Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (Thursday, March 2, 2023)
Opening Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Michael Perry’s O God Beyond All Praising.” [TFWS #2009]
O God beyond all praising,
we worship you today
and sing the love amazing
that songs cannot repay;
for we can only wonder
at every gift you send,
at blessings without number
and mercies without end:
we lift our hearts before you
and wait upon your word,
we honor and adore you,
our great and mighty Lord.
The flower of earthly splendor
in time must surely die,
its fragile bloom surrender
to you the Lord most high;
but hidden from all nature
the eternal seed is sown -
though small in mortal stature,
to heaven's garden grown:
for Christ the Man from heaven
from death has set us free,
and we through him are given
the final victory!
Then hear, O gracious Savior,
accept the love we bring,
that we who know your favor
may serve you as our king;
and whether our tomorrows
be filled with good or ill,
we'll triumph through our sorrows
and rise to bless you still:
to marvel at your beauty
and glory in your ways,
and make a joyful duty
our sacrifice of praise,
make a joyful duty
our sacrifice of praise.
The second verse is omitted in The Faith We Sing version.
Confession of Sin:
Hear these words of scripture.
As God who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in all your conduct.
Spirit of God, search our hearts.
Let us bow our heads and, in silence,
remember our need for God’s forgiveness.
Silence
Let us confess our sins to God.
Almighty and merciful God,
we have sinned against you,
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with all our heart.
We have not loved others
as our Saviour Christ loves us.
We are truly sorry.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may delight in your will
and walk in your ways,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Almighty God, who pardons all who truly repent,
forgive our sins, strengthen us by the Holy Spirit,
and keep us in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Amen.
Solo:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Paul Carpenter’s arrangement of Joseph Hart’s “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.”
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of mercy, love and pow'r:
He is able, He is able,
He is able, doubt no more.
Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and broken by the fall;
If you wait until you're better,
You will never come at all:
Not the righteous, not the righteous,
But us sinners Jesus calls.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
He requireth Is to feel your need of Him:
He will save you, He will save you
'Tis the Gospel's constant theme
Hymn of Preparation:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Rusty Edwards and Linda Cable Shute’s “By Grace We Have Been Saved.” [WnS #3110]
1 By grace we have been saved
Through faith and not by keeping law
God's saints believed
By what they heard
And not by what they saw
And not by what they saw
2 For all have sinned and fallen short
God's plan not one obeyed
Christ has for all fulfilled the law
Believe confess be saved
Believe confess be saved
3 God gave to earth a perfect love
Through Jesus on the cross
While we were foes
Christ died for us
We gained by God's own loss
We gained by God's own loss
4 We know the wage of sin is death
Thank God we shall revive
For just as Jesus rose again
We too are made alive
We too are made alive
5 Set free we now have peace with God
Salvation is secured
How beautiful the feet of those
Who share this gospel word
Who share this gospel word
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
God, you know better than we
the temptations that will bring us down.
Grant that our love for you may protect us
from all foolish and corrupt desire.
Praise to you our God; you answer prayer.
Amen.
Scripture Reading:
A reading from the New Testament (Galatians 5:2-15)
Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all. Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law. Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace. As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith. For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.
You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you? It was not done by God, who calls you. “It takes only a little yeast to make the whole batch of dough rise,” as they say. But I still feel confident about you. Our life in union with the Lord makes me confident that you will not take a different view and that whoever is upsetting you will be punished by God.
But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble. I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves!
As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
In Judaism boy infants and adult male converts are circumcised as a token of the Old Covenant that God made with the people of Israel. With this action they are bound to obey the requirements of that covenant.
For those who put their faith in Christ, it is a totally unnecessary action as the apostle Paul calls to the attention of these to whom he wrote the Letter to Galatians. They had apparently been persuaded that to follow the “Way,” which was what the Christian faith was called in the early days, males had to undergo circumcision.
For those who may not be familiar with the Jewish rite of circumcision, the protecting loose skin of a male’s penis was cut off with a sharp flint knife. This was usually done within eight days of the birth of a male infant. In a male convert it was done at the age at which they converted.
They also apparently did not understand the implications of undergoing circumcision.
We do not know what the Galatians who had undergone circumcision had thought that they were achieving by undergoing circumcision. They apparently had been convinced that it was necessary. In Paul’s time there were all kinds of mystery religions which had rites of initiation and the Galatians may have thought that circumcision was part of their initiation into the Way.
In the portion of the letter which forms this evening’s New Testament reading Paul explains to the Galatians who underwent circumcision the implications of what they have done. They have turned away from faith in Christ to adherence to the Law to put them right with God. They have turned away from grace to their own efforts. They have pushed away God’s helping hand and have chosen to rely on their own strength. It is not surprising that Paul earlier in the letter addresses them as “foolish Galatians.” They have in effect turned their backs on the merciful kindness that God has shown them in Christ.
How then do we make the same kind of mistake as did the Galatians to whom Paul wrote the letter?
We make that kind of mistake when we believe that we must do something in addition to or in place of putting our faith in Christ to be put right with God. We choose not to rely fully on God’s grace, God’s favor and goodwill toward us, and rely on something else. Either way we choosing to believe that God’s grace is not enough. We may not fully trust God and we may not believe what he says. We may question whether God truly has our good at heart.
It is tempting to rely on the performance of ceremonies and rituals, acts of piety, and acts of mercy rather than hoping that God will put us right with him as did Paul. We think that if we do this or that, God must reciprocate. God must reward our efforts as if he is bound to do so. Whether we realize it, this way of thinking is a form of magical thinking. It is the way that human beings have related to the gods of the past. It is not the way God invites us to relate to him.
God’s will is his own. He is not bound by our words and actions. If God responds to them, he does so by his own choosing.
God invites us to wholeheartedly trust him and to rely on his grace.
The need to rely on God’s grace appears to be what Jesus had in mind when he told the disciples that nothing is impossible for God when they became alarmed over what he said about how difficult it was for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. His wealth and his possessions would be a serious impediment to him. They, like their fellow Jews, believed that only a rich man might be able to keep all the requirements of the Law and therefore become righteous in God’s eyes.
In his teaching Jesus stresses God’s hesed as the most important quality of God’s character, what is sometimes interpreted as God’s goodness. To rely on God’s grace is to rely on God’s favor and goodwill toward us. While God does not overlook the bad things that we do, he is ready to forgive us if we have a change of heart, ask God’s forgiveness, and stop doing them. While we may not always understand what God does, we can count on God’s benevolence toward us.
As Paul draws to the attention of the Galatians, when we are united to Christ, what matters is faith that works through love. Or as some translations of the New Testament render Paul’s words into English, “faith expressed by love.”
What Paul is a describing is an active faith, an ongoing belief, trust, and confidence in God which manifests itself in loving words and actions. It goes beyond intellectually accepting the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed; that Jesus is the second person of a supreme being who has three persons but one substance, the second person of God who humbled himself and was born a human being, and that the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross plays a part in our salvation, to our restoration to the right kind of relationship with God.
We wholeheartedly accept that Jesus was whom he claimed be. We do what he taught and build our lives on his teaching as a builder erects a house on a firm foundation. While we may not fully understand what Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross accomplished and how his suffering and death accomplished it, we firmly believe that they played an important part in our reconciliation with God.
Our faith is more than a one-time occurrence but continues to develop and grow throughout our lives. We not only experience an outward transformation of our behavior, arising from our belief, trust, and confidence in God but also an inward transformation of our attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our feelings and emotions. One might say our lives, inward as well as outward, become more perfectly aligned with God’s will like a compass needle pointing to the magnetic north.
How do we give expression to our faith with love. Paul gives us a clue further on in this evening’s New Testament reading.
As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
The first two of John Wesley’s three general rules come to mind. Do no harm and avoid all forms of evil. Do good to everyone but particularly to fellow believers.
In essence, we live what Jesus taught with an emphasis on his love commandments but not to the neglect of his other teaching. At the same time, we recognize that adherence to his teaching cannot save us. Following a set of rules will not put us right with God. In living according to the truths and principles that Jesus taught, however, we are expressing our love for Jesus who taught that those who love him would obey him. What we are saying and doing springs from our faith in him and his words and actions.
This is the difference between faith working through love and moralism, which teaches people to behave in ways that are considered to be the most correct and honest. In the first instance we adopt new attitudes, new ways of thinking, and new behaviors that embody our love for God, for others, and for our fellow believers arising from our belief, trust, and confidence in God. In the second instance, we behave ourselves out of a desire to win God’s acceptance and approval.
Among the problems with moralism is that we seek to rely on our own efforts to be put right with God and we may have disagreements over what are the most correct and honest ways to behave. We also may not experience any inward change in ourselves. While we may act in ways that we think will win God’s acceptance and approval, our hearts are elsewhere. We, like the Pharisees, may become motivated not by a desire to win God’s acceptance and approval but the public approval and praise of our fellow religionists.
