1

Welcome to

All Saints Kings Heath Your Parish Church in the Diocese of Birmingham

Unsettling Authority Holy Communion

Sunday 27th September 2020

We gather At home, have ready in an honoured place a portion of food and something to drink. It may be bread and wine or something else. You might light a candle. We imagine everyone in their homes around the parish, united in preparing for prayer.

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.

HYMN At home you can sing as loudly as you like, as if no one but God is listening. In church we remain seated to listen, or hum, to the hymn:

HYMN Meekness and majesty

1. Meekness and majesty, manhood and deity, in perfect harmony, the Man who is God. Lord of eternity dwells in humanity, kneels in humility and washes our feet.

O what a mystery, meekness and majesty. Bow down and worship for this is your God, this is your God.

2

2. Father’s pure radiance, perfect in innocence, yet learns obedience to death on a cross. Suff’ring to give us life, conqu’ring through sacrifice, and as they crucify prays: “Father forgive.”

3. Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible, love indestructible in frailty appears. Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly, lifts our humanity to the heights of his throne.

(Graham Kendrick)

We pray: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

We seek forgiveness CONFESSION

Jesus says, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” So let us turn away from our sin and turn to Christ, confessing our sins in penitence and faith.

All: Lord God, we have sinned against you; we have done evil in your sight. We are sorry and repent. Have mercy on us according to your love. Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin. Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Leader: May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in

his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE GLORIA Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.

3

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen. We pray THE COLLECT for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Exodus 17:1-7 (readings from Lewis & Pam Coley) NEW TESTAMENT READING Philippians 2:1-13 HYMN We have a gospel to proclaim 1. We have a gospel to proclaim,

good news for all throughout the earth; the gospel of a Saviour’s name: we sing his glory, tell his worth.

2. Tell of his birth at Bethlehem, not in a royal house or hall, but in a stable dark and dim, the Word made flesh, a light for all.

3. Tell of his death at Calvary, hated by those he came to save; in lonely suff’ring on the cross: for all he loved, his life he gave.

4. Tell of that glorious Easter morn, empty the tomb, for he was free;

he broke the pow’r of death and hell that we might share his victory.

5. Tell of his reign at God’s right hand, by all creation glorified. He sends his Spirit on his Church to live for him, the Lamb who died.

6. Now we rejoice to name him King: Jesus is Lord of all the earth. This gospel-message we proclaim:1 we sing his glory, tell his worth.

(Edward Joseph Burns)

1 Frank Skinner © Frank Skinner 2001, Arrow Books, pp212-

217 (Not for the faint hearted.)

4

GOSPEL READING Matthew 21:23-32 SERMON In his, to say the least, candid autobiography, Frank Skinner describes his first experience of sexual intercourse. It happened in Balsall Heath and it cost £5: a lot of money in the early seventies when he earned £15 a week. Because of little more than a dare from a mate, he went in search of a prostitute. With toe curling naivety and conditional tense formality, he asked a woman on the street corner “if you might know where I could find a good time.” “Suddenly,” he reflects, “I had become a nineteenth century gentleman.” After some awkwardness, she said impatiently “Look, d’you want business?” “Now,” he muses, “whereas I felt that my euphemism had got a disarming jolliness about it, here, well, it just made the whole thing sound sordid.” I wonder if perhaps hers isn’t really a euphemism. It’s more a bald statement of fact. Frank goes on to describe a devastatingly bleak, grimy encounter in her terraced house, the sounds of children in the other room. After the coupling, devoid of feeling, she became almost chatty, asking “What’s a nice bloke like you doing in business?” When he left the little room with its bare light bulb he shook her hand and said “It’s been a business doing pleasure with you.” I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. There is something brutally exposing about his account, the details I’ve spared you, but typically, he reveals the absurd human reality without deliberately humiliating anyone except, possibly, himself. He makes it impossible to romanticise and yet somehow disarms any harsh moralistic judge. Like him or loathe him, Frank Skinner names our flaws and contradictions and keeps the harshest light on himself. I am proud of a God who says prostitutes are ahead of me in the queue for heaven. For their appearance in this reading brought Skinner’s glimpse of one sex worker’s life and her vast hinterland of sadness to mind. It has left me wondering what all the talk of “social distancing” has meant to 21st Century sex workers. Engaging in the most intimate physical closeness, they bleakly socially distance as a matter of course. But now, what has happened to their work these last few months? What would they say on an application for Furlough? Are they bullied by some pimp into carrying on? Do they earn money by recording sad pornographic material on mobile phones which at first may seem less physically intrusive, but then make you shudder thinking of images out there for ever for countless strangers to see?

