Third Sunday before Lent
8 a.m. Said Eucharist
President and Preacher: The Revd John Ansell
9 a.m. St Barnabas, Box, Eucharist with hymns
President and Preacher: The Revd Ann Morris
10 a.m. Sung Eucharist
President and Preacher: The Revd John Ansell
5.30 Iona meditation
Click here for the Church of England's daily prayer: Morning Prayer, Prayer during the Day, Evening Prayer and Night Prayer
As well as the Sunday collect and readings (see below), you may want to use the following in your prayers during the week:
In the Anglican cycle of prayer, for the Church of Bangladesh and Bishop Samuel Sunhil Mankhin
For our four overseas partner dioceses, especially the Diocese of Västerås and Bishop Mikael
In our deanery cycle of prayer, for Holy Trinity, Minchinhampton with St Barnabas, Box; Holy Trinity, Amberley; Church of the Holy Cross, Avening; St Nicholas, Cherington. Clergy: Howard Gilbert, Coral Francis, Natalie Jennings, Tracey Clements
In our parish cycle of prayer, for those who live and work in Ricardo Road, Sheppard Way, Tooke Road, Hyatt Road, Ollie's Road, Barcelona Drive
For those in need: Giles Boon, Jonathan Brough, Daphne Webb, Hillary Roberts, Sue Kirkwood
For those who have died recently
For those whose anniversary of death falls at this time: Elizabeth Hoskin, Brian Luckett, Brian Burford, William Page, Stanley Dyer, Dorothy Hobbs, Roy Kenyon, Kathleen de Havilland, Jim Portbury
HYMNS at 10 a.m.
406
174
604
152
COLLECT
Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord.
FIRST READING: Jeremiah 17.5–10
Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse—
who can understand it?
I the Lord test the mind
and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their doings
PSALM 1:
All The Lord knows the way of the righteous.,
Blessed are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
Their delight is in the law of the Lord
and they meditate on his law day and night.
All The Lord knows the way of the righteous
Like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither,
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
As for the wicked, it is not so with them;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
All The Lord knows the way of the righteous
Therefore the wicked shall not be able to stand in the judgement,
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall perish.
All The Lord knows the way of the righteous
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 15.12–20
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
GOSPEL READING: Luke 6.17–26
He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
POST COMMUNION
Merciful Father,
who gave Jesus Christ to be for us the bread of life,
that those who come to him should never hunger:
draw us to the Lord in faith and love,
that we may eat and drink with him
at his table in the kingdom,
where he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.