Worship for Sunday 1st November, by Rev. Joy Rulton

Call to worship

Call us into your life-giving presence

Lord of all, call us into your life-giving presence.
We are your people and we long to hear your voice.
Amen.

Hymn: Christ is the world’s light   (StF 346)

Christ is the world’s Light, Christ and none other;
born in our darkness, he became our brother.
If we have seen him, we have seen the Father:
glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s Peace, he and no other;
no man can serve him and despise another who else unites us, one in God the Father?
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s Life, he and none other;
sold once for silver, murdered here, our Brother –
he, who redeems us, reigns with God the Father:
Glory to God on high.

Give God the glory, God and none other;
give God the glory, Spirit, Son and Father;
give God the glory, God with us, my brother:
glory to God on high.

Fred Pratt Green C: 1969 Stainer & Bell Ltd. CCL no. 946077

Prayer of praise

Christ is the world’s light:

We come to worship with Christ in our midst.
With Christ’s light we can see God and we are moved to praise and adoration.
With Christ’s light we can see ourselves as we really are and we are moved to confession.
With Christ’s light we can see others as our neighbours and we are moved to compassion.

Christ is the world’s light:
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s peace:

We come to worship with Christ in our midst.
With Christ’s peace we can offer and accept forgiveness.
With Christ’s peace we can be open-hearted and generous.
With Christ’s peace we can find healing and reconciliation.

Christ is the world’s peace:
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s life:

We come to worship with Christ in our midst.
With Christ’s life we can live with hope and with joy.
With Christ’s life we can face all that death might throw our way.
With Christ’s life we can seek abundance of life for the whole world.

Christ is the world’s life:
Glory to God on high. Amen.

 

Prayer of confession

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it,
but we have so often assumed it is ours:

ours to portion out and control;
ours to divide and rule;
ours to fence and partition.

Forgive us, Lord,
when our attitude has denied richness to others;
when so many are left with the dregs;
when too many have nothing.

Lord, may we be counted among those who seek your face,
and as a consequence, may our lives be a blessing to the world.
Amen.

Prayers adapted from Roots on the Web.

 

Reading:         1John 3:1-3

1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

 

Reading:         Matthew 5:1-12

The Beatitudes

5 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Hymn:  Purify my heart   (StF 508)

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold

Refiner’s fire,
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin, deep within

Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord

I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your will

C: 1990 Vineyard Songs Admin: Song Solutions Copycare CCL no. 946077

Reflection

All Saints Sunday is the day when we often think about the people who have influenced our lives, helped to  shape the people that we are now and who hold a place in our heart. I wonder who you would consider a saint? Who do you look up to? What is it that you admire about them? I imagine that, as well as people such as Martin Luther King or Archbishop Desmond Tutu there are other people who go unnoticed by the rest of the world. The word “saint” means “holy one”. Saints are not remote figures who just appear in stained glass windows. They are people who want to know God and to make him known to others. They are people who show the love and grace of God in their words and how they live.

The Beatitudes show us that radical love that we must all aim for. Jesus tells us that we should love God and our neighbour as ourselves – love in action through our words and deeds.

It sounds fine, but when you look at the problems that arise in the world, the conflicts that can take place in our own communities, even the fact that we can just get out of bed on the wrong side, maybe it’s not so easy after all.

There was a Catholic worker, Dorothy Day, who said, “I only really love God as much as the person I love the least.”

There is no-one we can exclude. Whatever our race, creed, culture or gender, we are joined in our very humanity. The “as yourself” part isn’t so easy either. For whatever reason, we can find it hard to love ourselves, or even like ourselves very much.

Perhaps we’ve done things in the past that we’re ashamed of, perhaps we’ve grown up thinking that we’re never going to be good enough, that we’re not worth loving, that no-one really cares about us or what happens to us. I wonder if we have ever thought that people we may think are unfriendly are really afraid to talk to us, afraid of being ignored or hurt yet again. Yet it is often the things that we’ve been through in life that enable us to help other people. Perhaps we have stood where they stand now.

