Welcome to our service - 29 May
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.
Please join us for public worship in the church building this Sunday, 11:30am, for a service of Holy Communion.
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
Christ has ascended on high.
He reigns for ever. Alleluia.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord. Alleluia.
HYMN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIszhvHjBxQ
Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinners slain:
thousand thousand saints attending,
swell the triumph of His train;
Hallelujah! hallelujah, hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.
2. Every eye shall now behold Him
robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at nought and sold Him,
pierced, and nailed Him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing
shall the true Messiah see.
3. Now redemption, long expected,
see in solemn pomp appear!
All His saints, by man rejected,
now shall meet Him in the air.
Hallelujah! hallelujah, hallelujah!
see the day of God appear.
4. Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee
high on Thy eternal throne;
Saviour, take the power and glory,
claim the kingdom of Thine own
Hallelujah! hallelujah, hallelujah!
everlasting God come down!
Words: Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Music: 18th C English melody
PRAYER OF PREPARATION
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
CONFESSION
Jesus is our high priest, tempted like us, yet without sin. He lives for ever in heaven to intercede for us. Through him we approach the throne of grace with confidence, and confess our sins.
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.
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
ABSOLUTION
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.
COLLECT
Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COQ6cni_TG8
Lord I lift Your name on high,
Lord I love to sing your praises,
I 'm so glad you are in my life,
I 'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from Heaven to earth
to show the way,
From the earth to the cross
my debt to pay,
From the cross to the grave,
From the grave to the sky,
Lord I lift Your name on high.
(c) 1989 Marantha, Rick Founds
READINGS
Acts 1:1-11 New International Version - UK
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’
Then they gathered round him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’
Luke 11:1-4 New International Version - UK
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’
He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
‘“Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”’
This the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
TALK written by Alistair Stevenson
What3words was created in 2013 as a way of identifying any location in the world by giving every 3 metre square a unique combination of three words. What3words divides the world into a grid of 57 trillion 3-by-3-metre squares. It was invented as areally quick and simple way to find, share and save exact locations. It differs from most location encoding systems in that it uses words rather than strings of numbers or letters to map the world. And it is used by emergency services and delivery drivers as well as people simply sharing their location to help to be found.
South Yorkshire Police for example used it to find a 65-year-old man who became trapped after falling down a railway embankment in Sheffield. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service used it to gind a woman who had crashed her car but was unsure where she was.
So, let’s have some examples:
The desk in the entrance area where I started writing this sermon is: ‘kick.nest.sheets’
Where I am speaking this sermon at church the location is ‘crown.thigh.taped’ and where most of you are sitting now is ‘until.cope.allows’. Our living room at the vicarage is: ‘waddled.energetic.cowboy’. Take from that what you will.
All of these words are randomly created but there are of course some funny ones that have been discovered. Someone's garden in Kingswood, Bristol is ‘shave.legs.fully’. A place in Sudan is ‘leave.that.hobnob’. The front door of 10 Downing Street in London is identified by ‘slurs.this.shark’.
I would suggest you download the app. It’s great fun. As well as super helpful if you ever get completely lost and need someone to find your exact location.
And so this morning I want to ask, what three words would you use to summarise prayer? In fact, on the back of 5 weeks focusing on mission, what three words would you use to summarise mission?
This morning I want to focus on three words. Three words that, I believe, are the summary of the prayer life and the mission of the church. The words are: ‘Thy. Kingdom.Come.’ or ‘Your Kingdom Come’.
These three words are the title given for the global prayer movement taking place at the moment that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus - 11 days of prayer between Ascension and Pentecost.
After the very first Ascension Day the disciples gathered with the believers - men and women - and for 11 days constantly devoting themselves to prayer while they waited for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Like them, our reliance on the gift of the Holy Spirit is total – on our own we can do nothing. And so, like them, we continue to wait and pray for God’s Kingdom to come - his will be done.
Through the centuries Christians have gathered at this time to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ picks up this tradition.
And so this morning I want to briefly focus on these three words ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ and I hope that it will cause a relocation of our lives, once again.
Firstly, ‘Thy’ or in modern translation ‘Your’.
On the night before Jesus died after eating the Passover meal with his disciples, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. On his knees, in anguish at the prospect of what was before him, he cried out to God: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 42. 22). Jesus submitted his will to the father. He said, not what I will but what you will.
When we pray ‘Your’ we are praying against our own will and our own desires. It is a reversal of Adam and Eve who turned from God and said my way, my desires before you God. When we pray ‘Your’ we seek to reverse the tide of human will and desire that turns away from God and instead say, ‘not what I want, not what I desire - but what you want for me God’.
Alan Redpath the well-known British evangelist, pastor and author of the last century wrote: ‘Before we can pray, “Lord, Thy Kingdom come”, we must be willing to pray, “My Kingdom go”. That is a huge challenge! Where have I built my own little kingdom, hung on to my own autonomy? How’s that working for me?
When we pray, ‘thy’ we relinquish control. We say, God do what you want. We pray open handed and open-hearted trusting that God is good. It is a moment of submission instead of coming to God with our terms and conditions. When we pray this prayer, we ask that God would set the destination. But God doesn’t want us to be a passenger, simply going along for the ride. He wants us to get involved and play our part in getting to the destination that he has set.
Do our lives say: “you before me, God’s will before my will.” Just take a moment to think about some of the life decisions you have made recently, whether big or small. Did you make those decisions based on your own desires or God’s?
How do we cultivate such a heart that says, not mine will but yours? Well, I might sound like a broken record, but it starts with worship - through pointing our affection towards God.
Psalm 37:4 says: ‘Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ It is when we delight in God, when we worship him, that our hearts are shaped and moulded so that what God wants and desires becomes what we want and desire. And so we find that our desires tune in with what God wants for us.
Praying ‘Thy’, praying ‘your’ is saying less of us and more of God. It is a prayer of humility where we say not me but you.
Secondly, ‘Kingdom’
When we pray about a Kingdom we pray towards and to a King. We are praying that Jesus is King and that he is sovereign. Jesus, you are in charge.
Dallas Willard says God’s own ‘kingdom,’ or ‘rule,’ is the range of his effective will, where what he wants done is done…So when Jesus directs us to pray, “Thy kingdom come,” he does not mean we should pray for it to come into existence. Rather, we pray for it to take over at all points in the personal, social, and political order where it is now excluded.
God’s Kingdom is not about a physical place but more about a sphere of influence. About the values of God’s Kingdom being made know.
Oswald J. Smith said “The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.” Our hearts are very good at building up our own kingdoms.
But Jesus wants the Kingdom of our hearts. When we pray ‘Thy Kingdom’, we pray that God would rule and reign the Kingdom of our hearts.
Thirdly and finally ‘Come’.
I wonder how good you are at inviting people into your home? Hospitality can be challenging, particularly with people that we don’t know. I have been really struck that members of our congregation are willing to open up their home to Ukrainian refugees. What an amazing outworking of the hospitality of Jesus. But it can be daunting inviting a stranger to come into your home, even more so to live with you.
Inviting someone into our homes is a risk which obviously varies depending on how well we know them. When we invite someone we don’t know well or even a stranger, we just don’t know what they will do. Will they make a mess? How much food will they eat? Will they bring mud onto the carpets? Will they make the toilet smelly? Will they clean up after themselves?
Inviting someone into our home can be a risky business.
In the same way, when we pray ‘Your Kingdom Come’, we are praying a prayer of invitation. But it is a risky prayer because we are inviting Jesus to come and mess up the order of our lives. When we invite Jesus to come into the home of our lives, we don’t ask him to come and live under our rules and terms, we ask him to come and completely redesign the furniture, to change our daily habits, to throw out all the junk and clutter and to completely reshape the way that we live.
‘Come’ is a word of invitation. We pray, ‘come Jesus take up residence in my life. You are welcome here.’
We pray that Jesus will fill us with himself. That we would smell like Jesus and leave his scent and fragrance everywhere we go.
When we pray ‘come’ we are inviting and seeking for Jesus to do something.
When we pray ‘come’ we ask that the rule and reign of God would move from heaven to earth. It is a prayer of expectation. We would be pretty annoyed if we invited someone to come to our house and they forgot or couldn’t be bothered. No, when we invite someone to come we expect that they will.
When we pray ‘Your Kingdom Come’ we pray with expectation and anticipation that Jesus will come. In part it is a future reality. The Kingdom won’t come in full until Jesus returns. However - we pray now for a foretaste - for an in breaking of the Kingdom, here and now.
Thy.Kingdom.Come
Take a moment to think about what three words you would use to describe your location at the moment. Maybe not your physical location but your location spiritually. Maybe they would be something like these:
Tired.Busy.Hopeful.
Confused.Hurting.Broken.
Family.Impatient.Longing.
Seeking.Open.Blinded
Searching.Frustrated.Passionate
Chained.Wanting.Desire.
When we pray these three words: Thy Kingdom Come’ our spiritual location shifts - maybe not immediately, but in time we slowly move towards the location that God has for us.
And so today, once again, may we pray: ‘Thy Kingdom Come’.
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 Liz Cannell
We look in wonder at the renewal of the earth in the changing seasons, the peace and tranquillity we gain from our parks and countryside. May we learn to care for it in our appreciation of its beauty and bounty.
As we prepare to celebrate her platinum jubilee we pray for the Queen and her family, and give thanks for her years of dedication and inspiration, for her messages of hope and stability, her knowledge and wisdom through difficult times. May there be a sense of joy and thanksgiving next weekend, an opportunity for people to meet up with neighbours, especially those who are new to the area, for communities to come together in friendship.
We give thanks for the inspiration of others in our lives. We pray for all the parishes who took part in the Good News competition. May their ideas, guidance and support to their communities especially over the past two years, inspire and encourage others, identifying needs and finding ways to share the love of God with others. We pray for Bless Greystones, for the range of projects and activities taking place especially with children of all ages and their families. We give thanks too for our Mission Partnership with All Saints and the opportunities to share worship with them.
We lift to you the concerns and anxieties of many at this time, whether due to the stress of exams, financial uncertainties, illness, worries about the future. Guide them through their present difficulties, may each know your comfort and love in their lives.
We pray for the nations of the world and for their leaders. We think especially of the situation in Ukraine, and for the many refugees both from there and elsewhere who are seeking safety in other countries to escape conflict, persecution, injustice and poverty. May they find a welcome, and support to help them to adapt to a new life and come to terms with past events.
Lord in your mercy, hear your prayer.
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
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUqfdaCLm0Y
There is a Redeemer
Jesus, God's own Son,
precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
holy One.
Thank you, O my Father,
for giving us your Son,
and leaving your Spirit
till the work on earth is done.
2. Jesus, my Redeemer,
name above all names,
precious Son of God, Messiah,
Lamb for sinners slain:
Thank you, O my Father...
3. When I stand in glory
I will see his face,
and there I'll serve my king for ever
in that holy place.
Thank you, O my Father...
Melody Green (c) Word Music (UK)
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.
SAY:
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=rflCCx3QRys
Jesus is Lord!
Creation's voice proclaims it,
for by His power each tree and flower
was planned and made.
Jesus is Lord! The universe declares it;
sun, moon and stars in heaven cry:
'Jesus is Lord!'
Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!
Praise Him with hallelujah,
for Jesus is Lord!
2. Jesus is Lord!
Yet from His throne eternal
in flesh He came to die in pain
on Calvary's tree.
Jesus is Lord!
From Him all life proceeding,
yet gave His life a ransom
thus setting us free.
Jesus is Lord…
3. Jesus is Lord!
O'er sin the mighty conqueror,
from death He rose and all His foes
shall own His name.
Jesus is Lord!
God sends His Holy Spirit
to show by works of power
that Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is Lord…
David Mansell © 1979 Springride?Word Music (UK)/
CopyCare Lrd
BLESSING
God the Father,
who has given to His Son the name above every name,
strengthen you to proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord.
Amen.
God the Son,
who is our great high priest passed into the heavens,
plead for you at the right hand of the Father.
Amen.
God the Holy Spirit,
who pours out His abundant gifts upon the Church,
make you faithful servants of Christ our King.
Amen.
And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
All Amen.