Home Service Sheet for Sunday 26 April 2020
Call To Worship Psalm 116:1-4
Loving God, I come before you today with my own concerns and worries, just as the Psalmist did. Help me to have the confidence to know that you will be with me whatever may happen. Grant me faith and hope as I hear your Word. May I also be aware of your comforting presence with me during this time of worship. Through my praying, my reading and my response to your Word May I bring you the praise and glory you deserve. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Sing or read My Hope is built by Edward Mote
https://youtu.be/DWdNgXSd46Y
1 My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
2 When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
3 His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
4 When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
In Him, my righteousness, alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
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 that 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.
1st Bible Reading 1 Peter 1:17-23
2nd Bible Reading Luke 24:13-35
Reflection
Psalm 116 began by recalling God’s grace and mercy to the Psalmist. It also reminded us that God is consistent and trustworthy, and has heard the Psalmist’s prayers in difficult times. As a result of God’s consistency I believe that we can follow his example by calling out to God in prayer when we are in trouble. Just hear again what the Psalmist went through – ‘the snares of death encompassed me’ and ‘I suffered distress and anguish’. This sounds like the worst of human experience, and yet God was there for the Psalmist and brought him through.
Our reading from 1 Peter picks up on the same theme of God’s grace and mercy. Peter writes, ‘set your hope fully on the grace’ of God in Jesus Christ. We need to remember our need for God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness, because without it we are lost and cannot be saved. Even at our best we are still sinners, and are incapable of pleasing God. The Apostle John wrote, ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ (1 John 1:8)
This reminder of our reliance on God’s grace, however, is not something for us to use as an excuse to just do whatever we want. ‘As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.’ The assumption is that we seek to obey God’s commands now that we are his children, through faith in Christ. We are also called to be non-conformists: not necessarily in the sense we know from our traditions, but in terms of not conforming to the (sinful) ways of this world. Instead we are to be like God – ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ We cannot reach this standard on our own here and now, which is why God sent his son into this world to die for us and pay the price for our sin. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit, who dwells inside all believers, we are to strive towards this goal, becoming more like him in time.
Peter’s emphasis is ultimately on our hope and faith being found where they need to be – in God the Father and his only son, Jesus Christ. It was his plan that sent Jesus to the cross for us, and raised him to life again. Our obedience to God is to be our response to God’s love for us, and is to include us loving one another. This love demonstrates that we are taking God at his word, and obeying it. In a sense that’s what Jesus points the disciples to on the road to Emmaus. He explained all that the Scriptures prophesied and taught about him, and showed them the hope God had already revealed in his Word.
Let’s remember that God’s word is true, it stands forever, and reveals to us the way of salvation in Jesus. It reveals God’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness to us through Jesus Christ alone. Without Jesus there is no hope of salvation. May our hope and focus truly be fixed on Jesus Christ and him alone today and every day. Amen!
Prayers of intercession
Loving God, you are not distant from us. You came to us in vulnerability and you offered your life as a gift of love for us. We pray today for those who are in the midst of darkness: the darkness of poverty, the darkness of loneliness, the darkness of grief, the darkness of despair. Wherever shadows threaten to overwhelm, erode dignity, crush the spirit, or cause hopelessness, come Lord Jesus and shine in the darkness.
We pray today for all victims and abusers. For those whose bodies have been violated. For those whose bodies have been harmed. For those who have lost sight of the holiness of the human body and the value of human life. Come Lord Jesus and shine in the darkness.
We pray today for those whose bodies are ravaged by illness. For those who live with chronic pain, or fatigue, or disability. For those whose bodies draw unwanted attention or discrimination. For those whose bodies are failing and nearing the end of life. We pray too for those who take care of them, and protect them. Come Lord Jesus and shine in the darkness.
Lord God, we pray today for our bodies, with all their aches and pains, their limitations, the secrets and memories they hold, the lines, scars and markings they bear and their vulnerability. We bring our bodies to you, as living sacrifices to be used in your service. Help us to love, cherish and care for them. Come Lord Jesus and shine in the darkness. These things we pray in the precious name of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Prayer of Blessing
Heavenly Father, at the close of this time of worship I pray that your Son, Jesus Christ, may dwell in my heart through faith. May you ground and root me and all members of your church in your love and strength. Help us to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of your love in Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. (Based on Ephesians 3:17-19)