Brecon Beacons Pastorate

Service for 21st February 2021
If you are able to join us by Zoom at 11am, the codes are as follows;
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Call to Worship
Lenten God, we come to you at the beginning of this season:
seeking change, seeking renewal, seeking your Spirit of transformation to come amongst us.
Lenten God, come and move amongst us today, as we worship. Amen
HYMN: Great is thy faithfulness
1 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 for ever 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!
2 Summer and winter, and spring-time and harvest,
sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Chorus
3 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!
Chorus
Thomas O Chisholm (1866-1960)
Copyright © 1923, renewal 1951 Hope Publishing Company. Used by permission.
Opening prayers
Living God as we enter this Lent season we pray,
Be with us in the wildernesses of 2021.
We remember Jesus who was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness but was with God; we hold together with those going through their own wilderness experiences.
As we come to you in worship and thanksgiving,
Be with us in the wildernesses that we face each day.
As we come to pray, to sing, to reflect, and to hold silence,
Be with us in the wildernesses of not being in our buildings.
As we come, knowing that we are far from perfect and have fallen short of your glory,
Be with us in the wildernesses of our lives.
[Pause]
Thank you for your forgiveness of us, and accepting us just as we are. As we come, with responsibility and facing temptation,
Be with us in the wildernesses we see in others.
As we come, standing together with all those individuals, families and communities who have been ravaged by Covid 19 and horrendous diseases that rage around the world.
Be with us in the wildernesses of all who suffer and all who make a difference.
As we come, we your church offer you this time, and invite your Spirit to move amongst us.
Be with us in the wildernesses of all that keeps us from you.
For ourselves Lord, we hold a moment silence as we know the Lord that was with Jesus is with us here now by the power of your Spirit.
So we say together:
The words of the prayer that have been handed on from Christ…
Amen.
Genesis 9 v 8-17 (New Revised Standard Version)
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.[a] 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12 God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17 God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’
Revelation 4 v 1-12 (Contemporary English Version)
4 After this, I looked and saw a door that opened into heaven. Then the voice that had spoken to me at first and that sounded like a trumpet said, “Come up here! I will show you what must happen next.” 2 Right then the Spirit took control of me, and there in heaven I saw a throne and someone sitting on it. 3 The one who was sitting there sparkled like precious stones of jasper[a] and carnelian.[b] A rainbow that looked like an emerald[c] surrounded the throne.
4 Twenty-four other thrones were in a circle around that throne. And on each of these thrones there was an elder dressed in white clothes and wearing a gold crown. 5 Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder came out from the throne in the center of the circle. Seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne. 6 Also in front of the throne was something that looked like a glass sea, clear as crystal.
Around the throne in the center were four living creatures covered front and back with eyes. 7 The first creature was like a lion, the second one was like a bull, the third one had the face of a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and their bodies were covered with eyes. Day and night they never stopped singing,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
the all-powerful God,
who was and is
and is coming!”
9 The living creatures kept praising, honoring, and thanking the one who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever. 10 At the same time the twenty-four elders knelt down before the one sitting on the throne. And as they worshiped the one who lives forever, they placed their crowns in front of the throne and said,
11 “Our Lord and God,
you are worthy
to receive glory,
honor, and power.
You created all things,
and by your decision they are
and were created.”
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth where there had previously been chaos. The waters are then brought under control, and a separation made between earth and sea. This is important. By and large, the Israelites were not a seafaring people and therefore the fear of the waters breaking their barriers was very real. The Creator stood between them and the return of the chaos.
This brings us to the account of the flood. Many ancient cultures have a flood story usually involving a heroic figure who battles their way through the chaos to overcome the flood. Usually, the flood is instigated by the gods who human beings have displeased in some way. The Genesis version has God as judging the earth with the flood but differs in that God not only sets a limit on the duration of the flood but selects a family and gives them instructions to ensure the continuation of life after the waters have receded.
Nevertheless, the flood is an extremely traumatic event. The chaos which God has held in check has now been released and it appears to be a return to the primeval state of creation. All the gains since the beginning of time seem to have been wiped out.
We pick up the story towards the end. The waters have drained away and Noah, his family and the living creatures are able to move upon the earth again. There is a chance of a new beginning and God makes a covenant with Noah on behalf of all living beings. God’s sign of this new covenant is the rainbow in the clouds.
Some of you may know that Julie and I are very fond of rainbows. When I preached with a view at Abergavenny, we saw so many rainbows on the way back to Devon that we felt God was saying that if you get a call, it’s the right thing to do to accept it. Rainbows do not appear by demand or desire though. In a box of papers which Julie and Karen found after their mum’s death were the words to a song – ‘Look for me in rainbows’ which was played at her funeral. Since then, no matter how much we may have wanted to see one, rainbows have been at a premium.
It should go without saying but you cannot have rainbows without the rain – they are a phenomenon that requires both sunshine and water vapour. If we see rainbows as a sign of hope, they appear after a period of darkness and pain – you cannot have one without the other. The rainbow first comes to our notice in scripture after a very traumatic episode in the life of creation. To me, this suggests that joy and pain, sunshine, rain and rainbows come together as an integral part of life. Remarkably, no two people see the same rainbow in the same way as no two people experience events in quite the same way – rainbows are as unique and individual as each one of us.
