Holy Communion for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo. Junior Church takes place at the same time in the hall.

First reading: Colossians 2. 6-19
Gospel: Luke 11. 1-13

Today's first reading reveals Paul's concern about false doctrine, and how easily it might take root in a newly-established church. He faced opposition on two fronts: the legalistic extreme of Jewish tradition, which focused on the strict observation of customs and rituals, and the cult of Gnosticism, which maintained that the divine was so remote from the physical world that there could be no contact between then - and so Jesus, as the disciples had known him, could not possibly be divine.
In contrast, Paul asserts the central importance of Christ's simultaneous divinity and humanity, and the truth that the risen Christ does not cease to be Christ crucified; Christ in Glory, in Christian art, bears the marks of the crucifixion. He also emphasises that faith must be inward and transformative: it is not that rituals and customary practices are wrong in themselves, but that they are inessential to salvation and meaningless unless informed by inner belief.

Paul's message about trusting in God alone reflects Jesus's words in the Gospel, after he has given his disciples a pattern for their own prayers. Jesus outlines a simple, direct relationship between God and humankind, uncluttered by intermediaries or elaborate rituals.