Sunday 5 September 2021 | Season of Creation

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost COLLECT Collect O God of love your embrace includes everyone: open our hearts and minds to your generous will That in what we say and do we proclaim Christ’s love And serve the needs of our neighbours; Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Reading from Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 1 If you have to choose between a good reputation and great wealth, choose a good reputation. 2 The rich and the poor have this in common: the LORD made them both. Reading from James 2: 1-10, 5 Listen, my dear friends! God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. THE GOSPEL according to Mark 7: 24-37 24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go--the demon has left your daughter." Creator of All, we are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings that filled the soil, water and air. Each part of creation praises you in their being, and cares for one another from our place in the web of life. With the Psalmist, we sing your praise that in your house “even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.” We remember that you call human beings to keep your garden in ways that honour the dignity of each creature and conserve their place in the abundance of life on Earth. But we know that our will to power pushes the planet beyond her limits. Our consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself. Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine, wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live. In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism. Give us faith to follow Christ to our just place in the beloved community. Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your covenant and call to care for our common home. In our tilling and keeping, gladden our hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth, and safeguard a home for all. In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ. BLESSING Go out in love, reconciled to one another in Christ. Lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Live honourably, fulfilling the law through love for all. And may God mark you out for salvation; May Christ Jesus be present among you always, And may the Holy Spirit reconcile you to one another and fulfil the law of love among you. COMMISSIONING Go in peace with courage, to love and serve the Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen In the name of Christ. Amen. Amen, Amen.