Sunday 8th August

Opening Reflection

Greetings and a warm welcome to our service this morning.  As we step into the presence of God, may we just pause, stop, as we come to worship and offer our praise to our awesome God.

Christ offers each of us a gift, the gift of love, a gift of joy, of hope and peace.

He draws us close, He waits, holding out His hand offering us encouragement, at all times. Those times we have pain, sorrow, in the joy and celebrations, in all seasons at at all times.

So as we come to offer our praise today, let us start with the following Psalm

Psalm 150: The Hallelujah Chorus
150 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Praise God in his holy sanctuary!
    Praise him in his stronghold in the sky!
Praise him for his mighty miracles!
    Praise him for his magnificent greatness!
Praise him with trumpets blasting!
    Praise him with piano and guitar!
4–5 Praise him with drums and dancing!
    Praise him with loud clashing of cymbals!
    Praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals!
Let everyone everywhere join in the crescendo
    of ecstatic praise to Yahweh!
    Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, we, step into your presence here today and we want to sign and praise your Holy Name. We come to worship, to offer ourselves, just as Jesus taught us, we come to seek His face, open our eyes Lord, our minds, our hearts and let us truly worship you with every fibre in our being, this I pray in Jesus precious Name, Amen.

Hymn:

Prayers of Confession:

Let us pray.

Loving God, you are always ready to forgive our sins. We are much less eager to forgive those with whom we disagree. So often when we have something against our friends, family, or strangers, we escalate the conflict rather than working for unity. We resist your call to be ambassadors of reconciliation. We wish we could turn the other cheek, but at times it just seems so hard to forgive and we seek your help. Forgive us for these and all of our sins, and hear us now as we continue to confess our sins in silence…

For God's word in Proverbs 15: 1- 5 say's

Respond gently when you are confronted
    and you’ll defuse the rage of another.
    Responding with sharp, cutting words will only make it worse.
    Don’t you know that being angry
    can ruin the testimony of even the wisest of men?
When wisdom speaks, understanding becomes attractive.
    But the words of the fool make their ignorance look laughable.
The eyes of the Lord are everywhere
    and he takes note of everything that happens.
    He watches over his lovers,
    and he also sees the wickedness of the wicked.
When you speak healing words,
    you offer others fruit from the tree of life.
    But unhealthy, negative words do nothing but crush their hopes.
You’re stupid to mock the instruction of a father,
    but welcoming correction will make you brilliant.

Let us spend a few minutes as we offer up our own prayers of confession, seeking God's forgiveness before concluding with the prayer Jesus taught us,

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory
Are yours, now and forever. 
Amen

Hymn:

Prayers of Intercession

Grant us, Lord God, a vision of our land as your love would make it:
A land where the weak are protected and none go hungry or poor:
A land where the benefits of civilised life are shared, and everyone can enjoy them:
A land where different races and cultures live in tolerance and mutual respect:
A land where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love:
A land where all peoples nurture your creation:
And give us the inspiration and courage to see it through.
Amen.

Christ has no other hands but our hands to do his work today:
                   No feet but our feet to guide folks on his way:
                  No other lips but our lips to tell them why he died:
                  No other love than our love to win them to his side: Amen
                                                Teresa of Avila.

Let us say a holiday prayer.
Lord God.
At last, a time of rest and refreshment,
A break from the daily routine.
Well, the children are off school, anyway.
Lord , you rested from work on the seventh day.
Teach us the value of balance in our lives.
When we work, may we work with vision and enthusiasm.
When we rest, help us to turn off,
Not to take our work with us.

And if our work is hard, unfulfilling, boring,
Help us to see it nevertheless as service to you.
And if we would love to work but can’t,
Help us to make the best of enforced leisure and serve
You and our neighbour in it.
For Jesus’ sake we ask this.
Amen.

We end with a Celtic Prayer.
Circle me Father God,
Keep love within and hatred without,
Keep hope within and despair without
Keep peace within and anxiety without.

Circle me Father God.
Keep strength within and weakness without,
Keep faith within and doubt without,
keep light within and darkness without.

Circle me, Father God,
Surround me with your love,
Surround me with your protection,
Surround me with your peace.
Amen.

Hymn

Announcements

  1. Whilst the church building is closed, our services are on line.

  2. Coffee morning via zoom:  11am  see church email with details on how to join.  To gather from the comfort of our homes, and share, Songs, word of encouragement, testimonies, prayer.  We look forward to seeing you.  If you would like further details on how to join contact office@standrewsbletchley.org.uk

  3. To receive all the latest information and news, check out the church newsletter sign up to emails

Offering

Whilst we appreciate this is a challenging time, we are grateful and give our thanks to God for all His provision, for your word says:  16 Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.

We are thankful Lord that you have blessed us with a church building, although whilst we are unable to meet there in person at the moment we know that we still have expenditure that we have to meet. 

Lord place on our hearts what we are able to give, ensuring we do not give beyond our means. 

Ways to Give - Please click on this link to see our Ways to Give.

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Thank you for your amazing power and work in our lives, thank you for your goodness and for your blessings over us. Thank you that you are able to bring hope through even the toughest of times, strengthening us for your purposes. Thank you for your great love and care. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you that you are always with us and will never leave us. Thank you for your incredible sacrifice so that we might have freedom and life.

As you reflect on what Christ has done for you this last week, let us bring our own prayers of thanks and gratitude before God.

Pause

Lord help us when we don't thank you enough, for who you are, for all that you do, for all that you've given. Help us to set our eyes and our hearts on you in a real, relevant, radical and refreshing way. Renew our spirits, fill us with your peace and joy. We love you and we need you, this day and every day. We give you praise and thanks, for You alone are worthy! 

In Jesus' Name,   Amen.

Hymn:

Sermon

Hymn:

Closing Reflection

As we draw to a close,  may you continue to allow God's Word to dwell within your soul, within your heart and consider, what blessing you will do for someone this coming week, as you follow in Jesus footsteps.

We give thanks to brother Torsby for sharing God's Word for us today. 

We are so thankful for all those who continue to pray and support us during our time of interregnum. for it is our faith, our unity, or diversity which makes church.  What a wonderful blessing. 

We give thanks to God for our families, our fellowship, our neighbours, our work colleagues. God people, the living body of our Lord Jesus Christ. God calls us into a deeper communion with Him.  We are here to encourage, to serve our communities, seeking God's face, His wisdom as we walk together.  Not our own wants but aligning our hearts desire to that of God.  We look forward to the day the church doors are open wide, and we can celebrate, and we are thankful for all those in the preparation and participation for this to happen God will and purpose. 

 

The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the son and Holy Spirit
Be among you and remain with you always Amen   
                     Numbers 6:24-25

Closing Hymn:

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If you would like prayer, then please contact https://standrewsbletchley.org.uk/when/services-and-times/service-info/prayer-requests.php and one of our team will contact you. 

We hope you are able to join us for the zoom coffee morning, if you would like details, please sign up to our news letter. HERE

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