9th Sunday after Trinity – the Transfiguration of Our Lord
It was a glorious morning as we made our way to Ss. Simon & Jude Church, Cockshutt, on this auspicious day in the Christian calendar; it may be holiday-time for some, but church-life and worship of God continues unabated. It felt good to be part of a healthy attendance of parishioners; regulars worshippers, visitors, and those from across the Benefice, all of whom greeted each other with happy smiles, enjoying the cordiality of friendship, seemingly echoed by the cheerful yellow and white flowers!
Retired Priest, Rev’d John Darch, led today’s service. After prayers, we sang the first hymn, the joyous “At the name of Jesus”, although we missed our organist Doug, who is sadly in hospital and whom we later prayed for; fortunately, the Benefice Choir helped raise our voices to the roof.
Following the Lectionary laid out for the 9th Sunday of Trinity, the first reading was taken from Paul’s first epistle to the Romans (1Romans 9:1-5) where Paul describes his anguish over Israel. The gospel reading, Matthew 14:13-21, formed the basis of Rev. Darch’s sermon; the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (hence The Messenger’s posters for August carry the motif of the five loaves and two fishes) and the move away from Jesus’ parables to his miracles.
After prayers of intercession and the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the service concluded with prayers and a blessing, after which, we enjoyed fellowship with one another over tea, coffee and biscuits!
VJC & JAC
Today’s hymns were all taken from Hymns Old & New, New Anglican Edition, 1996, Kevin Mayhew:
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46 – At the name of Jesus
53 – Be still, for the presence of the Lord
295 – Let all mortal flesh keep silence
522 – To God be the glory!
The feature image for this post shows the interior of Ss. Simon & Jude Church, Cockshutt, Ellesmere, Shropshire.