St Mary’s Cathedral - English Liturgical Service - 6 March 2022 - 10.00 am

foreign [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] to [Music] [Music] [Music] to [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a very good morning to your friends brothers and sisters in christ welcome to those who are here on site and also to those joining us online as we begin let me open with a short prayer let's pray heavenly father we thank you lord for calling us into your presence this morning as your family as your children may we become o lord this morning with joy in our hearts to be called by you into your kingdom under our beloved lord and master our lord jesus christ who gave himself for us so that we may be reconciled back to you father we also pray for your word which is spoken today may that continue to inspire us to love you more dearly to follow you more dearly the lord we commit this whole service into your loving hands in jesus name we pray amen as we begin let us say the collect of purity together almighty god to whom our hearts are 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 worldly magnify your holy name through christ our lord amen foundation please sit for the commandments here now the commandments that god gave his people israel and god spoke all these words saying i am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of slavery you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth you shall not bow down to them or serve them for i the lord your god am a jealous god you shall not take the name of the lord your god in vain for the lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the lord your god honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the lord your god is giving you you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor you shall not cover your neighbor's house you shall not cover your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that is your neighbors lord have mercy on us and incline our hearts to keep your laws let's say the collect for ash wednesday almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you've made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worldly lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness 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 forever amen the collect for the first sunday of lent together almighty god whose son jesus christ fasted 40 days in the wilderness and was tempted as we are yet without sin give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your spirit and as you know our weakness so may we know your power to save 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 forever amen now i have the old testament reading the old testament reading is taken from josiah chapter six verses four to ten hosier chapter six reading from verse four what shall i do with you over frame what shall i do with you o judah your love is like a morning cloud like the dew that goes early away therefore i have healed them by the prophets i have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgment goes forth as the light for i desire steadfast love and not sacrifice the knowledge of god rather than burnt offerings but like adam they transgressed the covenant there they dealt faithlessly with me gilead is a city of evildoers tracked with blood as robbers lie and wait for a man so the priests band together they murder on the way to station they commit villainy in the house of israel i've seen a horrible thing reference weldom is there israel is defiled this is the word of the lord thanks be to god the new testament reading is taken from 1st timothy chapter 1 verses 12 to 17. first timothy chapter 1 beginning at the 12th verse i thank him who has given me strength christ jesus our lord because he judged me faithful appointing me to his service though formerly i was a blasphemer persecutor and insolent opponent but i received mercy because i had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in christ jesus the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom i am the foremost but i received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost christ jesus might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life to the king of the ages immortal invisible the only god be honor and glory forever and ever amen this is the word of the lord is the same brothers please stand if you are able for the reading of the gospel the continuation of the holy gospel is taken from saint matthew chapter 9 verses 9 to 13. glory to christ our savior as jesus passed on from there he saw a man called matthew sitting at the tax booth and he said to him follow me and he rose and followed him and as jesus reclined at the table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with jesus and his disciples and when the pharisees saw this they said to his disciples why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners but when he heard it he said those who are well have no need of a physicians but those who are sick go and learn what this means i desire mercy and not sacrifice for i came not to call the righteous but sinners this is the gospel of christ praise to christ our lord please be seated [Music] good morning church for those of you who don't yet know me i'm tim chiang and i'm one of the pastoral workers here at saint mary's cathedral and it's my privilege to be sharing god's word from the gospel that we have just read which is matthew chapter 9 verses 9 to 13. let us begin with the word of prayer shall we let's pray father we ask that even as we consider your word deliver to us in matthew's gospel help us to receive it with humble hearts please give us sensitive spirits that we may receive from you alone and if anything i say this morning may distract people from hearing you i ask lord that you remove it and we ask oh lord all this in jesus name amen seeing as today is also the first sunday of lent it's also a great opportunity for us to be thinking about what it truly means to be denying ourselves and following jesus right so my sermon today is titled true discipleship and it'll be three parts in three parts if you haven't already you can i invite you to open the outline and follow from there you would have received it in the email registration for your booking as well as a qr code outside if you haven't already the first part is in verse 9 jesus calls matthew to follow him the second part is that in verse 10 jesus fellowships with the sinners who come to him and last but not least uh jesus rebukes the pharisees religiosity from verses 11 to 13. and the main takeaway message for us today is that true disciples are sinners who live for jesus bring other sinners to him and are shaped by mercy and i'd like to begin by thinking about where we are in the current pandemic right cases are rising um people are not understandably scared but amongst other than just the total case numbers of that's rising another important indicator of how well we're doing in this pandemic is by seeing the emission rates in the icu and ventilator usage right because that's the key thing if our healthcare system fails the icu systems get clogged full of covid patients then people with other disorders that are intensive that need care will not be able to get care so we look at that metric uh with closeness right but then again i asked you to imagine what would you think if all our hospitals in malaysia refuse to accept covet patients into the icu what it's unthinkable right in a pandemic because the healthcare system is built for us to treat as many as they can especially with diets needs in the midst of a pandemic right and of course we thank god that our healthcare system has been doing the best uh the tireless hours that men and women in the healthcare system have serviced and for their sacrifice we thank god for all those capable people there however as we even as we are two years into uh a covet pandemic i'll say that we have been far more longer in a far more prevalent spiritual pandemic of sin which has infected every single human being and a similar question should be asked what kind of spiritual hospital is the church being in the midst of this spiritual pandemic so that's my message today where we'll be going and we see how matthew sets this up early on in matthew chapter 8 verse 18 to 22 matthew outlined the high cost of following jesus right that that people should follow jesus alone not for the benefits that come from it and put him as the highest priority and that jesus is worthy of this high demand because of who he is that jesus is god and matthew outlined that in the past three miracles that we've been exploring over the past three weeks jesus rebuked the storm and everything went still jesus drove out the demons with a word that no one else could drive out and last week we saw how he healed a paralyzed man and it's not just about the healing right it's because jesus proclaimed forgiveness on this paralyzed man and he proved that he could forgive by making this man walk and that forgiveness of sin is something that only god can do and as jesus left that crowd that scene right we come upon today's passage next he comes to matthew who wrote this gospel and picking it up in verse nine become the first section where jesus calls matthew to follow him as jesus passed on from there he saw a man called matthew sitting at text booth and he said to him follow me and he rose and followed him matthew is also called levi in the other two gospels of matthew and mark right and he's sitting at a text he's a text collector and sitting at a text booth outside of town border what happens you see tax collectors are strategically placed at entrances to the towns right back then there's only one major road coming into the city and as goods come in they can be taxed and then the money collected and revenue collected and such revenue will be collected and go to rome the occupying force of that day now i think in any human age right the tax collector has never been popular apologies to anyone working in lhdn right but uh it was even worse in that this special position was given roman and forces to jagada mani so to speak right roman enforces to to take care of the coin so tax collectors um had roman guards behind the back soldiers to make sure that people paid up right and no one would rob them and such positions of tax collectors was offered to the highest bidder secretary wouldn't care i need someone to do this for me right all right i'll just give the job to the highest bidder so people will bid maybe even beyond their means to get the job and once they got the job what they will do is to recruit back the cost of that what initial payment to rome they will overcharge in the taxes on the collections right it makes sense doesn't it right so to recoup that cost to overcharge and room doesn't care because as long as rome gets its money what you do with the local populace they don't bother all right and a very human tendency is once you've recouped your cost why stop there why not just enrich yourself a bit more collect a bit more continue collecting more so tax collectors put in hindsight were not just people who stood with the oppressing enemy who did not worship the god that they worshipped they exploited and oppressed their own countrymen so they're rightfully hated right now who how is