around us: what we have in common and what makes us different. And the stories of saints and souls and soldiers, inspire us, encourage us, comfort us, they are stories that teach us, challenge us and have the power to change us. That’s why Jesus told stories, stories that we still tell. Jesus knew his hearers would remember those stories and share them. Those stories go on living as we retell them, seeking for the truths they contain, reapplying them to our own lives and circumstances.
So, are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
I’ll begin with Job, although you will be relieved to know that I am not going to tell you the whole story. It’s a tale about a wealthy man who sees his livelihood, his family, and his health destroyed, and is a really good example of a story with a message. In fictional form, it asks us big questions like “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and “Do people only worship God because of the blessings he gives them?” But instead of answering them directly, the story of Job puts different answers into the mouths of his companions. The story of Job can give us new ways to view the world, and the passage we have heard today may inspire and challenge us to long for God and his rule.
It’s Remembrance Sunday, so I thought I would bring you some stories from my own family. In fact, stories with pictures. I’ll begin with my maternal grandfather, Len Rendell. He was born in Somerset in 1891, and I share my birthday with him. Because of his age he served in both the first and second world wars – this, I think, is a first war picture. And obviously, because I knew him as a child, he was fortunate enough to survive them both.
I never asked him to tell me his story and now I’d love to know what he did as a young man, and then as a husband and father. I’ve been able to find out little bits from the records of course, but the vast majority of his war time service and his later career in the post office is a story that is left untold.
In the same way, Trevor Richmond is trying to find out more about T. Stanley Beale whose name appears on the war memorial and will be read out in a moment. Despite Trevor’s persistence, he can’t find out about his service. Will this man’s story remain untold forever?
And of course, untold war stories are increasing as time passes, and the original witnesses are no longer able to speak for themselves. It’s important that we pass on their stories, of why it was important to defend democracy and oppose dictatorship, because as the Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously said, those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it. This means that all these war time stories of service and sacrifice don’t just inspire us, but they teach us and challenge us to reflect about the world we live in today and the part we play in it.
But even though the stories of so many may not be known to us, this doesn’t mean that those people didn’t make a contribution. All of these people: my grandad, T Stanley Beale, are part of our history. Just because we don’t know what an individual did doesn’t mean they didn’t do something. A story may be untold, but it can still make a difference.
Here is another picture, showing my son Tom, who joined the army a couple of years ago and is now serving in the logistics corp. In this picture there are about fifty young men and women, all at the beginning of their military careers. Who knows what their stories will be? Maybe some of them will be great heroes, but most of them will undoubtedly be ordinary people doing their jobs as well as they can. Their stories are as yet unfinished, still unfolding: some will be told for a season and then lost, some will be told again and again. But a story may be untold and yet still make a difference.
And the idea of an unfolding story brings us back to the church in Thessalonica, one of the first Christian communities to be founded outside Jerusalem. Here is a group of people longing to know and follow the Lord Jesus, but who have
· no gospels (they are not written yet),
· no buildings,
· no hymn books or service books,
· no written creeds (they won’t be written for 300 years).
They are at the very beginning of the story of the church, and Paul describes them as “beloved by the Lord, first fruits made holy by God’s Spirit.” The individuals who make up the Church in Thessalonica may not have gone on to become great saints whose story is told and told again in later years, but their unfolding story, mattered to the people around them, just like all the young men and women whose pictures I showed you earlier. And the influence of those first Thessalonian Christians mattered to the people who came after them, and it matters to us too. Because their story of longing to know and follow the Lord Jesus is our story too: it unfolds in us. Again, I say, a story may be untold. But it can still make a difference.
And that’s the thing, that we carry our own stories within us. As Gareth said a few weeks ago, there are the stories of our families, our nation, our own lives, but above all there is the story of our faith, the story of God’s longing for us to reach out to Him. This is the story above all that inspires us, encourages us, comforts us, with the power to teach us, challenge us and to change us.
One of the reasons that the Bible stops where it does is that the story it contains carries on in the life of the Church.
You are the story, I am the story, and together, we are the story. We are the unfolding story of Christ’s risen body: we are the unfolding story of the love of God at work in the world.
Our stories may not be told (although with many of us documenting our lives in diaries and blogs and social media, maybe we will leave a huge heap of stories for generations to come). For sure, few of us are destined to be known as saints and have our names or paintings on walls and plaques for future generations to see and ponder over. But our stories are still important because we are important to almighty God who created us, and the things we do make a difference to the people around us.
Our stories may be untold. But they can still make a difference.
And that is why Paul told the Thessalonians, and tells us, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.” So that they can go on living and telling the story
May God’s grace and comfort and hope, help us to tell the story of his great love in the coming week.
The church celebrates this early part of November as a season of remembering. Or perhaps, we might call it, a season of stories.
