Service 10th October 2021 Harvest
Service 10th October 2021 Harvest
1)Notices/Welcome
2)Call to Worship- Psalm 148:1-4
"Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies."
3)Hymn ​​We plough the fields and scatter ​​​STF 130
(gifts forward if not already placed by congregation.)
4)Opening Prayers and the Lord’s Prayer
A Harvest Prayer- The Trussell Trust.
Loving God,
Thank you for the many ways in which you provide for us:
Food, family, friendship,
Housing, health, happiness,
And ways to use our time and talents.
We lift to you too the ways in which we remain in need of these things. God of generosity,
May your kingdom come.
We pray for people in our community and beyond
Who are facing unemployment, ill-health, isolation or money worries at this time, And especially for those who are unable to afford enough to eat.
We pray for supportive relationships, practical provision and real hope.
God of compassion, together we pray,
May your kingdom come.
Thank you that you call us to play our part,
Working with you and with others to bring about change.
We pray for political decision-makers and leaders:
Give them courage and insight to develop policies and systems that support the flourishing of all,
So that even in challenging times, no-one goes hungry and everyone has dignity. God of justice, together we pray,
May your kingdom come.
Thank you for those who are serving and caring for others,
In churches, in charities, and public services,
In our neighbourhoods, in our homes, and in many other contexts.
Would you give them strength, rest and perseverance?
As they work to support others, we ask that they too would receive all they need to thrive.
God of love, together we pray
May your kingdom come.
Amen
A prayer of Confession.
Creator God, forgive our moments of ingratitude,
the spiritual blindness that prevents us
from appreciating the wonder that is this world,
the endless cycle of nature,
of life and death and rebirth.
Forgive us for taking without giving,
reaping without sowing.
Open our eyes to see,
our lips to praise
and our hands to share.
May our feet tread lightly on the path we tread
and our footsteps be worthy of following,
that they may lead others to you.
In Jesus 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 and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen.
5) Thanks For Your Gifts for the Food Bank-
Today we give thanks to God for Harvest time. The word Harvest is from the Anglo-Saxon word hærfest, which means "Autumn". Over time it came to refer to the season for reaping and gathering grain and other grown products. And for us, that is now. In the countryside the cereal crops like wheat, corn, barley and oats have all been gathered in by giant combine harvesters and the straw all baled, now ready to go into the barn. Here in Shoeburyness, those of us who grow vegetables in our gardens are probably now picking the last of the runner beans and tomatoes of the season. The items you have so generously donated all began their life in this way and are now in tins and packets all ready to help families who come for help to our local food bank. Thankyou for helping us to celebrate the wonder of harvest time in this way. A joyous song to help us do this together is the Harvest Samba.
6)Harvest Samba. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxrTpuIemvg
7)Intro: We will Worship With Others Regularly. Qu? Why Worship?
During this Autumn and winter period our Southend and Leigh Circuit of Methodist Churches are inviting us to consider the way of life that we believe that Jesus is calling us to live as Methodist Christians. One of the commitments we make is to Worship with others regularly; to make a point of setting aside time to come to church to join others in worshipping God.
But what do we mean by the word “Worship”?
Well here is the dictionary definition of what it means to “worship”?
“Wor•ship: n., a reverent love; an ardent devotion; an expression of love”.
The Holy Bible talks about expressing grateful love to God using the Greek word “proskuneo”, which means “to kiss the hand to (toward).” In other words worship is when we consciously choose to move towards God. There is therefore emotion involved in worship because God really does deserve our adoration.
Our first reading is from Genesis, the first book in the Bible. We are all here because God awesomely bought the earth, the sun, the planets and the whole cosmos into being.
8)OT Reading: Creation story Creation (Genesis 1-2)
YouTube · 207,000+ views · 11/02/2015 · by
Saddleback Kids. https://youtu.be/yZ1Fd_SPC18
9)Hymn ​​Our God is a great big God ​​​​STF 61
YouTube · 11,000+ views · 01/06/2020 · by Sutton Coldfield Baptist Church
10)Gospel: John 4: 19-24. Harvest of True Worship. Reader Please
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
11)Epistle: Galatians 5: 22-25. Harvest of the Spirit. Reader Please
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other”.
12)Hymn Come Now Is The Time To Worship. STF24
13)Prayers For Others. Worship Leader
14)Sermon.
In the English language the word worship has its root in the Old English word for worth “weorth” meaning “worthy” or “honorable.” We worship the God of heaven because he is the only one worthy of it.
We bring our worthship to God. God is not only the creator of all, but He is also the sustainer of creation who stayed.
God did not just spin the stars into space and then go off and do something else. Instead, God stayed with His creation, even when humanity, those who had been entrusted with its care, threw out His instructions and did their own thing, destroying and harming the home upon which they depended for life in the process. God stayed and offered humanity the remedy for its disobedience and greed. Jesus, the Son of God is the remedy; His death and resurrection, the means of God’s redemption.
So God, the creator, is indeed worthy of our praise and worship.
And yet, when we worship, it is not for God’s benefit, but ours. God isn’t there because we have come, rather, we have come because God is already there. We come in response to God’s love, Grace , forgiveness and acceptance. The hymn writers caught this majesty of the moment in worship.
Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans wrote his hymn around 820AD- “All glory, laud and honour, to thee, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children, made sweet hosannas ring!
And then: what about Charles Wesley’s great hymn of praise and worship “Love Divine all loves excelling”, the last stanza of which triumphantly declares that we are:
“Lost in wonder, love and praise”
Charles Wesley pictures us as glorified in heaven worshipping God before His throne. When we see the Lord in all His glory we will surely glorify Him in perfect worship.
It seems to me that this is the kind of love and abandon that comes as we worship in the way that Jesus described to a woman at a well in Samaria. He said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24, NKJV).
And when we do, something wonderful happens, we find ourselves caught up in God’s presence, and transformed through God’s grace .
Of course there are many flavours in the way different congregations bring their worship but at the heart of each there can be found:
Firstly “A celebration of God’s presence”. When two or three of you meet in my name, says Jesus, then I am right there with you by my Spirit. God inhabits the praises of his people.
Secondly, there is a proclamation of the good news of the gospel. God loves everybody. Jesus came to show this love both in word and deed, and both forgiveness of our sin and receiving of life giving renewal is made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And thirdly as we worship, there is an invitation for us to make an appropriate response to God’s saving grace in our lives.
For the early church, worship was a daily exercise of faith, and we too are encouraged to start each day in personal devotion and worship.
Our Methodist Way of life though is not to be merely a solitary discipline. Rather we undertake to worship God with other people as a community. There really is strength and blessing to be found in corporate worship.
Jesus said to the disciples of his day that they should be careful not to neglect to worship collectively “as is the habit of some”.
Our commitment as Methodist Christians is to not only to offer worship as individuals but also to meet collectively to worship God.
And to also meet to worship regularly as did our forbears in the early church.
The week is split into seven days for a reason. At the end of each working week, God rested from his creative labours and designed humanity to do the same; to take rest, to take refreshment, to take recreation - in other words, to make time to meet together weekly for an act of collective worship and spiritual recreation.
The famous poster really is true, “Seven prayerless days make one week”. Spiritual renewal is as important as physical renewal.
Genesis 8:22 reminds us that God has set into being the pattern of the seasons.
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
We offer our worship to him at harvest time. We offer our worship to him together and we undertake in response to his love and Grace, to offer our worship to him regularly. Amen.
15)Hymn. With gladness we worship. STF 17.
16)Benediction and Prayer of Dedication.
17)Offertory as congregation leave