Welcome: –

Call to Worship 

(from Psalm 85: 8 to 11 and 13) 

“I am listening to what the Lord God is saying: He promises peace to us, His own People,

He promises salvation to all who turn to Him and trust in Him.

Surely, He is ready to save those who honour Him, and His saving presence will remain in our Land.

Love and faithfulness will meet: righteousness and peace will embrace.

Humanity’s loyalty will reach up from Earth, and God’s righteousness will look down from Heaven.

Righteousness will go before the Lord and prepare the path for Him.”

 Comment on the Call to Worship:

The righteousness of God, (which embraces the saving will of God in all of its aspects) evokes the faithfulness and faith of Humanity.  The hope of salvation for Humanity is based solely on God’s grace; for, truly, God Himself gives what is good.  It is God who bridges the abyss which Humanity experiences in our separation from God, because of God’s judgement upon our sin.  (A Weiser in The Psalms p574) 

  The righteousness of God is grounded upon His absolute adherence to His pledged Word and His declared purpose to demonstrate His steadfast love to all sinners by offering the means for the forgiveness of sin, to bring harmony between Himself and Humanity through providing the forgiveness of sin, and, flowing on from this reconciled relationship between God and Humanity, to bring new life into Heaven and Earth.  (Leslie McCaw & Alec Motyer in Psalms in the New Bible Commentary p504) 

  This is the God to whom we have gathered here today to offer our praise and worship.  This is the God who demonstrates His saving will to each of us individually.  This is the God whose steadfast love contrasts so sharply with our inadequate love for Him.

  Let us rejoice in God who loves us.  Let us listen to God who brings words of peace and reassurance to us.

Prayer of Praise    

Jesus, Son of God, radiance of the Father,

To you belongs our sole allegiance

And our everlasting gratitude.

When our World was ripe for despair,

With our uprooted hopes lying fruitless around us,

You came to us, you shared our dust

And planted a true vine which shall ever be fruitful.

While proud and cultured leaders

Chased philosophical fashions and created scribal absurdities,

You told unforgettable parables

About farmers, and servants, and wedding parties,

Seeding the furrows of History

With a potent Word bearing a harvest

Too vast for all the silos of the World.

In the terrible time of your trial and execution,

When Humanity attained its worst ‘hour’,

You hung on that awful cross

Bearing on your tortured shoulders the sins of the whole World,

Until, in the gathering darkness you knew that the task was done

And the act of reconciliation had begun.

In the light of that first Easter dawn

While Disciples in whispers passed their despair one to another,

You arose at the call of the Father,

Bringing light, warming hearts with inextinguishable joy,

And rehabilitating doubters and deniers

With a love that overpowers those

who oppose the purpose and will of God.

Jesus, the word made flesh,

Jesus, friend of sinners,

Reconciler of the whole Universe,

The resurrection and the life,

Heaven and Earth are full of your glory!

Our allegiance and praise are yours for ever.  Amen.

  (from Jesus in Australian Psalms by Bruce Prewer p16 & 17) 

We sing 2 songs:

The first song is: “Praise the Name of Jesus” (from Communion Songbook page 42)

Roy Hicks

The second song is: Open my eyes that I may see”  (from Communion Songbook page 54)

lara Scott and Phil Perkins

Prayer of Confession   

We look around us and find it hard to accept that you could love this World of yours,

Wherever you look, its peoples smoulder with rebellion against you,

The compassion and concern for which you seek to colour the lives of individuals and Nations is missing,

Wherever we look there is a tangle of suffering, there is no clear path that leads to anything better.

Our World shudders with injustice and oppression, hatred and greed spawn the agonies of hostility and war.

All the efforts of noble people bear poor fruit,

Prophets, seers and poets die unfulfilled,

Politicians are reduced to cynicism or pursue the promises of corruption,

Commerce and Business and Industry serve only the rich and not the poor,

Scientific discoveries are manipulated by those who wield power and control so as to satisfy their greed and pride.

We seek to blame you for letting all this evil and suffering take place,

We keep asking why you have created the potential for greed and neglect to proliferate,

We seek to blame you for allowing the conditions for injustice and starvation to occur,

We keep asking why you have not created us to be better people.

It is then that we realise that that is why you have created us,

You have placed in us a yearning for a better World, but we lack the motivation and the ability to do that,

We lack the desire to be reverent in your presence, to submit to your authority and will for us,

And, so, we reap the harvest of broken promises and broken relationships.

But in Jesus you have provided the hope for forgiveness and renewal,

In Jesus we see our faults and our needs,

We repent of the part we have played in the World’s rebellion against you,

We repent of the part we have played in not loving you or our neighbour,

We repent of our error in looking elsewhere for meaning and purpose,

We repent of our error in depending upon our strengths and abilities,

When all along our first step should have been to humble ourselves before you.

Transform our lives into renewed discipleship,

Give us joy where once there was only despair,

Give us hope where once there was only failure,

Lead us into your new Creation,

That in us the World may glimpse your mercy and grace.  Amen.

  (from Rebellion in Australian Psalms by Bruce Prewer p54 & 55) 

Assurance of Forgiveness 

(from Colossians 2: 13b) 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Colossae, reiterating the message of hope that he had preached to them:

“God has now brought you to life with Christ.  God forgave us all our sins.”

Let us take assurance from these words, that, having confessed our sins before God, He is faithful to His promise to hear our prayers and to respond with forgiveness of our sins and with a reconciled relationship.

Thanks be to God.

Prayer of illumination 

(from Uniting in Worship Book 1 number 13 & 14 p599)  

  Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to be guided by your Word and the Holy Spirit, that in your light we may perceive your mercy and grace, that in your truth we may find freedom, and that in your will we may discover peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Bible Readings

Hosea 2:

21  And God said:

“At that time I will answer the prayers of my People Israel,

I will make rain fall on the Earth,

22  And the earth will produce grain and grapes and olives.

23  I will establish my People in the Land and make them prosper.

I will show love to those who were called, ‘Unloved.’,

And to those who were called ‘Not-my-People’,

I will say, ‘You are my People.”,

And they will answer, ‘You are our God.’”

Romans 9:

24  For we are the People God called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles.  25  This is what He says in the Book of Hosea:

“The People who were not mine I will call ‘My People.’

The Nation that I did not love I will call, ‘My Beloved.’  (Hosea 2: 23) 

26  And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my People.’,

There they will be called the sons of the living God.”  (Hosea 1: 10) 

30  So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with Him through faith;  31  while God’s People, who were seeking a Law that would put them right with God, did not find it.  32  And why not?  Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did.  And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone”  33  that the Scriptures speak of:

“Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble,

A rock that will make them fall.

But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”  (Isaiah 28: 16) 

Colossians 2:

8  See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of Human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by people and from the ruling spirits of the Universe, and not from Christ.  9  For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity,  10  and you have been given full life in union with him.  He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.

13  You were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were Gentiles without the Law.  But God has now brought you to life with Christ.  God forgave us all our sins;  14  He cancelled the unfavourable record of our debts with its binding rules and did away with it completely by nailing it to the cross.  15  And on that cross Christ freed himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; he made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in his victory procession.

16  So, let no one make rules about what you eat or drink, or about holy days or the New Moon Festival, or the Sabbath.  17  All such things are only a shadow of things in the future; the reality is Christ.

18  Do not allow yourselves to be condemned by anyone who claims to be superior because of special visions and who insists on false humility and the worship of angels.  For no reason at all, such a person is all puffed upby his human way of thinking  19  and has stopped holding on to Christ, who is the head of the body.  Under Christ’s control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.

[Today’s English Version]

This is the Word of God.

Praise to you Almighty God.

Luke 11:

1  One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he had finished, one of his Disciples said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray, just as john taught his disciples.”

2  Jesus said to them,

“When you pray, say this:

‘Father,

May you holy name be honoured,

May your Kingdom come.

3  Give us day by day the food we need.

4  Forgive us our sins,

For we forgive everyone who does us wrong.

And do not bring us to hard testing.’”

[Today’s English Version]

This is the Gospel of our Lord.

Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Passing the Peace

We are one in fellowship and in worship of our God, whether we gather together in the Church building on Sunday morning or whether we worship in the ‘digital sphere’.  It is important that we recognise that, together, we remain one in Christ Jesus.  With that thought, let us uplift our hands and greet those both here and in their homes: May the peace of God be with you all.

And also with you.

We sing the Hymn: ‘Ye servants of God’  TiS215  AHB144  MHB426

Charles Wesley

Sermon

Screen 1

‘nostalgia’ is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense and the past perfect

  Someone once said that “‘nostalgia’ is like a grammar lesson: you find the present tense and the past perfect”  (The United Church Observer quoted in Reader’s Digest Quotable Quotes 1997 p34)  Perfection is something after which that many people seek.  Some claim to have found it in the skin moisturiser they use.  Some claim to have found it in their favourite holiday destination.  Some claim to have found it in their pet cat.  ?!  (Pause and think about it a little.)  

Screen 2

  If you were a collector of coins or stamps, the value of a coin or stamp increases as its quality increases.  And, if it is in ‘mint condition’, then it would achieve its maximum value.  [holding up the coin]  Now, here is a coin that I can honestly say is in ‘mint condition’.  Kerry purchased it as a souvenir for me from the British Antarctic Base of Port Lockroy, located on the Antarctic Peninsula.

  Now, if each of us looks in a mirror we quickly realise that none of us are in ‘mint condition’; we are all marred, we all have our own imperfections.  Those of us who don’t wear make-up find this out a lot quicker.  Some of these imperfections are inherited.  I have what my family calls the ‘Wallace Nose’.  I and a few of my cousins have the same shape of nose as our shared maternal grandmother.  In fact, it is said that the ‘Wallace Nose’ ‘runs’ in the family.   ?!  (Pause and think about it a little.)  

  When the Apostle Paul was writing to the Church in Colossae he was not interested in the way they looked in a mirror nor with the shape of their nose, but he was concerned with the shape of their souls.  For he wrote “you were at one time spiritually dead because of your sins”.  (Colossians 2: 13a)  Later, he made reference to “the unfavourable record of (their) debts towards God”.  (Colossians 2: 14a)  Their moral and spiritual imperfections had made them unacceptable to God, out of reach of fellowship with God; their sins had earned them the condemnation by God.  So, what were they to do to get themselves out of this unfavourable situation?

  They could, of course, deny that God exists.  Phillip Adams, the columnist and social commentator does, often writing about “the fairy stories of faith”.  (Weekend Australian Magazine June 18-19, p42)  Deny the very existence of God and you relieve yourself of your obligations to Him.  Deny your obligations to God and you deny your obligation to live according to His will and to His precepts.

  But, how can you truly and totally be certain that God does not exist if you cannot totally explain how the stars were set in their specific places in the Universe, or if you cannot explain how the Law of Gravity, that keeps a star in its place, was determined and fixed.  The writer of Psalm 8 stated that you only have to look at the night sky to know that God exists, for you will see the moon and the stars that God has made and has set in their places.  (Psalm 8: 3 & 4)  In the same manner, the writer of Psalm 19 writes:

“How clearly the sky reveals God’s glory!  How plainly it show what He has done!”  (Psalm 19: 1) 

  So, following the understandings which these Psalmist have gained, how can one deny that God exists, how can one deny our need to seek to relate to God the Creator?

Screen 3

‘the moon and the stars that God has made and has set in their places’  (Psalm 8: 3 & 4)

   If the believers at Colossae were Jews, they would have seen themselves as acceptable to God solely because of their racial and cultural background.  Being a Jew, one of God’s chosen people, they deemed themselves accepted by God so long as they obeyed the Jewish Law and offered the regular sacrifices.  Yet, we are told that this was not enough.

  The Old Testament Prophet, Micah, once asked the question: “What shall I bring to the Lord, the God of Heaven, when I come to worship him?  Shall I bring the best calves to burn as offerings to him?  Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him 1000s of sheep or endless streams of olive oil?”  And the answer Micah gives is “no”.  (Micah 6: 6 – 8a) 

  A rich young ruler once approached Jesus asking what he needed to do to “receive eternal life”.  Jesus replies by, firstly, referring to the need to follow the Commandments.  The young man replies, “Ever since I was a child I have obeyed all of these Commandments”, implying that he had fulfilled all of the requirements according to the Law.  And we note how Jesus then says, “There is still one more thing you need to do”, put his trust in God over and above his dependence upon his wealth and status and comfortable lifestyle.  (Luke 18: 18 – 23)  Simply obeying the Jewish Law and complying with the sacrificial requirements was not enough. 

  The Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, warned of simply trusting in our attendance of worship to put us right with God, for he writes, “The Lord said, “These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else.  Their religion is nothing but Human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized”.”  (Isaiah 29: 13) 

  The Apostle Paul warns of seeking to be put right with God by obedience to rules about what you are to eat or drink, or with compliance to rules regarding so called Holy Days or sacred Festivals.  (Colossians 2: 16)  Furthermore, Paul writes, pay no attention to people who claim to have been enlightened through special visions or through visitations by angels, to the extent that they claim to have a superior understanding about what God requires of us, or about how or who we are to worship.  (Colossians 2: 18a)  All such talk, Paul says, is nothing but Human way of thinking, and does not inform us of what is right and true worship of God.

Screen 4

Human way of thinking does not inform us of what is right and true worship of God

(Colossians 2: 18)

  Could we not do something ourselves to earn forgiveness from God, such as by good works or by living a good life?  There is a story of a small boy who had been playing in the back yard of his home and then comes inside.  His Mother stops him and asks, “What’s that on your right hand?”  The small boy looks at his hand and says, “Oh, it’s just some mud.”  “Well,” his mother continues, “how are you going to get it clean?”  “That’s easy” says the son, ”I’ll just wipe it off with my clean hand.”  The only problem with this plan is that one dirty hand plus one clean hand equals two dirty hands.  Many people, seeing the wrongs in their lives, think that they can make themselves clean by doing something good or by balancing it with the good in their lives.  But it doesn’t work like that.  To be made morally and spiritually clean is something that we can never do by ourselves.  (from Need for Salvation in 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Teaching p315) 

Screen 5

To be made morally and spiritually clean is something that we can never do by ourselves.

  Another story concerns a servant who was asked to open a door.  There was a keyhole but no handle.  Not having the key, the servant chooses to push on the door with all his might, but to no avail.  Another servant comes along.  He has the key, takes it out, inserts it into the keyhole and turns it, unlocking the door, and opening it readily and easily.  It is the same with us.  Those who seek to be saved by works are like the first servant, uselessly pushing against the door of Heaven.  Faith is the key that opens the door and lets us enter so readily; faith in Jesus Christ is the key.  (from Works and Salvation in 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Teaching p319) 

  Paul clearly states, “the reality is Christ”.  (Colossians 2: 17b)  All of these other considerations have no substance.  The only solution with real and solid substance is to be found in Jesus Christ.  Paul explains, “God has brought you to life with Christ   God has forgiven us of all of our sins   He has cancelled our debt to Him”.  (Colossians 2: 13b & 14a) 

Screen 6

‘God has brought you to life with Christ’  (Colossians 2: 13) 

  For Paul, true life is inseparable from a right relationship with God.  The problem, as he explains, is our debt to God, the legacy of our sins.  Paul uses the metaphor of an IOU, a statement of debt, to explain this.  The only hope for us is for someone to cancel this debt.  Paul uses the imagery of God nailing this statement of debt onto the cross, an illustration saying that the death of Jesus Christ is the basis of God’s forgiveness of the sin of Humanity.  The power of sin is defeated, and God triumphantly marches in a public spectacle to highlight His victory over sin and death.  (Colossians 2: 15)  (from Colossians by Donald Guthrie in the New Bible Commentary p1147) 

Screen 7

‘It passes knowledge, that dear love of Thine’  TiS230  AHB172  MHB436

  In a short while we will sing the hymn, “It passes knowledge, that dear love of Thine” (TiS230  AHB172  MHB436)  The first verse talks of God’s love “in all its breadth and length, its height and depth”.

  We see this emphasised in today’s passage from Hosea, where we read God saying:

“I will show love to those who were called, ‘Unloved.’,

And to those who were called ‘Not-my-People’,

I will say, ‘You are my People’.”,

And they will answer, ‘You are our God.’”  (Hosea 2: 23) 

Screen 8

“to those who were called ‘Not-my-People’,

I will say, ‘You are my People’”  (Hosea 2: 23) 

  Hosea was writing at a time when the history of the Nation of Israel was an “unsettled time and sin was rampant”, when the People of Israel were “unfaithful to their Covenant with God”.  (Roy Jensen in The Book of the Twelve p21 & 22)  But, “the dominant note of Hosea’s message is the appeal of the love of God” for His People, that God “will ransom and redeem” the very ones who had turned away from Him and will “restore (them) to Himself”.  (Roy Jensen in The Book of the Twelve p25)  There is the added emphasis that this eternal and inexhaustible love of God is also an all-inclusive love, for God is say through Hosea that, at some point in the future, His love will extend to those who are not of the Nation of Israel, that He will redeem all of Humanity so as to restore all people to a right relationship with Him.

  Paul refers to this passage in his letter to the Church in Rome, when he writes that God’s love extends beyond the Jews to those who aren’t Jews, the “Gentiles”:

“So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with Him through faith.”  (Romans 9: 30) 

Screen 9

“put right with God through faith”  (Romans 9: 30) 

  We are included in the ‘Gentiles’ about whom Paul writes.  We have been “put right with God”, not because we have achieved ‘perfection’, not because we deserve it, not because we have earned it, not because we have worked for it, not because it is a reward to us for having been brought up in the Church, or for having worshipped god the right way.  We have been “put right with God” because He loves us to the extent of offering His son, Jesus, as our substitute; that “on the cross”, Jesus took upon himself the punishment that we deserved for our rebellion against the authority and love of Almighty God.  (Colossians 2: 15) 

  We have been “put right with God” through “our faith’ in the saving work of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  (Romans 9: 30 & John 12: 32) 

  May we readily and always respond to the love of God for us.  May we readily accept God’s offer of forgiveness and life.  May we not seek an alternative to Jesus Christ, but rejoice in the freedom that is ours through his sacrifice on the cross.  May we submit ourselves to God as our Lord and Saviour.  May we be truthful and honest to ourselves and to God when we pray to God saying “May your holy name be honoured, may your Kingdom come.”  (Luke 11: 2b)  .  Amen.

We sing the hymn:’It passes knowledge, that dear love of Thine”  TiS230  AHB172  MHB436

Mary Shekleton

Offering

Offering Prayer:   

“For the life that you have given”  TiS774 

[This YouTube clip is for another hymn so disregard the words – only the one verse is needed.]

For the life that you have given,

For the love in Christ made known,

With these fruits of time and labour,

With these gifts that are your own:

Here we offer, Lord, our praises;

Heart and mind and strength we bring;

Give us grace to love and serve you,

Living what we pray and sing.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Prayers for Others

Loving God, knowing your love for all of Humanity, especially your compassion for the needy, we come to you with our cares and our concerns.

We pray for the Church, that, like Abraham, we may grow in our friendship with you and honestly present our needs to you each day.

We pray for the grace to be ministers of reconciliation, that we may witness to your mercy by offering forgiveness to one another and by seeking forgiveness when we have injured someone.

We pray for persistence in prayer, that the Spirit will teach us how to authentically express our deepest needs to you in prayer and give us strength never to grow tired of calling upon you for assistance.

We pray for a deeper appreciation of our baptism: that we may recognize the great gift of our new life in Christ and faithfully live as your daughters and sons.

We pray for a renewal of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that you will refresh and deepen the gift of the Spirit who has been poured out into our hearts so that we may be dynamic instruments of your love.

We pray for all who are facing trial and difficulty, that your Spirit will strengthen the hearts of all Christians who are imprisoned or persecuted for their faith and fill them with courage.

We pray that we may make your Reign a priority in our lives and open our hearts to seeking your will first in all our activities.

We pray for all who need daily bread, that you will open new opportunities for them to access food and touch the hearts of all who have an abundance to share more freely.

We pray for all who are burdened with guilt, that your love will free them and bring them to the confidence that they are loved and all their sins are forgiven.

We pray for all who strive to help the poor and the forgotten of society, that you will strengthen them as they plead and call for justice for your children.

We pray for all who are fleeing violence, that you will lead them on their journey, protect them from harm and help them find a new home where they can grow and contribute to the common good.

We pray for healing of racism and prejudice, that all people may look upon one another as sisters and brothers and work for the betterment of one another.

We pray for Government leaders, that you will guide them in addressing the issues of inflation, violence, and the care of Creation so that all may live in safety, find housing, and have food.

We pray for health and healing, that you will curtail the new Coronavirus variants, heal those who are ill, and protect the elderly and very young from the virus.

We pray for peace, that you will turn hearts away from violence, bring an end to warfare in Ukraine and Syria, and protect the vulnerable from harm.

Copyright © 2022. Joe Milner. All rights reserved.<br> Permission is hereby granted to reproduce for personal or parish use.  https://liturgy.slu.edu/

  Loving God, we pray for the people of Djibouti and Somalia. 

We are thankful for the beauty of Creation and resources from lands and sea.  We are thankful for the stable governance and economic development that Djibouti has experienced in recent years.  We are thankful for the many ways churches and humanitarian organizations have prayed for and responded to the needs in Somalia.

We pray for the protection of natural resources and coastal land.  We pray for an end to hunger, violence, crime and conflict in Somalia, for effective reconciliation and peace-building.  We pray for stable governments that further the common good for all the people.  We pray for those who have fled this area that they may be welcomed in new homelands.

You who give sustenance to your creatures, O God,
Put water for us in the nipples of rain!  

You who poured water into oceans, O God,
Make this land of ours fertile again!  

Accepter of penance, who are wealthy, O God,
Gather water in rivers whose beds have run dry!  

You who are glorious, truly bounteous, O God,
Our cries have undone us, grant a shower of rain!  

You who are clement, truly worshipped, O God,
Milk water for beasts which are stricken with thirst!  

Creator of nature who made all things, O God,
Transmute our ruin to blessing and good!  

We have done much remembrance, O God who remembers,
Loosen upon us rain from the clouds!  

You who are merciful and compassionate, O God,
Milk rain from the sky for those in need!  

You who are truthful, Creator, O God,
We accept in submission whatever you say!  

You who mete out good and evil, O God,
In this land we are broken, milk the clouds from above!  

The earth and the sky you constructed, O God,
We cannot get water, bring forth drops of rain!  

The darkness of night you transfigure, O God,
And make daylight follow; milk the sky lavishly!  

You who open all and give sustenance, O God,
People have scattered; send forth healthy rain!  

Almighty, perfector of counsels, O God,
Pour for us rain which would make the land wet!  

You who are bounteous, the protector, O God,
We cannot survive drought, send us rain from your store!  

You who drive the air which sways the trees, O God,
It is you whom we praised, grant us the goodness of rain!  

You who are worshipped and answer prayers, O God,
Make the rain spread over the whole of the land!  

Bestower of victories, benefactor, O God,
Bring us faultless rain which makes us dwell where it falls!  

You who are one and are trusted, O God,
Provider of all, give water to your people!  

You who spark off lightning from clouds you have loaded, O God,
It is you who have power over rain which satisfies abundantly!  

You who fill water-holes dug in wadis, O God,
Milk rain on this land, cream-giving rain!  

You who used to relieve the strangest plights, O God,
It is to you that I have turned for help!

(Somali, Somalia. Heart of Prayer, comp. Anthony Gittins, CSSp, Collins, 1985. Used with permission.)

Djibouti, Somalia | World Council of Churches (oikoumene.org)

  Loving God, we pray for the work of The Leprosy Mission Denmark as they support different community-based rehabilitation projects, where people affected by leprosy and persons with disability receive support to set up groups that run saving schemes, finance support, and advocacy skills development.  We pray for the effective and long-term support for leprosy treatment work at the Danish-Bangladesh Leprosy Mission Hospital in Nilphamari, where hospital treatment, research and case finding are taking place.  We pray for the success of the project for vulnerable and abused women in Bangladesh.

  (The Leprosy Mission Prayer Diary 2022) 

  Loving God, we pray for the success of the Women in Ministry project which supports women in the Pacific to study theology and seek ordination, equipping them for leadership in the Church and community.  We pray that those women who have chosen to undertake tertiary study may find the encouragement and guidance that they need to complete their studies.

  We pray that the holy spirit may work through the Methodist Church Sri Lanka (MCSL), as it calls for people to refrain from violence and called on leaders to facilitate a swift return to electoral democracy during this current period of tension and social and economic unrest.   We pray for the success of their centre, Deaf Link, as it seeks to provide access to education for children with disabilities and occupational training to adults with disabilities.

Women in Ministry Update May 2022

Reaching the most vulnerable in Sri Lanka

We pray for the Religious Instruction classes at Bland Hills State School, that the Holy Spirit is working through their efforts to reach the hearts and minds of the children.  Please guide and encourage these who lead RI, as they prepare their lessons and present the Gospel to their classes. 

We pray for Kylie Conomos, the chaplain at Bald Hills State School, that you are encouraging her as she seeks to bring comfort to children, families and staff in their times of need.  Please direct the local churches in the Bald Hills area, in ways that they can support the work of the chaplain at the school.

We thank you for Jillian and her work with the Church Council and the people of the Congregation to clarify our vision and mission goals as your people in the Bald Hills area.  We pray for your blessing on the deliberations of those on Church Council as they continue to consider how the Congregation is to move forward in the future.

Loving God, we bring these prayers to you, trusting in your compassion and care.  To your glory we pray.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done, on Earth as it is 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 forever.  Amen.

We sing the Hymn ‘He will hide me’  (from Alexander’s Enlarged Hymn Book number 96  Alexanders Hymn Book no. 3 number 172)

Mary Sevross

Benediction  (from Invocations and Benedictions p135) 

God sent forth His Word so that we may hear His will.  God sent forth His Light so that we may see His way.  God sent forth His Spirit so that we may be empowered to follow.  God sends us forward into the World to bear witness to His everlasting love and grace.

And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you always.  Amen.

Benediction Song

“Now to him who loves us saves us”  TiS771

(only the one verse is needed)

Now to him who loved us, gave us

Every pledge that love could give,

Freely shed his blood to save us,

Gave his life that we might live,

Be the Kingdom

And dominion

And the glory evermore.

Samuel Miller Waring