Opening Prayer Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's Prayer Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be they 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 them that trespass against us. Deliver us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. AmenA Thought for Today: Today we reflect on the gift of the Holy Spirit to God’s new body, the disciples of Jesus. The Spirit came with power like a mighty wind and tongues of fire. The Spirit came with gifts that amazed, astonished and bewildered others. The Spirit came and fulfilled the words of the prophet Joel. (Acts 2v1-21) Today we can ask God for His Holy Spirit. The Spirit that will open our hearts, souls and minds to see that Jesus is Lord.Prayer for Pentecost: Eternal God, send us the Holy Spirit to enlighten us, to teach us and to guide us; so we may tell out your opening of the way of eternal life for people of all races and nations; so that everyone may join in telling others of your glory. AMENPrayer of blessing May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and evermore. Amen.Closing Note This message is sent to you with love and prayers as: a word of encouragement and a sign of hope in these quite extraordinary times.
Pentecost Readings: Acts 2v1-21; Psalm 104v26-36&37b; Romans 8v14-17; John 14v8-17& 25-27. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: In the gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples that those who love him will keep his commandments. Jesus also tells them that everyone who believes in him will do the same kind of work that he was doing. Jesus also promises them that he will ask his father to send the holy spirit to them to remind and guide them. Finally, Jesus says that we may ask him to do things that are in accordance with his will and he will be able to do these things for us. In the Book of Acts, we hear that the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the disciples as they gathered together for the Feast of Pentecost. The sight and sound of the Holy Spirit was so overwhelming and powerful that it gave them the ability to speak and be heard by people in many different languages. This loud and extraordinary occurrence was heard by others who came from all over to find out what was going on. They were surprised to hear the disciples speaking about God’s deeds of power in their own native languages. However, not everyone was convinced by what they witnessed, so in response to this negativity, Peter spoke up. Peter reminded the crowd that God had promised long ago, through the prophet Joel, that one day God’s spirit would be poured out on all people before the coming of the Lord’s day. The day when everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. In the letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that all of God’s children are led by the spirit of God. The spirit that adopts us as God’s children, the spirit that makes us joint heirs with Jesus, the spirit that will one day glorify us. This is the same Holy Spirit promised by God through the prophet Joel. The same Holy Spirit poured out on the disciples on the Feast of Pentecost. The same Holy Spirit that indwells all who follow Jesus. The Holy Spirit that is sent to guide us, whether we are aware of the Spirit’s presence within us or not. The same Holy Spirit that down the ages has prompted visions, prophecies, poems, hymns and prayers. Prayers like the psalms. Psalms that speak out of the depth of the human condition to the one true and faithful God who reaches out in love to us. Let us Pray: Loving and faithful God, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Teach us so we can be faithful servants. Guide us so we have right judgement in all things. Call us to rejoice in worship and open our lips to tell of your glory and to point the way to eternal life, to every race and nation. Amen
7th Sunday of Easter Readings: Acts 16v16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22v12-14&16-17&20-end; John 174v20-end. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: In the Book of Acts, we hear that Paul prays for a slave girl to be rescued from her gift of premonition, foresight and divination. But when she was delivered from her misused gift, her owners were so irritated, annoyed and angered that they detained Paul and Silas and hauled them before the magistrates with false allegations. As the slave owners’ false allegations were supported by the crowd, the magistrates ordered that Paul and Silas be beaten and jailed securely. However, God had a plan to bring something good out of this unpleasant, scary and painful event. For an earthquake shook the ground so vigorously that all of the prisoners’ chains fell out of the walls and the doors of the prison opened wide. The jailor was woken up by the commotion and was about to kill himself because he assumed his prisoners had escaped. But, Paul stopped him by letting him know that the prisoners were all still there. The jailor found this so unexpected and extraordinary that he asked Paul and Silas how he could be saved and they explained that he was to believe in the Lord Jesus. The jailor must have been convinced by this because he took Paul and Silas home and after he and his whole household heard the word of the Lord, they were all baptised. An amazing account of God at work in the world, an account that I believe shows us that even in difficult times that God is able to transform even the worst of things into his mission. But what is God’s mission? The psalm tells us that the Lord is a righteous and just king, a glorious and powerful presence, the one who should be worshipped by the whole of creation. For the Lord our God reigns high over all the earth, taking care of his faithful people, a people called to worship God with songs of rejoicing and prayers of thankfulness. When I consider God’s mission and what we learn about in scripture, I believe that this psalm tells us that God’s mission is a call to look beyond ourselves to the God who made the whole of creation. To look to the God who is calling us back to himself through worship in our lifetime and to live with him forever after we die. This is a mission that I believe Jesus handed over to his disciples. For in the gospel of John we hear Jesus’ prayer for all who are his followers. As we hear, Jesus prays that we will all be joined together as one. Jesus also prays that the world may believe that he was sent to us by the father who loves us all. Finally, Jesus prays that we will see him in his place of glory. Because of this prayer, I believe the mission of the church is to proclaim that the God who loves us wants us to go and tell others that Jesus calls us to come to him and be saved. Finally, in the Book of the Revelation, John tells us that he met with the risen and ascended Lord Jesus in a vision. In this vision Jesus says that he is going to return to judge us and give the right to eat the fruit of the tree of life to everyone who wants it. Jesus also tells John to tell others to come and to share this call with others. From this vision, I believe that as Jesus followers, the Church; our mission is being called to tell whoever we can that Jesus wants all of us to come to him to be saved. For once we have done this – it is then up to them. One glorious mission, God’s hope for the world, shared with his body, the Church. The mission to save the whole of creation. Let us Pray: O God the King of glory, the one eternal God and father of Jesus send your holy spirit upon us. Strengthen and confirm us in your mission to preach the good news of Jesus. Help us to live the good news we proclaim. Lift us to the place where Jesus has gone. Amen Thanks for joining us today.
Opening Prayer Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's Prayer Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be they 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 them that trespass against us. Deliver us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. AmenA Thought for Today: Today we remember that Jesus returned to heaven where he now reigns and prays for us until his return. (Acts 1v9-11)Prayer for Ascension Risen Christ, you have raised our human nature to the throne of heaven: help us to seek and serve you, that we may join you at the Father’s side, where you reign with the Spirit in glory, now and for ever. AmenPrayer of blessing May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and evermore. Amen.Closing Note This message is sent to you with love and prayers as: a word of encouragement and a sign of hope in these quite extraordinary times.
