Worship for Sunday 8th November, by Deacon Pru Cahill

Call to Worship

God is our refuge and strength;
a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46.1

Opening Prayer

Come, let us turn to God,
who is with us in all our sorrows,
who weeps with us as we weep,
who binds our wounds,
and who lifts our eyes towards the eternal horizon.
God is with us: let us turn to God
and be people of praise in the story of our lives.
Amen.

StF 706 Longing for Light

Longing for light, we wait in darkness.

Longing for truth, we turn to you.

Make us your own, your holy people,

light for the world to see.

 

Christ, be our light!           

Shine in our hearts.

Shine through the darkness.

Christ, be our light!

Shine in your church gathered today.

 

Longing for peace, our world is troubled.

Longing for hope, many despair.

Your word alone has power to save us.

Make us your living voice. 

Christ, be our light!

 

Longing for shelter, many are homeless.

Longing for warmth, many are cold.

Make us your building, sheltering others,

walls made of living stone.

Christ, be our light!

 

Many the gifts, many the people,

many the hearts that yearn to belong.

Let us be servants to one another,

making your kingdom come.

Christ, be our light!

Bernadette Farrell (b1957)

 

Prayers of Adoration and Confession

Lord, in the beginning there was just darkness,
then you said ‘Let there be light’.
Countless photons came spinning into being
and light was made and it was good.
You are an amazing and powerful God.

You saw that the world was living in darkness
and you sent prophets to open people’s eyes,
so that they could see the faithful God you are.
You are an amazing and powerful God.

While we were still far from you,
you sent your only Son, to be the light of world,
and to demonstrate your love in his life,
to the point of dying and rising again.
You are an amazing and powerful God.

And now you adopt us as your children:
not as children of fear, but as children of light;
children who know you and love you,
and look to the day when we will see your face.
You are an amazing and powerful God.

This is the season of remembering,
and along with all the good things, we also remember the bad things, and our part in them.
So in a moment of quietness
we say sorry for those things we have done, said and thought,
that have let you down and hurt other people.

We are truly sorry for these things.
We remember them with shame
and ask that you forgive us and remember them no more.
Heal us from the pain of these memories as we are forgiven.

Because of what Jesus did for us,
our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God. Amen

(adapted from rootsontheweb.com)

Deuteronomy 6: 1-9

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

 

Reflection

It is sometimes said that we should stop thinking of what is past, move on and look to the future…

Just before I left my last appointment in Kent, I conducted the funeral of a man called Bill who had served in Normandy on D-Day in 1944, supplying munitions to the troops. Bill was just 19 when he was called up to service, was well aware of what he was being asked to do and he did it. Like many others though Bill chose not to talk about his experiences, preferring to let the events of the war years rest. Even when prompted by his grandson many years later, Bill could not remember what his medals had been awarded for, nor recall the names of the places he’d served. We can have much sympathy for this view, that we should stop thinking of what is past, move on and look to the future.

But today is a day for remembering; remembering has its place.

God said we should remember…

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 

Remember this commandment. These words are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

There are some things we easily forget – we forget to post an important letter, we forget to take our supper out of the freezer, we forget where we’ve put our keys.  

I watched Bill’s family going through pictures – in fact they had them on a screen at the wake and people were so entranced they forgot the food!

Reunions and family get-togethers, scrapbooks and photograph albums, familiar songs awaken our memories and stir our emotions. We all have dates, times, people, events which are important to us and which make us the people we are today.

The past is a kaleidoscope of promises, hope, pain, success and disappointment. Sometimes we want to forget memories that are too painful. As the years pass, though, remembrances of sad events usually fade so that we remember the sadness which brought such pain. The things that have happened to us in the past and the way we deal with them make us the people we are today and through our sadness we can be thankful that God was with us through those times.

There is a time to remember. We ought not to make the same mistakes again and again; we should make good our promises, and the memory of special events can encourage us and move us to action. In the early chapters of the book of Deuteronomy the people of Israel are called to remember who God is and what he has done for them.

Moses told the Israelites to remember how God brought them from slavery, led them through the wilderness into the land he promised. Moses told the Israelites to remember how God brought them from slavery, led them through the wilderness into the land he promised.

Remember how God brought us from slavery (of all kinds), leads us through experiences of wilderness into the life he promises for all who love him.

The commandments God gave aren’t to be forgotten. They are to be tied as symbols on our hands and bound on our foreheads; written on the door frames of our houses and on our gates. In other words, they are so important and so much a part of what we are that it should be impossible to forget them.

As we remember these words from the book of Deuteronomy, we remember how God has expressed his kindness in our lives, and can commit ourselves anew to trust, love and obey him.

StF 723  Who Can Sound the Depths of Sorrow

Who can sound the depths of sorrow
In the Father heart of God
For the children we’ve rejected
For the lives so deeply scarred?
And each light that we’ve extinguished
Has brought darkness to our land
Upon our nation, upon our nation
Have mercy, Lord

We have scorned the truth you gave us
We have bowed to other lords
We have sacrificed the children
On the altars of our gods
O let truth again shine on us
Let your holy fear descend
Upon our nation, upon our nation
Have mercy, Lord

Who can stand before your anger?
Who can face your piercing eyes?
For you love the weak and helpless
And you hear the victims’ cries
Yes, you are a God of justice
And your judgement surely comes
Upon our nation, upon our nation
Have mercy, Lord

Who will stand against the violence?
Who will comfort those who mourn?
In an age of cruel rejection
Who will build for love a home?
Come and shake us into action
Come and melt our hearts of stone
Upon your people, upon your people
Have mercy, Lord

Who can sound the depths of mercy
In the Father heart of God?
For there is a Man of sorrows
Who for sinners shed his blood
He can heal the wounds of nations
He can wash the guilty clean
Because of Jesus, because of Jesus
Have mercy, Lord

Prayer meditation for Remembrance Day

History can inspire or trap.
Walls can protect or divide.
Words can encourage or inflame.
Power can free or destroy.
Touch can comfort or violate.
Peace can be shared or withheld.

Gracious God, on this day
when we remember past and present conflicts,
we pray for the divided peoples of the world,
that leaders, governments and each one of us
may use our resources,
our opportunities and our lives
in the service of reconciliation
for the sake of future generations
and to the glory of your name. Amen.

 

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom

The power, and the glory

For ever and ever. Amen.

 

StF 638 Through All the Changing Scenes of Life

Verses  1,2,3,6

Through all the changing scenes of life,

in trouble and in joy,

the praises of my God shall still

my heart and tongue employ.

 

Of his deliverance I will boast,

till all that are distressed

from my example comfort take,

and charm their griefs to rest.

 

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,

with me exalt his name;

when in distress to him I called,

he to my rescue came.

 

Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then

have nothing else to fear;

make you his service your delight,

your wants shall be His care.

Nahum Tate (1652-1715),

Nicholas Brady (1659-1726)

 

Blessing:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,

teach us to live in ways of peace and justice,

to wage peace not war;

so that we may come

by the power of the Holy Spirit

as one family to the kingdom of the Father

for ever and ever. Amen