The Worship Bulletin for Sunday morning, the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost  We hope you find this helpful in following along with the service. You are encouraged to respond in the appropriate places. The service is taken from the Book of Common Prayer. If you do not have a copy, you can access it at either https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/BCP.pdf  or    http://prayerbook.ca/resources/bcponline/.

  

 

St. Stephen’s Anglican Parish

11:00 am St. Stephen’s On-line Service, Chester

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost                                                                          

 6 September 2020   

 

 

 Our mission is to worship God and care for

God’s people in the spirit of Christ….

 

Archdeacon Ian Wissler, Rector 902. 275. 8627 ian.wissler@gmail.com

Rev. Canon Dr. Stephen Paul Booth, Honorary Assistant

Wardens:  Mary Casavant 902.275.7992   rickmarycasavant@gmail.com                                                                                   

 Jon Waddell   902.275.4630    jwadell@bellaliant.net

Choir Director: Dawn Harwood-Jones

Organist: Margaret Machum

ststephensparish@ns.sympatico.ca

Parish Office Hours:  Monday-Thursday, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

54 Regent Street Chester NS B0J 1J0      902.275.3804 

 

 

 

MORNING PRAYER

(Book of Common Prayer)

 

 

*A Note from the Rector about Morning Prayer. - The Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer are some of the treasures of our Book of Common Prayer. In “saying” the Office, any person can read the prayers, especially in the privacy of their own home, without the presence of a priest – with the exception of the Prayer of Absolution, which normally follows the Confession at the start of the service. Everything else can be led by any Christian person. And so, if you are praying this service, YOU are the “Officiant”, or “Minister”, and can even read those parts that say “Priest”. I would encourage you to read the “Mutual Salutations” (“The Lord be with you”. “And with thy spirit.”) as a reminder that, even if you are praying this service physically alone, you are praying in unity with your whole parish family, and the whole family of Christ’s Church on earth.

 

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
Psalm 96. 9.

 

Prayer of Confession

Officiant: ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

 

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, For ever and ever. Amen.

 

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;
People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Minister. O God, make speed to save us;
People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Minister: GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Minister. Praise ye the Lord;

People. The Lord’s Name be praised.

 

“Venite” (Psalm 95)

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD: / let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, / and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, / and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth: / and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: / and his hands prepared the dry land.

O COME, let us worship, and fall down, / and kneel before the LORD our Maker.                                                                            

For he is the Lord our God; / and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.                                                     

TO-DAY, O that ye would hear his voice: / ‘Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation, and as in the day of Temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me, / proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, and said, / “It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways”;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath, / that they should not enter into my rest.’

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

                                             

 

The Proclamation of the Word

 

Psalm 149

REFRAIN -Sing to the Lord a new song.

 

Hallelujah! Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful. R

 

Let Israel rejoice in his maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.

 

Let them praise his name in the dance; let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

 

For the Lord takes pleasure in his people and adorns the poor with victory.

 

Let the faithful rejoice in triumph; let them be joyful on their beds. R

 

Let the praises of God be in their throat and a two-edged sword in their hand;

 

To wreak vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples; R

 

To bind their kings in chains and their nobles with links of iron;

 

To inflict on them the judgement decreed; this is glory for all his faithful people. Hallelujah! R

 

Lesson:                                   Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbour in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

 

The Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

“Te Deum” 

WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,
The Father, of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

Epistle:                                   Romans  13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbour as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light; let us live honourably as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

The Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

 

“Benedictus”

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; / for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, / in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, / which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies, / and from the hands of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, / and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, / that he would grant us
That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies / might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, / all the days of our life.

AND thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: / for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people / for the remission of their sins;
Through the tender mercy of our God; / whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, / and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

 

Gospel Lesson:                            Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said, "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

 

The Word of the Lord

All: Thanks be to God

 

Reflection – See Commentary at the End of the Bulletin

 

Apostles’ Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
     And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
     I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

 

Minister: The Lord be with you;
People. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

OUR Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.

Priest: O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
People. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;
People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;
People. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people;
People. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;
People. And evermore mightily defend us.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;
People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

 

Collect:

God of unity and truth, encourage the fervent, enlighten the doubtful and bring back the wayward. Gather us all together in mutual love, so that our prayer may be pleasing to you. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.  

All: Amen.

 

Collect for Peace

O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Collect for Grace

O LORD our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Prayer for the Queen

O LORD God Almighty, who rulest the nations of the earth, we humbly beseech thee with thy favour to behold our Sovereign Lady, Queen ELIZABETH, that in all things she may be led by thy guidance and protected by thy power. We pray thee also to bless and all the Royal Family. Endue with wisdom the Governor-General of this Dominion, the Lieutanant-Governors of the Provinces, the Legislators of the Commonwealth and Empire, and all who are set in authority; that all things may be so ordered and settled by their endeavours upon the best and surest foundations, that peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety, may be established among us for all generations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Prayer for the Clergy and People

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon Ronald our Archbishop, all  Clergy, and all Congregations committed to their charge, and especially this Parish of St. Stephen, Chester (with this community of St. George’s/All Saints) the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

A Prayer for All Conditions

O GOD, the Creator and Preserver of all, we humbly beseech thee for all sorts and conditions of humanity; that thou wouldest be pleased to make thy ways known unto them, thy saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for the good estate of the Catholic Church; that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally we commend to thy fatherly goodness all those, who are any ways afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or estate; [*name here any who are in your heart and on your mind who stand in need of God’s help] that it may please thee to comfort and relieve them, according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ his sake. Amen.

 

The General Thanksgiving

ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, We thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks For all thy goodness and loving-kindness To us and to all people; [*Name here any particular thanks you have to offer to the Lord.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; But above all for thine inestimable love In the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; For the means of grace, And for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, That our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, And that we show forth thy praise, Not only with our lips, but in our lives; By giving up ourselves to thy service, And by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, To whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

 

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

 

The Grace

THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

 

 

Announcements

 

 

Commentary on the Scripture Lessons

Exodus 12:1-14

God has assailed the Egyptians with nine plagues: turning the water of the Nile to blood; infestations of frogs, gnats, and flies; terminal illness of livestock; boils; thunder, hail and fire; locusts; and darkness for three days: all this to convince the Pharaoh to “Let my people go, so that they may worship ... [God]” ( 9:1). The Pharaoh has refused to listen; he has refused to come to the knowledge that “I am the Lord” ( 7:17).

God continues to act in history to the benefit of his chosen people. As is the case for the other plagues, the preparation for the last plague is described at length, but the plague itself occupies only a few verses. A lamb or goat is to be kept in safekeeping (“keep it”, v. 6) until close to the full moon (“the fourteenth day”); then “the whole assembled congregation” will slaughter it: here all take on the role of priests. The priestly role extends further: the animal is to be “roasted” (v. 8, not boiled), and it is to be completely consumed (v. 10): a perfect (“without blemish”, v. 5) and complete sacrifice. When eating it, the people are to be ready to travel (v. 11) and it shall be eaten “hurriedly” – but also (per another translation) in trepidation. In v. 12, God will do to the Egyptians more than what Pharaoh tried to do to the Israelites: “strike down every firstborn”, male and female. The people are to “celebrate it as a festival to the Lord” (v. 14), and also as a pilgrimage. This is the origin of Passover, the commemoration of how God rescued his chosen people. Easter, too, is an event of rescue: God rescues us from sin. In vv. 29-32, God brings the tenth plague on the Egyptians, killing all their eldest children. The Pharaoh has had enough: he says “Rise up, go away from my people ... Go, worship the Lord ... And bring a blessing on me too!” God has made his point. In v. 37ff, the Exodus begins.

 

Romans 13:8-14

In vv. 1-7, Paul has written about the obligations we Christians have to civil authorities; he now continues his instructions on ethics for Christians. The only thing we Christians should “owe” (v. 8) others – Christians and non-Christians – is love: this sums up the obligations of the Christian in life. But as Christians, love is part of the deal rather than an obligation, and can never be completely discharged. Love among Christians is something special: it is mutual.

Then vv. 9-10: if we love our neighbours, we will treat them as the Ten Commandments (“the law”) requires: this flows naturally out of our love for them, e.g. we will not offend them by adulterous behaviour. This is why “one who loves another ... [fully satisfies] the law” (v. 8).

In v. 11, Paul tells us another reason why ethical behaviour is important for Christians. We know that we are living both in the present and in the age which is after the first coming of the Messiah and before the second: “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers”. Paul expresses it in terms of night and day: we should awake, pass from darkness to light, from evil to good. The image of armour is also found in Jewish contemporary writings about the end of the age; in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul tells us that the “armour of light” (v. 12) is faith, hope, charity, fidelity, uprightness, etc. “Let us live” (v. 13), he says, as if the Day of the Lord is already here, “honourably”, not in ways that harm ourselves and our neighbours. Rather, let Christ be our armour, and let us not give in to the temptations of the flesh. (In baptism, we have already “put on”, v. 14, Christ, but life in Christ is something that grows with experience. As we grow in the faith, we are more and more able to resist sinful opportunities.)

 

Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus has just told the parable of the lost sheep. When one sheep gets lost, he says, doesn't the shepherd “go in search of the one that went astray?” (v. 12). And, if he finds it, doesn't he rejoice “over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray”? (v. 13).

So, in the church, how should a “member” (v. 15) who has strayed, i.e. sinned, be treated? First, try taking him (or her) aside and “point out the fault” to him. Do not humiliate him by having others present. But if he doesn't listen, face him with his misdemeanour before a few witnesses. Sharing the reproof adds weight to it. If the person still refuses to listen, bring the matter before the whole assembly of the (local) church. If “the offender refuses to listen even to the church” (v. 17), consider the person an unworthy outsider: in Jewish parlance in Jesus' time “a Gentile and a tax collector”. Expel him from the church (as Paul did at Corinth, where a man was living with his father's wife.)

Then, in v. 18, Jesus broadens what he said earlier of Peter ( 16:19); “you” (the whole assembly) have the authority to “bind” (here, condemn) and to “loose” (here, acquit). Their decision will be ratified by God. Finally, in vv. 19-20, Jesus tells us that in common prayer, study, and in decision-making, however small the group, if we ask God for anything seeking to know his will and do it (“in my name”), he will do it, because Jesus, God the Son, is there in the community.