United Benefice of Altham and Clayton-le-Moors

Fifth Sunday of Lent  

This service is live in church, but it will be streamed so if you are unable to attend you can view it online. Now most of the words will also appear when you view the service on line so it will be easier to follow the service.

However, below are the day’s readings as there will not appear on screen.

First  Reading:  Hebrews 10: 19 – 25

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidenceto enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Second reading John 11:3 – 7, 17, 20-27, 33 – 45

³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷ and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah,the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴ “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

United Benefice of Altham and Clayton-le-Moors

Fourth Sunday of Lent  and Mothering Sunday

This service is live in church, but it will be streamed so if you are unable to attend you can view it online. Now most of the words will also appear when you view the service on line so it will be easier to follow the service.

However, below are the day’s readings as there will not appear on screen.

First  Reading:  Isaiah 66: 12 – 14

Second reading: Matthew 6:5 – 14

 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray:

Intercessions

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

 Heavenly Father we bring to you in our prayers today all who we love, our families, our friends, and our neighbours.

Help us all to live so that we may strengthen and enrich the life of the family, help us to build with you the kind of family which welcomes the stranger, the lonely and the needy.

Today, we give special thanks for our mothers and for their love and care which is so freely given. We remember stepmothers, grandmothers, and our godmothers, and all who have fulfilled a motherly role in our lives. We are all sons or daughters, may the love that your son showed his mother Mary, shine in our lives too. And may our duty of care to our mothers be filled with love, affection, and gratitude.

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

We think of our Cathedral church as she watches over our diocese. May we be mindful of the leadership and example she sets. We pray for our United Benefice and other local churches with whom we are finding more ways to interact and share fellowship, and that together we may bring the good news to all those whose spirits are in need at this time.

 We pray for the work and for the four million Mothers’ Union members around the world. In our wave of prayer today, we pray for branches in Madagascar, Uganda, Nigeria, Canada, and India, knowing that they are also praying for us.

We pray for the work in our own Mothers’ Union branch and for all the local and worldwide causes we support through our fundraising. Help us to grow our talents and to use them in your service. We ask you to teach us to recognise and nurture our own and other people’s skills. We are grateful for the work of the Mothers’ Union in our worship and fellowship, and we pray for all members and officers who have vision, insight and understanding of your will to bring this about.

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

We see in the media how our world has been devastated by natural and human disaster. We especially pray for mothers raising their children in places where there is war, famine, terrorism, and great uncertainty. For mothers who have been unable to meet with their children because of pandemic, and for those who have had to cope with life whilst still carrying out their everyday work.

Heavenly Father, you have given us the right to be called children of God. Help us to show your love in our homes, that they may be places of love, security, and truth. Your Son was born into the family of Mary and Joseph; bless all parents and all who care for children; strengthen those families living under stress, and may your love be known where no human love is found.

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

Father God, we remember that as we celebrate Mothering Sunday today there are those who do not share our happiness, those who are sick, those who are sad, those who are lonely, those who are separated from their families, and those who live in families where there is little joy.  We raise before you now anyone who needs healing in their lives, and we give thanks where healing has taken place.

Today we especially pray for …. (Sick)

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

We remember before God those who have died, and we ask that they are now at peace with you.

We remember all those whose memory is especially dear to us on Mothering Sunday. Bring comfort to their family and friends and may they know your love, as we remember them and name them in our hearts.

We pray for the family and friends of …… (Departed)

God of compassion, fill us with your love.

On this Mothering Sunday as we go out into your world, we thank you for the love of our mothers, for their care and concern, the joys they have shared with us, the pains they have borne for us and for all that they give us.

 Merciful Father: accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.   Amen