5

This is a dark place, but we have rightly prayed for all sorts of key workers and noticed the importance of many people’s hidden roles in our lives this year. Today, hearing Jesus in the temple speaking of sex workers shocks us into trying to work out what on earth to pray for them. By giving them a special place in the procession to heaven, Jesus forbids cheap moralising or dismissive judgement. If we dare to learn from their vulnerability we may discover ours are not so distant. We might pray for their safety; pray for the people they count as their family; pray for them to know tenderness and intimacy; for sex that connects with the heart rather than distancing them. Could this time of confinement be the opportunity for changing of habits among those looking for and those offering socially distancing, physically intimate “business”? As we pray for them, our own safety fears, precious relationships, longings and subtly distancing habits may emerge. Whether prostitutes are part of the problem or part of the solution for a society has tested the character of every human culture. That’s why we wryly call it the “oldest profession.” I think it’s probably joint oldest with priesthood. So, too, with the tax collectors who collaborate with Rome to make a living, and who are not trusted by their employers or their own people. Socially distanced, ostracised, they too are in the queue ahead of me and the priests and the elders. Are they part of the problem, propping up the occupying empire, taking money to feed the soldiers who threaten the population, or are they helping build the roads and water courses, and keeping the oppressors off the people’s backs? Tax collectors today are surely not so vilified, but we might feel prompted to pray for anyone who works in taxation or in commerce, whom we might easily categorise as intrusive, untrustworthy or unsavoury. In our privileged position, compared with first century occupied Israel, we might pray for those like the Chancellor, with the headache of tax revenues dropping while expenditure is rising. We might ask who the tax avoiders are. Starbucks? Maybe. But surely more seriously the British electorate who, like the people of Israel grumbling at Moses, seem to want the government to fix everything without us paying the cost. We might also pray for any who are asked to do the dirty work for the powerful, like the masked scientists wheeled out this week to deliver bad news the day before the remarkably bland “address to the nation” with its embarrassing rhetoric and fake grandeur. I am proud of a God who says such people as tax collectors and sex workers are ahead of me in the queue for heaven. Jesus neither underwrites their way of life, nor writes them off. He doesn’t pretend they’re necessarily pleasant people, but he makes us look to see what we can learn from them, and in doing so warns us that we are especially at risk of isolation if our lives are so well sorted that we feel little vulnerability. No doubt many tax collectors and prostitutes had developed defence mechanisms, and not all healthy ones, but the religious leaders before him can’t see how

6

destructive are their own defence mechanisms. Remember how Jesus’ public ministry began with the declaration: “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mtt 5:3). People who know their need of God are ready to be blessed. Jesus had seen the ragged people showing their need by queuing to see John the Baptist. He had seen the authorities going out to check John out, too, but with their arms folded. Now Jesus hears them asking him “what gives you the right to heal people, to welcome the disabled into the temple, to encourage children to shout about God, especially, what gives you the right to disrupt Temple finances knocking over the treasury tables?”. (All that happened earlier in the chapter). Half righteous, half inadequate; half indignant, half jealous, their question is tragic. They think they’re the centre of the whole web of relationships, but Jesus knows they are isolated in self-righteousness. Like a transactional sex being socially distancing, Jesus can see the terrible contradiction that the most religious people in the land are stunting their own souls. Physically in the Temple, they are spiritually distanced from God. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’ve no idea how nice or otherwise Frank Skinner is, but in the heart of his book he shares a handful of prayers he has written. Somehow, they are not a surprise. In the context of his whole story, they appear seamlessly, revealing someone whose frankness with God always resolves with a touching acceptance that there need not be a rounded ending. This comedian knows greater depth of relationship is found in teasing questions going to and fro than in the fleeting satisfaction of clear-cut answers. Here is the prayer that evokes most sympathy.

