11th. July. 2021.Service.
Service of Worship 11th July 2021
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Prelude: Name of all majesty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUeNwAVMHEA
Introit: Hymn 782 Lord of life we come to you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7oWxhToMd0
Collect for today
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Hymn 225 “Summer suns are glowing”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK0ToFWDr8M
Call to Prayer
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.
The world and those who live in it belong to God.
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, who is strong and mighty!
Lift up your heads and your hearts!
We will lift them up in praise!
Let us worship God in beauty and holiness.
We will offer God our steadfast love and faithfulness.,
Prayer of Adoration and Confession
Gracious God, source of life and love in all creation,
in a world marked by bitterness, you are compassion.
In a culture marked by confusion, you are light shining in the darkness.
In a time of darkness and suspicion, you are the truth that sets us free.
Your stillness is peace when we are fraught with busyness.
Your strength is comfort when we are fearful.
Your wisdom is guidance when we are lost.
For all that you are and all that you give,
God, our Maker, Christ, our Saviour,
and Spirit who leads us into life, we give you all honour, praise, and worship, now and always. Amen.
Loving God,
in a world of self-indulgence, you are generous to those in need.
In a world marked by injustice, you are in ouer conscience speaking to us.
In a world of vengeance and retribution, you are mercy and reconciliation.
Forgive our selfishness, our lack of concern for the vulnerable and our desire to settle scores rather than working things out with love and grace..
Renew us with your mercy
and strengthen our resolve to live generously with one another.
Assurance of Pardon
We hear again the good news. Who has the power to condemn? Only Christ—and Christ died for us; Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. Let us believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and set free by God’s generous grace.
Prayer for Understanding
God of Word and Wisdom, as we hear the scriptures open before us today, enlighten our minds, nurture our souls, embolden our hearts, and stir our minds, that we may live your Word in our daily lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we pray,
The Lord’s Prayer
(In the words most familiar to you)
Intimations
The minister has had to self isolate until Wednesday 14th owing to contact with a family member who has contracted Covid-19.
Invitation to the Offering
The letter to the Ephesians tells us that we have received an inheritance in Christ. God’s gifts to us in Christ and in creation allow us to be generous in response to the needs in his world. What we give to God speaks to the world of God’s generosity, as well as our own.
Prayer of Dedication
Generous God, we look around at the growth in gardens and fields this summer and trust the generosity you have placed within your creation. Bless the gifts we bring, that they too may grow in fruitfulness, and touch lives in need with your generous love, in the name of Christ, our help and our hope. Amen.
Thy kingdom come on bended knee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFzbxnMnxZc
Psalm 24
Of David. A psalm.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Saviour.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.
7 Lift up your heads, you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is he, this King of glory?
The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory. Amen
Hymn 469 “Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOSocMh4O_U
Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will – 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory. Amen.
Hymn 159 “Lord for the years”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd14v0e1RWU
Sermon
For God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time: to unite all things in him, all things in heaven and on earth.
What is that secret of the universe? That secret which the optimists among astronomers, biologists, and physicists keep hoping to find revealed in their next exciting discovery? What is this universe, its basic structure, and its inbuilt impetus to produce life, all about?
Leave that question about purpose hanging in the air for a few minutes while we turn to your own experience, and then to what an excited Paul wrote about it.
There can be times when we become so excited about some happening that words pour out in a torrent, hardly giving you time to breathe. Children often do it. Adults occasionally. I would like to think that none of us have totally suppressed the excitable child in our nature on occasions when we are capable of letting loose a joyful torrent of words.
St Paul, extremely self-disciplined person though he was, had such moments. In the opening page of his letter to the Christians in the populous city of Ephesus, he is so excited about the meaning of Christ Jesus that there is no stopping his outpouring of words. While Paul paced up and down and threw his arms in all directions, his scribe worked hectically to get it down on paper. Verses 3-15 are one mighty, poetic outpouring of wonder and joy. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for us) our English translations break this cascade of words into neat sentences, giving us places to pause and breathe.
At the heart of Paul’s excitement was his conviction that in Jesus the secret of the universe has been revealed. Not discovered by us, but disclosed by God. God had revealed the secret hidden from the beginning of time. The secret behind creation. The meaning of human history. This revelation propelled Paul to become the most intrepid missionary, and led to his imprisonment, floggings, public abuse, and finally his execution in Rome. He literally staked his life on this secret now revealed.
First of all, we need some explanations of the words which Paul uses in this lyrical outpouring of faith in his letter to the Ephesians.
First, the word “mystery.” The actual; word is ‘mysterion’. A word widely used in Paul’s day.
Among the religions of his day, “mystery” frequently described secret knowledge gained by initiation, or by learning secret pass words. Usually, a vow of silence was required of the initiate. Most of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian deities had their mysteries, revealed by priests who instructed the initiates who had first undergone often rigorous tests and trials to qualify to receive the secrets.
It was also employed in philosophy to indicate the enlightenment a thinker might gain into the true nature of life and his own being.
In everyday usage it could apply to special ointments or potions which had secret formulas known only to the healer.
Paul takes this common word ‘mysterion’ to speak of what happened in and through Christ Jesus. Mystery. Secret. The hidden truth.
Second, the phrase “as a plan for the fullness of time”. The Greek text employs the word for stewardship, “oikonomia” from which we get “economy” Thus we have “in the stewardship of the fullness of time.” It sounds a clumsy phrase to us. But behind it is the idea of a steward who manages a household, property or business. God is the manager or steward of history. And in God’s careful, loving stewardship there comes a time, the very right time, for the revealing of the unique profits to be made, through Jesus Christ.
Summarising so far:
The mystery of God’s will – the mysterion, a secret religious enlightenment, a physician’s secret ointment, or a philosopher’s flash of insight. In Christ God reveals the deepest secret.
The plan for the fullness of time – God is the steward of all things. History is not a blind journey. God’s wise stewardship secretly works through the long ages. It is finally and openly displayed in Jesus.
What is this secret of the steward God?
God’s secret purpose is “to bring together all things in Christ; things in heaven and things on earth.” It is as simple yet as remarkable as that. All things are to be brought into harmony, cohesion, friendship, community, sharing, peace, wholeness.
Paul includes the heavens. In Paul’s understanding of the heavens, there were the many upper planes of the cosmos where good and evil forces struggled for supremacy. In his eyes, Christ had a cosmic role, bringing all things together in unity. Wherever there was life and thought and being within the layers of the heavens, there Christ’s reconciling work would triumph.
Isn’t that an incredible, wonderful insight? Can you imagine it? A cosmic reconciliation? One family of God? One loving body of people? Christ had launched this new creation, and nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever stop its ultimate implementation. The secret enlightenment is now available to all the world, the sacred initiation into the hidden truth will unite all classes and races, the secret formula for the ointment is available to heal the nations.
This is that secret of the universe, which the optimists among astronomers, biologists, and physicists keep hoping to find revealed in their next big discovery. They are too late. It is already revealed.
In Christ, the secret of the universe is open. The mystery of God’s painstaking stewardship of history is unveiled. It is the gathering of all things together in unity, as through Christ people accept the grace that makes them children of God and calls them to live as one family.
Sadly, much of the world prefers the arrogance, injustice and greed that divides, denigrates, deprives and destroys.
Political parties are on about dividing us into opposing camps and then trying to make their camp the most powerful. They will employ every trick to do this, especially exploiting our anxiety and fear. Fear in the hands of the ruthless is the chief manipulative tool for division and conflict.
Nations also are busy dividing and then co-opting support for an alliance against others. Most alliances are based on fear and greed. It is in the interest of the power brokers to foster division. We have in recent times seen increasing tensions among nations and we are witnessed politicians in many countries cynically exploiting suspicion and fear to maintain their personal political clout. Even when they are out of office.
Religions, and even some Christian denominations, often employ the same tactics. Division gives power to a few. The more the membership can be made to be suspicious of other religions or denominations, the more it suits the control freaks. Sects deliberately foster misunderstanding of other denominations. Mis-information and all that! They try to indoctrinate their members with the reasons why their sect is superior to, more “right” or the only “truly saved’ ones, than all others.
Misunderstanding, suspicion, fear, division, alienation, is demonic. It runs counter to the work of Christ Jesus, that reconciling mystery which has now been openly revealed.
What is more, division is the way of waste and loss. The way of Christ is finally going to win. We may be fully assured of that! No matter how much alienation is generated, it is not the end to which all things are being driven. We are being drawn together by the God of Christ Jesus. The secret mystery of life is now open to all. God is the steward of history, and the way of inclusive love is the real future.
Do you really want to embrace that mystery? Do I really want to embrace that secret
Everything we have said so far, in response to St Paul’s outpouring of faith hope and love, can remain just abstract ideas unless we internalise the truth.
Paul preached and wrote for commitment. He wanted people to join up with Christ. Enlist with the Reconciler be united to the true strength. Are we committed?
First, are we committed to Christ Jesus? Have we thrown in our lot completely with him? Or is our religion hedged with reservations and conditions? Is he the Lord of our hearts, the great love of our lives? If not, it’s not too late to take the plunge right now.
Secondly, are sincere about being motivated by love, and practising that inclusive love which is the way of reconciliation? Is that really the way we go in family affairs, within this congregation, with other congregations and denominations, and with other races, classes and religions? As St John said, if we say we love God but do not love those around us, we are both deceived and deceivers.
What is that secret of the universe, that the optimists among astronomers, biologists, and physicists keep hoping to find revealed in their next scientific discovery? What is this universe, its basic structure, and its inbuilt impetus to produce life, all about?
There is no hidden secret any more. It is open. For God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time: to unite all things in him, all things in heaven and on earth. Ephesians 1:9-10.
We are now going to have a couple of minutes silence in which we should you to ask ourselves: “Am I with Christ or against him?” who is God’s true Child Jesus and his open secret. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Blessed are you, O God, for all your goodness to us.
In Christ, we find your love and wisdom, face to face.
By the power of your Holy Spirit, we recognize the abilities and opportunities with which you have endowed each of us that we may out to the world you love.
We thank you for all the ways friends and families, neighbours, and strangers, reach out to us and to others,
offering support and kindness or speaking up when we have to confront wrongdoing or celebrating when blessings bring healing and happiness.
Today we pray for courageous leaders in cities, countries, and congregations who work to serve with integrity and honesty in a world of greed and self-interest
We pray for people who struggle to bring justice to places where it has been compromised, and to bring about reconciliation and understanding in communities which are divided and broken.
We remember with gratitude before you quiet and reliable leaders who work faithfully who keep their word and fulfil their promises proving dependable in these unsettling times. Inspire integrity, honesty, and accountability in all who serve the well-being of our communities.
We pray for patient church members and community volunteers, who work steadily towards long-term goals that may improve the lives of our people.
And we pray for the creative, impatient change makers, who challenge us to be bolder and more determined in finding new and creative ways to serve you and each other
We pray for the troubled in mind or spirit, or the angry and unhappy, and for people who feel that every day is a struggle. Soothe their concerns and meet their needs through your faithful people.
Visit our sick folk with your healing, the dying with your peace and love and the grieving with your comfort. We pray for those who are recovering from the Covid virus and who are struggling back to better health, looking for a fresh start and life that is free from pain and discomfort. Embrace us all in your love. Reveal the fulness of your salvation and give courage and hope, healing, and grace in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord in whom we offer all our prayers, spoken and unspoken, Amen.
Hymn: O for a thousand tongues to sing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFJvBwgmK_c
Sending out and Benediction
God’s love for you is real and alive in your hearts today. Go in peace, knowing that the Lord of Love and Life is with you. Bring God’s peace to all you meet, today and all your days.
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love today and evermore. Amen.
May God’s blessing surround you each day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_3O_N49GiU
Postlude: Holy Wisdom, Lamp of Learning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZszyI7T82PM
For Children
Do you like sports? What’s your favourite sport? Are you good at it? Not everyone is, you know. Today I have a story to tell you about a boy named Thomas who was pretty bad at sports.
Thomas looked up from his book as his teacher announced to his class, “It’s time for recess–we’re going to play softball. Jacob, you and Mary will be the team captains today.”
“Oh no!” Thomas thought to himself, “If Jacob and Mary are choosing their teams, I’ll probably be one of the last ones chosen, as usual.” As he stood with the other children on the playground, Thomas tried to pretend it didn’t bother him when the other children were chosen, one by one, and he was left behind. But the truth was, it really hurt his feelings. “I wish, just once I could be the first one chosen,” Thomas whispered to himself.
I hope this hasn’t ever happened to you, but the truth is that it’s happened to most of us at one point or another. Surely there must be a better way to choose teams. Does anyone have any ideas about how to make the process better? I have an idea! What if we just have everyone number off 1-2-1-2-1-2? All of the ones could be on one team and all of the twos on the other. This way, no one is the last one chosen.
Our Bible lesson today is about being chosen to be in God’s family. Would you like to be in God’s family? The good news is the way Thomas’ classmates chose teammates is not how God chooses His family. God chooses everyone who accepts Jesus as their saviour. The Bible tells us that before He even made the world, God loved us and chose us–He already knew who would choose to accept Jesus. Anyone and everyone can be in God’s family by placing their faith in Jesus. God welcomes and wants everyone!
When we confess our sin and put our trust in Jesus, we become God’s adopted children, and He makes everything work out according to His plan for us. I am so glad that God chose me to be a part of His family.
How does it make you feel that God wants you to be part of His family
Dear God, thank You for choosing us and for sending Your Son so that we can choose to be a part of Your family. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.