A while back, I read a baptism service which contains the words, “You are a beloved, precious child of God and beautiful to behold.” If only we could allow words like those to sink into our being, perhaps we could understand a little more about what it means to love ourselves.

Matthew tells us that there is blessing to follow: comfort, mercy, and more – there is salvation.

According to one tradition, the beloved disciple, John, now very old and too weak to walk anywhere, was carried into church every Sunday by his friends. As the worship ended, they would help him to his feet, and he would bless them all, saying: “Little children, love one another.”

One day, a church member decided that the old disciple was saying the same thing too often. But the elderly John had an answer for that: “There is nothing more to be said. It is the final word. If we love one another, that is everything.”

So, who are the saints who shown you the love and grace of God, who have made a positive difference to your life and helped you grow in faith? Thank God for them.

Prayer

Holy God,

You have brought us into being

to be your saints, the children of your love.

Here and now, we are your saints,

your children, infinitely loved and treasured;

as yet, we are feeble saints,

but we will share such wonders

when we see you as you are:

wonders beyond our dreams.

We are your children, here and now,

But we are coming with Jesus,

Who shared our human life,

To be perfected with him,

Who is perfect with you:

Holy, glorious and good

beyond our imagining!

Let it be seen,

By the lives of love we live,

That we really are your children,

Your saints coming to maturity.         

Amen.

Alan Gaunt

Hymn:   Everyone needs compassion  (StF 627)

Everyone needs compassion
A love that’s never failing
Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness
The kindness of a Saviour
The hope of nations

Saviour, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save

Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
With all my fears and failures
Fill my life again

I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
And now I surrender

Saviour, he can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save

Forever author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing for the glory of the risen King, Jesus
Shine your light and let the whole…

C: 2006 Hillsong Publishing CCL no. 946077

 

Prayers of intercession

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it.

Lord, we pray for those for whom the world seems like a dark and weary place.

We pray for places where poverty, conflict or disease have taken away all hope and opportunity:
where children have no hope of schooling;
where families have no hope of secure housing;
where adults have no hope of employment;
where whole communities have no hope of peace.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it.

We pray for our local community

for those who find all doors are closed and all pathways blocked by prejudice;
for those who have been made redundant;

for those struggling to make ends meet;

for those struggling to put food on the table

where children are hungry.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it.

Lord, we pray for those for those who have lost a loved one;
for those who face illness;
for those whose dreams have been suddenly snatched away.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it.

We pray for our own lives – where we are not fulfilled – where we know our lives could be richer:
in the decisions we have to make this week;
in the responsibilities that we will bear this week;
in the expectations people will have of us this week.

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it.

May our daily living be part of the coming of the kingdom of God,
where the earth truly is the Lord’s, and all dwell in plenty and in peace.

We offer these and all our prayers –

those spoken out loud and

those whispered in the quietness of our hearts –

in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.                        

Adapted from Rootsontheweb

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father…..

Hymn:   Be thou my vision  (StF 545)

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art;
be Thou my best thought in the day and the night,
both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
be Thou ever with me, and I with Thee, Lord;
be Thou my great Father, thy child let me be;
be Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be thou my Breastplate, my Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my whole armour, be Thou my true might;
Be Thou my soul’s shelter, be Thou my strong tower,
O raise Thou me heavenward, great power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;
Be Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart,
O high King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, Thou heaven’s bright Sun,
O grant me its joys, after victory is won;
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be Thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

 

Blessing

And so united in Christ, we pray,
as part of the communion of saints,
divided by time and space,
separated by culture and experience,
make us one in that unity which transcends all things.
For now we see through a glass darkly
but the day comes when all will be revealed
and we will see you as you are.

 

And now unto him who is able to keep you from falling,

to the only wise God,

be praise and glory for evermore

and may the blessing of God,

Father Son and Holy Spirit,

be with us all,

now and for ever.

Amen.