Call to Worship
Loving God, your love is immeasurably more than we could ever understand.
Draw us deeper into the truth of your love for us and help us to reflect that love in our daily lives.
Amen.
Hymn: STF 161
Speak, O Lord, as we come to You,
To receive the food of your holy word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today,
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory.
Teach us Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes,
In the radiance of your purity.
Cause our faith to rise,
Cause our eyes to see,
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on your promises;
And by faith we’ll walk as you walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till your church is built,
And the earth is filled with your glory.
Prayer of Adoration and Praise
Almighty God, we are a mixed bunch of people, but all unique and special and with a common purpose – to worship you.
You are the bringer of good news; and the example of what true love is, giving yourself for our sakes.
You are the meaning and the motivation for how we chose to live.
You are light in the darkness that draws us on.
You are the whisper in the wind and the shout in the thunder.You are the Sprit that warms our hearts. We worship and adore you.
Bible Readings
Luke 4:21-30
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: “Physician, heal yourself!” And you will tell me, “Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.”’
24 ‘Truly I tell you,’ he continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his home town. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.’
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Reflection:
Our television screens enable us to watch amazing events, amazing people with amazing skills.
Sportsmen and women some as members of a team, others competing as individuals. Musicians, their fingers flying to and fro on an instrument, filling the air with wonderful music
Of course we know that it didn’t just happen like that. The. brilliant athlete has been training and practising hour after hour, week after week. The musician has been playing exercises, perfecting techniques for long hours out of the public eye. The word inspiring is often used to describe such talents and skills.
All their brilliant performances are the result of long, patient hard work.
Our two Bible readings can appear very different from each other – in Luke Jesus is at first warmly welcomed to his home town, but then the welcome turned to anger and he was hounded out of town. The reading from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is all about love.
When Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” It was the culmination of years of silent preparation. His life of prayer leading up to his baptism which confirmed his vocation, and then testing it in the wilderness, before at last going public with early deeds in Capernaum. Now after years of preparation he stands before his own town. He knew everyone there and they knew him. He preached like a man inspired, but he wasn’t sayng what they wanted to hear.
What was so wrong with what he said? He reminded them that God’s generosity, God’s grace—is for everybody instead of grace just for Israel and fierce judgement for everyone else.
In Corinthians Paul reminds us that we can say all the right things, and we can be deeply religious in thinking and practice, but this will count for nothing without love. Love is the greatest gift and the most enduring aspect of our life in God. This is because if God is love, it is by exercising distinctively Christian love that we are brought closest to God’s heart. Paul goes as far as saying that a life grounded in love is greater than one grounded in faith alone.
Love endures.
It’s good to remind ourselves that God loves us with a love greater than earthly love, and to remind ourselves that God doesn’t just love us, he actually loves all of his creation equally. The difference is that not all of his creation has responded to his love. He longs for it to do so.
Sometimes it can be hard to show love towards others. When I’m struggling with someone being difficult, rude or nasty to me I remind myself that God loves them just as much as he loves me. They don’t necessarily go away, but somehow it makes it easier to get along with them.
Paul reminds us that Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful, proud or rude. It doesn’t demand its own way. It isn’t irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It doesn’t rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Amen
Prayers for others:
Gracious God we bring to you our broken world, so full of injustice and exploitation, suffering and sorrow, hatred and division.
We pray for all who work for change; all who strive to bring help and healing, hope and wholeness.
Loving God bring healing and renewal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
The Lord's Prayer
Please use the version that you prefer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
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.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
STF 519
Father, I place into Your hands
the things that I cannot do.
Father, I place into Your hands
the things that I’ve been through.
Father, I place into Your hands
the way that I should go,
for I know I always can trust You
Father, I place into Your hands
my friends and family.
Father, I place into Your hands
the things that trouble me.
Father, I place into Your hands
the person I would be,
for I know I always can trust You.
Father, we love to seek Your face,
we love to hear Your voice.
Father, we love to sing Your praise,
and in Your name rejoice.
Father, we love to walk with You
and in Your presence rest,
for we know we always can trust You.
Father, I want to be with You
and do the things You do.
Father, I want to speak the words
that You are speaking too.
Father, I want to love the ones
that You will draw to You,
for I know that I am one with You.
Blessing:
Loving God, thank you for your great love for us,
love which is patient, kind, protecting and persevering.
Help us to take your love out with us this week
and show it to those who feel they are outside of your family.
Give us your heart for those who don’t yet know you.
We ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen
