Church at Home w:c 200621 … · Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by...
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Welcome to Church at Home June 21st, 2020 This is the day, this is the week, that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Prayer for Today Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth: send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you. Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. from Matthew ch.10 [To his disciples, Jesus said,] “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. “If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” PSALM 8 “Lord, our Master, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels, and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea. Lord, our Master, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” HYMN Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not, As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided— Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness ... Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Great is Thy faithfulness ... Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960)
Transcript of Church at Home w:c 200621 … · Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, Morning by...
Welcome toChurch at Home June 21st, 2020
This is the day, this is the week, that the Lord has made;Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Prayer for Today Lord, you have taught usthat all our doings without love are nothing worth:send your Holy Spiritand pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,the true bond of peace and of all virtues,without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you,in the unity of the Holy Spirit,one God, now and for ever.
from Matthew ch.10[To his disciples, Jesus said,] “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters.
“If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.
“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
PSALM 8“Lord, our Master, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies,to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels, and crowned them with glory and honour. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea.Lord, our Master,how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
HYMN Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,There is no shadow of turning with Thee;Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not,As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.Great is Thy faithfulness,Great is Thy faithfulness,Morning by morning new mercies I see;All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,Join with all nature in manifold witnessTo Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness ...
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! Great is Thy faithfulness ...
Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960)
from Acts ch.4[Luke writes:]All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means ‘son of encouragement’), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
And Paul, in Romans ch 12, writes, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
SOME PRAYERS FOR THE WEEK
PRAYER AT DAY’S START
O Lord our Heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, Who has safely brought us to the beginning of this day, Defend us today with you mighty power; And grant that this day we fall into no sin, Neither run into any kind of danger, But that all we do may be ordered by your governance, Doing always what is right in your sight; Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
FOR NATIONS AND PEOPLES Look with mercy, Lord, upon the peoples of this world.We are so full of both pride and confusion,so sure of our righteousnessand so deeply involved in unrighteousness;so confident of our power,and so imprisoned by our fears of one another.Look with mercy, Lord.(From a German Christian, WW2)
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY We are not people of fear: we are people of courage. We do not protect our own safety, we protect the safety of our neighbours. We are not people of greed, we are people of generosity. We are your people, O God, giving and loving, wherever we are, wherever you call whatever it costs, for as long as it takes. (Barbara Glasson, President, Methodist Conference, adapted)
AT DAY’S END Lighten our darkness, we beseech you O Lord,And by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night,For the love of you our only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
‘I believe ... in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church ...
(Nicene Creed)
As seen in Acts chapter 4, the Kingdom of God is neither capitalist nor communist. The believers owned private property, but they were generous with it. Worryingly radical! But wonderfully attractive?
Can I pray ...
‘I ask you Lord, to help me let go of anything I own which owns me. Help me to see where it could bless someone else more than it blesses me.’
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Worryingly radical! But wonderfully attractive? And I read the first reading again (Matthew ch.10) and found it to be - especially in the first and last paragraphs - almost a commentary on the picture of the early church seen in the 4th ch. of Acts. How does all this strike you?
Pros and cons of a church like that
?
