Sunday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Oct.28th

Helen welcomed everyone to this service to which younger adults had been especially invited.

The notices were given out and we found that the Operation Christmas Child appeal was finalised at 66 boxes - what an effort!

Helen gave notice of a Bible Study for the new year and we voted on the options.

Then Helen Called us to Worship, encouraging everyone to see the Christian Life, no so much as a destination as a journey and to see true worship as being found in sharing the moments when we sense God's presence.

We began the day's worship in song: Andrew on Piano, Roger and Alice on vocals, backed by Roger on guitar and Oliver on "descant" guitar providing leadership for a bracket of vibrant hymns that had many a pair of toes tapping and I do believe I saw more than the odd swaying of the hips. The young people enjoyed it as well.

The first hymn was praise to the conquerer of darkness, praying that we could be used to shine that light out into the world.

The second was a hymn of thanks, calling God, "Blessed" in acknowledgement of the lives of "plenty" we live and by analogy calling on God to be as bountiful when we find ourselves in a spiritual desert.

The last hymn "Amazing Grace" harked back to that last thought, thanking God, humbly, for His Grace that saves us from the people we would be otherwise.

This time of sharing was followed by the Prayer of Invocation where we declared our consciousness of God's compassion and readiness to receive us at any time, with all our shortcomings.

We asked for help to live our lives, to face possible ridicule and failure and to remain alert to the needs of those around us.

We prayed for hope, courage, focus and joy as we refuse to be dead in the midst of life.

Kids Time Out   Graham led this, setting a series of relays for two young volunteers, increasing the difficulty, each time, with Helen making the point that sometimes we try to fit too much into the finite time we have with the result that we never feel as though we do anything well.

Hymn MP 936  "Teach me to dance to the beat of Your heart,

                                           to move in the power of Your Spirit,

                                           to walk in the light of Your Presence,

                                           to dance to the beat of Your Heart.

                                           to love with Your heart of compassion,

                                           to trust in the word of Your promise,

                                           to hope in the day of Your coming,

                                           to dance to the beat of Your Heart."

We are all usually very determined to do as we see best, and although we pray for God's guidance in making decisions and taking action, this hymn puts us in a state of allowing God to have us live as he would, in every conceivable aspect of our existence.

Scripture Reading Sylvia delivered the words of Mark 10: 46 - 52. The account of Jesus healing Bartimaeus of his physical blindness. When Bartimaeus called out to Jesus, Jesus asked him "What do you want me to do for you?" There's a question! What do we really want?

Reflection Helen described the background of Mark as being the earliest and shortest of the gospels and pointed out that everything that is written there is written there for a purpose.

Jesus is represented as homeless, unmarried, unemployed and in a hurry

In this incident the beggars are lined up along the way and Bartimaeus calls out because, although he is physically blind he is not spiritually so. " Son of David, have mercy on me!" Bartimaeus knew who he was calling out to and asked to be able to see again.

Jesus' answer shows how easy it is if we truly believe - " Go; your faith has made you well." the energy in this healing and the focus of this beggar are in contrast to the behaviour of the disciples who have just been fighting over who is the most important.

Also the openness of this healing is in contrast to the secretiveness of the healing in chapter 8, showing a growth in faith. A growth from being quiet about the ministry to being openly triumphant about what is possible in God's name - a challenge to the people Mark is writing for.

Helen pointed out that we are all on a path and on that path we will meet Jesus.

Our God is different to those others believe in. Our God comes to us. Jesus is God on the move and wherever we are, God will come to us - What do we want Jesus to do for us?

We were then given the opportunity - the challenge, to write out what we wanted Jesus to do for us and these written requests were offered up.

Helen then prayed on our behalf, thanking God for meeting us where we are, in the nitty gritty, embarrassed and awkward as we pray for our desires.

Hymn TIS 609 "May the mind of Christ my Saviour" The same prayer as we sang in the previous hymn. May God enter into and guide every aspect of our lives. What people we would be if we really opened ourselves to such a possibility! What a church we would be!

Freewill Offering We dedicate our lives and all that we have to the work of life, of love, of peace. Receive our gifts and lead us in wisdom and courage.

Prayers of the People and The Lord's Prayer  Noelene led us, giving thanks that we could worship together and experience the church as family, asking for blessing on all present, the regulars and those who had come for the special service.

Prayer was offered for those in the distress of war or famine around the word and we asked that our eyes be opened to what we can do to help.

We prayed for those made redundant, that they should be given guidance as to how they should cope with the future; for family and friends; for travellers; for the Uniting Church in Australia and, at Marsden Road for Helen and Graham and all our leaders.

Blessing May the God of all time give you space and rain on you with his blessings.

Hymn TIS 569 "Guide me O thou great Redeemer" This morning the bar has been set high and our only prospect of achieving such heights is with God steering our lives.

Hold me Lord

Hold me in your arms, Lord

Bless me with your love.

Whisper in the quietness, Lord

Bless me with your word.

Lead me through the darkness Lord

Bless me with your light.

Touch me where I hurt Lord

Bless me with you healing.

And through your blessings, Lord

may we grow and learn

to know your presence

always walking with us.  Amen

Go in Peace.

Sunday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Oct. 21st

We began the service with a Welcome and the Announcements which included information about the service on October 28 to which we are encouraging younger people to come and an invitation for anyone over 10 to join an Advent choir. Also Pat announced the success of our Operation Christmas Child project, which had drawn in 60 boxes, half of which were due to the efforts of Kim. Andrew, who was our minister today, gave the

Call to Worship, which took the form of excerpts from Psalm 104, such as:

  O Lord my God, you are very great.

You are clothed with honour and majesty,

  Wrapped in light as with a garment.

Read it, it's more than worth your time and attention. It's not just an acknowledgement of God's greatness but also a guide for anyone trying to gain insight into the nature of our Lord God.

Hymn 80 "Immortal, invisible, God only wise." another chance for us to consider other facets of the Other, the "most glorious".

The Prayers of Invocation and Confession followed, asking God to enter into our midst, and to lay aside all that would divide us, pouring out His spirit upon us.

We offered up our knowledge that we can never deserve God's salvation and that it is only through God's Grace that we can hope at all.

We confessed our pride and ambition and our unwillingness to share our fellowship with all, clinging to our friends.

We confessed wanting to be supported rather than to support; to want to organize things our way rather than to  be a servant.

We asked to be moulded to God's will and purpose, confessing our weakness.

Having done this we were assured that we should "Go in peace, restored in the life of Christ our Saviour."

That assurance is always good to hear.

The Young People's Talk focussed on a building of blocks and those blocks which were the most important to the structure. Having identified the important ones as the cornerstones, Andrew explained that God was the cornerstone of our lives and then prayed, giving thanks for young people and praying for blessing on them and their families in the coming week.

Hymn 569 "Praise and thanksgiving, Father, we offer, for all things living you have made good" Thanking God for his provision for our needs and our acknowledgement of our need for commitment to look to the needs of others.

Readings:

Job 38: 1 - 7, 34 - 41;Hebrews 5: 1 - 10; Mark 10: 35 – 45

All these readings taken from vastly different contexts, spoke of the glory and power of God, beside whom man is nothing and of whom we no right to make demands. Rather we should look for God's will in the midst of all that is happening around us.

Andrew then delivered the Homily focussing on the reality of God, drawing from each of the three readings.

His background illustration was The 40 Martyrs of Sebaste, a group of Roman Soldiers from different backgrounds who refused to make a sacrifice because they were Christians.

When threatened with terrible punishment and even when that punishment was metred out to them they continued to refuse to make the sacrifice with the result that they were finally killed. There is more to the story than that, but that is enough to make the point. Why would they accept such suffering!

By way of explanation, Andrew pointed out that much has been said about the reality of God in recent years but today's scripture readings tell us three things:

God is the cornerstone of our existence. 

God (through Christ) is the source of our salvation.

God's kingdom is prepared for us in our daily lives by Christ through the image and role of servanthood.

Andrew pointed out that that was why the martyrs accepted their suffering - for something something far more valuable.

As C. S. Lewis said, " If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, that does not prove the universe is a fraud - probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it but only to suggest the real thing. I must keep keep alive in myself the desire for my true country which I shall not find until after death."

That's what the martyrs knew.

They knew that trust in God would bring everlasting peace.

They knew that God through Christ is the source of eternal salvation.

They knew that service to God is the faithful path of a Christian.

Hymn 40 "I sing the almighty power of God," once again looking at more of the infinite aspects of God that it is possible to discern in our search for the truth about our Maker.

Offering and Prayer. Acknowledging our responsibility to share God's goodness to us with others.

This was followed by the Prayers of the People  during which we asked or support for those in the community around us, especially those known to us personally.

Hymn 514 "O Jesus I have promised" reminding us that we have made the same commitment as those soldiers did, so long ago. Would we have the courage they had?

We were then sent out to live our Christian lives,

Benediction. May the blessing of God the Eternal Creator,

                      The peace of Christ, Incarnate Word

                      And the strength of the Spirit, our constant companion,

                      be with us now and evermore.   Amen.

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church Oct.14

Elaine led the usual singing that introduces our service on the second Sunday of the month, with the congregation choosing hymns that have been integral to their faith journey.

Rowena, who was taking the service for us, welcomed everybody and the announcements were given.

There followed the Call to Worship given, again by Rowena, acknowledging the differences between each of us, which include our varying awareness of God's presence.

Rowena assured us that regardless of our feelings regarding his presence, that God is faithful and since he promises to be with us, we could be sure he was with us in the service.

Prayer of Adoration  Here we praised God as the beginning and end of all things: the creator of all, who despite his greatness, accepts each one of us as precious. This theme was continued in

Hymn 154 (TiS) "Great is thy faithfulness", sung in praise of God's unending and unchanging constancy, evident in both creation and in the restoration of our souls.

Prayer of Confession We were prepared for this confession with an invitation to consider our possessions, first the simply unnecessary purchases, then those ostentatious purchases meant to mark our status.

We were then asked to consider losing all of these and then replacing them in our imagination with things of deeper meaning such as family, our community of faith and our own talents.

With this stimulus awakening our awareness, we prayed for forgiveness for the times our possessions had got in the way of our serving God.

Words of Affirmation With our focus directed to the things that matter, Rowena spoke of God's love embracing us and freeing us to share our real treasure with those most in need.

Hymn 693 (TiS) "Come as you are" a warm and open invitation to be loved just as we are.

Readings: Hebrews 4: 12 - 16; Mark 10: 17 - 31 were delivered by Alan.

The message to the Hebrews was that nothing is hidden from the work of God's word but - we have One who has been tested just as we are, who therefore understands us, and for that reason we can ask for mercy and find grace without fear.

Mark's message tells of a man asking the way to enter the kingdom of God. When told that he had to give up everything, he couldn't accept that cost and left. Then Jesus started speaking to his disciples about the same problem and they couldn't see how anyone could enter the kingdom under those conditions. But Jesus pointed out that anything is possible with God's help and that any perceived sacrifice will be rewarded many times over.

Sermon: "Those to whom much has been given, of them much is expected"  Rowena began by describing the young man in the reading who had always lived a good life, attending to all his responsibilities and showing compassion and generosity to those in need.

 A lot like ourselves.

Surely that should be enough. Unfortunately Jesus disagreed, so we are left asking, with the disciples "Who then can be saved?" Jesus' answer, the answer to all our puzzles, was "...for God all things are possible"

As with the young man in the story, simplifying our lives is not easy but ultimately our Christian faith requires us to let go of those attachments. We need to open our lives and be prepared to trust more deeply in God's power and possibilities.

If we take this one step further and reflect on our communities of faith we might think about our reluctance to change, as we hold desperately onto the "it's always been done."

Looking at this from another perspective, we can consider the necessity to plan for the future in terms of supporting ourselves financially. However in doing this we can become distracted from things of greater importance but nothing should come between us and God

- it's God's will that we should receive everything for an abundant life - but material blessings are for sharing. Those to whom much has been given, of them much is expected.

Hymn 342 (TiS) "When I survey the wondrous cross" "My richest gains I count but loss" and even if I had all of creation to offer as a gift it would not be enough. Such love demands "my soul, my life, my all"- again the message of giving up everything for the love of God.

Offering Prayer We offer these gifts from our abundance as a sign of our commitment to the hard work of living the gospel and our sincere desire for justice, equality and peace for all. Amen. How often we just don't recognise that we, in fact, have an abundance. But it's easy enough - just look at those that have nothing and our overflowing riches become obvious.

Prayers of Intercession  Rowena led us in prayer to keep our hearts open to the needs of others, even those we do not like or who may have called their suffering upon themselves.

We prayed also for those who suffer because of the wilfulness of others and those on the front line, dealing with the distress of so many - for them to receive ongoing strength.

We asked for support for all those working within the church and for all those, especially people known to us, who may be burdened or distressed in any way.

Hymn 547 (TiS) "Be thou my vision" A commitment to follow the path laid out for us by the wisdom of the Lord of all. A path where we commit all we are and have, to His service.

Commission and Benediction  

And may God come close to you and keep you safe;

May Christ Jesus reward your faithfulness a hundredfold;

and may the Holy Spirit be your help in time of need.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Closing Song "Now unto Him" From Jude a blessing of great fulness. Blessing each other with every good thing that our Lord has to give us.

Amen.

Sunday Service Marsden Road Uniting Church Oct. 7

After the welcome and notices, Helen Called us to Worship, declaring God had made us a little lower than the angels. An amazing gift that gives us the ability to sense and respond to the Other, even when we are a long way off. But being in that privileged position brings with it responsibilities. We are God's hands on this planet and as God cares for us, so we must care for the rest of his creation.

Helen then offered us the peace of God and we responded, after which we were given the opportunity to pass that peace to those around us, reaching out, sharing through our clasped hands.

Hymn 159 "All hail the power of Jesus name," which is where it starts and finishes, and which heralded the

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession.

As we live out each day it is so easy to let time pass without giving due thanks or being quiet so that we can acknowledge our failings fully and openly, and pray for forgiveness and restoration.

So this prayer is so important, as we prepare for the celebration of our redemption by thanking God for his love for us that seeps through us,

moving towards our need...unconditionally accepting and gracious...participating in our pain and grief...releasing us towards new life...never leaving us alone...forgiving and recreating.

Before this most gracious God we humbly confessed - just as we are - and asked forgiveness.

Words of Assurance

It is Jesus Christ who grants us mercy and the boldness to begin again. We know this is from compassion growing out of his being tested, just as we are.

For this we gave thanks, following with the Lord's Prayer, reiterating our acknowledgement of God's holiness, our failures and our need for forgiveness and to forgive.

Reading: Job 1:1, 2: 1-10  This passage, read by Elaine, told of a virtuous man, Job, whose devotion to God was questioned by one of God's angels, "The Accuser". He predicted that Job's devotion would disappear if the good life was taken from him and the tide turned against him.

So God allowed Job to be tested.

Reflection: God's problem.

Helen introduced her homily with a story of a woman suffering, and in pain, complaining to the doctor, "What have I done to deserve this?" His answer was brief - that she had be born.

We are all the same in this respect: we are born and enjoy life's many blessings but with them comes suffering.

No one escapes.

Helen then pointed out that anyone looking for an answer to suffering in Job was going to be disappointed-suffering is a mystery. Helen then took us back to the time when "Job" was written when, as at the time of Jesus and even, in some cases, now, suffering was thought to be caused by a person's wrongdoing.

However, Jesus himself set us straight on that matter..."Whose fault was it that the man was born blind?" It wasn't anyone's fault. As Helen had already pointed out, as had the doctor to the complaining woman, it's part of being alive.

Back to Job: " The Accuser" could not believe that Job could love God without reward: that Job could love him just because God is God: just for the relationship.

God is God on the good days and bad days: suffering is a part of the way we are made. We do not have the right to expect God to behave in a certain way.

God wants a relationship with the people he has made and, God who is love, in Jesus, suffered for no personal gain but for the love of us.

Nothing stops us having that pure relationship with God.

Prayer A plea for help to see God as he is, rather than as we would have him be. To realise that he is there in all circumstances and to ask for the ability to love him in all of them whether we see them as good or bad. To focus on our many blessings and feel as deeply for others in their circumstances, as we do for ourselves in our own.

Hymn 266 " I cannot tell why He whom angels worship" A call to focus on what we can understand rather than on what we do not.

There is so much that is beyond us, but we do know that we have been touched by God (in my case, taken by the scruff of the neck and shaken), which gives us the confidence to continue, knowing that

"At last the Saviour...is king."

Prayers of the People Delma led us in a prayer for peace in a world which is being torn apart by war and famine. She prayed for the pilgrim people of the Uniting Church in  Australia, for God's guidance on our journey and those close to us who need special care.

Our Offering was gathered and with the Communion Elements was Dedicated so that their ordinariness would become special in God's service.

The communion elders, Alan and Ruth joined Helen and we were told that

Christ is the host in the city and all who will come are guests at the feast  

That's the only proviso - "all who will come."

For this we gave the Great Thanksgiving.

Christ be with you/ And also with you

Lift up your hearts/ We lift them to our God

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God/ It is right to give our thanks and praise.

On our behalf Helen gave thanks to God, the beginning and the end of all things. The one that sustains life in the wild of the bush, in the other sort of wildness of the city, in the imposing cragginess of the mountains and the cultivated, life-sustaining countryside.

We gave thanks for Jesus who never turned aside from anyone and who calls us.

For this we praised God with the faithful of every time and place, joining with the whole creation:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Institution and Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Helen reminded us of that first time when Jesus offered bread saying, "This is my body, broken for you" and then offered wine, "This is my blood, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sins".

Helen then prayed for the Holy Spirit to make the common sacred and to envelope us all as we came to the table, remembering and giving thanks.

And then in preparation for leading us into sacred time: "Jesus, I believe, forgive and remove my unbelief and sin."

Then together,

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.

Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us thy peace.

The elements were then distributed and we gave thanks that we had been guests at God's table, praying that we would carry his hospitality into the life of the community.

Hymn 172 " It passeth knowledge"...that dear love of thine...which brings a rebel sinner, such as me, nigh unto God.

Blessing and Dismissal

We were sent out in peace to carry the sacrament into life, praying that we might experience the presence of the living God.

Which we affirmed with great conviction,

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Sunday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Sept. 30

Dan welcomed us and asked for the announcements, after which he drew our attention to the diversity of people in God's world and how each one of us has been made different. How difficult we find it to accept that those who are different from us are as much God's handiwork as we are ourselves. We really try hard to limit God by our own small-mindedness, but fortunately God always raises up a receptive soul to spread his true intentions.

Equally, God is present everywhere, whatever direction we might take. There is nowhere we can go that God can't find us.

Hymn 188 "Where wide sky rolls down and touches red sand" awakened us to God's hand in the creation of our own country and reminded us that we can find him in our own outback.

Dan then led our confession of our lack of understanding, and gave thanks for the opportunities church gives us to deepen our insight into the mind of Christ and also for the work of hymns in mediating God's presence in us.

 Dan then gave thanks on our behalf, for God's strength that supports us and his compassion that comforts us. He continued to offer, for us, our confession of falling into temptation, rejecting God's counsel and guidance and being distracted from our duties.

Our silent confession followed.

Our forgiveness was then affirmed. Through Christ we are saved and pardoned.

Hymn 56 "Amazing Grace" gave us the words to declare our reliance on God's goodness for all that we are and can be.

Dan then introduced his theme for today: the consideration of the difference between tourist and pilgrim. He pointed out that a tourist comes back with memories and perhaps momentos while a pilgrim comes back with experiences through which it is possible to find out about self, faith and God.

The Readings Hebrews 11: 8 - 16 and Luke 4: 1 - 13 were delivered by Bob. In Hebrews the part that resonated with my own experience was that these travellers had an immoveable faith in God despite little proof that God was actually at work. They had such faith that they did not think of the land they left behind but continued to journey, strong in the faith that God's plan for them was still firm.

Luke writes of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness where he considered his life before him and where he was tempted to seek earthly glory but threw all that aside to do his Father's will. Serious matters require deep and lengthy consideration. Decisions about such should not be made quickly or lightly or relying on our own wisdom

.

Dan took his cue from this reading for his sermon, "Tourist or Pilgrim" He pointed out that that there are questions we answer with our lips; others with our lives. The question to answer is whether we live as a tourist or pilgrim. To continue the theme begun earlier, he explained how a tourist wants things to be comfortable and familiar, not strange or threatening, (no funny food or weird customs). The tourist wishes for a safe and happy trip with pleasant memories.

However a pilgrim has totally different expectations - something outside of the familiar - a journey into the unknown, in fact, a pilgrim accepts discomfort, even danger, placing themselves in the hands of God.

Dan then outlined the many types of existing pilgrimages but explained that he was really meaning us to consider pilgrimage as a metaphor for how we can live our lives. Are we living as a tourist or a pilgrim?

Jesus intentionally spent those 40 days outside the familiar - (that's where we hear God's voice) - because only then was he prepared for the role he had to take in God's plan.

It's too easy to be part of a church community and only be a tourist. We are asked to be more than that. Jesus also calls us into those strange places and to sometimes enter the unexpected but we are promised that the Holy Spirit will travel with us.

Jesus calls us to live in His Name.

Affirmation of Faith. We affirmed our beliefs as the congregation declared our faith by saying the Uniting Church proclamation of faith aloud.

Hymn 537  "May the mind of Christ my Saviour" echoed the sentiments of both the sermon and proclamation, giving us the opportunity to declare our intentions again, to be open to whatever God has in store for us.

The Prayers of the People  asked for God's blessing on those connected with the congregation, asking him to watch over them and care for them as they faced the challenges of their daily lives.

The Offering was then dedicated to God's work in the wider world.

Hymn 487 "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah" was sung with great enthusiasm, a sign of our faith in God's guiding hand in our lives, to save us from harm and to keep us journeying in the light until we "land...safe on Canaan's side"

Dan then prayed that we would be kept strong in faith and hope and love and offered the Blessing of the Father and the love of Jesus and asked that the Holy Spirit would guide us in truth and peace.

To which we answered,

Amen, Amen, Amen.

Sunday Service Marsden Rd. Uniting Church Sept. 23

After the welcome and the notices Helen asked us to put our everyday concerns to one side to praise our God. This we did, singing

Hymn 65 "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty", which we did with much enthusiasm, admitting our inability to comprehend the magnificence of our creator but acknowledging that all that has been created is praise to his name.

The Prayer of Thanksgiving and Confession followed with members of the congregation naming the various blessings and happinesses that they had experienced in the previous week, giving substance to our thanks to God.

 A very worthwhile exercise, calling our attention to all we have been given and preventing any sort of general and fleeting thanks, which often does not give proper credit. We were then reminded by way of confession, how quickly we forget our blessings and sink into the negativeness of resentment and maybe a good old sulk.

We prayed for help to let all this go and

Let God be God.

The Words of Assurance comforted us with the promise that

The Spirit of Jesus gathers us up and holds gently the trembling child within, saying,

You are forgiven.

In Sunday Kids Helen recounted some of the wedding service she had attended on the weekend where the minister warned the young couple that they were different people with different gifts and that should not expect their partner to be strong in the same points and should not expect some miraculous change to occur as the result of going through a wedding ceremony.  Probably a message in there for all of us, concerning all those around us, especially as we are never very good at identifying our own weaknesses.

Hymn 531 "When we walk with the Lord" followed, prodding us to 'trust and obey' and prompting us to remember, as we had prayed in the confession, that peace only comes when we let God be God.

Colin delivered the Scripture Reading Proverbs 31: 10 - 31, the Ode to a Capable Wife, an account of an exemplary woman, who efficiently accomplished every task any woman might be expected to complete, but significantly the account ends with "but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates"

Helen's Reflection "Go on God, pull the other leg!"

Helen introduced the book of proverbs, explaining that it was part of the Wisdom literature and was directed at the middle and upper middle class to direct them in the ethics of their everyday life, with the theme that the fear of the Lord was the path to wisdom.  That is, fear in the sense of respecting God and acknowledging His place as King while enjoying a relationship with him.

This last chapter of Proverbs reiterates sections mentioned earlier and shows the liberated side of this woman's life.   She is known in her own right, not just for her domestic talents but for her use of her wide range of gifts and especially for her "fear of the Lord": her relationship with God. God was with her.

Often we see our value in terms of our job or our achievements but what happens when the job goes and the achievements are forgotten? Our value is not diminished one iota because it does not depend on our job or achievements at all: it is based on our being a child of God and as such we can be assured that God is with us every step of the way.

That is where we find purpose and meaning and grace.

The sad part is that for some of us, the job has to go and the achievements have to fade before we find any of those.

The Prayer which followed was a call to God to help us keep our focus on the real meaning behind all that we do, wherever we go, whoever we meet; to see that everything in God's care.

Hymn 562  "All who live and serve your city" continued the same theme of "seek the Lord, who is your life" and was followed by the Freewill Offering.  We asked for blessing on the way we make it and the way we use it, offering with it our lives, body and soul.

Val led the Prayers for Others and the Lord's Prayer focusing on the vulnerable people in our community, the sick and elderly; those in care and those who are alone; the housebound and the rejected, asking for help and support for them.  She also prayed for the safety of family and friends far away and for all travellers, and finally for the world wide church as it spreads the Good News.

Hymn 205 "My eyes have seen the glory" let us burst forth with the confession of God's victory in our lives, remembering that he can only have that victory as we continue to allow him to be God and don't try playing God ourselves.

The Blessing "Go in peace into all that this day brings...and the Spirit be found as wisdom within you" bound us together and then again as we dismissed each other with the prayer that

May the feet of God walk with you

And his hand hold you tight...

May the child of God grow in you,

And his love bring you home.

A simple message, but one that can make a huge difference.