Welcome to our service - 27 September
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 join us this Sunday for a socially distanced and COVID-19 compliant unsung Holy Communion service at 11:30am. We ask you to come with a face mask.
SERVICE
Opening
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
SING:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI2rKRCWmOU
At the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess Him
King of glory now.
'Tis the Father's pleasure
we should call Him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word.
2. Mighty and mysterious
in the highest height,
God from everlasting,
was Light of light.
In the Father's bosom,
with the Spirits blest,
love, in love eternal,
rest, in perfect rest.
3. Humbled for a season,
to receive a name
from the lips of sinners
unto whom he came;
faithfully he bore it
spotless to the last,
brought it back victorious
when from death he passed.
4. Brothers, this Lord Jesus
shall return again,
with his Father’s glory,
with his angel-train;
for all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of Glory now.
Caroline Noel (1817-77)
CONFESSION
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds we have been healed. Let us confess our sins.
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.
ASOLUTION
Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
have mercy upon us,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
confirm and strength and keep us in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
COLLECT
Lord of creation,
whose glory is around and within us:
open our eyes to your wonders,
that we may serve you with reverence
and know your peace at our lives’ end,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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 singingten 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 unendingten thousand years
and then forevermore.
Bless the Lord, O my soul….
Bless the Lord, O my soul….
© Matt Redman & Jonas Myrin
READINGS
1 Peter 2:2-10 New International Version - UK
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
‘See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.’
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,’
and,
‘A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Luke 10:1-6 New International Version - UK
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.” If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.
TALK written by Alistair Stevenson
Roy Godwin, author of The Way of Blessing writes:
‘Being a blessing is about our character, rooted in God’s character, being an avenue for the Holy Spirit to work and act in the lives of those we are in contact with, in order to bring glory to Jesus’.
Over the last two weeks we have been exploring that blessing is at the very core of who God is. Two weeks ago we saw how God is a God whose very nature is to bless and last week we explored that we can receive this blessing. Catherine established that this primarily takes place through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit - that this outpouring is for all - young and old, male and female, rich and pour - God longs to pour out his blessing on all people.
If we know that God is a God of blessing and that he longs to pour out his blessing on us. How do we respond?
Remember the passage from Genesis 12 when Abram is called by God saying to him: ‘and I will bless you; I will make your name great” - Why - so that ‘you will be a blessing.’
We are blessed to be a blessing. It was never God’s intention to isolate His blessing - His love - to one people, to one tribe, to one country - instead, God blessed so that all the peoples of the earth will be blessed.
Archie Coates, Vicar of St Peter’s Brighton, speaks of the church as a ‘blessing machine’. I love that idea - a blessing machine.
When Catherine and I first got married we got a bread maker. It was one of those things that we thought newly-weds should get. So we put it on the gift list and very kindly someone got it for us.
And, for those years before we had children - when we had more time - it was really great. Each night we would open it up, simply put in the ingredients, close the lid, set the timer and press go. And in the morning we would wake to the amazing smell of fresh bread and then a very yummy breakfast.
Sometimes I wonder if we over complicate church. When in fact, we often just need to put in a few simple ingredients - press go and out comes blessing.
As a church we are called to be a blessing machine. With the right ingredients the outcome should be a beautiful aroma in the community. When people, a church family, start to get mixed with the blessing of God’s spirit, the outcome is that we are a blessed aroma and blessed food - spiritual nourishment you might say - for our community.
In two weeks we have our APCM, but it's also going to be vision Sunday where I am going to be challenging us to consider what is our calling as a church in the coming year. And the question I will pose to us as a church is this: what do we want to be known for as a church?
When people in Greystones think of St Gabriel’s, when they walk past the church, what do they know us for?
What if we were known as a blessing machine? A church that is known by the way that it blesses others - known for the way it generously and sacrificially gives away to bless this community.
We are called to be a blessing because we have been blessed by God and it is a calling that is rooted in the very heart of the bible.
In our passage from 1 Peter, we come across these remarkable verses:
In verse 5 Peter says that we - that’s you and me - are a ‘holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’. And then again verse 10, ‘but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession’
Peter uses this word priest to describe not just the leaders of the church, or those who are called to be ministers, but in fact every person in the church is called to be a priest.
This idea would have been so radical for the first hearers - because their understanding of the priest was shaped by the Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament. But in fact, Peter is reiterating the original calling of all God’s people.
Bishop Graham Tomlin writes this:
‘Throughout the Old Testament, Israel, the family that continues from the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and so on, is designated as a priestly people. The first word of God to Israel after rescuing them from the exodus is to tell them precisely who they are: ‘out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (As God speaks to Moses in Exod. 19 – 5-6). Even when the people go into exile, the calling to be a priestly community remains. In Isaiah 61 v 6 we read: ‘you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God’’.
In Deuteronomy 10 v 8 - as God’s people are establishing their worshipping practices and the laws by which they are to be a holy people, we read this: ‘At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today.’
The tribe of Levi were set apart to be priests and notice the three tasks that they are ordained with:
l To carry the ark of the covenant - literally the presence of God
l To stand before the Lord to minister
l And to pronounce blessings in his name.
The priests had a three-fold calling: to carry the presence of God, to stand before the Lord to serve and worship him and to pronounce - to speak - blessing in his name. But here in 1 Peter we see that this calling is now for all of God’s people.
The message translation puts verse 10 of 1 Peter 2 like this: ‘’But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.’
The priestly role is a representative one – representing Christ to the world. Mediating on his behalf. To be a priestly people means we are God’s instruments – to do his work and speak out for him, to tell of God’s blessing and to outwork that blessing into the lives of others.
As you step out of your door and walk around the streets where you live, as you go into your workplace, as you have meeting on Zoom, as you step into shops, go to the bowling club or gym, send an email, call someone on the phone - do you imagine yourself as a holy priest - carrying the presence of God, ministering to God and his Kingdom in that place, pronouncing and speaking his blessing as you go? This is our calling. God has positioned you in that place to be his priest - to carry his presence, minister in his name and pronounce blessing.
When we bless healthy relationships are created, community connections are nourished and people are inspired to pass on that blessing to others.
Did you know that you are called to carry the presence to God, to serve him and speak his blessing in our world? And as we do this we share in the mission of God in our world - his desire to bless. We act as the conduits for this blessing.
Just consider for a moment - how might I be restricting God’s blessing on others because I am not being obedient to being a conduit for that blessing?
In our passage from Luke, Jesus sends out the 72 on one of the first missionary movements. And he tells them as they enter a house to speak peace over it. The Hebrew word for peace is shalom - it has multiple meanings which include notions of peace but also harmony, wholeness, completeness, favour, welfare, security, and rest. To speak peace is to speak blessing.
The late Adrian Rogers said, “You cannot obey God without your obedience spilling out in a blessing to all those around you.” This is what Peter is saying. When we are obedient to God’s called to be a holy priesthood we can’t help but let our obedience spill out as a blessing to all those around us. We can’t help but be a blessing machine. May we as individuals and as a church be a blessing machine. 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 Christine Carney
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus, your chosen and precious cornerstone; help us to trust in Him wholeheartedly and to grow in our relationship with Him day by day. Thank you that we are ‘a chosen people… a people belonging to God’. Show us, Father, how to be a blessing to others: to those in the Church family, our families and friends and neighbours. May we be known in the community for our love for one another.
Father, we commit to you all the services this autumn and pray for your blessing on Alistair, Catherine, Peter and Stuart as they lead and preach. We pray that the new 15 minute slot for families will be fun as well as providing teaching and that the children will engage with it. We thank you for The Blessings Course and pray that all those who participate will grow in their love for you and will be a blessing to others. Father, we recognize the pressure that there is on family life and we pray that The Marriage Course will be really helpful to all those who participate.
Thank you for your love and care for each one of us. We pray for those in the Church family recovering from injuries and pray for your healing touch – and we pray that you will comfort the families of those who have been recently bereaved.
Heavenly Father, we cry out to you for an end to coronavirus and for your protection on the elderly and vulnerable, on teachers, parents and grandparents of the children now back at school as well as doctors, nurses and care workers. We pray for wisdom for headteachers, university leaders and employers in decisions they have to make when an outbreak occurs. We pray for Boris Johnson and his advisors and all our politicians to have wisdom as they make decisions about health and the economy. We pray that people will download the new Test and Trace App and that it will be effective. We commit to you, Lord, the places where the virus is on the increase: Iran, India, the USA and Europe and we continue to pray for your protection on all refugees and those in countries with scant medical facilities.
Father, we continue to pray for wisdom for all those involved in the Brexit negotiations and that an agreement will be reached soon. We pray for the European Union as they seek to get unanimous agreement for sharing out the burden of refugees.
We commit to you people’s mental health during this pandemic and pray that support will be available, for those who are lonely, depressed, fearful for their jobs or businesses, those who can’t pay the rent or mortgage.
Finally, Father, we cry out to you for the crisis of climate change and all those affected by flooding, famine and wild fires. We pray that individual countries will honour their commitments and will seek to outdo each other in their concern for the environment.
We pray in the name of Jesus. 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=dRTLocMzTvs
May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and pow’r controlling
all I do and say.
2. May the word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.
3. May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.
4. May the love of Jesus fill me,
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing
This is victory.
5. May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus,
As I onward go.
Words: Kate B. Wilkinson (1859-1928)
Music A. C. Barnham-Gould (1891-1953)
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=sQeIGbKqiw8
And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
that Thou, my God,
shouldst die for me!
2 'Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies;
who can explore His strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more.
3 He left His Father's throne above -
so free, so infinite His grace -
emptied Himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free;
for, O my God, it found out me!
4 Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray -
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free.
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
5 No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown,
through Christ, my own.
Charles Wesley (1707-88)
FINAL BLESSING
Throughout these 7 weeks, as we explore the Blessings Course, we are going to finish our services with this blessing from Numbers 6. I would encourage you to say it firstly over yourself and then, if you are willing and able, to stretch out a hand towards your street and neighbourhood and to declare this blessing over the people in your community:
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face towards you
and give you peace.
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us and remain with us always. Amen