St Catherine & St James’ Church Service of the Word – St Mary Magdalene Sunday 20 July 2025

She may be one of the most recognized figures in the Bible, yet so much about Mary Magdalene remains shrouded in mystery. What is true about her—and what archaeological evidence do scholars have about her life and world?

Separating fact from fiction

Textual evidence about Mary Magdalene largely comes from the canonical Gospels credited to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They identify her as part of Jesus’s circle and someone who went to his tomb to anoint his body on Easter morning.

Yet they do not always agree on particulars about her life. Luke, for example, alleges demons possessed her, while others claim she witnessed Jesus’s crucifixion.

Additionally, non-canonical Gospels—early Christian writings that are not part of the New Testament—provide different accounts of Mary’s relationship with Jesus, including hints of a strong bond. Some of these texts make the point that “male disciples are dismissive of her because she is a woman,” says James R. Strange, Charles Jackson Granade and Elizabeth Donald Granade professor in New Testament at Samford University in Alabama.

What other information can scholars glean from these texts? Elizabeth Schrader Polczer, assistant professor of New Testament at Villanova University, observes that, “Mary Magdalene is never named in relation to a man, as many other women were. This suggests that Mary was an independent woman.”

Welcome

Hymn 607 – As pants the hart for cooling streams

Penitence

O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who trust in him. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

The Lord ransoms the lives of his servants and none who trust in him will be destroyed. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

Come my children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

May the God of love and power forgive us, lift our burdens from us, heal and strengthen us by his spirit and raise us to new life in Jesus Christ, our risen and ascended Lord, Amen.

Collect

Almighty God,

whose Son restored Mary Magdalene

to health of mind and body

and called her to be a witness to his resurrection:

Forgive our sins and heal us by your grace,

that we may serve you in the power of his risen life;

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.. Amen.

A reading from the Song of Solomon

Upon my bed at night

I sought him whom my soul loves;

I sought him, but found him not;

I called him, but he gave no answer.*

‘I will rise now and go about the city,

in the streets and in the squares;

I will seek him whom my soul loves.’

I sought him, but found him not.

The sentinels found me,

as they went about in the city.

‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’

Scarcely had I passed them,

when I found him whom my soul loves.

I held him, and would not let him go

until I brought him into my mother’s house,

and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God

(Song of Solomon 3: 1-4)

Psalm 42

1 As the deer longs for the water brooks, ♦︎

so longs my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul is athirst for God, even for the living God; ♦︎

when shall I come before the presence of God?

3 My tears have been my bread day and night, ♦︎

while all day long they say to me, ‘Where is now your God?’

4 Now when I think on these things, I pour out my soul: ♦︎

how I went with the multitude

and led the procession to the house of God,

5 With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, ♦︎

among those who kept holy day.

6 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, ♦︎

and why are you so disquieted within me?

7 O put your trust in God; ♦︎

for I will yet give him thanks,

who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

8 My soul is heavy within me; ♦︎

therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,

and from Hermon and the hill of Mizar.

9 Deep calls to deep in the thunder of your waterfalls; ♦︎

all your breakers and waves have gone over me.

10 The Lord will grant his loving-kindness in the daytime; ♦︎

through the night his song will be with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

A reading from the second Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

(II Corinthians 5: 14-17)

338 – Jesus, stand among us

Hear the Gospel of our Saviour Christ, according to St John.

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

John 20: 1-2, 11-18

What do we believe? (we say together)

We believe in God the Father,

the source of all life,

by whom every family in heaven and earth has been created.

We believe in God the Son,

our friend and brother Jesus,

who lives in our hearts through faith

and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

who strengthens us with his power,

and makes Jesus known in the world.

We believe and trust in one God:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

A Litany drawn from Psalm 28 Ad Te Domine

O Lord, we call to you; our rock, hear our cries.

I need your comfort and your saving presence.

For if you do not hear us, we will be like those gone down to the pit.

Teach me that I am not alone.

Hear the voice of our prayers as we cry out to you for help.

You hear the cry of your children.

We lift up our hands to your holy sanctuary.

Your love will never let me go.

Blessed is the Lord, who has listened to our pleadings.

Your strength gives power to my voice.

The Lord is our strength and our shield.

You are my saving refuge.

The Lord is the strength of his people.

Lord, grant me peace.

Hymn 386 – Tune, Skye Boat Song

We say our Prayers

For the peace from above, for the loving-kindness of God, and for the salvation of our souls, let us pray to the Lord.