23/07/2026
This is our last week at Holy Trinity with Rev Sue - please join us for a shared finger-food bring-a-plate lunch after the 10am service. Resources for the service included below:
Collect:
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
1 Kings 3.5-12
5At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give
you.’ 6And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David,
because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you;
and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne
today. 7And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David,
although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And your servant is in the
midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or
counted. 9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern
between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’
10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and
have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself
understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and
discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
Psalm 119
129 Your testimonies are wonderful; •
therefore my soul keeps them.
130 The opening of your word gives light; •
it gives understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and draw in my breath, •
as I long for your commandments.
132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, •
as is your way with those who love your name.
133 Order my steps by your word, •
and let no wickedness have dominion over me.
134 Redeem me from earthly oppressors •
so that I may keep your commandments.
135 Show the light of your countenance upon your servant •
and teach me your statutes.
136 My eyes run down with streams of water, •
because the wicked do not keep your law.
Romans 8.26-end
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that
very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is
the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to
his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30And those whom he predestined he also
called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not
withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?
33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is
Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for
us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39nor 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.
Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52
31 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took
and sowed in his field; 32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of
shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
33 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in
with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
4 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy
he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46on finding one pearl of
great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;
48when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
49So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
50and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ 52And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe
who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his
treasure what is new and what is old.’
Post communion prayer
Strengthen for service, Lord,
the hands that have taken holy things;
may the ears which have heard your word
be deaf to clamour and dispute;may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit;
may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love
shine with the light of hope;
and may the bodies which have been fed with your body
be refreshed with the fullness of your life;glory to you for ever.
Sermon:
In this mornings gospel we have heard two pairs of
parables about the kingdom of heaven and then a single
parable about judgement followed by a seemingly very
obscure verse. At first glance that’s quite a jumble.
First the parables of the mustard seed and the
leaven. I have a friend who bakes her own bread and so I
know from her what leaven is. It’s simply a mixture of flour
and water which is left in a warm place and the naturally
occurring yeast which will be in with the flour begins to grow
and divide. So it’s a slower, gentler process than the bought
yeast that we might use. Both parables speak of the
kingdom of heaven being something organic, which grows
rather than being constructed. Both illustrate the miraculous
nature of this growth which starts from very small
beginnings and develops into something much larger.
Some years ago I was lucky enough to be able to
take Bob Hartman into a local primary school. Bob is the
man whose storytelling bible is used by ‘Open the Book’. As
well as enjoying his storytelling the children had something
to show him. They had been asked to pick out a bible story
and imagine that they had to plan an ‘Open the Book’
assembly. How would they choose to present the story?
The youngest class chose the parable of the mustard seed.
They had some help from a lady who used to be the
wardrobe mistress at the Old Vic and who is an absolute
whiz with props. They started off with a seed and they used
two strings to pull a great big plant out of it. One of the boys
came along and watered the plant and up it shot again.
Eventually it had branches – the whole thing was about 4
feet high. They put leaves on it. And then they put some
wonderful birds in it.
But the best was still to come. They had asked
themselves what all this meant. And the class teacher held
up a large piece of paper with their ideas on it. I can’t
remember all the details – but I will always remember their
conclusion. They concluded that if the kingdom of heaven
was working, then there was room in it for people to be
welcomed in and to make their homes within it and to feel
secure as they did so. Out of the mouths of babes ….. I
know I wasn’t the only adult who felt humbled by what the
children had taught us.
Next we had two parables about treasure in a field
and the pearl of great price. These make it clear that those
who find the Kingdom do not think twice about getting rid of
everything else they have in order to be able to possess it,
such is it’s value. The point of these parables is that the
Kingdom is costly, but well worth the sacrifice.
Finally, at the end of a long section of parables,
which included those of the Sower and the corn and weeds,
which we have read over the last fortnight, the parable of
the drag net. In a way it is reminiscent of the parable of the
weeds because it promises a final reckoning when the good
will be sorted from the bad that has got mixed in with it
along the way. Hence the inevitability of evil is illustrated,
as is the assurance that evil will not finally prevail.
The last two verses of the reading are odd
at first glance. Have you understood all this? The disciples
answered ‘Yes’. You wonder if they really had or if they were embarrassed to admit that they didn’t. And he said to them ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’.
The thing which we constantly have to remind ourselves of is that Jesus was a Jew, and he grew up immersed in Jewish law. He came to build on what already existed. Therefore he is basically saying that what he has been offering through the parables is new treasure, which can be added to the old treasure of the prophets etc from the Old Testament. As Christians we cannot discard the Old Testament, and we miss out immensely if we do not appreciate the Jewish roots of our faith.
Our epistle this morning is if anything even harder to get to grips with than the gospel reading. It is clear that Paul is saying that nothing can separate us form God, and that is a wonderful truth – one which is referred to in the funeral service. One of the verses speaks of the Holy Spirit helping us to pray, and doing so with ‘sighs too deep for words’. The commentary I read suggested, and I think that the writer is right, that Paul is writing about us praying when we are at the end of a tether, unable to do anything in our own strength but simply turning to God for help. Or it may be that we have arrived by another route to the point where we don’t approach God full of our own agenda – we are simply approaching God. It is when our ego’s are put aside that the Holy Spirit is free to pray within us. I think this is something that generally happens when people have been praying for a while, I don’t think it happens when people are new to prayer. But it is possible. And it is wonderful to know that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.
So here we have some parables which underline how precious the kingdom of God is. Far more precious than anything else in the world. We also have an insight into the depths of God which can be known by those who pray. May God help us all to realise anew the preciousness of our faith and to discover more about prayer.
On Sunday I will mention some of the pearls of great price that I have come across in my parish life, but I haven’t finished thinking about it yet.
