St Clement Church Community 15th Sunday after Trinity Service 26

St Clement Church Community Sunday Service 13.9.26

Good morning to you all as we celebrate our 15th Sunday after Trinity service. This Service of the Word is for you to read at home if you’re unable to attend St Clement in person on Sunday but will be with us in spirit!

Much love and may Christ’s love sustain you always.

Rev Di and family xx

Let us pray;

Almighty God, send down upon your Church the riches of your Spirit, and kindle in all who minister the gospel your countless gifts of grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn: ‘Rejoice, the Lord is King’

Our prayers of Penitence

In a moment of quiet reflection, we lay aside all pretence towards God and bring our fears and failings to our risen Christ:

Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us, forgive our unwelcoming hearts..

Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, Son of God, Servant of humanity, forgive our self-centred lives..

Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, Prince of Peace, Hope of the nations, forgive our bitter conflicts..

Lord, have mercy.

May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save fallen humanity, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for the 15^th Sunday after Trinity

Creator God, you made us all in your image: may we discern you in all that we see, and serve you in all that we do: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our prayers of Penitence

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.

Let us confess our failures truly to serve God and our neighbour:

Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

In your mercy forgive what we have been,

help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;

That we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.

May Almighty God have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Readings:

Genesis 50. 15-21 Romans 14. 1-12

Hymn; ‘All my Hope on God is Founded’

Gospel: Matthew 18. 21-35

(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)

Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if another member of the church^* sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven^* times. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions,

and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii;^* and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.”

Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister^* from your heart.’

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.)

Reflection

As you know, Ken and I work within the realms of animal rescue. Thankfully, we don’t experience the actual rescue of the animal or witness the conditions or abuse the poor being has endured, which, quite honestly, is just as well, because there is absolutely no excuse for animal cruelty, and I know I would lose the plot with the person or people involved, let alone forgive them.

I just have to do my best to remember that whatever the circumstance, forgiveness is the essence of Christian love and seek the courage to absorb a despicable situation without being consumed by a blood-lust for revenge.

But let’s not get confused, forgiveness isn’t a get out of jail free card for doers of evil, Civil justice should be enforced, not eliminated, by Christian love.

We can choose to spend our lives obsessed with settling scores with people that upset us, or instead, choose to forgive, "seven times seventy". The choice is ours, we can live in love, or we can live in hate.

We can’t fake forgiveness though; it's a hard road, we have to work on it, pray about it, and to commit to it, even when our instincts repeatedly keep rejecting it. It’s a long painful process, not an instant solution, but we have no option.

Because we aren’t being advised to forgive by the animal charity we may work for, or our therapist or doctor for the sake of our health. We’re being commanded to forgive by our Lord and Saviour, and lest there be any room for confusion, our loving, forgiving God puts it plainly; we can forget about our own forgiveness, unless each of us forgives our brother or sister from the heart.

The gospel story today begins with Peter asking Jesus how many times he ought to forgive someone. I’ve asked that question, haven’t you? Someone does something bad, then apologises and of course we forgive them. The second time, we forgive them. The third time, we’re not so sure.

A family member dents the car, and we tell them it’s okay, through gritted teeth maybe, but when they do it again, it’s not so okay.

I once accidentally, at a roundabout, hit the police car in front of me with my double decker bus - twice. Apparently, to my surprise, the police driver’s limit of forgiveness was once!

So, Peter asks Jesus what the limit for forgiveness ought to be. The prevailing practice for Jews in those days was three times, so Peter thought he was being generous with seven. But Jesus astounds him. “Not seven times, Peter; but seventy times seven.” And before you do the maths, Jesus wasn’t setting the bar at 490, Jesus was saying, “there’s no limit to our forgiveness.”

Then Jesus tells Peter a parable of a master who was owed 10,000 talents by one of his employees, as was typical, when the slave couldn’t pay, he was ordered to prison. But the man had a family, so pleaded with his master for patience, and the master let him go; in fact, he didn’t offer him patience, he forgave the entire debt.

Then, that same slave ran into a fellow slave who owed him 100 denarii and demanded payment, and when the man pleaded for patience, the first slave had him thrown into prison. Astounding, isn’t it? That one who had just been forgiven much, refused the same gesture and forgave little.

The first slave owed 10,000 talents; in today’s economy, that debt would be around 25 million pounds. Yet he refuses to forgive a fellow slave the debt of 100 denarii; today’s equivalent of about 50 pounds.

Well…word got back to the master, who said to the first slave. “I forgave you this great debt, and you wouldn’t forgive even a small one? Off to prison with you!”

And Jesus concludes the parable by saying “So shall my heavenly father also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Those seem like harsh words from Jesus, that even though we have been forgiven our sin by Christ’s death on the cross, each one of us will be held accountable for our sins if we don’t forgive one another.

C.S. Lewis once said; “Everybody thinks forgiveness is a good idea until they have something serious to forgive.”

That’s true. We suffer alongside the victims of the brutality we see happening in this world, we all have personal stories to tell, on a lesser scale maybe, but no less hurtful. Hearts have been broken by unkind words or deeds, but if we cannot or will not forgive; that will be our story for years, for decades,

for generations, and we’ll carry that burden with us through our living. Like a heavy suitcase, we’ll drag it through life.

The Greek word for forgiveness means; “to send away” or, quite literally; “to let go.” That suggests, and I believe it, that forgiveness is a choice. It isn’t something that simply happens over time. Forgiveness is a conscious decision on the part of the offended person to let it go.

There may never be a reconciliation between the parties, the person we choose to forgive may not ever know that we have done so; they may not even be living any more. But we will know. We will feel the weight lifted from our shoulders when we choose not to carry it around anymore. Remember, we don’t forgive them for their benefit; we forgive them for our own.

People say that the Christian faith is identified by its generosity, that the hallmark of a Christian is kindness and compassion. But I think the thing that sets us apart from every other faith, every other religion, and every other belief system is that we have the capacity to forgive others because we have been so generously forgiven. We know what it’s like to be set free from our sins, and God gives us the ability to grant the same to others. It’s not easy letting go of the past, but it gives us the opportunity to move joyfully into the future. So, as in the song from the film; ‘Frozen’ ‘Let it Go’ and thanks be to God. Amen.

Hymn; ‘Be Still for the Presence of the Lord.’

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in God:

We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist.

We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again.

We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world.

This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith. We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Intercessions are written by Liz Davies

Heavenly Father, who created us to be brothers and sisters in Christ, hear us as we lift our hearts in thanksgiving and praise and hear our prayers and intercessions for all those in need.

We thank you for the fellowship of the church family around us and as we gather once more in this house of prayer, may our worship not only honour you with our lips, but also with our hearts and minds.