matthew as a tax collector now we're not told we're not given any backstory why would suddenly jesus approach this text contest they follow me and he'll follow we're not told why all we are told that jesus tells him two words follow me and he does but what we can know given that context i've just given you is that for matthew leaving that text booth meant leaving everything of his own life some of these the jesus disciples for fishermen right after that they actually went back to fishing they could do that for matthew there is no way he could go back there is no way he could go back and in fact once he left someone else will replace him right there's nothing left for him there in fact to become a tax collector he left his family he left honor he left society right he became a pariah society to become a tax collector and now he's leaving a tax collector he's leaving the security the romans can give he's leaving the comforts and the wealth that position gave and he's following jesus remember that true disciples are sinners who live for jesus right in our first principle today we learned that true disciples are sinners who turn to jesus and live for him i like to think that matthew recognized his need for jesus you see in in many of the accounts in other gospels the healing of the paralytic where jesus forgives sins is very closely linked to the calling of matthew or levi and i like to think that words spread from the account of the healing of the paralytic that jesus claimed to forgive sins to pronounce the forgiveness of sins and what must it sound like to someone like matthew with his track record you see matthew took one good look at his life his job the trappings of wealth the security of rome and he saw that all these things left him spiritually did as i mentioned sin is a spiritual pandemic that infects every single human alive today all of us none of us accept and it's a spiritual disease whose symptoms include selfishness pride anger greed and then the list goes on and if these are the symptoms the main cause of this disease is a rejection of god being cut away and turning away from god's goodness god's life and his beauty and his love and trying to substitute what we were meant to get from god alone the life we're meant to get from god alone with things that we find in this earth we've tried to to satisfy ourselves with stuff with our careers with family with money and it doesn't work i mean getting a new phone or new car or new house feels good for a while until it doesn't and then those things just become yet another thing that we have and we forget about isn't it but not only is it unsatisfying but there's a graver far greater consequence of turning away from god because rejecting god means we're being cut off from his life and his love and his beauty and receiving his wrath now when we hear of atrocities being committed right against innocent victims untold horrors that's going on in the war right now in europe we rightfully get angry at the people who are victimizing innocent civilians right and we wish to see them punish be brought to justice we wish that it stops likewise because god is good he is rightfully wrathful at the destruction that sin caused the hurt that it caused right the corruption that it caused and he rightfully wants to judge its perpetrators now one problem for us is that we are the perpetrators of our own sin and we don't just sit against ourselves don't we we sin against those around us and our rejection of god our sins only serve to spread the chaos and the destruction and the brokenness of god's once good creation like matthew we stand before god by virtue of our own sin guilty infected by this spiritually fatal disease and like matthew we need to be healed to be forgiven of our sins we can only be found by turning away from living for this world and turning to christ you see at this point of the story matthew didn't know it yet right but jesus came into our world being fully god took on our humanity became fully human and lived a sinless life so that he could take on our sin in his fullest extent on the death on his death on the cross the death that our sin required and in exchange he gave us his sinlessness his righteousness so that in him we can stand before god as if we did we never sinned and not only that but when jesus rose again from the dead three days later in resurrection glory all of us who believe in him will be raised in the same way that death for those of us who are in christ is no longer something to be feared because it is merely a gateway to greater glory with god death has a way of nullifying everything in this world doesn't it we can't take our money our possessions with us beyond death we can't bring our loved ones with us beyond death all the life experiences that you have accumulated the food you've eat the travel places you've been whatever however nice it was with cease with death and it makes it all meaningless for most of us death would also mean that for the next we won't be remembered past three generations that will be forgotten and for but the worse than that is this death is not the end that after death we stand before god who created us to give an answer for how we lived in this life if we live for things that won't last or have we heeded his call to respond to him now if this is you today and if you're listening to me please understand i don't like being mean i'm not saying this just to be mean or judgmental right i'm saying this because i was in the very same boat as you i know how hopeless it is my own sins to try to solve it without jesus that without jesus we have no hope before our holy god so that is you would you