PARISH INTERCESSION
Sunday 6th October Trinity 16
Lord of creation, whose glory is around and within us: open our eyes to your wonders, that we may serve you with reverence and know your peace at our lives’ end, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As a corporal act of mercy, please offer the following topics for prayer this week:
- Diocese of Church in Wales, Liverpool, Monmouth (Wales), Haderslev (Denmark) and all their Archbishops, Bishops and clergy.
- Justin our Archbishop, John our Bishop, for Nikki our Archdeacon, Andrew our Rural Dean, our Parish Priest Canon Sue, Revd Richard Newton, for the Clergy, Readers and Lay-minsters of the Stourbridge Deanery, our ALM Team and visiting Clergy, the Church Wardens of our group of Churches; our Musical Directors, Organists and Choir, the Sidespersons, and our Administrators Christine & Chrissy. The children, head, staff and governors of our schools.
- The homes and families of: Galtons Lane, Belbroughton; Vine Lane, Clent; Third Road, Wildmoor
- The Women’s Institute
- The Three Roses Home at Clent
We pray for those suffering in body, mind or spirit; may they know your presence alongside them in their time of need, including: Dorothy Tomkins, Pauline Jones, Susan Dennis, Robert Davies, Geoff Shilvock, Sheila Gordon, Trevor Grove, Nina Moyes, John and Hazel Smith, Jan Woolley
We pray, for those mourning the death of loved ones especially for the family and friends of Jennifer Billington, Dora Holyhead, Jean Edna Hadley, Peggy Hawks, Jean Winifred Hughes, Rita Rutter, Janet Leeman, Betty Smith
COLLECT FOR THE WEEK
O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them; 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
READINGS
First Reading: Habakkuk 1.1-4; 2.1-4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgement comes forth perverted. I will stand at my watch-post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1.1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God – whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did – when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of selfdiscipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
The Gospel Reading: Luke 17.5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you. Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”? Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’
This is the Gospel of the Lord