1st November 2020
Weekly notices & Church at Home
(Scroll down for this week's service)
Jan Van Eyck, Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Ghent Altarpiece 1432
Oil on wood, St Bavo Cathedral, Ghent
Sunday, 10.30am at Venerable Bede
We meet for Holy Communion as the Benwell & Scotswood Team. Let us know you're coming if you can!
Can't get to church? Watch the service live on Facebook! You can also read or print the service booklet here >
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یا در خانه گوش دهید.
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NOTICES
All Souls' Day - Thanksgiving for the departed
Online this afternoon 4pm
Every year we have a special service to remember those we have lost. This year we think it is extra important to make sure this goes ahead, so we're going to livestream a service online
Free and cheap holiday meals for children
Our friends at Cornerstone Benwell are providing free packed lunches for children and hot meals for £1.50 for youngsters.
Open Wed & Thurs,8.30am to 2pm
Armstrong road, NE4 7TU
Important reminder
Please keep your mask on as you leave the building on Sunday until you are out of the gates.
Sanitise your hands when you enter and leave.
Wear a mask while in church whether you are sitting or moving around.
Stay 2m apart.
Stay at home if you feel unwell (contact us if you need anything).
WORSHIP
All Saints'
Reflection by The Revd David Kirkwood
Service led by The Revd Chris Minchin
or listen and read along here:
The service starts with some quiet music; please use this to clear your mind and acknowledge the presence of God.
Intro music
Dmitri Kabalevsky, At Night on the River
Opening prayer
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rejoice, people of God, praise the Lord!
Let us keep the feast in honour of all God’s saints, in whose victory the angels rejoice and glorify the Son of God.
Confession
Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,
looking to Jesus in penitence and faith.
Lord, you are gracious and compassionate:
Lord, have mercy. (Lord, have mercy.)
You are loving to all
and your mercy is over all your creation:
Christ, have mercy. (Christ, have mercy.)
Your faithful servants bless your name
and speak of the glory of your kingdom:
Lord, have mercy. (Lord, have mercy.)
May the Father of all mercies
cleanse us from our sins,
and restore us in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect
Let us pray that we may be strengthened by our communion with all the saints.
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect
in one communion and fellowship
in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord:
grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints
in all virtuous and godly living,
that we may come to those inexpressible joys
that you have prepared for those who truly love you;
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.
Reading
A reading from the Revelation to St John.
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, singing, ‘Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.’
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, ‘Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?’ I said to him, ‘Sir, you are the one that knows.’ Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’
(Revelation 7:9-end)
This is the word of the Lord.
(Thanks be to God)
Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, called out of darkness into his marvellous light. Alleluia.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. (Glory to you O Lord)
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
(Matthew 5:1-12)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
(Praise to you, O Christ)
Reflection
by The Revd David Kirkwood
Today is All Saints Sunday. In fact, it is All Saints Day the 1st November and normally, last night I would have expected a procession of small witches and skeletons coming to the door, trick and treating. Halloween means the evening of All Hallows i.e. all saints. This year of course, that is off the menu, along with bonfire parties, discos and many of the other things that make this time of year special. We will not be able to invite families to our service of remembering for All Souls this afternoon, or indeed to mark Remembrance Sunday next week with any of the traditional gatherings.
Of course, it is natural to feel disappointment and frustration at these things especially when it becomes clear that this is not a situation that will resolve quickly. Christmas and New Year will be disrupted too, and no one can really say what 2021 will bring.
But maybe that is all the more reason to be celebrating the saints today. Disappointment, frustration, fear, loneliness, projects and plans that turned to ashes a future that looked bleak and uncertain, take a look at the lives and experiences of our saints and do you think these things will be absent?
One of the things I miss in lockdown, is the weekday Communions, at which we always remembered a Saint, the Church calendar helpfully providing one for most days. We used to hear a little bit about each life, and what a variety of individuals they were, but in all that variety, I can’t think of one whose life was not marked by these things. Of course, we do often see the saints at rest, at peace, at prayer, full of joy, lives lit up by adoration, but that light is very often against a background of profound darkness.
We shouldn’t be surprised at that, after all we just heard Jesus words to his disciples, ‘The beatitudes’ from the beginning of ‘the Sermon on the Mount’, sayings that set out the path to blessedness, the way the saints have walked. What do we find? The blessed are those who are reviled, and persecuted, who are in mourning, who don’t experience what justice is but hunger and thirst to see it fulfilled. In our first reading we also read of those saints who stand before the Lamb. Who are these? They are those who have passed through the great ordeal and made their robes white in his blood.
