Welcome to our service - 15 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.
Notices
Please don’t hesitate to ring Alistair (07769 213 581) if you have any questions or would like support.
SERVICE
Opening:
Alleluia, alleluia.
‘May all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,
may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me,’ says the Lord.
Alleluia.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5VutCGsVXE
King of Kings, Majesty.
God of heaven living in me.
Gentle saviour, closest friend,
strong deliverer, beginning and end.
All within me falls at your throne.
Your Majesty, I can but bow,
I lay my all before you now.
In royal robes I don't deserve,
I live to serve your Majesty.
2. Earth and heaven worship you,
love eternal, faithful and true.
Who bought the nations, ransomed souls,
brought this sinner near to your throne.
All within me cries out in praise.
Your Majesty …………..
Jarrod Cooper © 1996 Sovereign Lifestyle Music
CONFESSION
By the mercies of God, let us confess our sins and present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him, which is our spiritual worship.
God our Father,
we come to you in sorrow for our sins.
For turning away from you,
and ignoring your will for our lives;
Father, forgive us:
save us and help us.
For behaving just as we wish,
without thinking of you;
Father, forgive us:
save us and help us.
For failing you by what we do,
and think and say;
Father, forgive us:
save us and help us.
For letting ourselves be drawn away from you
by temptations in the world about us;
Father, forgive us:
save us and help us.
For living as if we were ashamed
to belong to your Son;
Father, forgive us:
save us and help us
ABSOLUTION
The almighty and merciful Lord
grant us pardon and forgiveness of all our sins,
time for amendment of life,
and the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen
COLLECT
Eternal Lord,
our beginning and our end:
bring us with the whole creation
to your glory, hidden through past ages
and made known
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPkZAjA610k
All heaven declares
the glory of the risen Lord.
Who can compare
with the beauty of the Lord?
Forever He will be
the Lamb upon the throne.
I gladly bow the knee
and worship Him alone.
2. I will proclaim
the glory of the risen Lord,
who once was slain
to reconcile man to God.
Forever You will be
the Lamb upon the throne.
I gladly bow the knee
and worship You alone.
Tricia Richards, (c) 1987 Thankyou Music
READINGS
Deuteronomy 4.1-14
“And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you.
“You saw for yourself what the LORD did to you at Baal-peor. There the LORD your God destroyed everyone who had worshipped Baal, the god of Peor. But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today—every one of you.
“Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?
“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. Never forget the day when you stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, ‘Summon the people before me, and I will personally instruct them. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me also.’
“You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness. And the LORD spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only a voice. He proclaimed his covenant—the Ten Commandments—which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets. It was at that time that the LORD commanded me to teach you his decrees and regulations so you would obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
Mark 7.1-8
One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, jugs, and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”
Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
‘These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’
For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”
This the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
TALK by Alistair Stevenson
‘History Is Written by the Victors’ - this quote, often attributed probably wrongly, to Winston Churchill suggests that history is written by those who win the battles and win the wars. It’s the ones who survive that get to tell their versions of events.
We can all too easily become cynical about the accuracy of historical accounts. Moreover, we are now seeing that history is not in fact about what actually happened but about who is telling the story. This is my story and I have the right to tell it.
Early this week we saw the release of Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’. Charlotte Higgins writing in the Guardian wrote: ‘Spare is by turns compassion-inducing, frustrating, oddly compelling and absurd. Harry is myopic as he sits at the centre of his truth, simultaneously loathing and locked into the tropes of tabloid storytelling, the style of which his ghostwritten autobiography echoes.’
History can all too easily become irrelevant. I came to university in Sheffield in 2004 to study History and Politics - two subjects I enjoyed at school. In my three years of study, I admit that I much preferred my politics modules and I made sure my history modules were about the most recent history possible. I suppose I thought that anything further back was just not relevant.
This morning we continue in our series in Deuteronomy and we are focusing on chapters 1 - 4. Maybe you had a chance to read these chapters last week. As we read these chapters, we can wonder how they are relevant to us, nearly 3000 years later. When we read the stories of the Old Testament they can quickly feel like obscure tales that might be interesting for biblical history buffs but don’t seem to have much relevance today.
We can all too easily miss the importance of these chapters as they sit alongside the rest of the Deuteronomy which is predominantly laws and instruction given by Moses to the people. But before he does this he spends 4 chapters reminding them of their history. He does this to make sure that they remember who they are, where they have come from and importantly how God’s hand has been upon and with them.
In one sense, the details of the stories are not important - however, we read them because they show us something about God and particularly about how God’s people related to him and understood him at that time. They are important because this is the same God who loves us today and who we love in return.
Here in Deuteronomy, story and law or obedience go hand in hand. They sit alongside each other. But why? Why doesn’t Moses just tell the people how to live and then tell them to get on with it?
The answer is grace. These stories show us grace. And they come first because obedience always starts with grace.
We can all too easily, even as New Testament Christians, believe that the growth, or success of our relationship with God is based on obedience. The more I obey, follow the rules, the closer I get to God. The basis of our relationship with God is therefore based on our ability to keep the rules. I am convinced that this is one of the main reasons why people avoid faith and belief in Jesus. They think it’s all about obedience and following rules and who would really want to live like that?
Deuteronomy though starts with grace.
Next week we will look at the 10 commandments, a repeat of Exodus 20. Exodus 20 is the first body of rules in scripture. This means that before we read our first commandment we read 69 chapters of story - of grace. David Ingall, who wrote the series we are follow, suggests that: ‘Law cannot be the way of getting to God - because they’re already there with him from the start. Instead, everything is built upon grace.’
Many of us will have a subscription to something like Netflix or Disney Plus. If you ever watch a series, you will know that at the beginning of each episode you usually get a recap of the previous episodes. However, you now have the option to click ‘skip recap’ and go straight to the start of the new episode. Often, I think we can do the same with our stories of faith. We want to ‘skip recap’ thinking we know it already and get impatient to move on.
But God’s people have always been called to remember. If you have heard a number of my sermons, you will know it is something I touch on often. It is why taking communion regularly is such a key part of our worship.
Verse 9 of our reading today from chapter 4 Moses warns the people to: ‘watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.’
Moses is warning the people against forgetting to pay attention to their past. It is a need to remember proactively and intentionally. To be led and guided by it. As we read through the Old Testament, trouble starts when God’s people forget their story. God’s people lose the awe and wonder of God’s salvation power and soon look like the world around them.
And it is a repeated warning for us today. We read our Bibles to help us remember and know where we fit within the narrative of what God is doing in history. But we also look back at the history and tradition of the church over the last 2000 years. To see where we have come from and how we have been shaped. It helps us not to make the same mistakes again.
Looking back requires us to stop. It helps to mitigate against busyness and our striving to do more and more. Always focusing on the future and desperately trying to get there.
In looking back we remind ourselves of how the church has been distinctive and counter-cultural and had to go against the prevailing culture and so it helps us now to be a radical voice in society.
In these opening chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses is not reminiscing. These are not meant to be nice anecdotes and tales of the past. The focus is on remembering God and what he has done particularly in light of the failures of his people. In these opening four chapters the name YHWH, or in our English translations ‘The LORD’, comes up 81 times. These chapters are about God - how he has continued to love them, and called them, despite all their fears and failures.
In chapter 1 we read about the failure of God’s people who rebelled against God’s command. It is not all good. And therefore, our remembering is not only about thankfulness for the good things God has done. It is also sometimes about grieving and mourning.
For many, reflecting on the past can be really difficult - it can be painful. We remember those we have lost. Our remembering can also turn to regret at what we could have done differently - missed opportunities. The ‘if onlys’ of life.’ If only I had said this. If only I had not been too hasty. If only I had been more bold.’
I wonder if Moses as he is speaking has similar feelings and regrets. If only we hadn’t rebelled against God. Maybe things would be easier now. Remember, God told Moses that he was not going to take the people across the Jordan and into the promised land. Moses had led the people for 40 years and now, literally on a mountain looking towards the promised land he is told by God that his leadership of the people had come to an end and he was to commission Joshua to lead the people.
Just imagine how Moses must have been feeling. The regret he must have been carrying. The ‘if onlys’.
But God is in the midst of the ‘if onlys’. He is there. His providence is greater than we could ever know. He was at work and is bringing about his will, even when we think we got it wrong or took the wrong path.
Our remembering is also therefore about lamenting. The church has often not been good at providing space and opportunity for lament. Often, we feel like when we come to church, we have to appear like we have it all together. That our outside should not reveal what is really going on inside. We might feel it is wrong – it is sinful even - to feel emotions like disappointment, confusion, loss, bewilderment, sadness, even anger at God. And so we push these feelings down and try to ignore them. And the church may not have helped simply telling people to “get over it” or offer a quick bible verse without giving space to work through the hurt and pain. Of course, the nature of our church services means that the songs we sing, the language we use at the front – more often than not are upbeat, talking about the goodness of God, of who he is and how we should respond with our lives. But, how do you come into church and sing these songs when you are hurting inside, when you are angry with God, when you are confused and asking ‘God where are you’, why are you not listening to me, why are you distant.
As Moses reminds the people of their recent history it is not just about telling all the good things that God has done, it is also lamenting at the times when the people got it wrong or things didn’t go as they expected.
Let’s not treat Deuteronomy or in fact, the whole of scripture, like a textbook - the A - Z of how to be a Christian. Church leader and author Dr John Andrews says this:
“We are looking for exact answers, whereas if you read the scriptures from a Hebraic context there’s much more negotiation with tension, much more understanding – God is good, but we’re suffering. God is faithful, and yet we’re in captivity. The biblical writers are able to hold these big ideas in tension. Sometimes it’s OK to say to people: ‘I don’t know the answer. I do know God is still good’.
In the bible we see that Biblical lament is a healthy, God-directed processing of grief, anger, disappointment, and pain. As a church, let’s in turn be willing to be more honest with one another. To be more vulnerable.
I recently read the story of Tanya Marlow. Tanya was in paid Christian ministry when she got ME, taking her mobility and independence. She says this: “Friends prophesied God would heal me; he hasn’t. To hope is to make yourself vulnerable to disappointment. Being chronically ill means living in disappointment as prayers for healing go unanswered. I pray for others, but I can no longer pray for my own healing; it’s been too emotionally exhausting to sustain the hope/disappointment cycle over decades”. She continues: “What I’ve found most helpful is friends who will sit in that grief with me, who can say both, ‘This isn’t fair’ and ‘God is good’. Without trying too hard to tie those seeming contradictions together. I’ve discovered that God can be found even in the hard places of disappointment and delay.”
Often, we have to lay down our right to understand. We are often so desperate for the answer, to understand, that we don’t let ourselves trust in God and that he is at work, even though we might not see it. We may say: “If only I could understand what is going on, I could have peace”. The truth is that the peace of God “transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). Sometimes the key to receiving peace from God is laying down our right to understand – when we surrender our rights we acknowledge God’s sovereignty. As Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane just before his death: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Today, take some time to remember. Take time to stop and reflect on your journey of faith. 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 Jane Duckitt
This morning we will be focusing on the blessing of God’s holy Law both for us as the body of Christ and for the wider world.
We’ll ask God to help us follow His commands in our personal lives and pray for His kingdom to come in our nation and throughout the whole world. At the end of each section, we’ll have a short time of silence to reflect on what God is saying to us and to bring any particular needs to our Father.
Firstly,
We pray for ourselves. Thank you, Father, for what we see revealed of your character and person through the commandments you have given us to live by. Thank you that you are a just God, “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Thank you for the fulfilment of your promise in Jesus that through His grace we have received one blessing after another. Holy Spirit, we ask you to so transform our hearts that the blessing we have received will naturally flow outwards to those who don’t yet know you, in our families, communities and workplaces.
Lord God, make our whole lives a prayer.
Let’s pause now to hear from our Heavenly Father.
SILENCE
Secondly,
We pray for our nation. Let’s ponder together what a redeemed society might look like- a society where YHWH, God of justice, is King.
Imagine with me a nation whose political structures and processes, are just; where deep humanitarianism is the core operating mode; where ALL are valued and have what they need to live healthy, happy lives. Imagine how it would look if our citizens worked together for the common good; if our nation’s leaders acted with humility, putting the interests of those they serve ahead of political agendas and personal interest. Imagine the press and media producing balanced content and delivering daily good news stories.
We pray for wholesale change in our institutions and systems of government. We pray for our NHS and social services for those working in local government and for our politicians. We ask for your blessing over Christian organisations working with those on the margins, for CAP, Church Army, the Trussell Trust and others you may be calling to mind now. May these organisations prosper and grow in influence. “Let your justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5: 2)
Lord let your kingdom come and let your will be done in our nation.
Let’s pause now to hear from our Heavenly Father as we bring the needs of our nation before Him.
SILENCE
Thirdly,
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”
Lord God your just Law is Good News for us personally, Good News for our nation and Good News for the international community. We pray for the nations now. Father may Christians at home and abroad summon the courage to challenge unjust structures of society and violence of every kind. May your people pursue peace and reconciliation amongst the nations. We pray for Christians working in positions of power, those who work to broker peace in global conflicts, those who help shape social policy or international law, those involved in mediation work amongst families and communities entrenched in generational conflict across the world. We pray for those working for international Christian charities and aid relief organisations. Send people of peace and love to those places and people crying out for justice.
Lord God you are at work outside the human structures and institutions we hold dear. Forgive us when we see you “our God” exclusively and seek to limit your influence to the small circles we inhabit. Celebrated peaceful activist, Gandhi famously read the Sermon on the Mount daily convinced it contained a truth more powerful than Empire. We pray for those of other faiths and no faith involved in the struggle for justice. We pray for greater collaboration internationally between those of different belief systems to our own, for the good of all people. We think particularly of climate injustice and food insecurity. Bring your light to all the nations. May all peoples of all nations work together for the good of your creation.
Lord let your kingdom come and let your will be done in our world.
Let’s pause now to hear from our Heavenly Father as we bring the needs of our world before Him.
SILENCE
Father God, we are so used to seeing ourselves as individuals with personal destinies. Remind us that we are made in your image, the image of community. Help us to love each other and be made one as you are one. Whisper your love to us and let us whisper your love to the world today. 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=ajal5cQpjCs
Come and see, come and see,
come and see the King of love;
see the purple robe
and crown of thorns He wears.
Soldiers mock, rulers sneer
as He lifts the cruel cross;
lone and friendless now,
he climbs towards the hill.
We worship at Your feet,
where wrath and mercy meet,
and a guilty world is washed
by love's pure stream.
For us He was made sin -
oh, help me take it in.
Deep wounds of love cry out
`Father, forgive'.
I worship, I worship
the Lamb who was slain.
2. Come and weep, come and mourn
for your sin that pierced Him there;
so much deeper than the wounds
of thorn and nail.
All our pride, all our greed,
all our fallen-ness and shame;
and the Lord has laid the punishment
on Him.
We worship ....
3. Man of heaven, born to earth
to restore us to Your heaven;
here we bow in awe
beneath Your searching eyes.
From your tears comes our joy,
from Your death our life shall spring;
by Your resurrection power
we shall rise.
We worship ...
Words & Music Graham Kendrick (c)1989 Makeway Music
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=o469PRLdbHU
Will you come and follow me
If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know
And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown,
Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown
In you and you in me?
2 Will you leave your self behind
If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind
And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare
Should your life attract or scare
Will you let me answer prayer
In you and you in me?
3 Will you let the blinded see
If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free
And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean,
And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean
In you and you in me?
4 Will you love the `you' you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
To reshape the world around
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?
5 Lord, your summons echoes true
When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you
And never be the same.
In your company I'll go
Where your love and footsteps show,
Thus I'll move and live and grow
In you and you in me.
Iona
FINAL BLESSING:
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, who was wounded for our sins,
that you may bear in your life the love and joy and peace
which are the marks of Jesus in his disciples;
and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen