Worship

 

Opening Prayer

Holy God,
we gather with people in every time and place   to worship you.
Grant us the assurance that you are with us
      and join us all together by your Spirit.
Amen.

Hymn: StF 117 “Sing praise to God who reigns above” [selected verses]

Sing/ Read /pray /proclaim the words or listen to it here

Sing praise to God who reigns above (StF 117) (methodist.org.uk)

 

Sing praise to God who reigns above,

the God of all creation,

the God of power, the God of love,

the God of our salvation;

with healing balm my soul he fills,

and every faithless murmur stills:

to God all praise and glory!

 

What God's almighty power has made

that will he ever cherish,

and will, unfailing, soon and late,

with loving-kindness nourish;

and where he rules in kingly might

there all is just and all is right:

to God all praise and glory!

 

The Lord is never far away,

but, through all grief distressing,

an ever-present help and stay,

our peace, and joy, and blessing;

as with a mother's tender hand,

he leads his own, his chosen band:

to God all praise and glory!

 

O you who name Christ's holy name,

give God all praise and glory:

O you who own his power, proclaim

aloud the wondrous story.

Cast each false idol from its throne:

the Lord is God, and he alone:

to God all praise and glory!

Johann Jakob Schuetz (1640-1690), Frances Elizabeth Cox (1812-1897) and Honor Mary Thwaites (1914-1993)

 

Let us join with one heart and mind to give God praise and glory.

 

Let us pray

To the God-in-community, we praise you. We are held in your palm and connected within your great company.
To the God of undiminished light, we praise you that in the depths of our night, you are light.
To the God of infinite love, we praise you that all love is sourced in your fathomless depth.
To you, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, we offer our praise to your glory.
Amen.

 

Today’s Reading from the Hebrew Bible: Micah 4:1-8

Today’s Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:1-12

Time to Reflect

I wonder what emotions Remembrance Sunday stirs in you. Perhaps pride of the service and sacrifice of a family member. Grief for a life cut short and opportunities missed. Lament that we perpetuate war as a way of trying to solve conflict even though we often commit ourselves to “never again.”

Our readings today remind us that God dreams of a day when guns of killing will be refashioned into tools to tend the earth and Jesus had a word of blessing for the peacemakers who will be the children of God.

Images that suggest that war is not God’s ideal but a symbol of how our stubbornness and pride, our pursuit of power takes us away from God’s ideals. But more than that, they are images of a hope that can be realised when we commit to live in peace and always pursue peace.

What are the metaphorical, or literal, weapons you can re-fashion into gardening tools? Only when we do that is there is a chance of “never again.”

Take a time to sit quietly

A time of prayer

For our prayers, we invite you to read quietly the words o Marjorie Dobson’s hymn: By a monument of marble (StF 131)
 

By a monument of marble,
or a simple wooden cross,
here we gather to remember
sacrifice and tragic loss.
Blood-red poppy petals flutter,
each a symbol for a life,
drifting in a crimson curtain,
shadow of our constant strife.

Hold a silence to remember all who have died because of war

Solemn silence now surrounds us
as we stand in memory.
Why must factions stir up conflict?
This eternal mystery
troubles hearts and stirs the conscience,
urges us to think again;
face the curse of confrontation,
yet reduce this searing pain.

 

For the sound of war still thunders
through our planet, on this day.
Every hour new victims suffer,
even as we meet to pray.
God, we need your help and guidance
in our constant search for peace.
Move us on to new solutions
as we pray that wars may cease.

Marjorie Dobson (b. 1940)

The Lord’s Prayer

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 debts as we
forgive our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine
is the kingdom, the power, and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.

Hymn: Listen to Beauty for brokenness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08utbDFP9AE

or sing a verse of a hymn that comes to mind

 

Beauty for brokenness,
hope for despair,
Lord, in your suffering world
this is our prayer.
Bread for the children,
justice, joy, peace,
sunrise to sunset,
your kingdom increase!

Shelter for fragile lives,
cures for their ills,
work for all people,
trade for their skills;
land for the dispossessed,
rights for the weak,
voices to plead the cause
of those who can't speak.

     God of the poor,
    friend of the weak,
    give us compassion we pray:
    melt our cold hearts,
    let tears fall like rain;
    come, change our love
    from a spark to a flame.

Refuge from cruel wars,
havens from fear,
cities for sanctuary,
freedoms to share.
Peace to the killing-fields,
scorched earth to green,
Christ for the bitterness,
his cross for the pain.

 

Rest for the ravaged earth,
oceans and streams
plundered and poisoned —
our future, our dreams.
Lord, end our madness,
carelessness, greed;
make us content with
the things that we need.

 

     Refrain

 

Lighten our darkness,
breathe on this flame
until your justice burns
brightly again;
until the nations
learn of your ways,
seek your salvation
and bring you their praise.

 

        Refrain

Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)

A prayer of blessing

May the peace-pursuing God be gracious to us
and bless us,
and make God’s face to shine upon us.
Amen.

Original Materials by Christopher J Collins
All  Hymns reproduced under CCLi 1144191.  Local Churches please insert CCCLi No here 3382 / 761 

For more worship resources see The Bible (methodist.org.uk) Singing the Faith Plus (methodist.org.uk)