please consider turning to jesus and following him and we would love to chat with you if you have any any questions regarding this right uh we have a link later um that we put in announcements saint mary's dot mi slash connect we would love to hear from you but for the rest of us who have tasted the sweetness of life with jesus how do we then respond and that's what we see in our next verse next section right where jesus fellowships with the sinners who came to him verse 10 and as jesus reclined at the table in the house behold many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with jesus and his disciples so what's this word reclining right so in middle eastern culture they didn't have tables and chairs for a big dinner right for them the banquet was served at lowell tables with cushions and everyone's reclining at the site and everyone is a very informal kind of gathering uh one of fellowship of social gathering right of acceptance of equal standing right when people are reclining together and that's what this this context that we're missing for us in the 20th century you see we see matthew being so overjoyed at the life that he has following christ that the first thing he does is to throw a lavish party at his house he's not living for money anymore he's not holding it anymore right so spend no expense bring people in and we see that he invites all his former associates to meet jesus other tax collectors and sinners now we're not given detail as to who these sinners could be right but very likely they are i mean given that they're just given a general title sinners right uh it could be the the fringes of society the other social pariahs that hang around with tax collectors uh thugs thieves maybe even prims as well and these are the type of people the crowd that recline with fellowship to jesus and his disciples they were invited to come in that they may know jesus and i think it's not too far to to think that matthew hoped that they will respond as he did and see the fruitlessness the pointlessness of their life and live for christ true disciples are sinners who live for jesus and bring other sinners to him and we see our next principle which is true disciples are sinners who enjoy enjoy bring other sinners to jesus when we have fully understood how we've been saved by his grace how amazingly unworthy we are and how amazing god's love is for us the last thing we should do is to keep it to ourselves maybe for some of us here the moment when we first discovered the sweetness of salvation was so long ago perhaps some of us have even lost our zeal in sharing uh the gospel because of failures or because of doubts that crept in what if i share the gospel and and i spoil the friendship or the relationship i have with my neighbors or colleagues what if the people who know me best see my weaknesses and my feelings and get the wrong impression of christ what if when i share the gospel i make such a mess of it that i just drive them further away from christ and to all those right i say take a deep breath and remember we are just called to be witnesses not saviors jesus is the savior they need we are only called to remember what christ has done for us how we have experienced his benefits and tell others of the benefits we've received from christ of the joys it means to be forgiven of the wonderfulness of his fellowship when we're going through pain that's all we have to do talk about what christ has done in your life we are all spiritually dead sinners who have found this life in jesus and we are to we are to seek to point all similar similarly dead people spiritually dead to him as well to keep that cure to ourselves is being selfish isn't it can you imagine if we have a nation in the world today that discovered a cure that could once for all end the pandemic and have enough quantities for all seven billion people in the world today but they kept it to themselves what would we the rest of the world think of such a nation right we'll be rightfully incensed how could you be so selfish and in the next section we'll see how this selfishness plays out in the people in in the example of the pharisees we see in the last section that jesus rebukes the pharisees religiosity and i'll explain what i mean by this word all right so the pharisees saw this they said the disciples why does your teacher eat and with tax collectors and sinners but when jesus heard of it he said those who are well have no need of a vision but those who are sick go and learn what this means i desire mercy not sacrifice for i've come to call the righteous i'm not come to call the righteous but sinners see the pharisees were the most conservative religious sect in judaism in jesus day right they were the ones that fasted the most prayed the most knew the most bible from all external appearances they were the most holy right of orders in two days in the day but jesus's reply revealed to revealed both the revealed the hypocrisy of the external religion and that's what i mean by religiosity that their religion for all is trappings is only external and in his analogy of a sick needing a doctor he showed two things right the first is that jesus in this fellowship with tax collectors and sinners is not condoning sin just as a doctor would not want his patient to remain sick a doctor wants to heal his patient likewise jesus is saying these people need to be healed of their sin by coming to me sin is not okay it's not okay to remain in sin but then where's the cure the cures of jesus and the next thing is that jesus is condemning the pharisees pride that people who thought that they were healthy right and they looked down their nose at others who were being sick sick person right rather than pointing them to get help the error of the pharisees was that they thought they saw themselves as the gatekeepers of righteousness the religious standard that which everyone should follow pray like me fast like me do this like me right that their piety their ability to follow the rules became a point of pride to look down on others and make themselves feel better brothers and sisters this is ungodly this is evil and this is wicked when jesus said those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick he did not mean that the pharisees were healthy rather that they were sick and dying but wouldn't admit that they needed help the one the worst thing to try to do is to try to heal a sick person who doesn't want to be healed right and here jesus quotes hosea 6 specifically which was a proclaim a prophecy which rebuked god's people who at that point they kept all the religious observances they they still kept temple worship they were still sacrificing the priests were still doing their function and people were still offering but in hosea 6 we've read that their hearts were straight far far far from god and that's what the pharisees had done that god desires mercy compassion love and this is a reflection of god's own character right not just mercy for mercy sake but mercy because god is merciful he delights in those who would show his love to the people around them that's what god desires not sacrifice external religious observances now at the risk of sounding a bit of offending external religious observances like coming to church even partaking communion or even fasting for lent if we do all those things without allowing them to shape us to love god more we are no better than the pharisees those are good things that we should be doing but if we don't if we do them without allowing ourselves to love pointing pointing them to love jesus more there's no point doing them true disciples are sinners who live for jesus bring other sinners to him and are shaped by mercy true disciples the last principle is that true disciples are sinners shaped by god's mercy to be merciful to others as i mentioned all of us are spiritually sick and we need the cure that only jesus can give that the church should be the spiritual hospital with a sick goal to receive jesus the cure they need now in the pandemic the emergency department's the eds right they're full to the brim uh they're messy they're noisy they're chaotic right and they're that dirty because that's where the sick and the dying go to get healed right no one expects it to be neat and tidy in the ed but they go because they're desperate now if that's the case for a physical hospital how should the church be if the church is a place where people are cured of their sin is the church a place where people can feel safe to acknowledge their sin their need for god is the church a place where people can receive healing from their sin if the church truly is a hospital where the spiritually sick gather maybe we should not be surprised if there's sinners amongst us because we're all sinners works in progress isn't it and we should stop expecting everyone to be so perfect to be in order and not have any feelings at all heaven forbid why is it so often the church feels like the the last place that you will find mercy that you will find compassion when you fall now i'm not saying that the church should tolerate sin to the point of accepting it remember i said that like the the sickness needs to be killed by the doctor right i'm not i'm not saying that we should tolerate sin allow it to fester but what i am saying is that sin when it's remain hidden undiagnosed and unacknowledged cannot be healed and it will only faster and grow worse in our lives so can we the church be known as a safe place for sinners to come and receive what their sin needs most jesus can we be known as a trustworthy community of people when people open up to us or when we open up to one another about where we are weak and in need of god so that others can play their role to encourage us to point us back on the right track can we be a place where we stop pretending to be so perfect stop pretending to be in control when our lives are falling out of control around us and allow others to come in to love us enough to point us to christ my hope is that we can be so shaped by god's mercy so transformed by his grace that our weaknesses and our failings become spotlights to how awesome god is look i'm a horrible person and i struggle with this sin but isn't it amazing that god loves me all the same that our failings are opportunities to point people to how gracious and amazing god's love is there's no way we can earn it and there's no need to earn his love because he has already lavished it upon us in jesus true disciples are sinners who live for jesus bring other sinners to him and are shaped by his mercy let us pray father forgive us for all the times that we have taken your love for granted forgive us if we have shied away from sharing all that you've done for us to the ones in our lives who need to hear it the most help us oh lord to be merciful to others send to ourselves so that we always remember how you are merciful to us we can't do this without your help father and we ask you that you help us please in jesus name amen congregation please stand let us affirm our faith by saying that i've seen creed together 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 one in being with the father through him all things were made for us and for our salvation he came down from heaven by the power of the holy spirit he was born of the virgin mary and became man for our sake he was crucified under pontius pilate he suffered died and was buried on the third day he rose again in fulfillment of 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 with the father and the son he is worshiped and glorified he 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 will come congregation please be seated for the litany god the father god the son god the holy spirit have mercy upon us holy blessed and glorious trinity have mercy upon us from all evil and mischief from pride vanity and hypocrisy from envy hatred and malice and from all evil intent good lord deliver us for all sedation and rebellion from all false doctrine heresy and skepticism from hardness of heart and contempt for your word and your laws good lord deliver us from famine and disaster from violence murder and dying unprepared good lord deliver us in all times of sorrow in all times of joy in the hour of death and at the day of judgment good lord deliver us by the mystery of your holy incarnation by your birth childhood and obedience by your baptism fasting and temptation good lord deliver us by our ministry in word and work by almighty acts of power by the preaching of the kingdom good lord deliver us by your agony and trial by your cross and passion by your precious death and burial good lord universe by almighty resurrection by your glorious ascension by ascending of the holy spirit good lord deliver us govern and direct your holy church fill it with love and truth and grant it that unity which is your will hear us good lord give us boldness to preach the gospel in all the world and to make disciples of all the nations hear us good lord enlighten your ministers with knowledge and understanding that by their teaching and their lives they may proclaim your word hear us good lord give your people grace to hear and receive your word and to bring forth the fruit of the spirit hear us good lord bring into the way of truth all who have earned and deceive and are deceived hear us good lord strengthen those who stand comfort and help the faint-hearted rise up the fallen and finally beat down satan under our feet hear us good lord guide the leaders of the nations into the ways of peace and justice hear us good lord bless the young young the prime minister the sultans and the governors of the states and guide them with your heavenly wisdom hear us good lord direct and prosper the work of parliament that all things may be ordered and settled by their endeavors on the best and surest foundation hear us good lord bless those who administer the law that they may uphold justice honesty and truth hear us good lord give us the will to use the resources of the earth to your glory and for the good of all hear us good lord bless and keep all your people hear us good lord help and comfort the lonely the bereaved and the oppressed lord have mercy keep in safety those who travel and all who are in danger lord have mercy you the sake in body and mind especially lord we pray for esther joseph lin kimchi rubinas reverend john lyan and family daniel and marian chang gong fight and father rosalin tan hannah lewis harrens hall lawrence hall sorry tony hughes stella laden rainer reflect deepik wound anthony francis george lee heather go and end and provide the homeless the hungry and the destitute lord have mercy show your pity on prisoners and refugees and all those who are in trouble lord have mercy forgive our enemies persecutors and slanderers and turn their hearts lord have mercy comfort us as we remember those who have died in the peace of christ both those who have confessed the faith and those whose faith is known to you alone and grant us with them a share of your eternal kingdom lord have mercy give us true repentance forgive our sins of negligence and ignorance and our deliberate sins and grant us the grace of your holy spirit to amend our lives according to your holy word holy god holy and strong holy and immortal have mercy upon us prayer of confession brothers and sisters as we come together to share in the holy communion of the body and blood of our savior jesus christ the scriptures urge us to examine our lives and repent of our sins as we do so let us be thankful that god the son humbled himself becoming man to die for us on the cross and by the shedding of his precious blood he obtained for us forgiveness of sins and life with him forever in remembrance of his death as the pledge of his love jesus instituted this holy sacrament to our great and endless comfort you then who truly and earnestly repent of your sins and are reconciled and at peace with others and intend to lead a new life following the commandments of god and walking from now on in his holy ways draw near with faith and take this holy sacrament to your comfort and make your humble confession to almighty god the general confession together almighty god our heavenly father we admit that we have sinned against you in thought word and deed and deserve your judge punishment we truly repent and are sorry for what we have done have mercy on us merciful father for the sake of your son jesus christ who died for us forgive us all that is past and granted we may serve you in newness of life to the glory of your name amen almighty god who forgives all who truly repent have mercy upon you pardon and deliver you from all your sins confirm and strengthen you in our goodness and keep you in life eternal through jesus christ our lord amen prayer of humble access together we do not presume to come to this your table merciful lord trusting in our own righteousness but in your manifold and great mercies we are not worthy so much as to get 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 brothers and sisters in christ lift up your hearts believe them to the lord let us give thanks to the lord our god it is right to give him thanks and praise almighty god our heavenly father who in your tender mercy gave your only son jesus christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and who instituted and in his holy gospel commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of his precious death until his coming again hear us merciful father we humbly pray and grant that we who receive these gifts of your creation this bread and this wine according to your son our savior jesus christ holy institution in remembrance of his death and passion may be partakers by faith of his most blessed body and blood when the night the christ was betrayed he took bread and when he given you thanks he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me the same way after supper he took the cup and when he had given you thanks he gave it to them saying drink this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant which is shared for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me amen eat and drink this in remembrance that christ died for you and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] is [Music] oh god of my salvations [Music] my righteousness [Music] my [Music] [Applause] this god is us not sacrifice else [Music] delighted [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] take off thy cross the savior said if the words [Music] and humbly [Music] is [Music] bear thy spirit up and embrace thy heart and love thy knowledge [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] take our [Music] every danger [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] to the great [Music] oh home to see the heavenly light that knows [Music] oh sweetly [Music] it makes the wounded [Music] is [Music] treasury filled with boundless wars jesus [Music] my lord my life my way my [Music] my [Music] the praise thee as i wrote till then [Music] names refresh my soul in earth [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Music] makes oh [Music] keeping loving is [Music] let me hide myself [Music] my strength my [Music] is [Music] is [Music] my soul [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] fruit [Music] is [Music] brothers and sisters in christ that say the lord's prayer together 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 forever amen prayer of thanksgiving and dedication together almighty god we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the body and blood of your son jesus christ through him we offer you our souls and bodies to be a living sacrifice send us out into the world in the power of your spirit to live and work to your praise and glory amen the dean will now bring us the announcements uh thanks conn and good morning again everybody who is here and good morning to everyone who's online uh thank you for joining us today and a special welcome if you're new uh and if you are new you haven't connected with us before then please let us know who you are uh samaritan's dot my slash connect uh is where you can uh uh here uh uh uh get to uh give us your details and then we can contact you and if you're at home and you're fully vaccinated and you're allowed to come in please do come in uh do sign up for next week i would love to have you here uh two o'clock today the bookings open at saint mary's not my slash booking uh as we've seen already today's the first sunday of lent can i encourage you if you'd like to be able to read your bible and pray with a group of people each morning then join us for the daily office at 7 30 a.m it's at mary's dot my slash daily office and on fridays we have our lenten service at saint mary's dot my slash friday in lent which we're going through some of the homilies let me just read you a line from one of the homilies from the homily that we read last week and it said this in reading of god's word it is not the one who is most eager to turn the pages or who recites it from memory who profits the most rather it is the one who is most turned to god by it the one who is most inspired with the holy spirit most in their heart and life altered and changed into that thing which they read the one who is daily less and less proud less wrathful less covetous less desirous of worldly and vain pleasures who daily forsaking their old life of vice increase in virtue more and more it's really good stuff uh do join us and if you haven't downloaded a copy of the diocesan lenten meditations at the foot of the cross uh please go to the your order of service there's a link there you can download so you can read the bible uh each day with a comment from from people from all over our diocese to help us with that just for starters uh starts again next sunday seven basic bible studies that you can do one to one with a mentor so if you're interested in being baptized or confirmed or you just want to review the basics of christian living with another believer samaris dot my slash jfs will help you register for that the cathedral women's fellowship as well as the golden circle are both having their agm on saturday 26th of march i gave you all the details last week they are there in the order of service and details of the cathedral agm on the 2nd of april are also there but can i just remind you to check your electoral role status by calling or emailing the office do it this week especially if you're new to the role because any mistakes can then be rectified before the final role is published on the 15th of march let's take a moment to greet each other especially to greet those who are home so turn around and greet those at home on the big camera at the right at the back and then just have a moment to greet each other and those who are home uh you can message each other on youtube live chat okay so if you can do that now while you're doing that i'll ask kelly to just to get ready uh ask her to come forward in a moment uh because last week i shared with you that the reverend lee khan yim has decided to take optional retirement from the diocese on the occasion of his 60th birthday so uh conn turned 60 yesterday and today is his last service with us as a diocesan priest he's been faithfully serving the lord in our diocese for 21 years nearly 21 years including nearly two years uh with us at saint mary's so we're so thankful to the lord uh for khan's ministry among us uh because his ministry started uh uh after the pandemic here started after the pandemic many of us haven't had a chance to to to really get to know him well in person but for those of us who have been working with him uh we're thankful to god for sending him and kelly to us uh especially at this time uh and we're especially thankful for his pastoral world uh in our liturgical congregations uh his leadership of the marriage ministry uh his son speaking of god's word in services and tuesday night training classes in baptism preparation uh confirmation courses marriage counseling uh one to ones and we're especially thankful for that his leadership of the project last year that enabled us to catch up on all those baptisms and confirmations uh and weddings that were stalled uh in the pandemic and we're thankful to for kelly uh who's been supporting him in this ministry as well as well as uh developing ministry on our of our own uh and on a personal note i can say that judy and i uh are thankful for our friendship with both colin and kelly uh that predates uh they're coming to saint mary's uh and will continue beyond it so invite kelly uh khan where's khan khan to come here and to kelly to stand with him and let's pray for them uh together shall we do that let's pray father we thank you for our brother khan and our sister kelly we thank you for saving them through the death of your son we thank you that they are yours we thank you for their commitment to the risen christ and to the for their love and service of him and we thank you for bringing them to this milestone in khan's life of 60 years and we especially thank you for khan's faithful pastoral ministry among us here at saint mary's these last two years and his faithful ministry in our diocese over the last 21 thank you for his solid faith in you and your word his clarity on the gospel is loving service of your people in so many different ways and we thank you too for kelly's ministry among us especially in the women's bible studies groups which which we're thankful will continue and for her support of khan in his ministry here we thank you for the privilege it's been for us to work together with them as fellow workers in your harvest field fellow soldiers in your army and we pray now for conan kelly in all the adjustments they'll be making as khan starts a new phase in life and ministry we pray that khan will have a good rest and refreshment we pray that you'll be opening the right doors for him to continue to serve you after that in in whatever way would most glorify you and be good for them and for your kingdom and most of all we pray that you keep khan and kelly faithful to jesus all the days of their life and so we commit our brother and sister to you thanking you for them asking for your continual grace and blessing on their lives and we ask this in jesus name amen shall we show our appreciation to conan kelly for the ministry among us uh we've we've prayed together for conan kelly uh now we're going to ask khan to pray for us and then to pray formally pray for god's blessing upon us medina has asked me to pray for the community at saint mary's let's let's pray father we thank you lord for establishing a christian community here since the 1890s lord may you continue your work which is the work of saving sinners may that work continue now and always here lord i just pray that you continue to raise up people to serve you among this embarrassed community that together as a family of god we bear the image of your son our lord jesus christ as tim preached early on we are safe sinners and we are called to reach out to other sinners and that is our family business in god's work of saving sinners so lord may that work continue here may you continue to bless the ministry that continues here at saint mary's may you continue to do your work of reaching out to so many people here not only in kl but throughout the whole country may you prosper the work of the gospel that indeed many will come to know the lord jesus and his amazing grace for his work on the cross to die on behalf of sinners to bring them into a wonderful relationship a reconciled relationship with our heavenly father so lord prosper the gospel prosper the work of your laborers here in your field and may your name be glorified forevermore in jesus name we pray amen now let us see a blessing from the lord as we end our time this morning christ give you grace to grow in holiness to deny yourselves take up your cross and follow him and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and remain with you this day and always amen go in peace to love and to serve the lord in the name of christ amen [Music] [Applause]

Channel: St. Mary's Cathedral Kuala Lumpur

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Id: L4YnoQ1ROzM

Length: 82min 30sec (4950 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 05 2022