Welcome to our service - 21 February
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
Due the current lockdown the PCC have decided to suspended public worship for the foreseeable future. We are also unable to offer private prayer in the church building.
Please don’t hesitate to ring Alistair (07769 213 581) if you have any questions or would like support.
SERVICE
Opening
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.
Blessed are those who have endured temptation;
they have stood the test and will receive the crown of life.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpkEeXWtWg0
Lead us, heavenly father, lead us
through this world’s tempestuous sea;
guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us –
You our only help and plea;
here possessing every blessing
if our God our father be.
2. Saviour, by your grace restore us
all our weaknesses are plain;
You have lived on earth before us,
You have felt our grief and pain:
tempted, taunted, yet undaunted,
from the depths you rose again.
3. Spirit of our God descending,
fill our hearts with holy peace;
love with every passion blending,
pleasure that can never cease:
thus provided, pardoned, guided,
ever shall our joys increase.
Words : James Edmeston © Jubilate Hymns
Music: Geraldine Latty © Kingsways Thankyou Music
CONFESSION
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Let us come to the Lord, who is full of compassion, and acknowledge our transgressions in penitence and faith.
Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Lord, have mercy.
We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Lord, have mercy.
We confess to you, Lord
All our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy and impatience of our lives.
Lord, have mercy.
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people.
Lord, have mercy.
Our anger at our own frustration and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves.
Lord, have mercy.
Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts and our dishonesty in daily life and work.
Lord, have mercy.
Our negligence in prayer and worship and our failure to commend the faith that is in us.
Lord, have mercy.
We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God.
Amen.
COLLECT
Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zN0XfOTC8U
BE STILL AND KNOW that I am God,
Be still and know that I am God,
Be still and know that I am God.
I am the Lord that healeth thee … (etc.)
In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust … (etc.)
READINGS
2 Chronicles 7:11-15 New International Version - UK
When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Exodus 32:9-14 New International Version - UK
‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’
But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance for ever.”’ Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Matthew 18:15-20 New International Version - UK
‘If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’
Thanks be to God.
TALK by Catherine Stevenson
Today we are thinking about intercessory prayer which, in simple terms, is just praying for other people. In the Lord’s prayer we say, ‘Your Kingdom Come’. In this line we are asking for God’s rule and reign to break into our world and transform it. Through this simple line, we can ask for the signs of the Kingdom to be manifest in people’s lives through repentance, forgiveness, healing, peace, restoration and transformation. Our focus is not on ourselves, but on the needs of others.
Theologian Richard Foster says: “If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.”
I don’t know about you, but when people I know and love have been suffering, one of my first instincts is to offer to pray for them. There have been times when I’ve wanted to do much more than that; to offer practical support in the form of childcare or running errands for them. But since the pandemic began, it’s become so much harder to support people in the ways we want to, even those who live nearby. But it struck me recently that the most powerful form of support is still available to us, and always will be. Praying for others may seem like a small thing, but it can have an enormous impact. Twice in the last two weeks I have prayed for someone in a time of difficulty or anxiety and have later heard from them that they felt that God was close, or they felt surrounded by prayer. Even though we can’t be with all those we care about right now, God can be.
But prayer doesn’t just change how we feel or our experiences, it can change actual events in a material, measurable way. We see this throughout the Bible and in our own experiences today.
Moses prayed to change God’s mind, and he did (Exodus 32:11-14).
Joshua prayed that the sun wouldn’t go down at the usual time and it didn’t (Joshua 10:12-14).
Hannah who was barren for years prayed to have a child and God gave her Samuel (1 Samuel 1:27).
Elijah asked God to stop the rain from coming, and the land was dry for three and a half years. Then when he prayed for rain, it rained (James 5: 15-18).
Jesus prayed for Lazarus, and he was raised from the dead (John 11:41-44).
And Jesus told us that when we pray for situations they will change (John 14:13).
In his book, ‘How to Pray’, Pete Greig has some fantastic advice on how we can be most effective in our intercessory prayer. There are four things he advises us to do: be informed, be inspired, be indignant and get in-synch with others.
1. Be Informed
First of all we need to understand what we are praying for. If you’re praying for your city, be informed about its history and growth, what the problems are and how theses are being tackled.
If you’re praying for a person, speak to them and ask what they really need.
If you’re praying for a country, find out what’s going on. Read the news, sign up to Missionary Society prayer letters to find out about what’s happening for Christians in that country and what they are praying for. In his book, Pete mentions a situation where he was praying for the corrupt leader of a certain country to be overthrown so a new leader could take charge. But then he spoke to Christians who lived there and discovered they were praying for the opposite, because although the leader was corrupt, he had fostered an environment which made it relatively easy for them to evangelise and tell people about Jesus. But the opposition leader would never have allowed that under his rule. So be well informed in your prayers! Find out what the needs are. Go to the places. Speak to the people. Learn.
As well as praying for other countries and our nation as a whole, I also wonder what would happened if we were more aware of what is going on in our city, our community and in the lives of our neighbours? If we knew more of what was happening around us would we direct our prayers accordingly and maybe even become the answer to those prayers? Sometimes we just need to be willing to ask with genuine interest and care.
2. Get Inspired
Once you’ve been informed about the problems, get inspired by the possibilities. What could happen if God’s purposes for a particular person, place or situation started to come true?
In his book, Pete describes a moment when he was challenged to pray more specifically for his sons. He was told, ‘You need to find out why God created your boys in the first place, the calling he has put on them and the prayers that he himself is praying for their lives. Instead of telling God what you think he should do for them, join in with his prayers for their lives, which is way easier and much more effective.’
What might happen if instead of trying to get God to say ‘Amen’ to my agenda for those I pray for, I started using my prayer time to seek what his will is for that person, and say a big ‘Amen’ to his promises for their lives instead. Since reading this chapter, I’ve felt really challenged to spend time asking God what he wants for my family and friends. It doesn’t mean I can’t also pray for the things they ask me to pray for. But perhaps as well as that, I could seek God’s will in my time of prayer, and ask him if there is anything he wants me to pray for on behalf of that person.
When he began to do this, Pete went first to the promises of God in the Bible, and when he came across one which seemed particularly relevant to his sons, or the hopes he and his wife had nurtured for their lives, he prayed those promises over the boys. He speaks of a passage in Luke 2:52, which talks of Jesus as a child and it says, “He grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man”. Pete was particularly drawn to this verse and so he prayed that his sons would grow in wisdom and stature and favour with God and man. Two weeks later one of his sons woke in the middle of the night, sat bolt upright and called for his dad. He said “I need God. I want to pray that prayer” and so for the first time he prayed a prayer of commitment to God while Pete knelt by his side. Pete realised that right before his eyes his son was growing in wisdom and stature and favour with God. Then the next morning Pete’s sister-in-law called to say she’d had a vivid dream the night before and it related to the son who had just given his life to God. She had no idea of what had happened the night before and knew nothing of what Pete had been praying for his sons for the two weeks previously. But she described her dream in which she’d seen a man appear in Pete’s study and say that this son had found favour with God. He and his wife were awestruck.
Knowing the Bible is a great way to inspire us to pray in line with God’s will. A good example comes from 2 Peter 3:9 which says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God wants all people to repent and come into relationship with him, so when we pray specifically for someone to turn to God, we can be sure we are praying in line with God’s will.
3. Be Indignant - engage with your heart
Walter Wink said, “Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the way of what God has promised.”
When we start to understand God’s purpose for a person, place or situation, and then we see that purpose being undermined, it can leave us feeling outraged. When we see cruelty, exploitation and injustices in our world, we know that’s not what God wants, and just as it pains him to see it, so it can pain us to see it too. One of my favourite worship songs in my twenties was ‘Hosanna’ by Brooke Fraser. I particularly loved this verse:
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love
Like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am
For Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity
Break my heart for what breaks yours. If we are seeking God’s will in our prayer lives, there will be times when our hearts are broken.
