Eighteen Sunday After Trinity - Reflection by Canon Leslie

​Today’s Gospel reading has been chosen by the Church of England to focus our attention on God’s grace and on God’s generosity. Chapter 6 of Matthew’s Gospel, part of the well-known Sermon on the Mount, presents two memorable vignettes in which Jesus invites his listeners to look at the birds of the air and to consider the lilies of the field. For Jesus the birds of the air and the lilies of the field spoke clearly of God’s grace. God who provides generously for the birds and for the lilies provides with even greater generosity for the human race, created in God’s image.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited reflection on the image of birds. In today’s picture from the book Light, Aled and Sian see the squawking seagulls surprised by the bright flash of lightening. This is just one of the many images of birds that may spark our imagination.
 
God of grace,
you care for the birds of the air,
feeding and clothing them with your love.
Help us to know your love and care
that we may always place our faith in you;
for you are a gracious and generous God,
now and always.
Amen.
 
Next Sunday’s Gospel reading marks the second of two weeks when the Church of England is focusing our attention on God’s generosity and our response. Next Sunday’s Gospel invites us to reflect on a narrative presented by Luke. In that narrative ten lepers come to Jesus to seek healing. All ten are healed, and one returns to give thanks. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is saying thank you. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To access the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To access the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos.