Music before we worship: Rend Collective – Rescuer (Good News) (The link opens up youtube in a separate window)
Junior Church resources: Resources from Sermons4kids Bible Story Colouring page Activities Word search (opens up the website Sermons4kids)
Call to Worship:
To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in You I trust.
Make me to know Your ways, O Lord.
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your paths and teach me.
For You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all day long.
Hymn: The Spacious Firmament On High (The link opens up youtube in a separate window)
Opening prayers:
Heavenly Father For the blessings of each day we praise your holy name.
For strength to endure in times of distress, shelter from storm, and your arms to protect. For footsteps to follow with you as our guide, and grace that will show through our actions and words. For faith to believe and a heart filled with hope, your presence beside us from the moment we wake.For the blessings of each day We praise your holy name.
Challenging God
Sometimes you lead us by your Spirit into wilderness places where faith is tested, but you do not leave us on our own. Sometimes you lead us by your Spirit into difficult places where words are required, but it’s your voice that’s heard, not our own. Sometimes you lead us by your Spirit into desolate places where comfort is needed, but your hands bring peace, not our own. For the places you lead us and the Spirit you give us, we bring this offering of thanksgiving and praise.
As we enter these Lenten days and look to fall into step behind Jesus, entering with Him the wilderness where battles are lost and won, faith tested and futures found
We confess we are not ready we are not strong to face and to find all that might be revealed. We are not pure in heart and mind our feet may stumble and be unsure –we carry too many burdens of guilt long gathered wounds often cherished a past mulled over wrongs not righted – and pray for You to meet us at the edge of the desert and lighten our load
Take the heavy packs off our backs and simply forgive what has been, what has not been achieved and all the good we failed to do. That we may travel lightly with You our eyes set on the Galilean going ahead of us clearing a path, promising that for us rain will fall in the desert and after the storm a rainbow will light the heavens and we will be made new through Christ our Lord.
We combine our prayers in saying the prayer that our Saviour taught us
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.
Collect for the Day: Almighty God, your Son came into the world to free us from all sin and death. Breathe upon us with the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ, and serve you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship
Scripture readings:
Mark 1: 9-15
(Click the links above to go to Oremus NRSV online)
Hymn: Seek Ye First The Kingdom Of God (The link opens up you tube in a separate window)
Reflection on Scripture:
Having eaten pancakes on Tuesday and observed Ash Wednesday I can confirm we are in Lent. I say confirm, as lately the days weeks and months hardly seem distinct from one another. It only seems yesterday that it was Christmas and January passed in a blur but I think that is the way of lockdown.
Lent is traditionally a time that Christians spend in reflection in the weeks heading towards the joy of Easter. A sombre stark time in contrast to the light and celebration of the resurrection of Easter Morning.
It is also a time that traditionally people spend in prayer or fasting, mirroring Jesus’ 40 days of prayer, temptation and fasting in the desert that we hear in the Gospel accounts.
To some, Lent means “giving something up” going without chocolate, alcohol and the like, in an attempt to show some sort of solidarity with the suffering of Jesus. I’ve always struggled with this idea. How can my depriving myself of chocolate for 40 days in any way replicate the sufferings of Christ upon the cross? How can it possibly bring me closer to my saviour?
Earlier this week the Archbishop of Canterbury tweeted:
“It feels as if Lent has lasted a year since the last lockdown. We’ve gone without for so long – the last thing we feel like is abstinence. But Lent isn’t about punishing ourselves. It’s about drawing closer to Christ and allowing Him to share in our struggles.”
The Archbishop hits the nail on the head in defining what Lent is all about: “Lent isn’t about punishing ourselves. It’s about drawing closer to Christ”
So in a year where we have given up so much, lost so much, endured so much how do we mark the season of Lent?? After the events of the last 12 months it would seem improper to suggest that giving up the likes of chocolate for 40 days would in any way draw us closer to Jesus.
This Lent many of us are fragile and struggling, the pressures of home schooling, separated from our loved ones, mourning our losses, financial pressures along with mental and physical health issues. I don’t believe our loving Saviour would want that made worse by depriving ourselves of something. I’m sure he would rather us be kind to ourselves and each other this Lent. Jesus would rather us experience his love and rediscover God’s grace than make some sort of symbolic deprivation.
So how do we draw ourselves closer to God in Jesus?
Jesus spent 40 days in the desert in the company of God, encountering God and knowing he was loved. If we want to in some way mirror Jesus’ experience in the desert then maybe rather than deprive ourselves of the temptation of chocolate perhaps we should look for ways to replicate this other side of Jesus’ desert experience.
Just as we do with the people we know in our lives the way to draw closer to God is to spend time in his presence, to get to know him and to build a strong relationship with him. So in this season of Lent, through prayer and through Scripture may we find time to just be with God. To abide in Him as he abides in us, to absorb his loving grace as we experience his love.
To him be glory forever
Amen
Hymn: Nearer, My God, To Thee (The link opens up you tube in a separate window)
Prayers for others:
Where angels fear to tread comes Christ to walk. Feet firmly planted in the earth that whatever lies beneath there may be found a way through and a route onwards to life, shaped not just by earth but by the heavens above.
We pray You walk by the rivers, those that overflow and those that run dry. Where the course of life has taken strange turns and the landscape shifted out of recognition
Where ancient routes are turned to silt and there is little left to refresh us. We pray You walk in the wilderness where makeshift homes are uprooted by powers that act without justice. That those who scratch a living might discover wells of water
Wherever the stones hurt our feet wash the dirt clean from under us. We pray You walk in the city amidst all the wealth that hides the poverty. Reshaping the history that built us up yet breaks us down. Anonymous, untouched, many wander longing to connect in human touch. We pray You walk tireless and strong to all that awaits You.
For unless You go we cannot follow and as You walk, remember us that we be bound in love to You and all humankind
These prayers we bring to you in Jesus’ name.
Amen. Prayer by Rev Marjory McPherson
Hymn: At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow (The link opens up you tube in a separate window)
Blessing:
As we journey through Lent may we know the presence and love of God.
And may the blessing of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be among us now and forever more.
Amen.
Additional resources:
Video service from St Peter’s Methodist Church Canterbury click here
Lectionary Leanings: Close weekly lectionary reflection by our friend the Revd Dr Paul Glass and click here for Paul reading his reflection on video (The link opens up you tube in a separate window)
Daily devotions from the United Reformed Church. A radio-style / podcast service with hymns, readings, prayers and a sermon. Sign up on the page to receive The Sunday Service email which will contain an order of service and words for you to sing along with the hymns.
Worship at home 21st February from the Methodist church. A really great way to follow along at home worshipping with other Christians at home.
Acknowledgements:
Seasons of the Spirit. Prayers for All Seasons: Based on The Revised Common Lectionary Yr. B (Kindle Locations 378-379). Wood Lake Publishing Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Birch, John. The Act of Prayer: Praying through the Lectionary (Kindle Locations 2944-2948). Bible Reading Fellowship. Kindle Edition.
Methodist Worship
The Church of Scotland https://churchofscotland.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/73719/21-February-1-of-Lent.pdf
Rev Marjory McPherson
Resources for Faversham United Church, Whitstable URC and Herne Bay United Church 