Gathering
God’s People
Call
to Worship (Abingdon Worship Annual 2015)
Come!
Here you will find a family of faith where you will always belong. Come! Here
you will find friends who will love you as a child of God. Come! Here you will
worship a King who rules with equity. Whoever you are, and wherever you are on
life’s journey, you are welcome here.
All
who need a place to belong . .
Come join the family of God.
All
who seek spiritual brothers and sisters . Come join the family of God.
All
who strive to grow in faith and love . . . Come join the family of God.
All
who are unsure and feel unworthy . . . Come
join the family of God
Hymn
TIS 693:
“Come as you are”
Opening
Prayer
Loving
Mother, Caring Father, in the midst of our brokenness, knit us together as your
family. Heal our wounded hearts, that we may welcome the strangers into our
midst and treat them as beloved sisters and brothers.
Prayer
of Confession
Sovereign
God, we so often lose our way.
You
seek to be our King— to lead us on right paths; to teach us the ways of truth
and life; to shelter us from our foes, yet we look to the rulers of this earth
for leadership, wisdom, and strength.
You
seek to be our comforter— to love us as our Father; to nurture us as our
Mother; to shelter us as our Brother; to assure us as our Sister, yet we look
elsewhere for love, compassion, and hope.
When
our government fails us, and our families disappoint us, you alone remain
faithful and true. Open your arms to us once more, O God. We will be your
people, and you will be our God and King.
Declaration
of Forgiveness
Christ
looks to each of us and says: “Here are my mother and my brothers. Here are my
father and my sisters. Whoever does the will of God is my brother, sister,
mother, father.” As the family of God, as brothers and sisters of Christ, we
are loved and forgiven by our gracious God. Thanks, be to God!
The
Peace
As
the family of God, let us share signs of familial love and compassion,
acceptance and forgiveness, as we pass the peace of Christ.
Peace
be with you! And also with you!
Hymn TIS 738: ‘My
Jesus my Saviour’ (Shout to the Lord)
The
Service of the Word
The First Reading: 1
Samuel 8:4-20
The Israelites wanted
to be like everyone else and have a king. They told Samuel that his sons
weren't following him so they wanted their own king. God told Samuel that
that's the way they were. They had rejected him from the beginning so God
directed Samuel to warn the people what kings did which was take the sons and
daughters to carry out his commands and take the slaves to work for him as well
as takeover land and raise taxes. Anyone
in their right mind would have woken up to the pitfalls of such a situation but
the people demanded their king anyway,
The
Gospel Reading: Mark 3:20-35
Jesus’
family were not impressed with his performance nor were they happy about all
the attention he was getting. They decided that he had lost his sanity and went
to take him away. The teachers said he was using the power of the devil to do
his works but Jesus set them right by pointing out that it wasn't possible for
Satan to drive out Satan. He went on to speak in parables along the same line
but the radical move came when he was told that his family were outside wanting
him and he reached out to those around him and said that they were his family.
Preaching
of the Word
Who
Really is the Strong Person?
The
following is a shortened form of Rev. John’s sermon.
So,
who do you think was the strongest man in the Bible? Are you thinking of the
book of Judges and the guy with long hair who could kill a lion with his bare
hands? …Leadership has often been decided on physical strength over history and
the true strengths often needed for leadership were ignored. This must have
been on Samuel’s mind in this morning’s reading (concerning the people wanting
a king)
After
hundreds of years of crying out to God, this people seemed to have forgotten
the one who not only answered their prayers, but the only king who has the
supernatural power to answer them. The elders wanted a human king like all the
other nations..
Like
many of us today, however, the Israelites were not willing to be led by God
while they waited for the King of kings whom God promised. Through the
miracles, signs, and wonders that God had shown them throughout their
liberation from multigenerational oppression, the Lord more than proved that he
had all the attributes they were seeking in a leader.
The
term power is a constant in everyday language. We talk about power in the
contexts of business, government, even the church. As the Gospel of Mark
reminds us, however, only Jesus Christ has true power. Through Jesus, we have
the gift of forgiveness of sins. When Jesus died on the cross, it would
seem as if He had been defeated. But on Easter Sunday morning the rest of the
message was received. Jesus defeated the enemy! And we can rejoice today. The
World’s Strongest Man has defeated our enemy!
Hymn
TIS 609 'May
the mind of Christ my Saviour'
Intercessory
Prayers
We
prayed for the needs or those around us in the world, followed by the
Hymn
TIS 613: ‘Lord of all hopefulness,
Lord of all joy’
Benediction
With
God as our King,
we
go forth to build God’s kingdom.
With
our inner nature renewed,
we
go forth to proclaim God’s glory.
With
our sisters and brothers in Christ, our mothers and fathers in the faith,
we
go forth to be Christ’s family.
Go
with God.
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