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Preparation
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Praise
Lord of the hosts of heaven,
our salvation and our strength,
without you we are lost:
guard us from all that harms
and raise is when we fall;
though Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Psalm 37.3-6, 30-32
Trust in the Lord and be doing good;
dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
Let your delight be in the Lord
and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him,
and he will bring it to pass.
He will make your righteousness as clear as the light
and your just dealing as the noonday.
The righteous shall possess the land
and dwell in it for ever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and their tongue speaks the thing that is right.
The law of their God is in their heart
and their footsteps shall not slide.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Reading
Mark 7.14-23
Jesus called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’
When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
Prayers of intercession
For right judgement in all things, let us pray to the Lord.
We pray that the Church shall be maintained in true holiness, keeping the traditions rightly received and not constrained by human convention and customs. Give grace to all Christian people to worship not only with their lips but in their lives.
Guide all rulers and those in authority to govern with both justice and mercy. Break through the prejudices which raise barriers between nations and races. Bring all people to set aside the things which divide them, and to embrace those which unite them in their shared humanity.
Cleanse us from evil thoughts and desires and from hostility to any whose ways are different from our own. Give harmony and a spirit of mutual respect in the life of this community.
Have mercy on all who are enslaved by evil: release them and bring them to a new life of love and service. We pray for the victims of prejudice who are persecuted because they do not conform to the expectations of their society.
Receive the souls of the departed into the Kingdom where human strife has ended and worship is made perfect. Grant to us all such purity of faith and living that we may in our time be joined with them.
We offer our prayers in desire faithfully to follow Christ as his disciples.
Prayer for the week
Lord Christ,
shine upon all who are in the darkness of suffering or grief;
that in your light they may receive hope and courage,
and in your presence may find their rest and peace;
for your love’s sake.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
The Grace
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore. Amen.