9th August 2020
Weekly notices, Church at Home & watch live
(Scroll down for this week's service)
Children's Peace Monument, Hiroshima, Japan
Sunday, 10.30am at St James'
We meet for Holy Communion as the Benwell & Scotswood Team. Let us know you're coming if you can!
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Watch live on Sunday >
Weekly resources from 'Roots' for families to use to reflect on the Bible readings each week.
Kids' Resources >
NOTICES
Face coverings
It is now a requirement to wear a face mask at indoor venues, including inside churches. You do not have to wear a mask while leading a service, including for readings or leading intercessions. The clergy will wear masks during the distribution of communion and after the service. There are exceptions to the rule and we will not challenge anyone who is not wearing a mask but assume they are legally exempt.
Please remember the most effective way to stay safe is to remain 2 metres apart, wash or sanitise your hands regularly, and stay at home if you feel unwell
Cranes for Peace
Help us make 75 origami cranes to mark 75 years
since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to support CND's campaign for peace.
You can make them at home, we have some simple instructions to follow and we hope to make a display at St James' when they are all finished.
You can now submit prayer requests online. This can be done anonymously or by name and the clergy and congregation will pray for you each week.
Submit prayer requests >
Help keep our work going and our buildings open.
If you can, please give by standing order - regular donations help us to have a better estimate of our income and ensure we can keep our activities running.
Giving >
WORSHIP
The Transfiguration
Reflection by The Revd David Kirkwood
Services led by The Revd Chris Minchin
Watch here at 10.30am >
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
Old French Song by Petr Tchaikovsky
Opening prayer
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Confession
When Christ appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is.
As he is pure,
all who have grasped this hope make themselves pure.
So let us confess our sins that mar his image in us.
Your unfailing kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds:
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,
and your justice as the great deep:
Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
For with you is the well of life
and in your light shall we see light:
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit, and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect
Father in heaven,
whose Son Jesus Christ was wonderfully transfigured
before chosen witnesses upon the holy mountain,
and spoke of the exodus he would accomplish at Jerusalem:
give us strength so to hear his voice and bear our cross
that in the world to come we may see him as he is;
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 book Daniel
As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousand served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgement,
and the books were opened. As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
(Daniel 7.9,10,13,14)
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God
Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia.
The heavens shall praise your wonders. God is glorified in the assembly of the saints.
Alleluia.
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke
Glory to you O Lord
Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’? Not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and, in those days, told no one any of the things they had seen.
(Luke 9 :28-36)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ!
Reflection
by The Revd David Kirkwood
May I speak, and may we all hear, in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen
The gospel we have just listened to was the one set for last Thursday, the 6th August the Feast of the Transfiguration. Perhaps because it comes in holiday time, perhaps because it is usually on a weekday, perhaps because we have the same reading just before Lent it’s a festival we sometimes overlook. It is not like that in the Eastern Church. For Orthodox Christians this is one of the most important feasts of the year. It is marked by special liturgies, prayers and hymns. There is a tradition of bringing grapes and blessing the first fruits of the vine, and of course there are beautiful icons. The highly stylised representations of Christ show him at the centre of an explosion of light before which the apostles cower in confusion, an attempt to represent a glory that exceeds what can be seen. The awe with which the church keeps the whole day is clear in these prayers from the liturgy,
Lightning flashes of divinity proceeded forth from Thy flesh: therefore, the chosen prophets and apostles sang and cried aloud: Glory to Thy power, O Lord.
The visible sun was eclipsed by the rays of Thy divinity when it saw Thee transfigured on Mt Tabor O my Jesus Glory to Thy power, O Lord.
The orthodox scholar Bishop Kallistos comments ‘the feast is not simply the commemoration of a past event in the life of Christ…it is turned toward the future.’. ‘it shows us the glory which our humanity once possessed and the glory which by God’s grace it will again recover at the Last Day.’