Second Sunday before Lent
Stewardship Sunday
8 a.m. Said Eucharist
President and Preacher: The Revd Canon Howard Gilbert
9 a.m. St Barnabas, Box, Eucharist with hymns
President: The Revd Canon Howard Gilbert
Preachers: The Revd Canon Howard Gilbert and the Revd Strephen Jarvis
10 a.m. Sung Eucharist
President: The Revd Sandy Emery
Preachers: The Revd Canon Howard Gilbert and the Revd Strephen Jarvis
5.30 Celtic meditation connecting with nature
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 Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil and Bishop Marinez Rosa Dos Santos Bassotto
For our four overseas partner dioceses, especially the Western Tanganyika and Bishop Emmanuel
In our deanery cycle of prayer, for the deanery Mothers Union leader: Olga Gibbons
In our parish cycle of prayer, for those who live and work in The Park, Bell Lane and Park Farm Court
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: Alan Shine, Peter Wood, Bill Evans, Albert Rixen, Anthony Roberts, Raymond Exton, Kenneth Bridgeman
HYMNS and motet at 10 a.m.
386 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
245 Around the throne of God a band
557 Praise to the holiest in the height
267 Thou, whose almighty word
Duruflé: Ubi Caritas
COLLECT
Almighty God,
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
FIRST READING: Genesis 2.4b–9, 15–end
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’
Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.’
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
PSALM 65: 8–13
All Be joyful in God all the earth.
Be joyful in God all the earth.
You visit the earth and water it;
you make it very plenteous.
The river of God is full of water;
you prepare grain for your people, for so you provide for the earth.
All Be joyful in God all the earth.
You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;
you soften the ground with showers and bless its increase.
You crown the year with your goodness,
and your paths overflow with plenty.
All Be joyful in God all the earth.
May the pastures of the wilderness flow with goodness
and the hills be girded with joy.
May the meadows be clothed with flocks of sheep
and the valleys stand so thick with corn,
that they shall laugh and sing.
All Be joyful in God all the earth.
SECOND READING: Revelation 4
After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! And the one seated there looks like jasper and cornelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.
Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,
‘Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.’
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing,
‘You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honour and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.’
GOSPEL READING: Luke 8.22–25
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
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’