Happy are they, they that love God,

Whose hearts have Christ confest,

Who by his cross have found their life,

And ‘neath his yoke their rest.

Glad is the praise, sweet are the songs,

When they together sing;

And strong the prayers that bow the ear

Of heaven’s eternal King.

Sad were our lot, evil this earth,

Did not its sorrows prove

The path whereby the sheep may find

The fold of Jesu’s love.

Then shall they know, they that love him,

How all their pain is good;

And death itself cannot unbind

Their happy brotherhood.

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

Response:

And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever. Amen

From Easter to Pentecost:

Allelulia. Christ is risen!

Response:

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia

In Lent and other penitential occasions:

Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins;

Response:

His mercy endures for ever.

The Lord be with you.

Response:

And also with you.

Let us pray:

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

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

This prayer is omitted during Lent and Advent:

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth.  Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.  Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin 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.

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

The Collect of the day:

The priest now says the Collect for the day:

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Response:

Amen.

Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.

The Psalm is now said by the congregation

Psalm 1

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

After the Reading the reader says:

This is the Word of the Lord.

Response:

Thanks be to God.

All stand for the Gospel reading.

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to:

Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Response:

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

After the Gospel reading

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Response:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

An authority on the Law of Moses gives Jesus a pop quiz: name the greatest commandment.  The request is not to name the top commandment of the Ten Commandments.  Specifically, Jesus is to consider the 613 commandments found in the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah, or The Teaching, and to select the cornerstone.  These commandments include 365 “negative commandments”, sometimes described as one for every day of the year, where you are ordered not to do something, like, “Do not commit murder.” Then there are 248 “positive commandments” which describe what one is to do, so as faithfully to follow the Torah – the teaching given to Moses.

But we know, alas, that this is not a casual conversation among colleagues.  Matthew reminds us that Jesus silenced the Sadducees, the priests who served at the Temple in Jerusalem.  They asked their thorniest question about the Torah, and Jesus passed that test with flying colours! Now it is the Pharisees’ turn.  We use the term Pharisee today as a term of derision; we say someone is pharisaical if he or she is hypocritical or self-righteous.  But this would not have been true during the time of Jesus’ ministry!

The Pharisees were a sect within Judaism, which worked as a social movement, seeking to change society with a greater faithfulness to following the Torah.  The Pharisees championed synagogue worship in addition to going to the Temple.  Jesus taught faithfulness to God and worshipped in the synagogue. Many persons would likely have seen Jesus as a Pharisee or at least being in line with the Pharisees’ school of thought.  So this debate then is a bit of an in-house argument! 

The stakes are higher though, as the Pharisees in Jerusalem see Jesus’s growing influence on the crowds, and they want to shut down this movement as soon as possible, before it goes any further – sounds rather like the current situation we have here in Thailand, doesn’t it?  The question then comes then from not of wanting to learn, but desiring to trip up the rabbi from Galilee. Jesus immediately answers with what is the most succinct statement of everything he taught and his every action:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

We are not just to love God, and our neighbour, but we are also to love ourselves, as only then can we love our neighbours as ourselves. Everything hangs on love!

The love Jesus is talking about here cost him his life, so this is love beyond mere sentimentality or emotion.  Jesus teaches about the form of love that in Greek is called agape – not to be confused with eros – emotional and sexual feelings.  This agape is a self-giving love, which is more concerned about the other person than oneself.  Agape love starts with God, and God’s love for us.  With this love of God, and God’s love for us, we can then begin to see other people as God sees them.  I can even begin to see myself as God sees me.  From this experience, I reach out in love to others with the love that begins in the very life and nature of God.

The love that is within the Trinity is not merely a feeling or emotion.  And so, God’s love for your husband or wife is not dependent on his or her likes and dislikes, job, mood, or anything else so changeable.  God’s love for your brother or sister does not depend on whether he or she just got on your nerves.  God’s love for your co-workers does not depend on their lovability.  God’s love for your friends does not depend on whether or not they let you down.  God’s love for everyone else is a lot like God’s love for you.  This love is a lot more dependable than any of us, even on our best days.  This is the love Jesus had, so that, as he died on the cross, he could look out at those who killed him, as they mocked him, and say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Forgiving those who killed him was the most precarious thing an all-powerful God could do.  And in these words of forgiveness from the cross, we see that God’s love is more concerned about the other than one’s own self.

Agape love is a decision, an act of the will.  Decide to see others as God sees them.  Act on this decision rather than just whether you feel the emotions of love.  Do you want to experience that sort of godly love for your friends, your family, your spouse?  Then the love you have for them cannot start with you and go out to them.  The love you have for others must start with God.  Ask God to give you this gift.  Pray for God to reveal to you the way God sees these other people in your life, especially the difficult people with whom we all have to deal on a regular basis.

Trying to decide what to do?  Put agape into the equation.  Should you forgive?  Should you pick up the phone and make a call?  Should you write a letter?  Should you make a visit?  The decision to forgive, or call, or write, or visit, or whatever it is that will make this love concrete, should not depend alone on whether you have been hurt or could be hurt.  The answer should depend on answering the question, “What would love do?”

This is how the ideal of loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself is made real.  During these past few moments, perhaps you have thought of someone who has hurt you, someone with whom you have lost contact, or broken off your relationship. Trust that the Holy Spirit has been involved in this person coming to mind.  If this applies to you, then love is speaking to your heart—the love of God calling you to act on agape love.

This love I am talking about is a choice, a decision, an act of the will, and it belongs in the heart of your relationship with everyone in your life.  Have the courage not to simply talk of love, but to put love into action. The love God has for you is patient and kind, and will never fail.  Choose to share that same amazing love with the people in your life, both now and forever.

Amen.

Please stand for the Nicene Creed.

Let us together affirm the faith of the Church.

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Let us pray for the world and for the Church:

Prayers of intercession are now said and at the end of each prayer the priest says:

Lord in your mercy,

Response:

Hear our prayer.

or

Lord hear us,

Response:

Lord graciously hear us

At the conclusion of the prayers the priest says:

Almighty God, who has promised to hear our prayers.

Response:

Grant that what we have asked in faith we may by your grace receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Jesus said: Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

or

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

THE CONFESSION:

God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy, welcoming sinners and inviting them to the Lord’s table.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, confident in God’s forgiveness.

Merciful God, our maker and our judge, we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, and in what we have failed to do: we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves; we repent and are sorry for all our sins, Father forgive us, strengthen us to love and obey you in newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Almighty God, who has promised forgiveness to all who turn to him in faith, pardon you and set you free from all your sins, strengthen you in all goodness and keep you in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

THE PEACE:

The congregation stands.

We are the Body of Christ.

Response:

His Spirit is with us.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Response:

And also with you.

Please greet each other with a sign of peace.

Come, ye faithful, raise the anthem,

Cleave the skies with shouts of praise;

Sing to him who found the ransom,

Ancient of eternal days,

God eternal, Word incarnate,

Whom the heaven of heaven obeys.

Now on those eternal mountains

Stands his sapphire throne, all bright,

With the ceaseless alleluias

Which they raise, the sons of light,

Sion’s people tell his praises,

Victor after hard-won fight.

Laud and honour to the Father,

Laud and honour to the Son,

Laud and honour to the Spirit,

Ever Three and ever One,

Consubstantial, co-eternal,

While unending ages run. Amen

THE OFFERTORY

Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have these gifts to share. Accept and use our offerings for your glory and the service of your kingdom.

Response:

Blessed be God forever.

 Let us pray

We do not presume to come to your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.  Amen.