Dear Lord. Hallowed be thy name, apparently. Which is a bit worrying. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that you’re hallowed and everything, it’s just that hallowedness can really get in the way of the warm, smiley, arm-around-the shoulder type things, and they mean a lot to me. You see, when I meet human beings who are only just ever-so-slightly hallowed, I’m no good with them. I get awkward and dorky, and they start to think I’m a bit odd. I don’t want you to think that. I want you to see my jaunty familiarity as a breath of fresh air. However, it’s always in the back of my mind that, on the Judgement Day, you might say “Not him. I don’t feel he ever truly acknowledged my hallowedness,” and I’d be dragged off, calling back to you that your hallowedness was so fundamental and profound that I’d felt there was no need to up-front it. And some of the more liberal angels would deliberately not catch your eye.

When he says, touchingly, he’s “awkward and dorky” with “ever-so-slightly hallowed” people I know just how he feels. There is, though, a slight tease in Skinner’s use of the word “hallowedness,” conveying his awe while hinting at the possibility of God’s self-importance. Then a beautifully made plea: surely it was precisely God’s deep hallowedness that should banish pretentious piety. Liberal angels avert their gaze, embarrassed by God’s judgement. It makes me wonder

7

how church makes people feel. How tragic if our well-intentioned pious demeanour accidentally leaves some awkwardly wondering if God thinks they’re clumsy or odd, when in fact they may be closer to him than we are. This “What if?” prayer begins as though it might be a bland plea for mateyness with God, but ends with surprising subtlety. It does pose questions for both God and Frank, but is more about exposing feeling than expecting an answer. It begins with the comedian seeming far from God, but in the end, as the embarrassed angels know, he is very close. Frank’s comic astuteness, accepting faith, eye for vivid detail and contradiction, observing God and self and prostitute with equal candour, must surely make him refreshing company for a God who loves truth. There’s another reason why it is touching, and important, that Jesus says those ragged people are going ahead of the priests. The stunted religious leaders will get there. They’ll be allowed in. It isn’t either or. He is shocking them into self recognition, but he is not excluding them. You may be as angry as I am about some in leadership brandishing their sense of entitlement while letting their buried inadequacies wound others. We are given a glimpse of the hinterland of sadness behind one leader’s life in Exodus. As the people moan and blame the government, Moses turns to God and cries out in frustration. Perhaps today, then, we can be prompted to pray for those bearing the loneliness of office. We should pray for those who have built defence mechanisms that are harmful to their soul. We should pray for the mental health of leaders. The more dreadful we think they are, perhaps, the more we should pray. When Jesus set aside the dignity of his place in heaven and refused to grasp it, suffering the death of an outcast, and was therefore raised to the place of highest honour, he did so to scoop us all into his care, from prostitute to priest, from prisoner to prime minister, from tax collector to benefits applicant. Such is the wisdom of God, personified as Christ, who shakes our defences to their foundations. Then once we let go of our false security in categories and accept that prayer may be more about sharing vulnerability than finding answers, we find Jesus has anchored us securely with the uncanny authority of his love.

We affirm our faith AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

We stand and at home, if able, we turn to look in the direction of Church, to emphasise our gathering around a precious, shared story of discovery that God is known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit:

8

All: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS led by Lewis Coley

Our response is:

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the

Father.

We give thanks for belonging to All Saints. In these difficult times we

give thanks for the leadership provided by David, The Ministry Team

and the Pastoral Team and all the volunteers especially those who week

by week prepare our worship. We particularly give thanks for the

musicians.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for our Bishops, David and Anne and for all priests and readers

in our churches and for all who work at the Diocesan Office or at home.

We give thanks for all who now have to work at home. We remember

those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and especially pray

for the impact this has for their families.

9

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for our government and our City Council. We pray that they will

endeavour to work for justice, care and with understanding of national

and local concerns before making decisions. We pray for a real

understanding about the effects of Global warming and take measures

to ensure we can leave a safe world for us all and future generations.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. In our community we give thanks for and remember nurseries, schools,

colleges and universities their leaders and teachers students and pupils

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for our world torn apart by hunger, disease, war and conflict.

We pray for peace. We pray for all those refugees risking their lives to

reach countries free from war, torture and violence. We think of the

countries without the medial personal and enough hospitals to cope with

all those suffering from the effects of the pandemic.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for all those who are sick and awaiting treatment in hospitals,

care homes and at home. We give thanks for all the frontline workers in

our Health Service, doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and research

professionals seeking to produce a vaccine.