We began by giving thanks for the Bible, that huge book of stories of individuals and communities, and supremely the story of God’s revelation to us. We moved on to tales of the saints (the superheroes of the Christian faith) before remembering that we are all saints – after all that is the word St Paul used to address believers. Last Sunday evening we held a service for All Souls and gave thanks for all those we love but see no more. And now, we remember the dead of over a century of war, giving thanks for their sacrifice, and remembering too, the service of people who came back from war but who were forever changed by what they had seen and done.
And for every one of these saints, and for every one of these souls and for every one of these soldiers, there is a story. And every one of these stories is not simply an entertainment, a diversion. Their stories contain truths about the world we live in. They tell us about the people around us: what we have in common and what makes us different. And the stories of saints and souls and soldiers, inspire us, encourage us, comfort us, they are stories that teach us, challenge us and have the power to change us. That’s why Jesus told stories, stories that we still tell. Jesus knew his hearers would remember those stories and share them. Those stories go on living as we retell them, seeking for the truths they contain, reapplying them to our own lives and circumstances.
So, are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.
I’ll begin with Job, although you will be relieved to know that I am not going to tell you the whole story. It’s a tale about a wealthy man who sees his livelihood, his family, and his health destroyed, and is a really good example of a story with a message. In fictional form, it asks us big questions like “Why do bad things happen to good people?” and “Do people only worship God because of the blessings he gives them?” But instead of answering them directly, the story of Job puts different answers into the mouths of his companions. The story of Job can give us new ways to view the world, and the passage we have heard today may inspire and challenge us to long for God and his rule.
It’s Remembrance Sunday, so I thought I would bring you some stories from my own family. In fact, stories with pictures. I’ll begin with my maternal grandfather, Len Rendell. He was born in Somerset in 1891, and I share my birthday with him. Because of his age he served in both the first and second world wars – this, I think, is a first war picture. And obviously, because I knew him as a child, he was fortunate enough to survive them both.
I never asked him to tell me his story and now I’d love to know what he did as a young man, and then as a husband and father. I’ve been able to find out little bits from the records of course, but the vast majority of his war time service and his later career in the post office is a story that is left untold.
In the same way, Trevor Richmond is trying to find out more about T. Stanley Beale whose name appears on the war memorial and will be read out in a moment. Despite Trevor’s persistence, he can’t find out about his service. Will this man’s story remain untold forever?
And of course, untold war stories are increasing as time passes, and the original witnesses are no longer able to speak for themselves. It’s important that we pass on their stories, of why it was important to defend democracy and oppose dictatorship, because as the Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously said, those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it. This means that all these war time stories of service and sacrifice don’t just inspire us, but they teach us and challenge us to reflect about the world we live in today and the part we play in it.
But even though the stories of so many may not be known to us, this doesn’t mean that those people didn’t make a contribution. All of these people: my grandad, T Stanley Beale, are part of our history. Just because we don’t know what an individual did doesn’t mean they didn’t do something. A story may be untold, but it can still make a difference.
Here is another picture, showing my son Tom, who joined the army a couple of years ago and is now serving in the logistics corp. In this picture there are about fifty young men and women, all at the beginning of their military careers. Who knows what their stories will be? Maybe some of them will be great heroes, but most of them will undoubtedly be ordinary people doing their jobs as well as they can. Their stories are as yet unfinished, still unfolding: some will be told for a season and then lost, some will be told again and again. But a story may be untold and yet still make a difference.
And the idea of an unfolding story brings us back to the church in Thessalonica, one of the first Christian communities to be founded outside Jerusalem. Here is a group of people longing to know and follow the Lord Jesus, but who have
· no gospels (they are not written yet),
· no buildings,
· no hymn books or service books,
· no written creeds (they won’t be written for 300 years).
They are at the very beginning of the story of the church, and Paul describes them as “beloved by the Lord, first fruits made holy by God’s Spirit.” The individuals who make up the Church in Thessalonica may not have gone on to become great saints whose story is told and told again in later years, but their unfolding story, mattered to the people around them, just like all the young men and women whose pictures I showed you earlier. And the influence of those first Thessalonian Christians mattered to the people who came after them, and it matters to us too. Because their story of longing to know and follow the Lord Jesus is our story too: it unfolds in us. Again, I say, a story may be untold. But it can still make a difference.
And that’s the thing, that we carry our own stories within us. As Gareth said a few weeks ago, there are the stories of our families, our nation, our own lives, but above all there is the story of our faith, the story of God’s longing for us to reach out to Him. This is the story above all that inspires us, encourages us, comforts us, with the power to teach us, challenge us and to change us.
One of the reasons that the Bible stops where it does is that the story it contains carries on in the life of the Church.
You are the story, I am the story, and together, we are the story. We are the unfolding story of Christ’s risen body: we are the unfolding story of the love of God at work in the world.
Our stories may not be told (although with many of us documenting our lives in diaries and blogs and social media, maybe we will leave a huge heap of stories for generations to come). For sure, few of us are destined to be known as saints and have our names or paintings on walls and plaques for future generations to see and ponder over. But our stories are still important because we are important to almighty God who created us, and the things we do make a difference to the people around us.
Our stories may be untold. But they can still make a difference.
And that is why Paul told the Thessalonians, and tells us, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.” So that they can go on living and telling the story
May God’s grace and comfort and hope, help us to tell the story of his great love in the coming week.
Click below to listen to the Reflections for Remembrance Sunday by Reader Petronella Spivey
Prayers for today
by Cait Faulkner
In the quietness of our day, we come before you to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Comfort those who mourn them and surround them with your peace.
Lord, we thank you for bringing us together this Remembrance Sunday to recall, with tenderness and respect, those who lost their lives from this community, whose names are written on our memorials, and the thousands further afield in the wars of of the past century, each one known and loved by you. We pray for all those still suffering the wounds of conflict, for veterans and their families, and for all who bear the pain of loss. As we pray for peace, give us peace in our hearts.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord of the nations, in this troubled world we think of places torn apart by war and fear - of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and all places where peace seems so far away. Guide the leaders of these nations with wisdom and compassion, strengthening those who are working for reconciliation, and turn the hearts of all people from hatred to understanding that your peace may rein throughout the world.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we give thanks for all who serve today in our Armed Forces, on land, sea and in the air, and for those in our security and emergency services who work daily to keep us safe. Protect them in times of danger, and bring them all home safely to those who love them.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we thank you for the work of the Royal British Legion and their presence here in Pickering. Bless their efforts to honour the fallen, support veterans, and sustain the bonds of remembrance in our community. May they continue to inspire us to acts of generosity and compassion.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we pray for those who are overwhelmed with life, those who are disillusioned, discouraged or despairing, especially veterans suffering from PTSD, those without vision or hope. We remember too those who are ill, in hospital or in care homes, for the chronically ill and the dying. We give thanks for those who are on the road to recovery.
Surround each one of those known to us with your arms of peace and healing.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we lift to you those who mourn, who feel numb or crushed and are filled with the pain of grief, whose strength has given up. We think of all those who have recently died, trusting in your promise of life renewed. Give us grace to follow the example of those we honour today, that we may live as people of peace, serving you faithfully here on earth until your kingdom comes.
We remember those whose anniversaries fall at this time. May your light shine on them for ever and our lives be richer because of their stories.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
As we commemorate Remembrance Sunday, may our prayers and reflections honour the lives of those who served and sacrificed. Through our remembrance, let us renew our commitment to peace, unity and compassion, honouring you by striving for a better world.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Lord, we thank you for bringing us together this Remembrance Sunday to recall, with tenderness and respect, those who lost their lives from this community, whose names are written on our memorials, and the thousands further afield in the wars of of the past century, each one known and loved by you. We pray for all those still suffering the wounds of conflict, for veterans and their families, and for all who bear the pain of loss. As we pray for peace, give us peace in our hearts.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord of the nations, in this troubled world we think of places torn apart by war and fear - of Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar and all places where peace seems so far away. Guide the leaders of these nations with wisdom and compassion, strengthening those who are working for reconciliation, and turn the hearts of all people from hatred to understanding that your peace may rein throughout the world.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we give thanks for all who serve today in our Armed Forces, on land, sea and in the air, and for those in our security and emergency services who work daily to keep us safe. Protect them in times of danger, and bring them all home safely to those who love them.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we thank you for the work of the Royal British Legion and their presence here in Pickering. Bless their efforts to honour the fallen, support veterans, and sustain the bonds of remembrance in our community. May they continue to inspire us to acts of generosity and compassion.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we pray for those who are overwhelmed with life, those who are disillusioned, discouraged or despairing, especially veterans suffering from PTSD, those without vision or hope. We remember too those who are ill, in hospital or in care homes, for the chronically ill and the dying. We give thanks for those who are on the road to recovery.
Surround each one of those known to us with your arms of peace and healing.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Lord, we lift to you those who mourn, who feel numb or crushed and are filled with the pain of grief, whose strength has given up. We think of all those who have recently died, trusting in your promise of life renewed. Give us grace to follow the example of those we honour today, that we may live as people of peace, serving you faithfully here on earth until your kingdom comes.
We remember those whose anniversaries fall at this time. May your light shine on them for ever and our lives be richer because of their stories.
Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
As we commemorate Remembrance Sunday, may our prayers and reflections honour the lives of those who served and sacrificed. Through our remembrance, let us renew our commitment to peace, unity and compassion, honouring you by striving for a better world.
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 Philip Smith, Jo Paige, Carole Ellis, Gillian Heal and Ali Holmes
those who have lit candles and those for whom candles have been lit
those who have recently died, including Barbara Hodgson, Dorothy Carrington and Christine Kelly
those whose anniversary of death falls at this time, including Norman Knowles, Jeffrey Bass, Reginald Waterworth, Peter Hancock, Derek Pape and George Plowman
Post Communion Prayer
God of peace, whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom and restored the broken to wholeness of life:
look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
You can watch the reflection from the Diocese of York here - click link below
vimeo.com/dioceseofyork
vimeo.com/dioceseofyork
From The Church of England
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