The rainbow comes as a sign of hope. No matter how bad things get, no matter how dark the present may seem, the rainbow reminds us that there is a limit beyond which things will not go – although there are times when the limit seems rather too high for our liking! In Genesis, God declares that no matter how bad the world may get in the future, the reset button will not be pressed in the way that Noah has just experienced. This sets the Biblical account apart from the other flood stories where the gods grudgingly concede defeat.
For a feature which seems so significant in Genesis, you may be surprised to know that rainbows don’t appear much in the rest of the Bible. Perhaps they were so everyday, so commonplace, that they didn’t merit much mention as everyone knew what they signified. It’s only in the final book of our Scriptures, the Revelation, that they merit a mention in two places as a feature of the heavenly places. I have to say that I’m not altogether sure what their purpose is in Revelation but taking the book as a poetic vision of the end times, I take some comfort from the fact that as rainbows appear at the beginning of the Bible, they reappear at the end.
What has this got to say to us? We may not have suffered a great flood, but we are still in a global pandemic which has changed life as we know it. There is still a great deal of uncertainty about where we end up – it’s almost as if there are signs that the tide may be receding but there is still a long way to go before we reach dry land. Of course, if we’re being carried along by the current, there is no guarantee that where we land will be anywhere like where we set off from.
It is very tempting as we approach the anniversary of the first lockdown to see it in terms of a year lost. A year when we’ve been unable to meet together, sing together, eat and drink together, or even say goodbye to people who are no longer with us. However, I believe that it is a year in which we have also gained. We have stuck together in adversity and learned new ways of being church together which may give us a pointer towards the future. Some of you will feel that these gains are outweighed by the losses, but I believe that the gains are a means of showing that God still has work for us to do even in adversity.
However we may feel about the past year, we still need reassurance and hope for the future. In the same way as the rainbow is a sign that God has not given up on the earth and the human beings placed in it, there are signs that God has not given up on us and still has work for us to do.
This does not mean that everything will be perfect in the future. The only other thing that we are told about Noah is he planted a vineyard and got drunk – something that many people who have been confined to a particular space with their family may have sympathy with. Writing this on Ash Wednesday brings home our flawed humanity and sinfulness but the covenant of hope that God makes with all of creation reminds us not only that we have a God who is merciful and patient but also that we, as creatures made in the divine image, are called to live lives of mercy, patience hope and, above all, love. Amen.
HYMN: O love, that will not let me go
1 O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee:
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.
2 O Light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee:
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine's blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.
3 O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee:
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.
4 O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee:
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be.
George Matheson (1842-1886)
Prayers of intercession
We pray for the restoration of our broken relationship with the environment, Help us rediscover a covenant of care with all your creation.
For the animals we hunt to extinction,
For the forests we burn in our wilful self-destruction,
For the air we pollute with our selfish habits,
God of covenants, Lord of rainbows, lead us in your truth, and teach us your ways.
We pray for the healing of our relationships with each other, Help us to forge a humanity of love and peace,
Destroy the relationships of inequality and injustice,
Forge and nurture love and compassion in us,
God of covenants, Lord of rainbows, lead us in your truth, and teach us your ways.
We pray for those who have promised to care of, and love those who are sick:
For doctors and nurses,
We hold in your embrace those on the front line dealing with breaking bad news and supporting loved ones of all whose lives have been limited or shortened because of delayed treatments.
For care and social workers,
For chaplains and visitors.
We pray for those who care for those in our prisons,
For prison guards and probation officers,
God of covenants, Lord of rainbows, lead us in your truth, and teach us your ways
We pray for broken families, broken homes, and hostile communities.
Fulfil in their time the reassurance of your promises,
God of covenants, Lord of rainbows, lead us in your truth, and teach us.
We pray for the healing of the broken body of Christ,
Rekindle in us the zeal to share the good news.
Give us the vision to see beyond the rainbow of our horizons,
Come and dwell in us that we may go out and serve your people,
God of covenants, Lord of rainbows, lead us in your truth, and teach us your ways.
We bring these prayers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who restores us to our wholeness.
Amen.
HYMN: Rainbows are God’s promise to us
Rainbows are God’s promise to us
as they arc above the land;
reassurance when we need it
that we’re held in God’s own hand.
First to Noah, when all seemed hopeless,
colours showed across the sky;
promises from God in heaven,
humankind no more need die.
Then again in Revelation,
with God's Glory all around,
when at last in heavenly splendour,
with a rainbow all are crowned.
It needs rain, along with sunshine,
to see colours always there.
How amazing what God shows us
when we look to heaven in prayer.
It is when the world seems darkest,
the bow seems brighter up above,
asking those who know the Saviour
to be reflections of his love.
Rainbows are God’s promise to us
as they arc above the land;
reassurance when we need it
that we’re held in God’s own hand.
© JK
Blessing
People of wilderness, God bless us as we step out into the wildernesses of 2021, with the Spirit of God at our side.
People of God, be blessed as we step out into God’s world, and encounter the living God – already at work in our midst.
People of this Pastorate, be blessed as we go and be colourful people that are the church, every day, every hour, every moment, this Lent and beyond. Amen.

To listen to the service
URC audio service


You may wish to gather your bread and wine/grape juice at this point, before the service begins.
URC Daily Devotions Sunday Worship
14th February 2021

The Rev’d William Young

Introduction

Good Morning! I am William Young, formerly a URC minister, now Pastor of the Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. I am blessed and privileged to share worship with my faith family in the United Reformed Church on this Valentine’s Day and the last Sunday of Epiphany, and I bring you American greetings from our denominational affiliations: the United Church of Christ, the American Baptist Churches of the USA, and the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. I invite you now to magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt God’s name together!


Call To Worship

Come and see the grace of God,
Christ our teacher and our friend.
Come and see the son of God,
Christ our healer and salvation.
God is moving in this place.
Come and see! Come and see.

Hymn: Immortal Invisible
Walter C Smith (1867)

Immortal, invisible,
God only wise,
in light inaccessible
hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious,
the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious,
thy great name we praise.

2 Unresting, unhasting,
and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting,
thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

3: To all life Thou givest,
to both great and small;
In all life Thou livest,
the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish
as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish,
but nought changeth Thee

3 Great Father of glory,
pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee,
all veiling their sight;
all praise we would render;
O help us to see
'tis only the splendour
of light hideth thee!

Prayers of Approach, Confession and Assurance of Forgiveness

Living and Loving God we give thanks for all that You are to us and all that You have done for us. O God, you are beyond words and description, your love is beyond knowledge and explanation. You mystify us and yet You come close to us. We reflect on the many ways we have experienced you Power, Your Love, Your Mercy in our lives.

Then sings our soul, our saviour God to Thee, how great Thou art!
Yet, we confess that, like Peter, we have wanted to stay. “It’s good for us to be here. Let’s get comfortable.” We are often tempted to keep the experience of the Divine to ourselves, to enjoy the company of the saints instead of going back down the mountain to continue the work of Your Kin-dom.

Forgive us when we are complacent and comfortable with keeping the riches of your love to ourselves. Keep calling us down from our mountains of comfort. Keep expecting more of us as your
disciples. Keep reminding us to listen to your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Listen Beloved: Whether we hear a voice from the heavens or a still small voice in our hearts, listen carefully for the love of God. Believe and accept God’s love and live in God’s freedom. Thanks be to God!

Prayer of Illumination

Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept Your Word. Tune our ears and defrost our hearts. Make us a people who will hear and live Your Word. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


St Mark 9:2-10 (Common English Bible)

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, wondering, “What’s this ‘rising from the dead’?”

Hymn: Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation
Joachim Neander (1650-1680)

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him,
for He is thy health and salvation!
Come ye who hear,
brothers and sisters draw near;
praise Him in glad adoration!

2: Praise to the Lord, who o’er all
things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under his wings,
and so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen
all that is needful has been
granted in what he ordaineth

3: Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper
thy work and defend thee!
Surely his goodness and mercy
here daily attend thee;
ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
He who with love doth befriend thee!

4: Praise to the Lord!
Oh, let all that
is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises
before Him!
Let the Amen
Sound from His people again;
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Sermon

In the novel The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the protagonist, Hiram Walker, is a 19th century slave in a rundown plantation, with a peculiar gift, called “conduction”. Call it a superpower, an intuition. In Coates’ vibrant words, Conduction made the earth “fold like fabric”, and Hiram can use it to transport himself and other slaves across great distances. He can literally set others free with his gift. But in order to do it he must access the memories of his ancestors. He needs to remember his mother dancing.

Now, Hiram, can remember everything — faces, stories, facts — with photographic recall. His gift is exploited by the plantation owner who also happens to be his father. But he cannot remember his mother. And the novel is largely about Hiram’s struggle to live with his gift, and to remember what is too painful to recall.

Memory can be too painful to recall; People of African descent on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to magnify, remember and honour lives taken away by police and civilian brutality in order to gain justice. Sometimes it has seemed all for naught. However, if we learn to live with our memories they can transform our perspective. When we learn to be, as Toni Morrison said, “objects of history, not subjects within it”, we may be able to transform not only our perspective, but also the world.

Perhaps this is what Jesus had in mind When he invited Peter, James, and John up a mountain that day. Since I first heard the story in Sunday School, I have often struggled to imagine what The Transfiguration looked like. A psychedelic scene, Jesus glowing but not burning up. The word itself in Greek is metamorpho. The word means to change the outside to match the inside. To change the outward so that it matches the inward reality.

Jesus is offering to three ‘knuckleheads’ a meaningful memory, not a place to stay. We see Moses, Elijah and Jesus: The Law, the Prophets, and Mercy (Jesus) in a conversation. We see Peter, James and John where their knees should be: falling in awe and joyful wonder. Then we see Peter, James, and John where their head should not be: dreams of grandeur. Enjoying the mountain view. Pensive about going back to civilisation. But the way of Jesus is not a pit stop, it is not an insular journey.

I wonder what Peter’s proposed temple would have looked like. If it would have been anything like Abraham’s actual tomb in modern-day Hebron, it most likely would not be adorned with flashing lights from God, but with Israeli soldiers on every corner and monitored by check-points all around. Jesus knew the danger in making monuments over making meaningful memory. Peter’s proposed monument of Transfiguration would have been, like sacred places have often become, symbols of injustice in the world rather than emblems of God’s mercy.

Peter’s suggestion reminds me of what a doctor was telling me of a growing problem in her profession. “Patients enter my consulting rooms armed with a file of Googled results. They sit down, and instead of telling me their symptoms, they proceed to tell me the diagnosis of their condition and what medication they want me to prescribe!”

I hear that’s a common problem. Instead of depending on the doctors for advice, they feel their research makes them qualified to tell the trained doctor what to do and how to do it!

But thank God for our best laid plans failing so that we can gain some perspective. Their best laid plans of “Let’s build three booths up here …” is cut short by The Voice that thunders, “This is my beloved Son, LISTEN TO HIM”

Now here is something the disciples, and the church they founded, is not good at. We are unable to really listen to Jesus. We let our anxieties get in the way. Could it be that our files of Googled answers deafen us to what Jesus is really saying to the church? The disciples want to build booths and Jesus says, “Get up, shut up, stop being afraid, let’s go!”

Esther de Waal has reflected on the experience of people who visit places that completely overwhelm them, like a cathedral or a historical site—they tend to gravitate toward the various plaques and placards which dot the walls. The placards which describe this stained glass window, or that work of art. She said that people gravitate towards those things as anchors, so that they don’t emotionally and spiritually become overwhelmed.

It’s kind of the way we treat certain types of music: so many people say they “hate” classical music or jazz. What they really mean is they don’t understand it. But we have our placards that allows a little meaning to shine through, albeit superficial—the occasional advert playing a tune and we hum it in our house. It’s a defence mechanism to get us through the experience.

The problem is, of course, that if you spend most of your time with the little square plaques or allowing the “Go Compare” advert to inform you on what opera is, you miss out on the opportunity to truly experience something—something that, if you let it, might end up blessing your life, changing your life. Go Compare just does not compare to the real experience!

The story of faith, the faith of Abraham, is a story of encounters, not certainties. Messy encounters. Grace-filled, sacred, and holy encounters. Certainties can become casualties in these encounters, our static beliefs and misinformed opinions perish when the universe calls for a pause. Too many of us have learned that lesson in the past year.

God is never static, God is always moving—on the mountain one moment…and the next moment God wants you to listen on the way back to civilisation.

The beauty of the transfiguration is that Jesus does not allow the mountain to tell his story. Jesus relies on his friends, disciples, us—to tell our metamorphosis story. Because you can argue about the validity of it if you like, but 30 years after this experience, the same Peter who was misty-eyed and stupefied on the mountain is an older fellow, still telling people of that extraordinary experience and he passes it on to the early church…and to us. In the beginning of Peter’s second epistle he reminisces:

“We weren’t making up stories…we witnessed his majesty with our own eyes. He received honour and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the magnificent glory, saying, “This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. In addition, we have a most reliable prophetic word, and you would do well to pay attention to it, just as you would to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
(2 Peter 1:16-19 CEV)

But that day, they weren’t going down the mountain talking about the mountain, but about how Jesus was going to rise from death. Jesus didn’t want a temple built in his memory. Jesus does not seek to wait for a building program to complete. A tomb won’t be able to contain him. Jesus desires to dwell within us. We are the sacred place, and if the law, the prophets and mercy— if righteousness, hope and love are to live anywhere, it must be us. May it be so!

Hymn: Lord, the Light of Your Love Is Shining
Graham Kendrick © 1987 Make Way Music

Lord, the light of your love
is shining,
In the midst of the darkness, shining;
Jesus, light of the world,
shine upon us;
Set us free by the truth
you now bring us,
Shine on me, shine on me.

Shine, Jesus, shine,
Fill this land with
the Father's glory;
Blaze, Spirit, blaze,
Set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river, flow,
Flood the nations
with grace and mercy;
Send forth your word,
Lord, and let there be light!

2: As we gaze
on your kingly brightness
So our faces
display your likeness.
Ever changing
from glory to glory,
mirrored here
may our lives tell your story.
Shine on me, shine on me.

Affirmation of Faith

In Jesus of Nazareth, true humanity was realized once for all.
Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, lived among his own people and shared their needs, temptations, joys, and sorrows.
He expressed the love of God in word and deed
and became a brother to all kinds of sinful men and women.
But his complete obedience led him into conflict with his people.
His life and teaching judged their goodness,
religious aspirations, and national hopes.
Many rejected him and demanded his death. In giving himself freely for them, he took upon himself the judgment under which everyone stands convicted.
God raised him from the dead, vindicating him as Messiah and Lord.
The victim of sin became victor, and won the victory over sin and death for all.

