Collect, Readings and Prayers Second Sunday before Lent

Almighty God,

you have created the heavens and the earth

and made us in your own image:

teach us to discern your hand in all your works

and your likeness in all your children;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,

now and for ever.

Readings

Genesis 1:1- 2:3

Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath

1 ¹In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶ And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ ⁷ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. ⁸ God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹ And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹ Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so. ¹² The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. ¹⁶ God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰ And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ ²¹ So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ ²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’

²⁷ So God created humankind in his image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ ²⁹ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. ³¹ God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2 ¹Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. ² And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. ³ So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

Romans 8:18-25

Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Matthew 6:25-34

Do Not Worry

Jesus taught his disciples saying, ²⁵ ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸ And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” ³² For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴ ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Prayers

Lord we come before you again in faith, with thanks and in gratitude for all the blessings we receive from you and to bring our concerns –  knowing that you hear our prayers.

• Holy God, sometimes our lives are so full of worries that we forget how you look after us through every aspect of our lives. When our worries begin to spiral out of control, help us turn them into a conversation with you, confident that you will calm our anxiety and give us hope for the future. Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer

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Prayers on Racial Justice Sunday

• Creator God, thank you for our world and the places where we live. Help us all to be mindful that you created each one of us in your own image, we are all created equal in your sight and yours is a world made glorious by its rich diversity. This we sometimes misunderstand, sometimes fear. Give us the patience to build on what unites us, to celebrate our differences and to learn from them, and to remember that neighbour or stranger, all are our brothers and sisters. Amen

A prayer for the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

• We pray, O Lord, for your worldwide church, for Christians everywhere, for all bishops and clergy, and all missionaries across the globe.  We pray for our own Church of England, for the difficult debates and discussions which it continues to hold and we pray your wisdom and guidance for all those who are taking difficult decisions.   We pray for our diocese of Leicester, for Bishop Martyn and Bishop Saju, for the Woodfield Team and the individual churches within it and for each member of our congregations, for all visitors to our churches who are seeking you and for all those who minister to us in a variety of ways. Amen
• Gracious God, we pray for your church, and the churches in our local communities asking that there will be a growing desire to get together and that the conversations being held around the establishment of  Minster Community will in themselves draw us closer, enable us to be more supportive of each other and show us how together we can discover  fresh ways of making your name known to the wider community.  We pray for the ongoing talks and that the voices of all the churches large and small may be heard and taken into account as a revised proposal for the development of the Minister Community is drawn up. Amen

• We pray for your world Lord, for all that is good and beautiful within it, but with heavy hearts we lift to you all the people suffering from natural disasters or from war and conflict. We pray for a lasting solution to the seemingly intractable divisions and hatred between the people of Israel and those of Gaza and for successful peace talks between Russia and Ukraine which bring a just resolution to the war between them. We pray for all those who are trying to help those suffering as a result of the fighting and those working for peaceful solutions. Amen

• In the light of all the sordid revelations concerning the activities of Jeffrey Epstein and those associated with him, we pray for wisdom, discernment, and moral courage to be exercised in pursuing the truth, and for swift justice and accountability for those involved in, or complicit with, the crimes. We pray too for healing, protection, and wholeness for the women and children victimized by Epstein and his network and for a change in society, which in many ways has lost it moral compass and so often turns a blind eye to the exploitation of vulnerable individuals for purposes of self-gratification.  Amen. 

• Father God, we thank you for the joy of human love, and for all those among whom we live and work. We pray particularly for loved ones who worry us with their health, or circumstances, or life direction. We pray for those among our friends and families who do not know you, or whose faith has been shaken. We pray too for all who bear the burdens of pain, bereavement, worry and depression and for those whose illness stems from anxiety. We pray that they may have an awareness of your presence and an understanding that you are bearing those burdens with them and always working towards their healing and wholeness. Amen

• Merciful God, through your love and mercy you turn the darkness of death into the dawn of new life. Comfort those who grieve in their sorrow and those who are worried about how they will cope on their own and reassure them that you will never leave them to carry the burdens of life unaided. Amen

• Everlasting God, we ask you to lead us into the coming week, Help us to believe that you are close by us, keep us from making mistakes and help us never to disappoint you through our words and actions.

Gracious God – hear our prayers which we offer in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen