Gathering God’s People
Acknowledgement
of First Peoples
From river to ocean,
from campfire to hearth,
May the First People
who have cared for this Land,
where we worship, the
Wallumedgal, be blessed.
From breath to song,
from step to dance,
May those who follow
Your Song lines guide us on the journey of living honourably in this place.
From greeting to Amen,
from silence to chorus,
May our worship join
with the voices of the First Peoples of this Land.
Call
to Worship (Abingdon Worship Annual 2016)
Rev.
John referenced the shooting of new life in a forest to try to explain the
visions of God’s Grace as it suddenly comes to us:
the warm embrace of God’s
limitless love—a love that is all-forgiving, all-encompassing, all-embracing.
and then to us who rail
against the world’s injustices:
Come in, angry people!
This is a safe place to
vent your fury.
Come in, hurting ones!
Here you will find
compassion and grace to heal your wounds.
Come in, all who are in
need of love and peace.
Here, we gather as
children of the living God.
Hymn TIS 555: Put all your trust in God
Opening Prayer
We pray to God
for what we want and we are given what we need. We are still clueless despite
years of looking for the way.
Prayer of Confession
Dear God, you have
every right to be angry with us. We have such good intentions, but we continue
to mess up. Forgive us, God.
We joyfully sing of
your love on Sunday morning, but by Monday, we’re feeling lost and unlovable.
Forgive us, God.
We preach tolerance and
compassion, but we find ourselves raging at the guy who cuts us off in traffic.
Forgive us, God.
(Silence)
Declaration of
Forgiveness
Then
you forgive our sins, and once more show us how to forgive others. You offer us
a vision of truth and love meeting together, and you invite us into their warm
embrace.
Thank
you, God.
As your forgiven
people, beloved children of your promise, you renew us in holy love.
Thank you, God. Amen.
The Peace
Peace
is a gift beyond price. In Christ, we find peace as we are reconciled to God.
Let us share this precious gift with one another in joy and thanksgiving! Peace
be with you!
And also, with you!
Offering
Loving God, you nourish
our famished souls by listening to our humble prayers. We come asking,
seeking, and knocking with the full knowledge that you are ready to respond to
our supplications. You deliver us from evil by nourishing our hearts with
forgiveness and our minds with understanding. You prepare a heavenly
table for all who believe in the mighty acts of your Holy Son. Bless
these gifts so that your children will feast at the banquet which awaits in
your eternal home. Amen
Hymn TIS 162: Thank you for giving me
the morning
The
Service of the Word
The
blog so far has been more a summary than a reflection and that is because I
would like to reflect on the Bible Readings myself.
Colossians
2:6-15
6 As you therefore
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted
and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught,
abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you
captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition,
according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to
Christ. 9
The reading continued
from here but space does not allow reflection on all of it.
The first thought which occurred to me was that we need to
continue to live our lives in God. Day by day we need to look at our lives and
recommit each part of it to Christ. It is so easy to sink back into little
actions of selfishness. Initially it could be because we are tired or ill that
we act in what we think are our own interests but we don’t need to stay there.
We need to turn around and reach out to the one who shows us the true way. That
is the way that builds us, not only into the people God wants us to be, but
into the people we can be so happy with ourselves.
Then the second thought
that occurred to me was to do with not being taken captive through philosophy
and empty deceit. When we read the bible it is so easy to take an
interpretation handed to us by someone else. We need to ask who the words were
written for; we need to ask why those words were written and when those words
were written. The answers to all those questions will have bearing on how the
words can be interpreted. We need to work hard at finding the answers to all
those questions to find out the real message of God and not what someone else
wants to push upon you.
I had intended to
reflect on both readings but I’ve run out of space
Hymn
TIS 550: Our
Father, God in heaven
Intercessory
Prayers were followed by The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn
TIS 414: There’s
a spirit in the air
Benediction
Go in peace, knowing
that you are forgiven people. Go in faith, knowing that God hears your prayers
and understands your needs. Go in love, knowing that God
invites you into the
holy embrace of truth and righteousness. Go now as children of the living God
to serve others in Christ’s name. Amen.
Hymn TIS 780: May light come into
your eyes
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