This Sunday we hear the strange story of Jacob wrestling with a stranger – who is described both as an angel and as God – at Peniel. The story is embedded within the longer narrative of Jacob’s struggles, both with his uncle (and father-in-law) Laban, and with his brother Esau. The idea of a man wrestling with God – and prevailing over Him – sits awkwardly within the broader biblical narrative and for that matter within Christian theology, and this has led some scholars to speculate that this is a much older folk-tale that has been grafted into the Jacob narrative. In particular, the mysterious stranger’s disappearance at sunrise has the feel of those folk tales in which some spirit or monster guards a path. And yet the idea of wrestling with God is somehow very true to human experience, and to the life of faith: Jacob limps away from the encounter, wounded in his thigh, and yet having received a blessing; we too often find ourselves struggling and limping through the life of faith, and yet also somehow strangely blessed through the struggle.
This Sunday ~ The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist (St Mary’s)
11.15am Sung Matins (St Nicholas Remenham)
4.00pm Said Evening Prayer (BCP) (St Mary’s)
This Week
Tuesday 8th 7.30pm Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
Wednesday 9th 12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
Thursday 10th Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s) 1pm-3pm Pastoral Meeting (Chantry House)
Friday 11th 12noon Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
Saturday 12th 5pm Concert (St Mary’s)
Morning Prayer will be said at 9am Tuesday to Friday at St Mary’s
Sunday August 13th ~ The Tenth Sunday after Trinity
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist (St Mary’s)
11.15am Sung Holy Communion (BCP) with hymns (St Nicholas Remenham)
4.00pm Said Evening Prayer (BCP) (St Mary’s)