Worship

 

Opening Prayer

Loving Lord, as we worship we join with all those who are worshipping this day.
Whether alone at home, or online, whether in a building or in an open space amongst others.
Constrained by circumstances, we lack opportunity to meet each other in love.
Come amongst us generous, hospitable God, and welcome us into your loving presence
as we worship you.
AMEN

Hymn: Singing the Faith 369

Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words

https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/posts/baptise-us-with-your-spirit-stf-369/

 

Baptise us with your Spirit,

majestic, humble Christ,

to overcome temptation;

assailed, but not enticed.

Baptise us with your Spirit,

that in each other's eyes

we may discern your purpose,

and cast away disguise.

 

Baptise us with your Spirit

to careful, patient, thought,

and habit-forming virtues

aspired to, copied, taught,

till clothed with new creation,

self-critical, reformed,

we demonstrate the gospel,

to you alone conformed.

 

Baptise us with your Spirit

in unrestricted ways

that move us, mind and body,

to laugh and shout your praise.

Send us to clear the rubble

of each defensive wall,

inviting to your table

our neighbours, one and all.

Brian Wren (b. 1936)

 

Let us pray together

All seeing God,
You watch over every instant of our life,
showing us the glory of your creation
if we should but pause to look;
showing us the generosity of your Spirit
if we should but hold out our hands to receive; showing us your work that needs to be done if we should only use our eyes and ears.
Turn us away, loving Lord, from our insistent self
and lead us to see more clearly
what you give and what you ask of us this day
AMEN

Today’s Gospel Reading: John 1; 6-8, 19-28

Time to Reflect

John the witness, whose testimony to the Jewish leaders began with those negatives:
I am not the Messiah
I am not Elijah
I am not the Prophet….

It is tempting to think that the Jewish leaders were also being negative, looking to point out John’s deficiencies, but what if they were really looking for the Messiah.
What if they were sad and disappointed that here they did not have whom they were looking for?
They didn’t know whom they were looking for – but they had to take some sort of answer back to those who had sent them, so they pressed John for more.
His reply still turns to the cryptic – I am not the one whom is to come, he is already amongst you, though you do not know him.

That the Messiah could be anyone was fully in the Jewish tradition.
The Messiah could be the person standing next to you.

The people who stand at the airport arrivals with a board with someone’s name on do not know who they are to collect.
They rely on the right person to come over and introduce themselves, but they are expected.
They wait for the right person to reveal themselves so that they can move on.

Is this the way we should be looking for the Messiah? Standing in a prominent place, holding a board with his name on, relying on him to come and find us so that we can move on.

Or should we be looking around at the crowd, in case the Messiah has walked straight past us and is expecting us to follow where he leads.
Jesus will leave enough clues in our everyday lives for us to recognize where he has been, where he wants us to go.

We need to make a conscious effort every day to see when Jesus is amongst us and to ask what he is calling us to do.
 

Take a time to sit quietly

 

During this season the Methodist Church is proclaiming “God is with us”. God is with us is more than a statement. It’s a reminder that God is always with us. We are encouraged to share our story (and other people's stories) of walking with God in this extraordinary year. How might you share how God has been with you this week?  Find out more here https://www.methodist.org.uk/christmas/

 

A time of prayer

Answering God, we pray today for all those who have unanswered questions:
we pray for refugees and displaced people,
for the homeless and those who ask
 “when shall I have a home”.

We pray for those worried about loss of work,
 shortage of money, collapse of plans, who ask:
“what happens now”?

We pray for the lonely, the scared, and the vulnerable who ask: “who can help me”

We pray for those on our own hearts at this time…..

Answering God, bring your love to these your people in need and help them to see you in their life.    AMEN

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Hymn: Listen to Singing the Faith 175

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBKzCpkXJR4

Light of the world,

you stepped down into darkness,

opened my eyes, let me see

beauty that made this heart adore you,

hope of a life spent with you.

 

      So here I am to worship,

      here I am to bow down,

      here I am to say that you're my God,

      and you're altogether lovely,

      altogether worthy,

      altogether wonderful to me.

 

King of all days

oh so highly exalted,

glorious in heaven above.

Humbly you came

to the earth you created,

all for love's sake became poor.

 

      So here I am to worship ...

 

And I'll never know how much it cost

to see my sin upon that cross.

And I'll never know how much it cost

to see my sin upon that cross.

 

      So here I am to worship ...

Tim Hughes

A prayer of blessing

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us in this week
May the love of God steer us in our actions this week
and may the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be beside us this week
AMEN

Original Materials by Pat Heynes

All Hymns reproduced under CCLi 1144191.