So, the saints are most definitely not people who have avoided the hardships of life, quite the reverse, they have drunk deeply of sorrows as well as joys. What marks them out is that in all those hardships and difficulties they have been able to turn their gaze elsewhere. ‘Adoration’ a word I used a moment ago, not a common word but one that expresses well the unique something that marks every saint. What is it to adore? St John Vianney spent many hours in prayer with the holy sacrament. When asked what he did in all that time, he is said to have replied, ‘He looks at me and I look at Him’
The saints are those who in good times and bad turn their loving gaze to the living God, in the words we use in this service, they continually ‘lift up their hearts to the Lord’.
But ‘adore’ by itself might give the wrong impression. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Sir Andrew Aguecheek famously says, ‘I was adored once..’ and in drama, and perhaps in life, when we meet the image of lovers gazing adoringly we know there is every chance it will end badly.
Alongside the word adore how about something more down to earth? ‘Adhere’, Adhesive, Glue, Sticky stuff, that is also what the saints are made of. They are those who stick to Christ, they won’t let go whatever happens. We might not always feel able to adore, can we at least stick with Him? What would that mean? Not letting anything part us from him, more than that to follow where he leads.
Last week Chris reminded us of Jesus summing up of the whole law, ‘to Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself’ This is what the saints have done, but how?. Christ didn’t just give these commandments he lived them. He shows what it is to love without limit, seeking the lost, caring for the sick, proclaiming good news to the poor, embracing the cross and forgiving the crucifiers. He gives the perfect example, and this is what that the saints have turned their gaze lovingly towards and stuck too. They have triumphed but they have not done it in their own strength, they have become like Him. But this is not all, Jesus is more than example. He doesn’t just give commands he makes promises too. ‘I will be with you always to the end of the age’, and in sending the Spirit to fill His Church he makes those promises a reality. Jesus sticks with us. We may feel a gap between the lives of the saints and our lives, but they are not there to condemn but to encourage, they say to us ‘become what you are called to be. The power at work in us was poured out for you to drink of too’
Inspired by the Holy Spirit and encouraged by their prayers and example may we be made ready to adore and to adhere to lift our hearts and stick with Christ whatever the future brings.
Amen
Prayers of intercession
United in the company of all the faithful
and looking for the coming of the kingdom,
let us offer our prayers to God,
the source of all life and holiness.
Merciful Lord, strengthen all Christian people by your Holy Spirit, that we may live as a royal priesthood and a holy nation to the praise of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Bless Christine our bishop and all ministers of your Church, that by faithful proclamation of your word we may be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets into a holy temple in the Lord.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Empower us by the gift of your holy and life-giving Spirit, that we may be transformed into the likeness of Christ from glory to glory.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Give to the world and its peoples the peace that comes from above, that they may find Christ’s way of freedom and life. Bring peace to France and heal tensions between religions and communities. Help refugees and asylum seekers cross the channel safely, and give peace to the family killed while crossing the English channel. Rasou, Shiva Mohammad, Anita, Armin, and baby Artin.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Hold in your embrace all who witness to your love in the service of the poor and needy;
all who minister to the sick and dying;
and all who bring light to those in darkness. Especially all our partner organisations, Cornerstone, West End Foodbank, Pendower Good Neighbour project, North Benwell Youth Project and all others who work so hard.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Touch and heal the sick and suffering, that, raised from death to life in Christ, their sorrow may be turned to eternal joy. Especially
The Riches family.
Linda, Stuart, and their son David
Dee Humphrey
Ronald Hume
Eric Harling
Claire Mozaffari
All affected by Covid19
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Remember in your mercy all those gone before us who have been well-pleasing to you from eternity; especially
· Phyllis Cook
Joan Guthrie
John Pearson
Peter Cox
Frank Swales
Raymond Monaghan
All victims of Covid 19.
preserve in your faith your servants on earth,
guide us to your kingdom and grant us your peace at all times.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
Hasten the day when many will come
from east and west, from north and south,
and sit at table in your kingdom.
Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.
We give you thanks for the whole company of your saints in glory, with whom in fellowship we join our prayers and praises; by your grace may we, like them, be made perfect in your love.
Blessing and glory and wisdom,
thanksgiving and honour and power,
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen.
Lord's Prayer
Let us pray with confidence as our saviour taught 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 those who 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.
Hymn
Listen to the music here >
O When the Saints go marching in,
O When the Saints go marching in,
I want to be there in that number,
When the Saints go marching in.
2. O When the drums begin to bang,
O When the drums begin to bang, I want to be there in that number, When the Saints go marching in. 3. O when the stars fall from the sky...
4. O when the moon turns red with blood...
5. O when the trumpet sounds its call...
6. O when the fire begins to blaze...
7. O when the saints go marching in...
The Dismissal Gospel for All Saints’ Day
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
(Glory to you, O Lord.)
[Jesus said], ‘I have made your name known to those you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.’
(John 17.6-9)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
(Praise to you, O Christ)
Conclusion
May the infinite and glorious Trinity,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
direct our life in good works,
and after our journey through this world,
grant us eternal rest with the saints.
Amen.
Outro music
Stephen Heller, Clowns and Tumblers.