Gathering God’s People
Call to
Worship - (Mary
J Scifres, Abingdon 2016)
In the midst of
life, we are in death. But in the face of death, God’s Spirit comes to bring us life. Can dry bones live? Can life
emerge from death? Only God knows. And yet, Christ promises just such a miracle
through the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, come.
All who are
dwindling and dying . . .come forth to new life.
All who are lying
in darkness and despair . . .come out into the light.
All who feel
separated and alone . . .come to the presence of God, whose Spirit finds us
here.
This echos
the situation we are in here in Australia. COVID 19 is threatening the health and well being
of all Australians and even threatening us with death, but out of that threat is growing our need
and the will to stretch out to each other and offer aid. Of course there are
always examples of selfish and self-centered and even quite mentally unbalanced
behaviour but around me I see many offering help who would never have thought
of doing it before.
Hymn TIS 84: “Give to our God immortal praise” Daily,
in our every move and word in every situation.
Opening
Prayer
Come, Holy
Spirit. Breathe new life into our lives and our worship. Create new
possibilities, in our imaginations and in our dreams. Send the promise of your
hope into our depression and our despair. Expand our hearts and our minds, as
we enter your presence this day. Amen.
Which is
the very thing we need in these times of such danger to the very fabric of our
society.
We need every
effort of our imaginations, guided by God’s Spirit to find our way out of the
most dangerous situation we are in.
A Prayer of
Confession
It is the responsibility of every soul to look
at themselves and
see their own lapses from God’s way and ask God’s guidance back to the right
path.
Declaration
of Forgiveness
In God’s love, there is hope. In Christ’s forgiveness, there is peace. In the
Spirit’s power, we are renewed and brought
forth into life!
Thanks, be to
God!
Hymn TIS 242: “Lord
of the dance.” When we are aware of God working in us, we feel the dance
within us.
The Service of the Word
The First
Reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14
“Thus says the
Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.”
Such is the
power of God
that even the most flat and exhausted of us can be lifted up to be a force for
good.
Second Reading
John 11:23-45
“Jesus said to
her, ‘Your brother will rise.” And he did.
No matter
how dead we may think we are inwardly, the Spirit can bring us to life. Any
of us!
Preaching
of the Word
“It's Hard
Getting God..., – John 11: 23-45
It's hard getting
God to obey us. After all we're the ones on the scene. We know what we need, or
our congregation needs, or what we need as individuals. God should listen to us
and take our advice. If God would only be here when needed, there would be no
tragedy in our lives. That’s very
true for us now as we face a major upheaval in our lives with the out fall from
Covid-19. We want God to sort this out quick time and we know what God needs to
do.”
Some of us,
at least are guilty of thinking these thoughts
“Moments of grief
may well produce the same partnership between faith and reproach in us...
We want to ensure our survival
through this current Pandemic that is isolating many of us from the community which gives us strength.
We want to stop our friends and loved ones from dying. We constantly say to
God, "If you had been here on time, you could have stopped this
happening."
The fact is
that we have no idea how this creation works and how we have caused it to break
down or how we have interfered with its harmonious running. That is in God’s
hands and it is only when we open
ourselves utterly and totally to God’s will that a glimmer of light seeps
through.
“The root problem is that we have not
been let in on the whole story. Before Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, he
said, as an aside: "Loving parent, I thank you for having heard me. I know
that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd
standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."...
So in our
prayers today let us ask God to give us the gift of loving God's purposes and
promises, that our wills may be fixed on the essential and eternal Good which
is always there, even when the world around us seems to be coming unglued.”
Hymn TIS 210:
“O for a
thousand tongues to sing.”
If only all
creation would not only give praise but acknowledge God’s plan as the only one.
Hymn TIS 684:“Love will be our Lenten calling.” That
is what is going to get us through.
Benediction
Let those who
were languishing and dying rejoice.
Hymn TIS 777:
“May the Grace of Christ our Saviour”
May the grace of
Christ our Saviour and the Father's boundless love, with the Holy Spirit's
favour, rest upon us from above...Amen. Amen. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment