prepared by Joanne Mead – 12th October 2025
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all receiving this service today. Whatever your situation, know that God, through the Holy Spirit, unites you with those worshipping in person. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, least of all the fact we are not physically together in the same place. Just come as you are, in the quietness of your room – and in a time of silence, invite God to speak through the hymns, through the Scripture and through the reflection.
Singing the Faith 58: Lord I come before your throne of grace
Let us pray:
Glorious God, whose love is inescapable, whose power is infinite, whose mercy is offered to all, we praise your Holy Name. You who flung stars into space, who created each of us in your own image, who measured out the heavens with your span; we cannot even begin to understand your greatness. God of Love – you reach out to everyone, offering us your grace, unmerited and free. All good things we have come from you. We come into your presence, humbly inviting you to reveal yourself afresh. Send your Spirit to give understanding, peace, and open our hearts to the message of the Scripture. We worship you as we sing hymns, pray and reflect on today’s message of hope and renewal. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Gracious God, in our weakness, you are our strength; in our vulnerability, you protect us; in our loneliness, you are alongside. Forgive our lack of faith, our wilful ways, and our struggle to love all as you have loved us. We confess those times when our self-centredness has blinded us to the needs of others. We confess those times when we haven’t said ‘thank you’, when we have been impatient, when we have been intolerant. Put a right spirit within us and give us the strength and the courage to take on the challenges we face day by day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Reading from Luke 17: 11-19 (NIV, 2011)
Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Reflection
In our reading from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus attracts the attention of ten lepers. To be a leper was to be an outcast, perceived as unclean,. They were barred from their community, and faced increasing disability as the disease meant they could not feel pain and damaged themselves. They survived by begging, it was a cause for shame and brought huge hardship. Jesus was their only hope, and pleaded for him to have mercy and make them clean. Jesus sent them to the priests and as they went, their leprosy was cured. However, only one of the ten when he recognised he was healed returned to praise Jesus. He was a Samaritan – a man who would have despised Jews and would not have engaged with them in normal circumstances. In response, Jesus tells the Samaritan that his faith has made him well.
There are several messages that come from this encounter – the first is that whatever divided Jews and the Samaritan in normal times, once they had leprosy, they were united in their isolation from community. Leprosy was a leveller. All ten men recognised that their only hope of a future was in Jesus – a Jewish teacher. All reached out to Jesus – referring to him as Master and all received the same response from Jesus.
There was no laying on of hands – Jesus simply sent them to the priests, as this was the process for them to be officially declared free from leprosy. Maybe he’s the one for whom Jesus had the greatest impact, maybe it was a revelation for that man that he had been healed by a Jewish healer. His reaction is one of great joy – he throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. There is an implication that the healing for this man was more than just physical healing, but spiritual healing as well.
Jesus’ encounters with Samaritans breaksthe normal cultural barriers of his time – we have two notable encounters mentioned in the Gospels. He heals the Samaritan leper in the passage we have read, and he has the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Both individuals come to recognise Jesus and we know the Samaritan woman’s testimony brought many in her village to faith.
So what message of encouragement can we receive from this encounter? The most powerful is the fact that Jesus was not just a Messiah for the Jews – he was a Messiah for all. For folk like us! That is important as if Jesus had been only for the Jews, we could not be Christians and know our sins forgiven as we do.
There is however something powerful about our response to what God does for us in our lives. How good are we at recognising God at work in our lives, stopping to say ‘Thank you’ and offering our praise to him? Or are we like the nine lepers who never came back? Think about it!
If we helped someone and they don’t say thank you, how does it feel? We feel a bit fed up, aggrieved and unappreciated. Yet, our God remains ever faithful despite our lack of response at times. Sometimes we pray, but might not get the response we want or in the way we want and we look back and wonder why our prayers weren’t answered.
What does this encounter teach us about how we respond to the folk who aren’t Christians like us – or are very different from us in other ways? Jesus treated all ten men the same, but it was the one who recognised what Jesus had done for him against cultural norms who turned back full of praise and rejoicing. Is there not something powerful for us in that too? May we have that courage to keep the Good News a universal message. We might be surprised by the results. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Lord as we look out on a troubled world, we pray for those who are in peril. We pray for the people of Ukraine, those caught up in the war between Israel and Palestine. We pray for the Jewish community both here and abroad who are facing rising levels of persecution and in the wake of the Manchester attack, we pray for the families affected by the terrible act of terrorism. Help us to show love for those who have made our country their home, whether young or old and to uphold the values of your Kingdom.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Lord, as a church, your church – we pray for all who work in our community as part of their service to you. We pray for all initiatives to improve community cohesion and good relationships. We pray for our faith leaders, they their leadership will be positive, caring leadership – promoting harmony and peace. We pray for the new Archbishop of Canterbury and pray that she will be able to unite Christians from all sections of the Anglican Communion and beyond.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Lord, we also pray for those known to us. Especially those who are hurting or grieving at this time. We remember those who are on their own, may they feel your presence with them and have that assurance that you will never leave them nor forsake them. Give each of us the faith we need to confront our challenges and remain faithful disciples. May those who are in pain find healing, those who are desperate find hope and those who are grieving find peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
And we share in the prayer that Jesus taught us.
Singing the Faith 652: Lord we come to ask your healing (CCLI 3268559)
Lord, we come to ask your healing,
Teach us of love;
All unspoken shame revealing,
Teach us of love.
Take our selfish thoughts and actions,
Petty feuds, divisive factions,
Hear us now to you appealing,
Teach us of love.
2. Soothe away our pain and sorrow,
Hold us in love;
Grace we cannot buy or borrow,
Hold us in love.
Though we see but dark and danger,
Though we spurn both friend and stranger,
Though we often dread tomorrow,
Hold us in love.
3. When the bread is raised and broken,
Fill us with love;
Words of consecration spoken,
Fill us with love.
As our grateful prayers continue,
Make the faith that we have in you
More than just an empty token,
Fill us with love.
4. Help us live for one another,
Bind us in love;
Stranger, neighbour, father, mother –
Bind us in love.
All are equal at your table,
Through your Spirit make us able
To embrace as sister, brother,
Bind us in love.
Blessing
Lord we thank you for this time of worship, despite being at home, we are united through your Spirit. As we go into the week ahead, strengthen and comfort us through the challenges so that we might praise you joyfully. May the peace that surpasses all understanding be with us all, now and forever more. Amen.
