Suday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Nov.17

The service began with a welcome by Trudy to Jonathan who was to lead today's service and who gave a Call to Worship that it would be a time of blessing, uttering:

"God be with you" to which we answered:

"And also with you"

Jonathan followed with a Prayer, expressing confidence in God's steadfast love, in which we place our hope, knowing that in our deepest despair and with God knowing all our failings, we can ask for forgiveness.

Hymn 519 "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" A prayer for forgiveness and healing. A plea for help to live Godly lives in praise of Him, through all the ups and downs of life.

Jonathan then pointed out that words were funny things. We can use a little or a lot. We can use a lot and not say anything. We can use words as weapons to hurt, or as tools to help. We can say profound things in just a few words.

I'm sorry

              I love you

                              Yes please

                                               Thank you

He then referred to "Yes Minister" where Sir Humphrey Appleby would go round the world and back again to say, "No."

Jonathan then pointed out how brief were the Lord's Prayer, The Ten Commandments, and the American Declaration of Independence but how wordy some regulatory documents were which controlled insignificant products.

He then referred to a very academic lecture involving 1000's of words which was given by an eminent theologian. However, when the same theologian was asked to sum up Christianity his answer was:

" Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tell me so"

Jonathan then introduced Hymn 105 with a description of it as the gospel in a nutshell.

Equally, it is a statement of God's great love, revealed in Jesus and the promise of its cleansing work - God's great gift to us.

The Prayer which followed stated that the hands of Jesus Christ heal, lift up and bless, and on our behalf, Jonathan asked for forgiveness when we leave our hands by our sides or use our hands for selfish purposes.

We prayed for forgiveness when we exclude those different from ourselves and prayed that we will love as Jesus loved; care as He cared; and accept others as He does. In Jesus’ name.

Reading Mark 5. This chapter covers 3 healing stories. The demoniac or madman of Gerasa, Jarius's daughter and the woman with a haemorrhage, who touched the hem of Jesus' garment.

Reflection Jonathan introduced his thoughts with a review of Mark's gospel, pointing out that a fifth of Mark is devoted to Jesus' healing ministry and that, in the chapters devoted to Jesus' public ministry, the fraction rises to a third. Clearly, Jesus saw healing as an extremely important aspect of His work and His message.

The main part of the reflection focussed on Mark 5, starting with the healing of the violent, possessed man who lived among the tombs. The story is well known - Jesus sent the demons into a pack of swine, which stampeded over a cliff into the sea. The locals were quite disturbed by this and told Jesus to leave, which he did. Have you noticed when people are confronted with truth they are inclined to act like that?

The man himself wanted to go with Jesus but there were other plans for him. He was to take his story of being healed back to his family - who were Greeks - as Jonathan pointed out - an early instance of Jesus reaching out to the Gentiles.

Jonathan, using William Barclay as a source, gave a summary of how Alexander the Great  had led conquests into the area, explaining the Greek presence. (By the way, anyone interested in A the G, might be also interested in the exhibition at The Australian Museum from November 24).

As Jonathan told us, despite being overtaken by Jewish rule, then Roman rule, these people remained Greeks and, it was among them that this story was to be spread. It was to them, in Jonathan's words, that the healed man was "to be a living, walking, vivid, unanswerable demonstration of what Christ, the healer, can do for a person."

Did everyone get that sentence? Did anyone miss it? Go back and read it again: it's important.

Jonathan then moved onto the healing of Jairus's daughter and the healing of the woman with a haemorrhage.

He pointed out that both, as female, were second class citizens. As well, one was "unclean" and one just a child. It's hard to know who would be regarded as worth the least.

But both were healed: one because her father was prepared to humble himself to ask for help from this itinerant preacher.

The other because she demonstrated pure faith - all she had to do was touch the hem of his garment.

But both were healed because of the love of Jesus, which does not discriminate. The possessed man was hardly at the top of the social register, either.

The message is loud and clear.

We cannot earn healing.

So! For those who think they are not good enough for the attention of Jesus.

No one is.

It's free.

Jonathan made a further, important point.

When Jesus healed the woman, he said, "My  daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your trouble."

Faith, made well, peace and healing. "Through faith she was restored to health and to God...She only touched the hem of his garment."

That's all it takes.

Hymn 158 The testimony of one who has experienced Jesus’ healing, cleansing power and a testament to His multi-faceted nature that works within us in so many ways.

The notices were given, followed by

The Offering  which was taken up and offered for work in the extension of God's Kingdom.

Prayers of Intercession were then offered, asking for blessings on those we know. We were asked to picture the person we knew who needed healing, in the place of the woman in Mark 5, and to pray for that person and for friends and family - overseas, suffering loss, in ill health or needing peace.

 For these we asked for healing, comfort, assurance and guidance, shown through God's love.

Jonathan continued to pray that we would be made discontented with the world around us and come to a new  understanding of our common humanity with those who appear different from us.

He asked for guidance for our personal needs and for wisdom, that God would shed His light in the darkness and, in the noise, whisper of love and peace.

The Lord's Prayer followed and then Hymn 173, a declaration of our continued praise for God's healing in our lives.

The Blessing  May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and may the blessing of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be amongst you, and remain with you always.

Shalom  

Shalom to you now,

Shalom, my friends.

May God's full mercies

bless you, my friends.

In all your living

And through your loving,

Christ be your shalom,

Christ be your shalom.

Sunday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Nov.11

I was not able to attend church this morning, so this blog was written using Helen's notes. I hope I am able to represent the service with some degree of accuracy.

This is also a good time to tell anyone following this blog on the Internet that I am moving house and may be able to write up next week's service but certainly, after that, will not be able to, for a number of weeks until we are set up at the new house.

The service began with the Call to Worship, praying that Christ would be with us, in the service and throughout the week.

Opening Responses sourced from the Iona Community, were an exercise in placing our hearts and minds in the proper place, reminding us of God's authorship and dominion over creation and the joy we derive from our unity in Christ Jesus.

We then focussed on love, faith, justice and peace as essential aspects of our belief and, while we prayed that God would open our lips to praise Him, we acknowledged that even if we were silent, creation itself would shout His praise.

Hymn 109 " Tell out my soul" proclaimed that our lives should shout out God's blessings, dominion, mercy and the sureness of his promise to us.

Prayer of Confession  a prayer to the Creator, the fully Human, the Breathe of Life to have mercy on us.

We then paused to ponder our own faults and failings, after which we recited a formal confession, first our leader and then ourselves, to which the response was

"May God forgive you, Christ befriend you and the Spirit renew and change your life", fulfilling the longings of many.

Hymn 5  (Songs for a Hopeful Church) "Come Holy Spirit, fill this place" an opportunity to use the song to pray to the source of all Grace, to enter our being, to direct our praying, our listening to the word, that we should understand with fulness, the richness of our blessed lives and through that same Grace to give thanks for that great gift.

In keeping with this, we thanked God for speaking to us in so many ways and for working in us so that we will continue to grow in strength, vision and knowledge, with confidence that God will be with us in all that we do.

Scripture Readings  Psalm 127: 1,2 and Mark 12: 38-44. The Psalm passage a neat lesson in the uselessness of working out plans of our own. Unless it is God's plan and done in His strength, it will come to nothing. The Mark reading a warning against hypocrisy and then a lesson on how much more blest is the offering of those who give their all, against those of people who may be able to give abundantly, but with ease.

The Reflection  As I said at the beginning, I was not present for this, so I think it best if I don't try to give the full intent just from the notes. Instead, I will ask for guidance to speak about the readings myself.

I am reminded of a story I read in Readers' Digest years ago. I assume the account was from USA and it was told by a schoolteacher who, early in her career, was teaching a class from all sorts of family backgrounds about the time she was getting married.

The students had heard of the approaching wedding, and were bringing in gifts. One child from a poverty stricken home, looked on for weeks, as other children brought their offerings and then one day, approached the young woman with a brown paper parcel.

Inside were neatly hemmed squares of old sheets and towels, which the girl's mother had prepared. The home made card wished the young couple well and offered the family's gift of "new" dusting cloths. I don't have to finish the teacher's account about which gift almost made her heart burst.

Our Maker doesn't want what we can spare, he wants our hearts and minds; he wants our all.

This leads directly into the reading from the Psalms. We don't give God part of what we earn or have. We don't give God some of our time. We don't carry out God's work after we have finished our work.

When we give ourselves to God, it's our all we give. Be it our talents, our time, our money or our energy, it's not just what we give to the church or charities that is to be used in God's name, it's all we have. Whether we, as I do, teach, or drive a bus or fix plumbing or cars or keep accounts, or cook or paint or do whatever people do when they work in the mysterious fields of IT or electronics, we are meant to be doing it according to God's plan and in his name. This is going to be really hard for me to write, but when we spend "our" money on food for ourselves, it should be spent according to God's plan for our bodies.

In any sphere, clever plans of our own that we might have to better the world or even to further God's kingdom don't count; they don't go anywhere.

I'm not any sort of example here, but it's a bit like looking both ways before we step out onto the road. We should seek God's will first. Not when our lives, or things in general are getting scrambled. Ask me. I know.

Returning to Helen's plan, the next part of the service was the Affirmation of Faith taken from Dorothy McRae-McMahon's "The Glory of Blood, Sweat and Tears"

The congregation affirmed their belief in God who is beside and within; in Jesus Christ, who took upon himself the "encounter between the demonic and the divine", freeing us with his love, that cost him so much. They also affirmed their belief in the "Holy Spirit, who liberates the universe as it groans its wordless longing for life that is just and true" and who gives us hope.

Hymn 520  "Take my life and let it be" the logical conclusion to all that had gone before.

The Prayers for Others.

Prayers today covered a range of concerns. Helen began with prayers for those affected by war in recognition of Remembrance Day and all that encompasses.

Members of the congregation then prayed for people and situations at home and abroad: from people needing God's support in a difficult time to the elections in America and the ramifications of those for the world in the years ahead.

In all matters, the prayers were for God's guiding hand to affect outcomes and God's touch to bring comfort and relief.

These were followed by The Lord's Prayer and the Freewill Offering, each a community expression of commitment to God's plan.

Hymn 537 "May the Mind of Christ my Saviour", a prayer that the many facets of God's nature will work through us, that we may be the head, heart, hands and voice of our Lord in this world.

Collect (from the Church in Kenya)

"From the cowardice that does not face new truths,

from the laziness that is content with half truths,

from the arrogance that thinks it knows all the truth,

deliver us today, good Lord."

The Blessing

Numbers 6: 24-26. I'm sure you're familiar with these verses and perhaps can say them by heart but look them up and read them aloud. Amazing!

Hymn TiS 768

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise him all creatures here below

Praise him above, ye heavenly host

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Yes!

Sunday Service Marsden Rd Uniting Church Nov. 4

The Call to Worship was a commitment to praise God all our lives, for his goodness to all people.

Hymn 573  "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" - an opportunity to act on that commitment in full voice, an expression of our wholehearted and sincere thanks.

Helen pointed out that it was All Saints Day. The question is "Who is a saint?" All those focussing their entire being on Jesus.

Personally, I hope lapses of attention are allowed. I find it so hard to be consistent: to turn to God first, instead of when 'all else fails'.

Then we heard about some ordinary, run-of-the-mill saints, to whose memory stained glass windows had been dedicated, in honour of their devotion to the church. Colin told us about his father-in-law and wife, while Ruth spoke of the Walkers, all people, whose lives were lived, doing God's work.

Reading  Mark 12: 30,31 As Helen paraphrased it:

Love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy, and love others as well as you love yourself.

The reference to 'others' doesn't just mean family and friends. It means asylum seekers, the homeless, people suffering from addiction, the mentally ill, people in gaol, people who are unattractive in appearance or behaviour, even those who bear us ill-will.

Lynelle then sang Hymn 456 "God be in my Head"  God be in my head and understanding; in my eyes and looking; in my mouth and speaking; in my heart and thinking - at my end and departing. Jesus gave his all. We can do no less.

Hymn 455 "Be thou my vision" the same theme from a slightly different perspective.

"Thy presence my Light"

The Nicene Creed was then recited. The words of our mind. Our rational declaration of our belief. "I believe..."

Reading  Ruth 1:1-18. Delivered by Colin, is the story of a family who goes into a foreign land to live and whose sons marry women from that land.

The father of the family and the sons die, leaving the mother and the two daughters-in-law together.

The mother points out to the younger women that there is no chance of her providing them with new husbands and that they should return to the families of their birth.

After some convincing, one does go, but the other, Ruth, stays expressing her loyalty in the most moving declaration of fidelity.

"Do not press me to leave you

    or to turn back from following you!

Where you go, I will go;

    where you lodge, I will lodge;

your people shall be my people,

    and your God my God.

Where you die, I will die--

    there will I be buried.

May the Lord do thus and so to me,

   and more as well,

if even death parts me from you!"

Reflection  

God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary work.

This reflection on the story of Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, began with an explanation of the word 'hesed' as meaning love, devotion, respect, fidelity and its application in that story as being the type of relationship between the two women and between them and God.

Helen gave us the historical background as being the time of the Judges when the Holy City was to be rebuilt and this story was a device to challenge the rule that said that foreign gods and foreigners within the family (including spouses) were to be put aside.

It was to provide a challenge: what right did the Jews have to reject a non-Jew who had 'hesed' and who was acceptable to God.

There's a lesson in there for all of us, I think.

In the story Naomi has nothing-no man to support her but she has 'hesed' and wants to return to the land of her people but knows she has nothing to offer.

One daughter-in-law does the sensible and acceptable thing and returns to her own family for support but the other, Ruth, has such 'hesed' for Naomi she stays with her.

The story ends well but neither woman could know that when Ruth made her decision-a decision of faith. An ordinary person doing extra-ordinary things. A saint.

Helen followed this with a Prayer, acknowledging for us, our ordinariness and our inability to carry out anything more than ordinary work.

Through her words, we confessed that our religious life is not one of drama but rather that of everyday Christian experiences. Even so, we confidently asked for God's help to carry out His extraordinary work.

Hymn 148 "Love Divine, all loves excelling"  /Joy of heaven to earth come down,/Fix in us thy humble dwelling"

This is how we can come to do God's extraordinary work, by God working through us.

Offering  in a responsive prayer, we offered our lives and our gifts to God.

Prayers of the People Bill spoke of our being in a privileged time, knowing God is always there and gave thanks for that. We then prayed quietly for those we know and then Bill prayed on our behalf for those in the community close at hand, or in the wider world, needing help.

Helen then compared Naomi and Ruth with our own experience in this church; in these pews; leading us to see that we could meet God where we were.

"Now the word was made flesh and dwells among us, Made flesh, our flesh"

Prayer of Confession

This began with a moment where we thought about who we were, before the Holy God.

Lord have mercy.

We then confessed that God's will is not yet done in us; that we fall short, in many ways, of  the life that God, and even we, intend for us.

For this we asked forgiveness.

Helen then washed her hands, asking that our Lord would forgive our sins and remove our iniquities.

Assurance of Forgiveness.

Knowing our prayers were answered, we sang with confidence, of the transformation God can and does, effect in our lives.

Our sins are forgiven. God uses and blesses the ordinary.

Communion Hymn 433 "Let us break bread together" We sang our intention of sharing this communion meal with each other.

Helen then prayed for God's blessing on the elements, that they would become for us Jesus' body-healing and forgiving, that we might become God, loving and caring n the world.

We were then reminded that Jesus said,

“This is my body, it is broken for you" and then later,

"This is the new relationship with God, made possible because of my death. Take this-all of you-to remember me."

The elements were then Distributed  

after which we listened as Helen spoke of

God's Peace, not easy, but not insignificant and not half-hearted, being with us and then we shared the peace with each other.

Hymn TIS 455  A jubilant song about the saints. "O blest communion, fellowship divine! We feebly struggle, they in glory shine, all yours, all joined in unity divine.

Closing Responses

The affirmation of our intention to share in Christ's mission, repeating the last lines,

"the darkness, God shall perish it",

with Helen reminding us to hang onto that and sometimes, that's the reminder we need.

Sometimes the darkness of this world threatens to overwhelm us and all our plans for good, and we need to remember that it's God who overcomes.

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.