Call
to worship
Richie
led us: Let us celebrate: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come
again.
Hymn
TIS 111 'Praise
to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation" I think the lyricist
searched for every word of praise he could think of for the One who delivers us
from every human situation we encounter that lessens us, and gifts us with all
those situations that raise us above our baseness.
Prayers
of Adoration Our Prayer of Adoration
was taken from Psalm 92:
It is
good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.
to
declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.
to the
music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
For
you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work: at the works of your hands I
sing for joy.
Prayer
of Confession
We
praise God for His greatness and ask forgiveness for those things we have done
that we should not have done and for those things we have not done that we
should have done. Loving God, please forgive our shortcomings - we have strayed
like lost sheep. Have mercy on us.
..and
so we say together
We are
truly sorry and we humbly repent. And for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
We ask
that you will have mercy on us, and forgive us; that we may delight in your
will
and
walk humbly with you, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Assurance
of forgiveness
Though
your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Thanks be to God.
Hymn
TIS 10
"The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want" The
quiet confidence of this psalm always calms me. The singing today was enriched
by those who could, as they broke into their parts, creating a tapestry of
sound. Amen.
Bible
Readings
John
10:22-30 We
are promised that we will know him because we are his sheep and he our
shepherd.
Revelation
7:9-17 A
vision of the splendour of what is to come. But remember - it will be so much
more; so much more.
Sermon:
The hope of things to come
Richie
began with the important idea that no matter how much we speculate about the
afterlife, we do not have the capacity to imagine what it will be like, at all.
It's beyond our understanding. We do know from scripture that our deepest
longings will be fulfilled and all our problems and fears will disappear. It is
a place where love and joy will reign forever.
Richie
then directed our attention to scriptural references to great throngs praising
God. Throngs made up of every sort of people - different tribes with different
languages. We should keep that in mind when we are thinking about modern
situations of people moving backwards and forwards across the world. We often
feel very defensive when people who speak different languages and who have
different customs come to live nearby but remember that we are all promised a
place in the afterlife.
Paul
promised: "we will be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we shall be changed.(1 Corinth.15: 51-52).
Remember, this is
Paul's vision and we know that we really can't imagine what will happen. But
whatever does happen, biblical authors are confident that it will be an
experience will be better than anything we can imagine: "how wonderful -
and awe inspiring - it will be in the presence of God" where we will
perfectly know and be known by God.
We
cannot possibly know anything about the overall appearance or any of the details
of the afterlife but because of his Earthly experience of God in his heart and
head, Paul was sure: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will able to separate us
from the life of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 38-39 NRSV.
Hymn
TIS 228 "Crown him with many crowns"
Another human trying to give praise to God for every aspect of life that we
encounter. God is always there for us. Always.
Offertory
We returned
to God a little of his magnificent blessings to us and prayed that they will be
used to spread the message of His great love.
Musical
Item The
trio of Stephen, Malcolm and Grahame brought out attention anew to the message
of the hymn "Guide me O Thou Great Jehovah" by their delivery in a
less familiar, but very beautiful Welsh tune.
Musical
meditation
While we listened for God's voice.
Prayers
of Intercession
Richie
addressed our God: Almighty and Eternal Father, whose goodness and grace
overflow. May you continue to bless us with your grace. Richie then prayed for
people whose lives had reduced them to so much less than God intends. He prayed
for the addicted, those exposed to the hostilities and famine that are
destroying our beautiful planet, homes and precious people. He raised up those
that mourn. He asked for God's blessing on our church and those that lead us.
Those who are undergoing treatment and for those who care for them.
…Father, hear our prayer
Through
Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, and who taught us to pray:
Our
Father in heaven,
hallowed
be your name...
Hymn
TIS 209 "And
can it be that I should gain" Amazed that the Almighty God could reach out
to us, who deserve nothing, and offer us everything. Amen.
Benediction
Father of
all, we thank you that when we were still far off you met us in your Son. May
we glimpse Christ's risen life and may you keep us firm in the hope you have
set before us.
Amen.
Amen. Amen.
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