Last week I read an article on the BBC News website about a single mum who had struggled so much last year to look after her disabled and autistic 10 year old son through lock down that she had had a mental break down. She’d requested further support from the Council but had not received it in time. Finally, at her wits end she did something which tragically caused her son great harm. In court this year, the judge said to the mother, "I have no doubt at all that you were a remarkably loving and dedicated mother to a vulnerable child until multiple pressures overwhelmed you and your mind was swamped by a destructive illness with florid psychotic elements." When I read the article I couldn’t help but cry. I felt shocked, angry, deeply saddened, heart broken. But it quickly provoked me to pray from the heart. I prayed for the son, I prayed for the mother, for her family and friends, and for others struggling to care for vulnerable children with no support. When a particular situation, event or cause breaks our hearts, we may be experiencing something of how God feels about it. Let that provoke us to pray with passion for God to be at work, bringing his peace, love and transformational power into that place.
The Scottish theologian, P.T. Forsyth argued that contending with God in prayer is sometimes essential. He said, “Lose the habit of wrestling and the hope of prevailing with God, make it mere walking with God in friendly talk; and, precious as that is, yet you tend to lose the reality of prayer at last. In principal you make it mere conversation instead of the soul’s great action.”
Forsyth does not advocate irreverence or unnecessary emotionalism, but testifies to the aspect of prayer which should be passionate, even defiant, and fuelled from the heart.
4. Be In-synch
Finally, pray in-synch with others. Be united in prayer.
In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
According to Jesus, one of the keys to successful prayer is agreement with other people. The word ‘Amen’ means ‘I agree’ and when we pray with others and all say ‘Amen’ we are joining together in prayer, standing united in purpose as we speak to God. There is unique power in united intercession and that’s why it’s so important to pray regularly with others. It’s why Church prayer meetings, home groups, prayer partners and the wholeness team are so, so important. Unified prayer is powerful.
One of the most dramatic stories I ever heard about unified prayer was the Miracle of Dunkirk. Forgive me if you know this story well. In May 1940 the allied forces were outflanked by the German army and defeat seemed imminent. The Allied forces including virtually the whole British army were trapped by the Nazi forces with their backs to the sea at Dunkirk. German High Command had announced that its troops were ‘proceeding to annihilate the British army’. The Luftwaffe (German air force) was poised to attack as the Allied forces gathered on the beach at Dunkirk, and were ready to pick off any vessels that came to rescue them by sea. The situation was desperate and no other country could come to their aid. On 23rd May King George VI made a broadcast in which he called the entire nation to participate in a National Day of Prayer. On Sunday 26th May churches across the country were packed and people queued for a quarter of a mile to get into Westminster Abbey as the whole country gathered to pray for the Allied army.
Then the miracles began. Firstly, Hitler gave the command to halt his ground troops so that they would not advance against the Allied forces for 3 days. To this very day, historians argue about why Hitler gave the halt order, describing it as one of the greatest military blunders of the whole war.
Secondly, a massive unseasonal storm blew up and battered the European mainland so much that the Luftwaffe were grounded and couldn’t conduct any attacks from the air.
Thirdly, a great calm descended on the English Channel which enabled a vast flotilla of some 860 vessels – mostly civilian craft – to cross the sea and rescue the trapped army. Some were just small fishing boats, and many of them made more than one trip. Churchill hoped that through this desperate, ramshackle operation, it might be possible to evacuate around 20-30,000 troops, less than 10% of those waiting at Dunkirk. But the combination of these three miracles: the inexplicable halt order, the unseasonal storm and the great calm of the English channel, along with the valiant efforts of hundreds of civilian fishermen and sailors, led to over a 3rd of a million soldiers being rescued. By the time the German army renewed its attack 338,000 men had been rescued.
As Pete Greig says, “it is without doubt that a series of critical elements in the success of the Dunkirk evacuations lay so far beyond the hand of the Allied powers that they must either be labelled as luck on a quite extraordinary scale, or as answers to the unprecedented concerted prayers of an entire nation which ascended to heaven on the day it all began.”
Pete Greig says, “Intercessors…mediate between heaven and earth as equal friends of both, pleading with God on behalf of people, and with people on behalf of God.” Whatever or whoever God has placed on your heart, may you intercede as mediators between people and God. May our prayers be well informed, inspired by God’s word, indignant in the face of injustice, and in-synch with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, your Kingdom come. 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 Linda Chambers
Lord, we thank you for all your gifts in creation and the wonder and beauty of the world with the promise of spring to come. Thank you for all who seek to bring in your kingdom by striving for justice, peace and liberty around the world. Please help us as individuals and as a church to cooperate with you in bringing in your kingdom in our own locality, city, region.
LORD GOD, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
We pray for Fairtrade Fortnight starting on Monday, highlighting the growing challenges that climate change brings to so many vulnerable people groups. We pray for the online events being prepared to aid us in our understanding of these issues. Encourage us in our own commitment to justice, in the choices we make and in the priorities we set ourselves.
We pray for farmers and producers across the world already seeing the huge impact of climate change on their food production, livestock and traditional way of life. Please sustain them as they cope with drought, crop disease, floods, heat waves.
We pray that world leaders will respond to the climate emergency with real commitment and substantial investment. Help them to keep in focus the end goal while working out crucial steps to reach it in their own countries.
LORD GOD, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
Lord, we pray for all the weary medical and support staff on the Covid wards at present. Grant them renewed strength and energy for their many tasks. Bring healing and wholeness to patients struggling with the disease. Thank you for the application and dedication of those developing and trialling the different vaccines. Protect NHS staff and volunteers as they administer the vaccine with all the complexities that involves. Please dispel misinformation currently circulating and encourage ethnic communities in particular to accept the vaccine.
Lord, we pray for our country’s leaders, scientists and medical advisors who continue to bear such a burden of responsibility at this time. We pray especially for wisdom and clarity for the Prime Minister due to present his lockdown review on Monday. And we pray for those for whom Covid restrictions are especially challenging because of their living conditions, lack of earnings, health problems or disability.
LORD GOD, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
Lord, we thank you for St. Gabriel’s, for Alistair and Catherine’s leadership, for our regular members and those who have recently joined us on zoom. Guide and bless those involved with the Alpha Course, the Prayer Course and those planning future services and events. We pray for our local churches, especially All Saints as we develop our mission partnership with them. And we ask your blessing on Mark Brown as he begins his ministry there as Vicar.
Lord, we lift before you those of our fellowship who have lost a loved one during this past year from Covid or other causes. Comfort and sustain them in their grief. We pray for any we know awaiting treatment or surgery, those recovering from operations or injuries, often having to cope with the highs and lows of recovery. Grant them patience and hope.
LORD GOD, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME
Finally, Lord, as we reflect on the past week, we place in your hands our unfinished tasks, our unsolved problems and our unfulfilled hopes. And as we continue through the season of Lent, help us to trust you and to recognise where you are at work in our daily lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. 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=9SzM5lTyIjc
Jesus, stand among us
at the meeting of our lives,
be our sweet agreement
at the meeting of our eyes;
O Jesus, we love You, so we gather here,
join our hearts in unity
and take away our fear.
2. So to You we're gathering
out of each and every land,
Christ the love between us
at the joining of our hands;
O Jesus, we love You,
so we gather here,
join our hearts in unity
and take away our fear.
3.Jesus stand among us
at the breaking of the bread;
join us as one body
as we worship You, our Head.
O Jesus, we love You,
so we gather here;
join our hearts in unity
and take away our fear
Graham Kendrick
© 1977 Make Way Music/Thankyou 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=DXDGE_lRI0E
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
O my soul,
worship His holy name.
Sing like never before,
O my soul.
I'll worship Your holy name.
The sun comes up,
it's a new day dawning.
It's time to sing Your song again.
Whatever may pass,
and whatever lies before me,
let me be singing
when the evening comes.
Bless the Lord, O my soul….
You're rich in love,
and You're slow to anger,
your name is great,
and Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness
I will keep on singing
ten thousand reasons
for my heart to find.
Bless the Lord, O my soul….
And on that day
when my strength is failing,
the end draws near
and my time has come,
still my soul will sing
your praise unending
ten thousand years
and then forevermore.
Bless the Lord, O my soul….
© Matt Redman & Jonas Myrin
FINAL BLESSING:
Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,
to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow him;
and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be upon you and remain with you always. Amen