We pray for your healing power to touch those suffering depression and

mental illness as a result of the present restrictions we are all having to

face.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray to you Lord for all those who have departed this life and are

now in your tender care, especially, Susie van Marle and Joan

Whitehouse.

10

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. Lifting our voices with all creation and with all your saints we offer

ourselves to you, our living God.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

THE PEACE We pause to remember each other: those worshipping at home, and those worshipping in Church, those who have moved into residential care, and those we care for who are far away.

St Paul says: Be of the same mind; have the same love that was in Christ Jesus. (cf Philippians 2:2;5)

We say together:

The Peace of the Lord be always with you. MUSIC (in church) Gavotte (William Boyce, arr Andrew Moore)

HYMN (recording) Father, hear the prayer we offer 1. Father, hear the prayer we offer:

not for ease that prayer shall be, but for strength that we may ever live our lives courageously.

2. Not for ever in green pastures do we ask our way to be; but the steep and rugged pathway may we tread rejoicingly.

3. Not for ever by still waters would we idly rest and stay; but would smite the living fountains from the rocks along our way.

4. Be our strength in hours of weakness, in our wand’rings be our guide; through endeavour, failure, danger, Father, be thou at our side.

(Maria Willis)

11

The Table is prepared in Church. At home, now is the time to say the Lord’s Prayer (below) and consume the food and drink you have prepared, first praying:

God, we long for Communion. With this symbolic meal stir my hope for the fellowship meal we cannot yet see, and help me wait for it with patience. Amen.

(cf Romans 8:2)

We give thanks for God’s grace for all

Priest: The Lord be with you. All: And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks and praise.

Blessed are you, Lord God, our light and our salvation;

to you be glory and praise for ever. From the beginning you have created all things and all your works echo the silent music of your praise. In the fullness of time you made us in your image,

the crown of all creation. You give us breath and speech that with angels and archangels and all the powers of heaven we may find a voice to sing your praise:

All: Holy, holy, holy Lord. God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

How wonderful the works of your hands, O Lord. As a mother tenderly gathers her children, you embraced a people as your own. When they turned away and rebelled your love remained steadfast. From them you raised up Jesus, our Saviour, born of Mary, to be the living bread,

12

in whom all our hungers are satisfied. He offered his life for sinners, and with a love stronger than death he opened wide his arms on the cross. On the night before he died, he came to supper with his friends and, taking bread, he gave you thanks. He broke it and gave it to them, saying: take, eat: this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.

A bell is rung At the end of supper, taking the cup of wine, he gave you thanks and said: Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

A bell is rung Great the mystery of faith:

All: Christ has died, Christ is risen Christ will come again.

Mother, we plead with confidence his sacrifice made once for all upon the cross; we remember his dying and rising in glory, and we rejoice that he intercedes for us at your right hand. Pour out your Spirit as we bring before you these gifts of your creation; may they be for us the body and blood of your dear Son. As we eat and drink these holy things in your presence form us in the likeness of Christ, and build us into a living temple to your glory. Remember, Lord, your church in every land. Reveal her unity, guard her faith and preserve her in peace. Bring us at last with […and] all the saints to the vision of that eternal splendour for which you have created us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom and with whom and in whom, with all who stand before you in earth and heaven, we worship you, God almighty, in songs of everlasting praise.

All: Blessing and honour and glory and power be yours for ever and ever. Amen.

13

THE LORD’S PRAYER As our Saviour taught us, so we pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

Priest: We break this bread to share in the body of Christ. All: Though we are many, we are one body.

For we all share in one bread.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Blessed are those who are called to his supper. Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, But only say the word and I shall be healed.

We pause to remember all who pray at home, then share the bread and wine, now for us the body and blood of Christ. ANTHEM during Communion Touch the earth lightly

1. Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently, nourish the life of the world in our care: gift of great wonder, ours to surrender, trust for the children tomorrow will bear. (repeat v1)

2. We who endanger, who create hunger, agents of death for all creatures that live, we who would foster clouds of disaster, God of our planet, forestall and forgive!

3. Let there be greening, birth from the burning, water that blesses and air that is sweet, health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children, regeneration that peace will complete.

4. God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun, teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently, and making us one.

(Shirley Erena Murray)

14

Inside or outside we are called to serve

Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with your Word [and with the body and blood of Christ]. Strengthen us in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory. Amen.

We imagine our scattered fellowship, family and colleagues and all our neighbours praying for blessing on all: THE BLESSING

The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

HYMN Go forth and tell

1. Go forth and tell! O Church of God, awake! God’s saving news to all the nations take: proclaim Christ Jesus, Saviour, Lord and King, that all the world his worthy praise may sing.

2. Go forth and tell! God’s love embraces all; he will in grace respond to all who call; how shall they call if they have never heard the gracious invitation of his word?

3. Go forth and tell! the doors are open wide: share God’s good gifts – let no-one be denied; live out your life as Christ your Lord shall choose, your ransomed pow’rs for his sole glory use.

4. Go forth and tell! O church of God, arise! Go in the strength which Christ your Lord supplies; go till all nations his great name adore and serve him, Lord and King, for evermore.

(James Edward Seddon)

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. In the name of Christ, Amen.

VOLUNTARY Lasst uns erfreuen

(‘Geistliche Kirchengesänge’ 1623, arr Karen Keene alt; played by Benjamin Noakes)

15

Blessings from the vineyard

Dolmades

Soften a finely chopped large onion in olive oil. When translucent, add a handful of pine

nuts and raisins and some chopped mint. Mix with a mug of slightly under cooked rice.

Season with salt and pepper. Vine leaves, already blanched, can be bought vacuum packed

from a good deli. Place a leaf, stalk end towards you, on a board and put a good spoonful

of rice mixture on the middle, near the stalk end. Roll the leaf away from you around the

rice, tucking the side leaves inwards almost straight away, so you have a nice neat roll. You

can tie with string if it seems insecure. Repeat with all the leaves/mixture.

Slice a lemon and juice another.

Put the dolmades into a saucepan just the right size to fit them all snugly in one layer, the

slices of lemon tucked in between here and there. Scatter a few coriander seeds over and

pour in 75-100ml olive oil and the lemon juice. Add water so they are just covered. Cook

gently, with a lid on, for about an hour. Allow to cool and snip of the string if you have used

it. Serve as a starter or light lunch.

For further richness, you can cook them in stock rather than water, and you can add minced

lamb, browning it with the onion.

Sole Veronique

Jane Grigson tells how a French Chef found one of his sous chefs uncharacteristically

agitated. Asking why, it turned out his wife had just given birth to their first daughter,

called Veronique. That evening, the Chef created this dish and named it after her.

For four people: Ask your fishmonger to skin and fillet two or four sole, depending on their

size – that’s the fish, not the fishmonger. Ask them to give you the bones. As well.

Ahead of time, simmer the bones for twenty minutes with an onion, bayleaf, thyme, celery,

a few peppercorns and a little carrot, and a glass of white wine, all just covered with water.

Strain and keep the precious stock. (If there’s any leftover at the end it freezes well.)

Arrange the fish in a shallow ovenproof dish or tray. Scatter with some parsley, another

bay leaf, and a little more onion, another sprinkling of white wine, and bake, covered with

16

foil, for about 15-20 minutes at 200 degrees. Transfer the fish to a warmed heat proof

serving dish and keep it covered with the foil.

While the fish is in the oven, melt 25g butter and stir in a heaped tablespoon of flour. Stir

for a minute, then, off the heat, gradually whisk in a cup of the fish stock, then a similar

amount of milk. Keep stirring and simmering until the sauce thickens. Stir in, a dash of

lemon juice and two tablespoons of cream. Taste and season. Add a handful of halved

white seedless grapes. Pour over the fish, quickly grill it to give a little colour, then

decorate with a few more grapes and serve.

Two Treats Next Sunday

10am Holy Communion giving thanks for the Harvest.

Our preacher is The Revd Lynn Busfield, chaplain at Heartlands Hospital

If you are able to come, or visit Church the following Thursday when

we are open for personal prayer, 10am-noon, Harvest Gifts of tinned

and dried foods and toiletries can be brought in support of the

B30Foodbank.

11.30 Annual Parochial Church Meeting.

If you would like to take part via Zoom rather than in person, please

email PCC secretary Chris Watts who can send you the link.

chris290166@gmail.com .

If you would like to check you are on the Electoral Roll, contact Tony

Cocks, or send David your name and address and he can forward them

to him: info@davidwarbrick.co.uk .