Welcome to our service - 10 January
This service sheet can be used individually or with households.
We would encourage you to say (or even sing) hymns and songs out loud.
Prayers, other liturgy or readings can be said out loud or silently, corporately or individually.
If you are able, we would also like invite you to join us for our main Sunday service, 10am, live on Zoom. Even if you have never been to St Gabriel’s before we would love you to join you. Please get in touch with the vicar Alistair (vicar@saintgs.co.uk) and he will send you the Zoom details.
SERVICE
Opening
Alleluia, alleluia.
There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Alleluia.
SING:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMCVNrz58yw
MAKE WAY, make way, for Christ the King
In splendour arrives.
Fling wide the gates and welcome Him
Into your lives.
Make way! (Make way!)
Make way! (Make way!)
For the King of kings.
(For the King of kings.)
Make way! (Make way!)
Make way! (Make way!)
And let His kingdom in.
He comes the broken hearts to heal,
The prisoners to free.
The deaf shall hear, the lame shall dance,
The blind shall see.
Make way! (Make way!)
And those who mourn with heavy hearts,
Who weep and sigh;
With laughter, joy and royal crown
He’ll beautify.
Make way! (Make way!)
We call you now to worship Him
As Lord of all.
To have no gods before Him,
Their thrones must fall!
Make way! (Make way!)
Copyright © 1986 Thankyou Music.
CONFESSION
Because God was merciful, he saved us through the water of rebirth and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. But through sin we have fallen away from our baptism. Let us return to the Lord and renew our faith in his promises by confessing our sins in penitence.
God our Father,
long-suffering, full of grace and truth,
you create us from nothing and give us life.
You give your faithful people new life in the water
of baptism.
You do not turn your face from us,
nor cast us aside.
We confess that we have sinned
against you and our neighbour.
We have wounded your love and marred your image in us.
Restore us for the sake of your Son,
and bring us to heavenly joy,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
ABSOLUTION
Almighty God,
who in Jesus Christ has given us
a kingdom that cannot be destroyed,
forgive us our sins,
open our eyes to God’s truth,
strengthen us to do God’s will
and give us the joy of his kingdom,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
COLLECT
Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8
Blessed be your name
in the land that is plentiful,
Where your streams of abundance flow,
blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name
when I’m found in the desert place,
Though I walk through the wilderness,
blessed be your name.
Every blessing you pour out
I’ll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in,
Lord, still I will say,
‘Blessed be the name of the Lord,
blessed be your name.
Blessed be the name of the Lord,
blessed be your glorious name.’
Blessed be your name
when the sun’s shining down on me,
When the world’s ‘all as it should be,
blessed be your name.
Blessed be your name
on the road marked with suffering,
Though there’s pain in the offering,
blessed be your name.
Every blessing you pour out
I’ll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in,
Lord, still I will say,
‘Blessed be…………
You give and take away,
you give and take away.
My heart will choose to say,
‘Lord blessed be your name.’
‘Blessed be…………
Beth & Matt Redman ©2002 Thankyou Music
READINGS
Acts 19:1-17 New International Version - UK
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’
They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’
So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’
‘John’s baptism,’ they replied.
Paul said, ‘John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.’ On hearing this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to those who were ill, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour.
Mark 1:4-11 New International Version - UK
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptised by him in the River Jordan. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt round his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: ‘After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptise you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’
This the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
TALK by Alistair Stevenson
Today I want to ask if you would be willing to take some paper and a pen and write your name, either top of the page - or if you would prefer - you could do a spider diagram and write your name in the middle. And either below or around your name, please could you write words or phrases that describe who you are.
So, for me, I might write that I’m a husband, that I am a father, that I support Liverpool football club, that I’m 6 foot 2, that I am a vicar, that I’m a Christian. Obviously these things are not in order.
Spend a few moments doing that and building up a description of who you are. So much so, that if someone read it, they might get a good picture of your identity.
Once you have done that, put it to one side.
Today we are exploring identity. We're going to delve into this passage in Mark and try and put ourselves in Jesus' shoes - or possibly sandals - to put ourselves in his place. What was it like for him as his identity is confirmed by God?
Jesus has travelled from his home town in Nazareth - not a short journey - likely a day or two's walk. Before he does anything he goes to John. Jesus probably already knows who John is, what he’s doing and that he is related to John. They have probably met before as youngsters. Jesus would have known the excitement and expectation surrounding John with some even rumouring that John was nothing less than the Messiah himself. Others were saying he was Elijah returning to prepare the way for the Messiah.
John’s words echo through Jesus’ ears and stir his heart: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie… he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
What did John know of Jesus? Did he know the full extent of Jesus' identity as they stepped into the water together - as John takes Jesus in his arms - as they go down into the water?
But, suddenly, just as Jesus comes up out of the water, heaven is torn apart and God’s spirit, in the form of a dove, comes down and descends on Jesus and a heavenly, majestic, otherworldly voice says these unbelievable words: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
In this short phrase - 10 words in Greek - Jesus’ whole identity, vocation and ministry is affirmed. God tells Jesus three things:
Firstly, ‘You are my son’. Who is Jesus? Jesus is God’s possession. As His son he shares the same nature as the Father. He shares in the Father's inheritance.
Secondly, you are my son ‘Whom I love’. Jesus is the beloved. Jesus' status in the eyes of God is loved - unconditionally, whole-heartedly, completely loved.
Thirdly, ‘With You I am well pleased’ - God says he takes delight in Jesus, he was chosen gladly - God takes joy in Jesus. His very nature and being brings God happiness and he takes pleasure in who Jesus is.
Notice how Jesus hasn’t done anything yet. His ministry hasn’t even started. No one has been healed, no sermons preached, no dead raised. He doesn’t have to do anything to earn that love of the Father. That love is a given, unconditional, unchanging.
The deeply revolutionary and extraordinary claim of Christianity is that, through Jesus, these words are spoken over us by God. This is who we are. This is our identity.
Our society focuses so much on identity - who I am and what makes me who I am. It is the core question of our age. Our culture’s understanding of freedom, for example, starts with the perception that I should be free to find, and then be, who I want to be. To create the identity that I want to create.
The identity narrative of our culture says that you have to be true to and feel good about yourself. But for this to be possible, your identity must be formed from within. This is a very western, postmodern idea. Your identity is not formed in relation to external forces. It is the notion that you must look inside and then express this identity outwardly no matter what anyone else says. Sociologists back in the 80’s called it “expressive individualism”. My achievements, my job, my wealth, my sexuality, my social status, my number of followers on social media - these become the things that define who we are.
However, the biblical mindset, and in fact, the very nature of who we are and how we were made, is that we are social beings. It is impossible to find our identity from within ourselves because we were built and hardwired for relationship and connection. Because of this we need recognition and naming from outside. From someone or something else to speak our identity over us. Who we are is therefore not dependent on what we form or create from within. It is given from another. Do you feel how much pressure this takes off our shoulders - how freeing and realising it is? No longer do I have to search for and discover who I am.
In the famous film Chariots of Fire, Harold Abrahams, compatriot and competitor of Eric Liddell says of his running: ‘10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But will I?’ In contrast Eric Liddell, says: ‘I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel his pleasure.”
Tim Keller suggests that Christianity is the only identity that is received, not achieved: “because of what Jesus Christ did, Jesus Christ is actually a person who lost his glory, and his power, and his privilege, and came, and died on the cross for us, paid the penalty for our inhumanity to God, and to each other. In other words, he took the penalty, and because of that, when I believe in him, I can actually know that God loves me unconditionally, forever.”
If your identity is received and not achieved it means that who you are and who you become is not performative - it’s not dependent on the outcome of your life and your decisions. The great cultural injustice of our age is someone or something preventing me from becoming who I think or believe I can or should be. How dare they criticise or stop me? However, when you understand that your identity is received and given - not because of anything you have done but because of the love and transformative actions of another - it changes everything.
Suddenly our identity not only stops being performative - it also stops being exclusive - about I, me, mine. As Pauls writes - “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 2.28) Our identity becomes dependent on being in Christ Jesus and made one and united with those who share that identity.
When Christ's love becomes your identity it reorders all your loves. It demotes other identities without effacing them. It puts our other identities in the right perspective but doesn't make them less significant. I am still a man, British, a husband, a father, a vicar - but these are now shaped and formed by my identity as a child of God. My greatest pride is who I am in Christ. My whole life is re-ordered by the love of Jesus and that I am in him.
The writer and theologian Tom Wright says this: ‘the whole Christian gospel could be summed up in this point: that when the living God looks at us, at every baptised and believing Christian, he says to us what he said to Jesus on that day. He sees us, not as we are in ourselves, but as we are in Jesus Christ. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at us, and says: ‘You are my dear, dear child; I’m delighted with you’
Do you see why the baptism of Jesus is so significant. Jesus is named - his identity is shaped and formed by his relationship with and love from the father.
Fully knowing, realising and grasping our true identity in Christ does not come immediately. Sometimes in our faith, at decisive and climatic moments, it’s like a curtain is drawn back and we see, or hear, and know our true identity in Christ. But most of the time we walk by faith, not by sight. We need to live in the reality and knowledge of that through regular reminders or revelations.
How do we form and grow this identity?
Well our identity is a bit like a muscle. A muscle exists and works - it’s made and formed. But for a muscle to be more effective it needs to be exercised through repetitive, regular movement. But also, for the muscle to grow it needs increased weight or pressure. You can’t bench press a 100kg weight straight away - you have to work up to it.
How do we work and exercise the muscle of our identity? Let me suggest a few things.
Fix your eyes away from yourself and on God. Worship is the heart-beat of the Christian faith because when we worship we take our eyes from ourselves and fix them on Jesus. When we dwell on his nature and love - on his ultimately act of self-giving and self-sacrifice - we can’t not humble ourselves before him. Like John the Baptist said upon seeing Jesus so must we: ‘he must increase, I must decrease’.
Stop, listen and hear the voice of the father speaking over you. Imagine if I turned to my son Ethan and said: ‘Ethan, I love you. I will always love you. But I’m only going to say it this one time - so you better remember it’. We can all see how that wouldn’t make me a very good father. God is continually speaking His words of love and affirmation over us but we struggle to stop and hear them. At its heart, prayer is about hearing – listening – and talking with our heavenly father. Prayer doesn’t have to be complicated. Sometimes all it takes is a willingness to stop – in the midst of our crazy, busy lives – are you willing to stop and listen to God’s voice speaking his words of love over us.
Speak this identity over one-another. As a Christian community we need to speak our identity in Christ over one-another. To remind each other who we are in Christ. When was the last time you told someone that they are a child of God - loved by him and in whom he is well pleased?
Finally, we need to inspire our spiritual imagination. Many of us might believe in theory, our identity in Christ, but it is through cultivating our spiritual imagination that we allow it to become the aesthetic core of our life.
And so what I want you to do is take that piece of paper that you wrote at the beginning. Take hold of a book, ideally the Bible, and use this to represent Christ. Place the paper in the book and close it.
Where the book goes, you go. Where the paper goes. He goes. You are not part of the book, but you are now identified totally with the book. You are in Christ. Let’s pray that we walk and live in this reality. Amen.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth
I believe in Jesus Christ,
his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand
of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen
O LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
When I call answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
Come and listen to me.
Jacques Berthier/Taizé.
Copyright © 1982 Ateliers et Presses de Taize (France).
PRAYERS - written by Jo Chamberlain
Dear heavenly Father,
Sometimes we look at the world and despair. Events unfold in ways we can barely understand, we react with shock, pain, disbelief.
Thank you that you are the rock, stability in this changing, confusing world. Thank you that you have given us your Holy Spirit to be a comforter and guide, even in the darkest of places.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
The violence at government buildings in the US on Wednesday was shocking, not just the event itself, but in its threat to peace and democracy. We pray for a smooth transition of power to the next US president. And we pray now for healing of the divisions in America, and for those who work to bring peace across communities. We pray for trust between people and institutions, and we pray that those institutions will be worthy of that trust.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
We continue to bring the coronavirus pandemic to you in our prayers, as cases continue to rise and rise in this country and around the world. We pray for healing for those who are sick and for their families wait anxiously, without the comfort of being together in such a difficult time. We pray for health workers who are caring for them, and the whole wide team of support staff who make health care happen. We pray for strength in their tiredness, physically and mentally, and for wisdom for those who have to make difficult decisions. Protect them from infection and give them hope. We pray for all of us facing more weeks at home without the personal and family connections we crave, help us to keep going. We pray that the lockdown will break the pathway of transmission and bring infections down.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
We pray for rollout of the vaccine, for those working hard to administer it and for the logistics to run smoothly. We pray that as many people as possible will be vaccinated as quickly as possible, and that we will quickly see a positive impact on the pandemic. We pray that the vaccine will be made available to countries with limited funds for their health service, and for vulnerable people in difficult situations such as refugee camps.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
We pray for all those whose work takes them out of the house, even in lockdown. Keep them safe. We pray for those who find the confines of home difficult to bear, help them to find ways to manage, or to escape if necessary. We pray for teachers managing such rapid change over the last week, taking care of vulnerable children in person and running online teaching at the same time. We pray for students who have had exams cancelled and ask for your peace in their uncertainty, and wisdom for those working out the alternative solutions. We pray for university students who can’t return, and for everyone who is struggling with the return of life on-line only.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
And yet, in the midst of all the turmoil, we continue to seek to serve you and the people of Greystones, and life goes on. We pray for the Alpha course starting this coming week. We pray that people will be invited and inspired to attend, and are able to bring their big questions to the course. We pray for the new vicar at All Saints, Mark, and his wife Allie, who moved in this week, that they will quickly settle into this community, and that Alistair and Mark will easily be able to work together across the mission partnership.
God of love
All hear our prayer.
And after such a challenging week, just spend a moment praying for strength for yourself, your family, friends and neighbours and share your burdens with God.
[leave a short silence]
God of love
All hear our prayer.
Amen
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as 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 for ever.
Amen
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJq3bhdgQoc
Longing for light, we wait in darkness.
Longing for truth, we turn to you.
Make us your own, your holy people,
light for the world to see.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in our hearts,
shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light!
Shine in your church
gathered today.
Longing for peace, our world is troubled.
Longing for hope, many despair.
Your word alone has power to save us.
Make us your living voice.
Christ, be our light!
Longing for food, many are hungry.
Longing for water, many still thirst.
Make us your bread, broken for others,
shared until all are fed.
Christ, be our light!
Longing for shelter, many are homeless.
Longing for warmth, many are cold.
Make us your building, sheltering others,
walls made of living stone.
Christ, be our light!
Many the gifts, many the people,
many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another,
making your kingdom come.
Christ, be our light!
Bernadette Farrell © 1993 OCP Publications
OFFERTORY - Take a moment to consider how you are going to continue to give to the life of the church and support other aid agencies and mission organisations.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5pUXm57wMA
O let the Son of God enfold you
with His Spirit and His love;
let Him fill your heart
and satisfy your soul.
O let Him have the things
that hold you,
and His Spirit, like a dove,
will descend upon your life
and make you whole.
Jesus, O Jesus,
come and fill Your lambs;
Jesus, O Jesus,
come and fill Your lambs.
O come and sing this song
with gladness,
as your hearts are filled with joy;
lift your hands in sweet surrender
to His name.
O give Him all your tears and sadness,
give Him all your years of pain,
and you'll enter into life in Jesus' name.
Jesus, O Jesus...
John Wimber (c) 1979 Mercy Publishing/Thankyou Music
FINAL BLESSING:
May God, who in Christ gives us a spring of water
welling up to eternal life,
perfect in you the image of his glory;
and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen