Sunday Service - 9 January

Welcome to our service - 9 January

This service sheet can be used individually or with households.
We would encourage you to say (or even sing) hymns and songs out loud.
Prayers, other liturgy or readings can be said out loud or silently, corporately or individually.

If you are able, we would also like invite you to join us for our main Sunday service, 10am, live on Zoom. Even if you have never been to St Gabriel’s before we would love you to join you. Please get in touch with the vicar Alistair (vicar@saintgs.co.uk) and he will send you the Zoom details.

SERVICE

Opening

Alleluia, alleluia.

There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Alleluia.

SING:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMCVNrz58yw

MAKE WAY, make way, for Christ the King

In splendour arrives.

Fling wide the gates and welcome Him

Into your lives.

Make way! (Make way!)

For the King of kings.

(For the King of kings.)

Make way! (Make way!)

And let His kingdom in.

He comes the broken hearts to heal,

The prisoners to free.

The deaf shall hear, the lame shall dance,

The blind shall see.

Make way! (Make way!)

And those who mourn with heavy hearts,

Who weep and sigh;

With laughter, joy and royal crown

He’ll beautify.

Make way! (Make way!)

We call you now to worship Him

As Lord of all.

To have no gods before Him,

Their thrones must fall!

Make way! (Make way!)

CONFESSION

Because God was merciful, he saved us through the water of rebirth and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. But through sin we have fallen away from our baptism. Let us return to the Lord and renew our faith in his promises by confessing our sins in penitence.

God our Father,

long-suffering, full of grace and truth,

you create us from nothing and give us life.

You give your faithful people new life in the water

of baptism.

You do not turn your face from us,

nor cast us aside.

We confess that we have sinned

against you and our neighbour.

We have wounded your love and marred your image in us.

Restore us for the sake of your Son,

and bring us to heavenly joy,

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

ABSOLUTION

Almighty God,

who in Jesus Christ has given us

a kingdom that cannot be destroyed,

forgive us our sins,

open our eyes to God’s truth,

strengthen us to do God’s will

and give us the joy of his kingdom,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

COLLECT

Heavenly Father,

at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:

may we recognize him as our Lord

and know ourselves to be your beloved children;

through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnWKehsOXu8

Blessed be your name

in the land that is plentiful,

Where your streams of abundance flow,

blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name

when I’m found in the desert place,

Though I walk through the wilderness,

blessed be your name.

Every blessing you pour out

I’ll turn back to praise.

When the darkness closes in,

Lord, still I will say,

‘Blessed be the name of the Lord,

blessed be your name.

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

blessed be your glorious name.’

Blessed be your name

when the sun’s shining down on me,

When the world’s ‘all as it should be,

blessed be your name.

Blessed be your name

on the road marked with suffering,

Though there’s pain in the offering,

blessed be your name.

Every blessing you pour out

I’ll turn back to praise.

When the darkness closes in,

Lord, still I will say,

‘Blessed be…………

You give and take away,

you give and take away.

My heart will choose to say,

‘Lord blessed be your name.’

‘Blessed be…………

READINGS

Colossians 1:1-14 New International Version – UK

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

John 12:20-36 New International Version – UK

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we would like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

‘Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!’

Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.’ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, ‘This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

The crowd spoke up, ‘We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain for ever, so how can you say, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”? Who is this “Son of Man”?’

Then Jesus told them, ‘You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.’ When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

This the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

TALK by Alistair Stevenson

As we start with the beginning of a new year I want to ask you this question: where or to whom are you going to find your identity, your purpose and your meaning? That might be a very existential and way too heavy a question to start a new year. But, particularly as we look back on the impact of the last two years on our lives, this question is something we need to come back to again and again because how we answer it and are shaped by it will impact everything else.

Last year Adele released her newest album called 30. The album shot straight to number one in Britain and became the fastest-selling album of last year. Such is her fame and global recognition that the release of her album was followed by an interview with none other than Oprah Winfrey.

In the interview, she describes why she made the album focusing specifically on her recent divorce. It is in fact impossible to separate the significance of the album from her recent divorce. One commentator said: 'So many of its songs bear the hallmarks, not so much of relational fracture, but of a lonely soul wrestling with both a deep, unidentifiable emptiness and the consequences of consciously ripping her life apart in response.'

When asked whether 30 was “the divorce album”, Adele replied, “I think I am divorcing myself on it.”

Surprisingly it seems that her marriage ended not because of any great infidelity or destructive behaviour, no great indignation, simply a growing conviction for Adele that, as she said “I’m not living, I’m just plodding along…” and that true happiness lay elsewhere.

She confessed to Oprah that she ended her marriage, not because she didn’t love her husband any longer, but because she wasn’t “in love”.

And the verdict of Oprah Winfrey to the artist’s account of why she got divorced was this: “So many women, Adele, are going to be liberated by listening to you…”.

Adele is undoubtedly a global superstar but her interview with Oprah Winfrey and the main conclusions from her album speak of realities that are true in nearly every human heart. It seems clear that Adele had idolised marriage and relationships hoping that it would bring true soul fulfilment and satisfaction that, as is the case for us all, she's so longed for. And when her marriage inevitably was unable to fulfil that longing and desire the logical conclusion was therefore to end it. She told British Vogue, “I feel like this album is self-destruction, then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption." Such language of ‘self’ is at the heart of our culture. To be able to find yourself you only need to look deeper within yourself rather than to anything or anyone else.

The book of Colossians seeks to answer this fundamental question: where or to whom will we find ourselves and our soul’s fulfilment and true satisfaction. Instead of looking inside yourself to find out who you truly are, or even to another person, Paul the writer of this letter, is at pains to express and demonstrate that it can be found in only one person - the person of Jesus.

This is why I'm so excited to be starting this new year looking at the book of Colossians. For many, it might not be a new revelation but I hope for all of us it will be a hugely significant reminder.

Pauls reminds us in his letter that Christ is preeminent as the one in whom through whom and for whom all things were created and through him, all things will be reconciled. He is head of the church and head of every power and authority.

It is this crucial understanding that lies at the heart of the faith and love that spring from the hope of the gospel, as we read in verse 5. It is the heart of the gospel that grows and bears fruit.

Throughout the letter, Paul expresses a wonderful sense of thankfulness and gratitude towards this small but growing church in Colossi. And this thankfulness causes him to pray constantly for them. Paul's pastoral heart is evident throughout. As we read this letter we should hear his heart and longing that this community would thrive and flourish.

In verse 9 we get a hint of what Paul specifically is praying for them. He describes four particular things:

Firstly - that they would grow in the knowledge of God
Secondly - that they would bear fruit
Thirdly - that they would be strengthened in power for endurance and patience
And finally, they might give thanks to the father.

Eugene Peterson’s translation of these verses says this:

“Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy,”

As a church, we rightly pray and intercede for the needs of our community, our nation and our world and we do this on a regular basis. We also pray regularly for pastoral concerns and the wellness of our church community. But here we see that Paul is praying for the spiritual flourishing of the Christians in Colossi. It is the prayer of a pastor for a church community. But it should also be a prayer that each one of us prays for each other.

It is the prayer that is surely at the heart of the ‘IN’ corner of our vision triangle that we explored last term. To pray this prayer is to hope and long for the spiritual flourishing of this church community - to become the disciples that God is calling us to be. It is not a one-time prayer. Notice Paul’s reiteration that he has not stopped praying and that he continually asks God on their behalf.

How does Paul's prayer compare to the kind of prayers we offer for others? Often when we pray for others we are praying for their physical or material well-being. Here Paul is deeply concerned with the spiritual well-being of the church in Colossi.

Often our prayers for one another tend to be safe (ie for aunt Gertrude's neighbour who has cancer) rather than spiritually personal (ie for my struggle with envy or anger). Remember that Paul writes this to his brothers and sisters. To be in Christ means to be part of a new family and therefore the intimacy and deep care and concern that comes with this.

Throughout my spiritual journey I have been so grateful for a small group of people who have prayed for my spiritual flourishing. No doubt they have prayed for my general well-being and the well-being of my family. But I know they have also prayed that I may grow in the knowledge of God, that I might bear fruit in all that I am doing, that I might be strengthened for endurance and patience and that I might be a thankful person. Can you identify similar people in your life? If not, who can you ask to pray for you in this way? I’ve no doubt there are people willing and able.

I would like to encourage us all to pray this prayer over each one of us at the beginning of this new year. And maybe, in a year's time, we could look back and see if this prayer has been answered both in our lives but also in the lives of our church here in Greystones.

And so I'd like to invite you now to spend some time in prayer for this church focusing on this prayer of Paul's in verses 9 - 12. You might like to think of 2 or 3 people in the church community. Bring them to God in your mind’s eye. Say their name as you pray verses 9 - 12.

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.

PRAYERS - written by Jo Chamberlain

In the passage today Paul says that he and Timothy have not ceased praying for the church in Colossae, so I thought we should follow his example and not cease praying for our church and beyond. So let these prayers be the start, and keep going!

In the gap I leave in this first prayer, you need to add the name of the person on your left and on your right – either on screen or in church (or if you’re reading online, someone who lives closest to you). Look beyond your family group. And if you don’t know their name, ask them afterwards.

Heavenly Father, we thank God for the people on our left …[add name]…. and the people on our right …[add name]… We pray that they will be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding, equipped to live lives that follow your will, lives that are pleasing to you, and that their acts of love and service will bear good fruit. We pray they will be strong because they trust in you, and that you will give them patience and joy.

Heavenly Father, we pray for new beginnings at the start of 2022. For those returning to work, to college, to school and for those with other new starts or commitments. Please help all of us, children, young people and adults, to settle back into routine, especially where there is still disruption because of Covid. And as we think about schools, we also pray for the work of CaSS, supporting and resourcing Christians and Christian ministry in schools in Sheffield.

When the weather turns cold, my mind often turns to those without a warm, safe home to live in. We pray for those living on the streets in our city, that when they will find somewhere to keep warm when it is too cold to sleep outside. We pray for the organisations in Sheffield helping those with nowhere to live – for the Archer Project, Roundabout, Ben’s place and others, that they will be able to reach out and help those in need. We pray for those in our city who are cold because they daren’t put their heating on. We pray that they will get the help they need in the short term. And we also pray for wisdom for our government making tricky decisions at the moment about what to do about rising energy prices and the rising cost of living.

In my job this week, I was thinking about refugees and what makes people need to leave their homes and countries. We pray for those who can no longer stay safely in their homes because of war, disaster and climate change. We pray that they will be able to find somewhere where they can stay in safety, and keep together as a family. We pray for organisations that care for those who have fled their homes. And again, we pray for wisdom for governments making tricky decisions about how to help those in need and how to stop the things that caused them to leave in the first place. We pray for policies that are fair and compassionate, and for those with the resources to take responsibility to care and bring about change.

Throughout the week, remember who you prayed for in church today, and don’t stop praying for them. And pray about other things that you are concerned about.

LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your Kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those

who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours

now and for ever.

Amen

SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJq3bhdgQoc

Longing for light, we wait in darkness.

Longing for truth, we turn to you.

Make us your own, your holy people,

light for the world to see.

Christ, be our light!

Shine in our hearts,

shine through the darkness.

Christ, be our light!

Shine in your church

gathered today.

Longing for peace, our world is troubled.

Longing for hope, many despair.

Your word alone has power to save us.

Make us your living voice.

Christ, be our light!

Longing for food, many are hungry.

Longing for water, many still thirst.

Make us your bread, broken for others,

shared until all are fed.

Christ, be our light!

Longing for shelter, many are homeless.

Longing for warmth, many are cold.

Make us your building, sheltering others,

walls made of living stone.

Christ, be our light!

Many the gifts, many the people,

many the hearts that yearn to belong.

Let us be servants to one another,

making your kingdom come.

Christ, be our light!

OFFERTORY - Take a moment to consider how you are going to continue to give to the life of the church and support other aid agencies and mission organisations.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power,

the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;

for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.

All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.

SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5pUXm57wMA

O let the Son of God enfold you

with His Spirit and His love;

let Him fill your heart

and satisfy your soul.

O let Him have the things

that hold you,

and His Spirit, like a dove,

will descend upon your life

and make you whole.

Jesus, O Jesus,

come and fill Your lambs;

Jesus, O Jesus,

come and fill Your lambs.

O come and sing this song

with gladness,

as your hearts are filled with joy;

lift your hands in sweet surrender

to His name.

O give Him all your tears and sadness,

give Him all your years of pain,

and you'll enter into life in Jesus' name.

Jesus, O Jesus...

FINAL BLESSING:

May God, who in Christ gives us a spring of water

welling up to eternal life,

perfect in you the image of his glory;

and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

be upon you and remain with you always.

Amen