This Sunday we are formally welcoming our Curate, Tracy Browne, into the ministry in the Stepney Area. Usually she would be ordained Deacon before beginning her on-the-job training in the Parish. That isn't currently possible, and so Tracy and the other Curates will be licensed for the moment as licensed lay-workers on Sunday 28th June at 4pm Ordination will follow in September. You can use the Zoom link 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85862694725?pwd=dUtQNVpyY0w5cHlEVVdscmdIN05KZz09

Meeting ID: 858 6269 4725

Password: 2yvWgw

and join in with the service which is printed below:

The Welcome

The Bishop introduces the service and says words of welcome.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Dear Friends in Christ, we come together in spirit to welcome N, who, in due course, is to be ordained deacon and serve her/his title in this parish, and to license her/him as a lay worker. 

We thank God for calling her/him to this place and we ask God’s blessing on her/him and those among whom s/he will minister in the service of Christ and his Church.

The Preparation

Let everything be said and done

in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God through Jesus Christ.

Sing psalms, hymns and sacred songs:

let us sing to God with thankful hearts.

Open our lips, Lord:

and we shall praise your name.

Praise

Let us give thanks to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ

with every spiritual blessing.

Before the world was made, God chose us in Christ,

that we might be holy and blameless before him.

Let us praise God for the glory of his grace,

for the free gift he gave us in his dear Son.

To Father, Son and Holy Spirit

give praise and dominion, honour and might,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

The Collect

God our Father, Lord of all the world,

through your Son you have called us into the fellowship

of your universal Church:

hear our prayer for your faithful people

that in their vocation and ministry

each may be an instrument of your love,

and give to your servant now to be licensed

the needful gifts of grace;

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.

Psalm

1    O Lord, you have searched me out and known me;  

you know my sitting down and my rising up;

    you discern my thoughts from afar.

2    You mark out my journeys and my resting place  

and are acquainted with all my ways.

3    For there is not a word on my tongue,  

but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4    You encompass me behind and before  

and lay your hand upon me.

5    Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,  

so high that I cannot attain it.

6    Where can I go then from your spirit?  

Or where can I flee from your presence?

7    If I climb up to heaven, you are there;  

if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8    If I take the wings of the morning  

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9    Even there your hand shall lead me,  

your right hand hold me fast.

10  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me  

and the light around me turn to night,’

11  Even darkness is no darkness with you;

    the night is as clear as the day;  

darkness and light to you are both alike.

12  For you yourself created my inmost parts;  

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

13  I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  

marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.

14  My frame was not hidden from you,  

when I was made in secret

    and woven in the depths of the earth.

15  Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished;  

already in your book were all my members written,

16  As day by day they were fashioned  

when as yet there was none of them.

17  How deep are your counsels to me, O God!  

How great is the sum of them!

18  If I count them, they are more in number than the sand,  

and at the end, I am still in your presence.

Reading

The Mission of the Seventy

10After this the Lord appointed seventy^* others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ²He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. ³Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. ⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” ⁶And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”^{* 10}But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”^*

Luke 10:1-11

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Address

The Presentation

The Diocesan Director of Ordinands presents the candidate.

Bishop, I present N to be licensed to serve as a lay worker in this parish.

Bishop:                I thank you for your presentation.

N, do you believe that God is calling you to serve in this parish?

Candidate:          I do.

Bishop:                 Will you, her/his colleagues and friends, support her/him in this ministry?

All:                         With the help of God, we will.

The Declarations

The bishop reads the Preface to the Declaration of Assent

The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In the declaration you are about to make, will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith as your inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making Him known to those in your care?

Candidate I, A B, do so affirm, and accordingly declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness; and in public prayer I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon.

I, A B, will give due obedience to Lord Bishop of London and the Area Bishop of Stepney and her successors in all things lawful and honest.

I, A B, about to be licensed to exercise the office of lay worker in the Diocese [Parish] of N, do hereby promise to endeavour, as far as in me lies, to promote peace and unity, and to conduct myself as becomes a worker for Christ, for the good of his Church, and for the spiritual welfare of all people. I will give due obedience to the minister in whose cure I may serve, in all things lawful and honest. So help me God.

The Licensing

Bishop:                 Receive this authority for ministry

                                in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 

                                Amen.

Bishop:                 May the Lord give you wisdom, courage, strength and love to do his will,

                                and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

                                rest upon you, and on your work done in his name, now and always. 

                                Amen.

The Prayers

Jesus said: ‘Whoever wishes to be great among you

must be your servant.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

Jesus said: ‘Unless you change

and become humble like little children,

you can never enter the kingdom of heaven.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

Jesus said: ‘Happy are the humble;

they will receive what God has promised.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

Jesus said: ‘Be merciful as your Father is merciful;

love your enemies and do good to them.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

Jesus said: ‘Love one another, as I love you;

there is no greater love than this,

to lay down your life for your friends.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

Jesus said: ‘Go to people everywhere

and make them my disciples,

and I will be with you always, to the end of time.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

God of mercy,

you know us and love us

and hear our prayer:

keep us in the eternal fellowship of

Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

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 for ever. Amen.

The Sending out

Jesus, lord of time,

hold us in your eternity.

Jesus, image of God,

travel with us the life of faith.

Jesus, friend of sinners,

heal the brokenness of our world.

Jesus, lord of tomorrow,

draw us into your future. Amen.

The Blessing

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon you And be gracious to you The Lord lift up the light of His countenance upon you And give you peace, and give you peace;

And the blessing of God almighty,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.