St Matthew’s Church – Sunday 26 July 2026 at 11.00am – The Eighth Sunday after Trinity
St Matthew’s Church – Sunday 26 July 2026 at 11.00am – The Eighth Sunday after Trinity
Collect
Almighty Lord and everlasting God, we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern us in the ways of our laws and the works of your commandments; that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever, we may be preserved in body and soul; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
A reading from Genesis Chapter 29 (Verses 15 to 28)
Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?’
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.’
Laban said, ‘It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.’
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days be-cause of the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed. ’So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.)
When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, ‘What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?’
Laban said, ‘This is not done in our country — giving the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me for another seven years.’
Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God
Psalm 105 (Verses 1 to 11 and 45b)
Praise the Lord!
O give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises, and tell of all his marvellous works.
Praise the Lord!
Rejoice in the praise of his holy name, let the hearts of them rejoice who seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.
Praise the Lord!
Remember the marvels he has done, his wonders and the judgements of his mouth, O seed of Abraham his servant: O children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God: his judgements are in all the earth.
Praise the Lord!
He has always been mindful of his covenant: the promise that he made for a thousand generations: the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath that he swore to Isaac, which he established as a statute for Jacob, an everlasting covenant for Israel, saying, ‘To you will I give the land of Canaan to be the portion of your inheritance.’
Praise the Lord!
A reading from Romans Chapter 8 (Verses 6 to 39)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justi-fies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God
Listen to the Gospel of Christ according to St Matthew Chapter 13 (Verses 31 to 33 and 44 to 52)
Glory to you, O Lord.
He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’ He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’
And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Post Communion Prayer
Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands that have taken holy things; may the ears which have heard your word be deaf to clamour and dispute; may the tongues which have sung your praise be free from deceit; may the eyes which have seen the tokens of your love shine with the light of hope; and may the bodies which have been fed with your body be refreshed with the fullness of your life; glory to you for ever.
Amen.