Come Lord, come to us, that we may find rest and
peace in you.
Come Lord, come to us, that we may love you and proclaim your love to
others.
Come Lord, that we may live to your glory, Jesus Christ, who with the
Father and the Holy Spirit is worshipped for ever and ever. Amen
We give thanks for all who work towards the
coming of your kingdom.
We pray
for visionaries, preachers, pastors and pioneers.
We pray especially for the interviews this week for our Youth
Pioneer in Chard. May the Holy
Spirit guide us to find the person you are calling.
We
hold them up to you, O Lord. Amen
Lord, we pray for all who are weary and have lost
the joy and pleasure of living, and those who are exhausted.
We pray for the bored, the cynical and those who are jaded with life.
We pray for our young
people who are struggling to find a path during
the closure of their schools and colleges.
We hold them up to you, O Lord. Amen
Lord, make our homes places of peace and
calm.
We pray for families where there is strife, for
relationships that are at the point of breaking.
We pray for those for whom life has become unbearable.
We hold them up to
you, O Lord. Amen
Lord, we pray for the anxious, for the depressed and the despairing. For
all who are struggling with their mental health, and for those who are no longer coping on their own.
We hold them up to you, O Lord. Amen
Our Bible readings for this week:
Genesis 24: 34-38, 42-49, 58-67
A wife for Isaac
So he said, “I am Abraham's servant. The Lord has greatly
blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and
herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. And Sarah
my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him
all that he has. My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife
for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; but you
shall go to my father's house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’
“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord,
the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am
going! I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who
comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from
your jar to drink,” and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for
your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed
for my master's son.’
“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was
Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the
spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ She quickly let
down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your
camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. Then I asked her,
‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom
Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her
arms. Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed
the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to
obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. Now then, if you
will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so
that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”
''And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go
with this man?” She said, “I will.” So they sent away their sister Rebekah
and her nurse along with Abraham's servant and his men. 60And they blessed
Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”
Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the
camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was
settled in the Negeb. Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the
field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. And Rebekah looked up, and
when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, and said to the
servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The
servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered
herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had
done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent. He took
Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted
after his mother's death.
Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30
“But to what will I compare this
generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one
another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you
did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax
collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
At that time Jesus said, “I thank you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the
wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for
such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my
Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father
except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
“Come to me, all you that are weary
and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Collect
Gracious Father
by the obedience of Jesus
you bought
salvation to our wayward world:
draw us into harmony with your will,
that we
may find all things restored in him,
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Blessing
May the God of peace
bring peace to this house.
May the Son of peace
bring peace to this house.
May the Spirit of peace
bring peace to this house,
this
day and forever. Amen