Intercessions

Loving God, You call us down from the mountain of epiphany to notice the broken realities lived and experienced.

Hear our prayers, now, as we lift up all those who are overwhelmed in the valley. For all who are lonely, those whose relationships have been broken or who have never enjoyed the relationships they might have had; those who feel rejected by society and unsure of their worth; those feel hopelessly isolated; the homeless, the exiled, all who have no land to call home; those approaching death and grief.

Give to each one the knowledge that You are with us always, and we pray that You enrich their lives with companionship and friendship.

We lift up those who keep our world going even when plagues ravage our lands. From essential workers and medical staff, to neighbours who check up on us. We pray that lessons will be learned from this pandemic era that will provoke systemic change that will give healing and renewal to the lives of the most vulnerable and exploited, and our environment, for generations to come.

We lift up those who hold the power and wealth of nations upon their shoulders, particularly those who manage new routes for trade, security and services for people in the United Kingdom. We pray that sense, sensibility and righteousness will be the order of the day.

So much to pray for, so we pause to call out to You in silence the concerns of our own hearts…

In Your mercy, Lord, keep us living in hope and never again in fear. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Offertory

What shall we render to the Lord for all God’s benefits towards us? We shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon God’s name.

Creator, how we thank you for the capacity and the privilege of giving. We only ask that you accept us first, God, then our gifts, that they and we may be used for your honour and glory. Amen.

Communion

It was night… the meal of the Passover… It was an upper room in the city… Outside people were moving… pilgrims from other lands… travelling here for this feast… so we remember that this meal began among wanderers… refugees…

The disciples… themselves in no one’s own home… but in a strangers… themselves having been travellers for three years… and now in a country they didn’t recognise, so different it was from the Galilee… and Capernaum…

In the middle of this ark of memory is Jesus, himself a refugee, “Out of Egypt”, with no place to lay his head…
Here they gathered… refugees remembering refugees… and sharing a common… hurried meal…

The bread lay in his hands… and he tore it… and it broke into pieces… crumbs crashing to the ground in slow motion… bouncing like a shard of heaven…And he says to his friends:

“My body… broken for you all… eat of it all of you… in remembrance of me”…

And the bread was passed… broken… and continued its own migration round the table…

The cup was filled in Jesus hands… he held it up to the candle light… yet a greater light lay within in… and Jesus says to his friends:

“My blood… shed for you all… drink in this covenant… all of you… and remember me”…

And Paul said to the church in Corinth, “As often as you do this, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he returns.”

Let us pray:

Loving God, May this bread and This wine be more than they seem to be to us, yet still remain the crumbs of grain and the fermenting of grape.

And as we see those greater truths in these elements, may we recognise those same truths in the people close to us: more than they seem to be. And as we pass this bread and share this wine may we remember the cost of passing one life onto another.

May our communion be with a Saviour who is passed once more from one to another: May our great thanksgiving come in encountering The One who did nothing more holy than persist in being the traveller, the border crosser. The one who had no home no place to lay his head. Amen.

Music for Sharing
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, Sweet Honey from the Rock.

Introduction to final hymn
Our final hymn is a gift from our congregation to you, wherever you are. In the United States, the month of February is Black History Month, and African American churches (with a growing number of traditionally White American congregations in solidarity) traditionally sing the hymn that is known as our “alternative” National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing. It was written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamund Johnson over a century ago. It is about shared memory and shared responsibility—to God and to each other. It is sung for us now by the Director of Music at Covenant Baptist UCC, Mr. Aaron Myers.

Hymn: Lift every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamund Johnson

Lift ev’ry voice and sing,
‘Til earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on ’til victory is won.

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
‘Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God, True to our native land.

Blessing

We leave you with this benediction, the final words of the late John Lewis:

“Keep walking with the wind and may the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be our guide.”
And may God our Creator, our Redeemer and our Sustainer be with us and in us, today and always. Amen!


Sources and thanks

Call To Worship
Affirmation of Faith
Prayers of Approach “The Indescribable Radiance of Love”, Service Prayers for Transfiguration Sunday, was written by the Rev. Dr. David Bahr, pastor of Park Hill Congregational United Church of Christ in Denver, Colorado.
Communion Adapted from a liturgy by Rev Roddy McDowell,
New Kilpatrick Parish Church, Glasgow

Immortal Invisible - Walter C Smith (1867). Taken from BBC’s Songs of Praise.
Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation - Joachim Neander (1650-1680). Taken from the BBC’s coverage of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee service.
Lord, the Light of Your Love Is Shining - Graham Kendrick © 1987 Make Way Music. Taken from BBC’s Songs of Praise.
Lift every Voice and Sing. James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamund Johnson sung by Aaron Myers

Organ Pieces
Fugue in G Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach (organ of The Spire Church, Farnham – 2020)
Procession by Arthur Wills (organ of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice, Italy – 2014)

Both pieces played by, and received, with thanks, from Brian Cotterill http://briancotterill.webs.com

Thanks to Steve Summers, Graham Handscomb, Andy Braunston, Sue Creswell and Elizabeth Gray-King for reading various spoken parts of the service.