The season of Lent is a good time of the year to think about what motivates our own words and actions. It is also a good time of the year to think about how much we rely on God ‘s grace and how much we rely on our own efforts and to identify what keeps us from relying more on God’s grace. We can also pray for more openness to God’s grace and then act with the expectation that God will answer our prayer and enable us to be more open to his grace. This is what John Wesley urged the early Methodists to do, rather than waiting for God to stir them to action.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Dean McIntyre’s “How Shall I Come Before the Lord?” [WnS #3124]
How shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself with heart our poured?
And shall I come with offerings?
What shall I give? What shall I bring?
Will finest gifts bring God's delight?
Will wealth bring favor in God's sight?
What must we be? What must we do?
What does the Lord require of you?
Let justice shine in all your ways.
Let loving-kindness rule your days,
that, as this earthly path you trod,
you shall walk humbly with your God.
Concerns and Prayers:
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: Loving God and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Pray for the Church throughout the world – that the Spirit will revive and refresh the Church in every part…
Pray for our local church and the churches in our area – that we may be waiting attentively for the ways God is speaking through the Spirit…
Pray for those who come to our church, and for those on the fringes - that they may have an assurance of God’s love and know that they are saved through Christ…
Pray for those who are in leadership in the Church - that they may be strengthened and upheld in their ministries…
Pray for those whom we know who do not know of God’s love – for friends or family, for neighbors or colleagues, that God’s Spirit may fill their hearts…
Pray for the Kingdom of God - that it may break through in us and among us, that the earth may be filled with the glory of God…
Pray for ourselves - that God’s Spirit will speak in our hearts, that we may be bold to proclaim the gospel in our words and actions…
Other biddings may be added here to reflect local circumstances.
We make our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as we join in the words that he himself has taught us:
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.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Rusty Edward’s “We All Are One in Mission.” [TFWS #2243]
1 We all are one in mission,
We all are one in call,
Our varied gifts united
By Christ, the Lord of all.
A single, great commission
Compels us from above
To plan and work together
That all may know Christ's love.
2 We all are called for service
To witness in God's name.
Our ministries are diff'rent,
Our purpose is the same:
To touch the lives of others
By God's surprising grace
So ev'ry folk and nation
May feel God's warm embrace.
3 Now let us be united
And let our song be heard.
Now let us be a vessel
For God's redeeming Word.
We all are one in mission,
We all are one in call,
Our varied gifts united
By Christ, the Lord of all.
Benediction:
May the Lord bless us and keep us,
May the Lord make his face to shine on us and be gracious to us,
May the Lord look on us with kindness and give us peace. Amen.
our sacrifice of praise.
The second verse is omitted in The Faith We Sing version.
Confession of Sin:
Hear these words of scripture.
As God who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in all your conduct.
Spirit of God, search our hearts.
Let us bow our heads and, in silence,
remember our need for God’s forgiveness.
Silence
Let us confess our sins to God.
Almighty and merciful God,
we have sinned against you,
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with all our heart.
We have not loved others
as our Saviour Christ loves us.
We are truly sorry.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may delight in your will
and walk in your ways,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Almighty God, who pardons all who truly repent,
forgive our sins, strengthen us by the Holy Spirit,
and keep us in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Amen.
Solo:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Paul Carpenter’s arrangement of Joseph Hart’s “Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.”
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of mercy, love and pow'r:
He is able, He is able,
He is able, doubt no more.
Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Bruised and broken by the fall;
If you wait until you're better,
You will never come at all:
Not the righteous, not the righteous,
But us sinners Jesus calls.
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness
He requireth Is to feel your need of Him:
He will save you, He will save you
'Tis the Gospel's constant theme
Hymn of Preparation:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Rusty Edwards and Linda Cable Shute’s “By Grace We Have Been Saved.” [WnS #3110]
1 By grace we have been saved
Through faith and not by keeping law
God's saints believed
By what they heard
And not by what they saw
And not by what they saw
2 For all have sinned and fallen short
God's plan not one obeyed
Christ has for all fulfilled the law
Believe confess be saved
Believe confess be saved
3 God gave to earth a perfect love
Through Jesus on the cross
While we were foes
Christ died for us
We gained by God's own loss
We gained by God's own loss
4 We know the wage of sin is death
Thank God we shall revive
For just as Jesus rose again
We too are made alive
We too are made alive
5 Set free we now have peace with God
Salvation is secured
How beautiful the feet of those
Who share this gospel word
Who share this gospel word
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
God, you know better than we
the temptations that will bring us down.
Grant that our love for you may protect us
from all foolish and corrupt desire.
Praise to you our God; you answer prayer.
Amen.
Scripture Reading:
A reading from the New Testament (Galatians 5:2-15)
Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all. Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law. Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace. As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith. For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.
You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you? It was not done by God, who calls you. “It takes only a little yeast to make the whole batch of dough rise,” as they say. But I still feel confident about you. Our life in union with the Lord makes me confident that you will not take a different view and that whoever is upsetting you will be punished by God.
But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble. I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves!
As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Faith That Works Through Love
In Judaism boy infants and adult male converts are circumcised as a token of the Old Covenant that God made with the people of Israel. With this action they are bound to obey the requirements of that covenant.
For those who put their faith in Christ, it is a totally unnecessary action as the apostle Paul calls to the attention of these to whom he wrote the Letter to Galatians. They had apparently been persuaded that to follow the “Way,” which was what the Christian faith was called in the early days, males had to undergo circumcision.
For those who may not be familiar with the Jewish rite of circumcision, the protecting loose skin of a male’s penis was cut off with a sharp flint knife. This was usually done within eight days of the birth of a male infant. In a male convert it was done at the age at which they converted.
They also apparently did not understand the implications of undergoing circumcision.
We do not know what the Galatians who had undergone circumcision had thought that they were achieving by undergoing circumcision. They apparently had been convinced that it was necessary. In Paul’s time there were all kinds of mystery religions which had rites of initiation and the Galatians may have thought that circumcision was part of their initiation into the Way.
In the portion of the letter which forms this evening’s New Testament reading Paul explains to the Galatians who underwent circumcision the implications of what they have done. They have turned away from faith in Christ to adherence to the Law to put them right with God. They have turned away from grace to their own efforts. They have pushed away God’s helping hand and have chosen to rely on their own strength. It is not surprising that Paul earlier in the letter addresses them as “foolish Galatians.” They have in effect turned their backs on the merciful kindness that God has shown them in Christ.
How then do we make the same kind of mistake as did the Galatians to whom Paul wrote the letter?
We make that kind of mistake when we believe that we must do something in addition to or in place of putting our faith in Christ to be put right with God. We choose not to rely fully on God’s grace, God’s favor and goodwill toward us, and rely on something else. Either way we choosing to believe that God’s grace is not enough. We may not fully trust God and we may not believe what he says. We may question whether God truly has our good at heart.
It is tempting to rely on the performance of ceremonies and rituals, acts of piety, and acts of mercy rather than hoping that God will put us right with him as did Paul. We think that if we do this or that, God must reciprocate. God must reward our efforts as if he is bound to do so. Whether we realize it, this way of thinking is a form of magical thinking. It is the way that human beings have related to the gods of the past. It is not the way God invites us to relate to him.
God’s will is his own. He is not bound by our words and actions. If God responds to them, he does so by his own choosing.
God invites us to wholeheartedly trust him and to rely on his grace.
The need to rely on God’s grace appears to be what Jesus had in mind when he told the disciples that nothing is impossible for God when they became alarmed over what he said about how difficult it was for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. His wealth and his possessions would be a serious impediment to him. They, like their fellow Jews, believed that only a rich man might be able to keep all the requirements of the Law and therefore become righteous in God’s eyes.
In his teaching Jesus stresses God’s hesed as the most important quality of God’s character, what is sometimes interpreted as God’s goodness. To rely on God’s grace is to rely on God’s favor and goodwill toward us. While God does not overlook the bad things that we do, he is ready to forgive us if we have a change of heart, ask God’s forgiveness, and stop doing them. While we may not always understand what God does, we can count on God’s benevolence toward us.
As Paul draws to the attention of the Galatians, when we are united to Christ, what matters is faith that works through love. Or as some translations of the New Testament render Paul’s words into English, “faith expressed by love.”
What Paul is a describing is an active faith, an ongoing belief, trust, and confidence in God which manifests itself in loving words and actions. It goes beyond intellectually accepting the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed; that Jesus is the second person of a supreme being who has three persons but one substance, the second person of God who humbled himself and was born a human being, and that the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross plays a part in our salvation, to our restoration to the right kind of relationship with God.
We wholeheartedly accept that Jesus was whom he claimed be. We do what he taught and build our lives on his teaching as a builder erects a house on a firm foundation. While we may not fully understand what Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross accomplished and how his suffering and death accomplished it, we firmly believe that they played an important part in our reconciliation with God.
Our faith is more than a one-time occurrence but continues to develop and grow throughout our lives. We not only experience an outward transformation of our behavior, arising from our belief, trust, and confidence in God but also an inward transformation of our attitudes, our ways of thinking, and our feelings and emotions. One might say our lives, inward as well as outward, become more perfectly aligned with God’s will like a compass needle pointing to the magnetic north.
How do we give expression to our faith with love. Paul gives us a clue further on in this evening’s New Testament reading.
As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
The first two of John Wesley’s three general rules come to mind. Do no harm and avoid all forms of evil. Do good to everyone but particularly to fellow believers.
In essence, we live what Jesus taught with an emphasis on his love commandments but not to the neglect of his other teaching. At the same time, we recognize that adherence to his teaching cannot save us. Following a set of rules will not put us right with God. In living according to the truths and principles that Jesus taught, however, we are expressing our love for Jesus who taught that those who love him would obey him. What we are saying and doing springs from our faith in him and his words and actions.
This is the difference between faith working through love and moralism, which teaches people to behave in ways that are considered to be the most correct and honest. In the first instance we adopt new attitudes, new ways of thinking, and new behaviors that embody our love for God, for others, and for our fellow believers arising from our belief, trust, and confidence in God. In the second instance, we behave ourselves out of a desire to win God’s acceptance and approval.
Among the problems with moralism is that we seek to rely on our own efforts to be put right with God and we may have disagreements over what are the most correct and honest ways to behave. We also may not experience any inward change in ourselves. While we may act in ways that we think will win God’s acceptance and approval, our hearts are elsewhere. We, like the Pharisees, may become motivated not by a desire to win God’s acceptance and approval but the public approval and praise of our fellow religionists.
The season of Lent is a good time of the year to think about what motivates our own words and actions. It is also a good time of the year to think about how much we rely on God ‘s grace and how much we rely on our own efforts and to identify what keeps us from relying more on God’s grace. We can also pray for more openness to God’s grace and then act with the expectation that God will answer our prayer and enable us to be more open to his grace. This is what John Wesley urged the early Methodists to do, rather than waiting for God to stir them to action.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Dean McIntyre’s “How Shall I Come Before the Lord?” [WnS #3124]
How shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself with heart our poured?
And shall I come with offerings?
What shall I give? What shall I bring?
Will finest gifts bring God's delight?
Will wealth bring favor in God's sight?
What must we be? What must we do?
What does the Lord require of you?
Let justice shine in all your ways.
Let loving-kindness rule your days,
that, as this earthly path you trod,
you shall walk humbly with your God.
Concerns and Prayers:
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: Loving God and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Pray for the Church throughout the world – that the Spirit will revive and refresh the Church in every part…
Pray for our local church and the churches in our area – that we may be waiting attentively for the ways God is speaking through the Spirit…
Pray for those who come to our church, and for those on the fringes - that they may have an assurance of God’s love and know that they are saved through Christ…
Pray for those who are in leadership in the Church - that they may be strengthened and upheld in their ministries…
Pray for those whom we know who do not know of God’s love – for friends or family, for neighbors or colleagues, that God’s Spirit may fill their hearts…
Pray for the Kingdom of God - that it may break through in us and among us, that the earth may be filled with the glory of God…
Pray for ourselves - that God’s Spirit will speak in our hearts, that we may be bold to proclaim the gospel in our words and actions…
Other biddings may be added here to reflect local circumstances.
We make our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, as we join in the words that he himself has taught us:
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.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Rusty Edward’s “We All Are One in Mission.” [TFWS #2243]
1 We all are one in mission,
We all are one in call,
Our varied gifts united
By Christ, the Lord of all.
A single, great commission
Compels us from above
To plan and work together
That all may know Christ's love.
2 We all are called for service
To witness in God's name.
Our ministries are diff'rent,
Our purpose is the same:
To touch the lives of others
By God's surprising grace
So ev'ry folk and nation
May feel God's warm embrace.
3 Now let us be united
And let our song be heard.
Now let us be a vessel
For God's redeeming Word.
We all are one in mission,
We all are one in call,
Our varied gifts united
By Christ, the Lord of all.
Benediction:
May the Lord bless us and keep us,
May the Lord make his face to shine on us and be gracious to us,
May the Lord look on us with kindness and give us peace. Amen.
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