Thanks to Alison Jiggins, Marion Thomas, Christopher Whitehead, Christine and David Shimmin, Kath Haynes, Ray Fraser, Phil, Carys and Lythan Nevard for the Call to Worship and Affirmation of Faith.
Where words are copyright reproduced under the terms of Barrhead URC’s CCLI licence number 1064776,
Some material reprinted, and streamed, with permission under ONE LICENSE A-734713 All rights reserved.
PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762

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14th February 2021

Call to worship

We prepare ourselves for worship, once more.
We come, we open ourselves out, knowing that we must be more honest with ourselves than we are comfortable.
We come, we gather, we hold each other in prayer and love.
And we worship you, Lord God. Amen.

HYMN: Immortal, invisible
1 Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

2 Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

3 To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish, but naught changest thee.

4 Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight
all laud we would render: O help us to see
'tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.
Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908)

Prayers

We stand at the foot of the mountain, anticipating the climb with feelings of apprehension and expectation. We are not sure what we will find but we know we will experience your presence and that scares and excites us. As we climb, things get mistier for a time as we venture through the clouds, but then we reach the summit.

Dazzling God, what can we say when we experience you close to us? What words do we have when faced with your power, authority and majesty? Our prayers, songs and language cannot do you justice.

Yet you draw us here, not to condemn us but forgive us, not to restrain us but to transform us into what we are intended to be, beloved human beings bearing the image of You.

We are human, and even though we feel your presence we are still fallible and so we want to confess this. Gracious God, we ask your forgiveness

• for the times when, like Elisha we have closed our ears to the news of coming transition which we must face.
• Forgive us when we follow the example of Peter in wanting to set up memorials to encounters.
• Free us from the misconception that just because we have met You in a particular way in the past all future encounters must also follow this pattern.
• Forgive us when we are more concerned about setting up memorials to the past as a means of avoiding the transformation you call us to in the present.

Loving, forgiving God, help us to overcome our fear of the transformation which Jesus Christ, our crucified Saviour offers us and help us through your Holy Spirit to travel on with you into your future of hope, love and joy.

The Lord’s Prayer

Readings: 2 Kings 2:1-12 (New Living Translation)

2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.”
But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” So they went down together to Bethel.
3 The group of prophets from Bethel came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.”
4 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Jericho.”
But Elisha replied again, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they went on together to Jericho.
5 Then the group of prophets from Jericho came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?”
“Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.”
6 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to the Jordan River.”
But again Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you.” So they went on together.
7 Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River. 8 Then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it. The river divided, and the two of them went across on dry ground!
9 When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”
And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”
11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. 12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.
Mark 9:2-9 (New Revised Standard Version)
The Transfiguration
2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one[a] on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,[b] one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;[c] listen to him!” 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them anymore, but only Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Reflection
I wonder if I were to ask you to think of some words that begin with the letters ‘trans’ you would come up with quite a lot, off the top of my head – and yes – I know I had more time to think about it than you did! I came up with – transfigure – I hope that was obvious in light of the reading, transcend, transcript, transport, transplant, transport, transform, transpire, transexual, transact, transfer and translate. If you look in the dictionary or ask whatever search engine you use, it will provide you with hundreds of them. You may well be feeling by now, that I’ve lot the plot and what has this got to do with the readings. Bear with me!

I don’t know if you will have noticed but all of the ‘trans’ words mean a change or transition of some kind, be that in location thinking or who we are. I think that the passages from scripture are very clearly pointing us towards the future, asking what changes we can or perhaps even need to make so that we can Walk the Way – live the life of Jesus today, - to use the words of the United Reformed Church ethos.

In the text from the second books of Kings there is a change of leadership in progress, a shift in dynamics. We can observe a gap in prophetic continuity as God initiates a transfer of spiritual leadership. One era is ending but as yet the new has not begun. Everyone in the story is caught up by the implications. Much like when there is new Ministry in a pastorate the old needs to be let go of in order for the new to flourish. Such in between times give rise to theological questions too – you know – the ‘what is God playing at?’ questions. We find it difficult to align our sense of time with eternal time, the infinite Spirit with finite humanity and the nature of faithful response in the face of the unknown or unknowable.

The prophets from Bethel and those from Jericho tell Elisha twice that Elijah will be taken away, each time Elisha tells them to be quiet! I have a picture in my mind of a fully grown adult engrossed in a difficult conversation with others, this one person has their fingers in their ears, and is ‘la la la-ing’ in order not to hear what is being said, well we all know don’t we, if we don’t hear it it’s not happening, well maybe it is BUT it can’t hurt me! Can it?

Elijah appears again in the Gospel reading, which lies at the very centre of the Good News that Mark shares with us. Half way between the Baptism of Jesus, when we heard those words ‘This is my Son….’ For the first time and His resurrection when it at last begins to dawn on others who Jesus Christ really is. Here God is saying ‘Listen to Him’ – that is believe his word, which poor Peter had disputed; God is also saying that rejection, suffering, death and resurrection are all part of the Messiah’s message and that the way of the cross is integral and inescapable for all who follow him. Has it ever occurred to you that neither God or Jesus Christ ever explain why this must be so or, for that matter what cross bearing entails for non -messiahs?

I believe that if we say that we are not sure what the way of the cross is, its important to be clear about what it is not. My faith leads me to believe that it doesn’t mean that we should seek or regard suffering as some kind of spiritual good, saving or redemptive. Jesus didn’t die to purge the world of sin and evil. He died because the powers of evil sought to destroy his witness to nonviolent love, justice and truth. The Passion of Christ revealed the evilness of evil, it’s violence BUT it also revealed the transforming power of divine, powerful, assertive love that doesn’t dominate as much as challenge, expose and seek to transform it.

Sunday is of course St Valentine’s day, a day that at least the Western world has taken to represent the day of lovers, although it seems to me in later years it seems to have become a day that celebrates love for one another. As it falls on a Sunday this year we are also celebrating Racial Justice Sunday, wouldn’t it be great if we could turn our love for others to include all who are excluded because of race and of course all the many other reasons that human beings are treated unjustly. We are not called to exhibit a private, passive love that simply tries to be good or to avid evil, even if we do so for the sake of Jesus. I think that we are called to demonstrate a love that refuses to play the worlds games of dominion, exploitation, greed and deception.

The telling of the transfiguration reveals Jesus as utterly unique, not to be equated with even the greatness of spiritual men like Moses and Elijah. Yet as Mark tells us his uniqueness and divinity are not a matter of public record. These things are known only to those to whom it has been revealed. I like to think of this as pieces of a jigsaw falling into place until at last when we are ready to respond, the picture is revealed to us. It is not up to us to make Christians, that’s God’s job. It is up to us to love them into a place where they are ready for Christ to be revealed to them.

So as we continue to wrestle with the rules and regulations that might seem unnecessary, lets keep loving one another, lets keep holding each other in prayer, and lets hold the Pastorate in Gods transforming love and light that we may be transformed by it.

High on a mountain, in a moment of glorious splendour, Jesus was indeed clothed in the dazzling light of God – but only briefly and only to a select few. The Heavenly mystery was unveiled, only to be veiled again on a cross – and to be revealed again, not in the glorious light of a resurrection appearance, but in and empty tomb with a solitary human announcing his resurrection and a return to Galilee. Amen

HYMN: The Kingdom of God
1 The kingdom of God
Is justice and joy,
For Jesus restores
What sin would destroy;
God's power and glory
In Jesus we know,
And here and hereafter
The kingdom shall grow.

2 The kingdom of God
Is mercy and grace,
The prisoners are freed,
The sinners find place,
The outcast are welcomed
God's banquet to share,
And hope is awakened
In place of despair.

3 The kingdom of God
Is challenge and choice,
Believe the good news,
Repent and rejoice!
His love for us sinners
Brought Christ to his cross,
Our crisis of judgement
For gain or for loss.

4 God's kingdom is come,
The gift and the goal,
In Jesus begun,
In heaven made whole;
The heirs of the kingdom
Shall answer his call,
And all things cry glory
To God all in all!
Bryn Rees (1911-1983) © Alexander Scott

Prayers

In these uncertain times, we pray for lives undergoing change and transformation.

• We remember children and young people, parents and teachers struggling to adapt to changes and concern about the future.
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• We pray for businesses struggling with the pandemic and the aftermath of Brexit.
and politicians struggling to deal with the effects of their decisions.
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• For the chapels we belong to and the wider church, coming to terms with a different future, yet fearing for what may be lost.
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• For couples and families in lockdown trying to establish new relationships, maintain existing ones or realising that a relationship is ending.
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• For scientists and environmentalists seeking to rescue us from the changes that we have made to the earth and encouraging us to imagine a transformed and renewed creation.
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• For those mourning the death of someone, or adjusting to live with serious illness
Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come
• For anyone on our hearts and minds this morning

(Silence)

• Through our lives and by our prayers, Your kingdom come

Hear all our prayers, spoken and unspoken as we offer them in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HYMN One more step
1 One more step along the world I go,
One more step along the world I go.
From the old things to the new
Keep me travelling along with you.
And it's from the old I travel to the new.
Keep me travelling along with you.

2 Round the corners of the world I turn,
More and more about the world I learn.
All the new things that I see
You'll be looking at along with me.
Chorus

3 As I travel through the bad and good
Keep me travelling the way I should.
Where I see no way to go
You'll be telling me the way, I know.
Chorus

4 Give me courage when the world is rough,
Keep me loving though the world is tough.
Leap and sing in all I do,
Keep me travelling along with you.
Chorus

5 You are older than the world can be,
You are younger than the life in me.
Ever old and ever new,
Keep me travelling along with you.
Chorus
Sydney Carter (1915-2004) © 1971 Stainer & Bell Ltd.

Blessing
Go with the Spirit of God in your hearts.
Go and be transformed, transfigured, changed by the love of God.
Go and be catalysts of change for a world in need.
Amen.

All music copied and streamed under CCL 634229 & 138598, Calamus Licence A735906 and PRS Licence 0021369

URC Audio Service

URC Daily Devotions Sunday Worship
Sunday 7th February 2021

The Revd. Sue Fender

Introduction

Hello. My name is Sue Fender and I am the minister of the Hartlepool and Teesside URC Group. We are four diverse congregations within the Northern Synod. Hartlepool sits on the North east coast and is home to the Royal Naval museum. Stockton is renowned for its part in the development of the railways. Thornaby was built on and around an RAF base and Billingham was significant for its role in the chemical industry. All four towns have experienced significant changes over the years. Today they are all places to come and enjoy coast and countryside and to try our local delicacy, The Parmos!

Call To Worship

Come and see the grace of God,
Christ our teacher and our friend.
Come and see the son of God,
Christ our healer and salvation.
God is moving in this place.
Come and see! Come and see.

Hymn How Firm A Foundation
Unknown, 1787

How firm a foundation,
ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith
in His excellent Word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
you who unto Jesus
for refuge have fled?

2 Fear not, He is with thee,
O be not dismayed;
for He is thy God,
and will still give thee aid;
He'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
upheld by His righteous,
omnipotent hand.

3 When through the deep waters
He calls thee to go,
the rivers of grief
shall not thee overflow;
for He will be with thee,
in trouble to bless,
and sanctify to thee
thy deepest distress.

4 When through fiery trials
thy pathway shall lie,
His grace, all-sufficient,
shall be thy supply;
the flame shall not hurt thee;
His only design
thy dross to consume
and thy gold to refine.

5 The soul that on Jesus
has leaned for repose,
He will not, He cannot
desert to His foes;
that soul, though all hell
should endeavour to shake,
He never will leave;
He will never forsake.

Prayers of Approach, Confession and Assurance of Forgiveness

We come before God in prayer, let us pray;

Living God, what delight we find in your presence, what joy we find in your love for us. You call us together as your people, desiring us to live in the light of your great mercy and love. As we take time to worship you this day, ready to listen for you, wanting to hear your words for us.
We gather to sing your praise, to offer you our discipleship and to seek your forgiveness.

We give thanks for the wonders of your creation, a place for us to live and breathe, a place to find comfort and strength, a place to serve and a place to rest.

Generous God, within the beauty of your creation we see all that is good and honourable. Food for our bodies, stimulation for our minds, for your generosity knows no bounds. We thank you for the wonder of life, for the many fresh experiences each new day brings, for laughter, and for tears, for the joys and sorrows that come from loving and being loved. May we recognise your mark on all our moments, your hand in all our encounters.

You bless us with abundance, yet we confess we do not always share your generous Spirit. All too often we are selfish and greedy, placing our needs above the needs of others, placing ourselves above you.

Merciful God, you keep us in your grace, forgiving our mistakes, offering us new opportunities to serve you freed from the guilt of our past.

Renew and refresh us, offer us your mercy and grant us peace.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour
Amen

Prayer of Illumination

Lord God as we gather around our scripture readings this morning, may we find in them the words we need to hear today.
Amen

Isaiah 40 21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

Mark 1 29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Hymn Everlasting God
Brenton Brown and Ken Riley 2006

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord.
We will wait upon the Lord. We will wait upon the Lord (repeat)

Our God, You reign forever; Our hope, our strong deliverer
You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God.
You do not faint, You won't grow weary.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord…

Our God, You reign forever…

You're the defender of the weak, You comfort those in need;
You lift us up on wings like eagles

Our God, You reign forever…

You're the defender of the weak….

From everlasting to everlasting
God, you are everlasting.

Sermon

Today we are offered the opportunity to reflect on the relationship between God and humanity and are called to remember the foundations of that relationship and all that it has meant for the people of God throughout the ages.

This powerful poem from the beginning of second Isaiah, comes shortly after the well-known verses of comfort found at the beginning of the chapter, that we hear during Advent – the time when I am writing and recording this act of worship. In these verses we are invited to see the significance of God in creation and our own weakness and powerlessness reflected in it. As we wrangle with the words of Isaiah’s poetry, we find our hope, our place within the creative order and perhaps find something more of our true selves as the people of God.

We see a God who is on the side of God’s people. The God who is both above the circle of the earth and down with the people. The God who provides shelter for the grasshoppers and reduces the mighty from their thrones. The God who is with the people in the good times and the joys of life but also with the people when life is tough and when the winds have blown them off course.

I once heard this phrase, used in a different context but meaningful to me at a time in my life when I really needed to know that God was there with me and for me. At a particularly difficult time in my life I was reflecting on being named a child of God and these words were offered to me.

To be known is to be loved and to be loved is to be named.

Isaiah reminds us that we are brought out by a God who numbers us and calls us by name. That is where I found my strength and the power from within me to fight injustice and to grow in faith.

Despite all our limitations, the power of the one true God is there to be seen and heard. The stories we share, the tales we tell of the wonderful acts of God are what we are called to declare.

Have you not known, have you not heard?

For the people of Israel, these words were a call to remember. You have known and you have heard, and yet all too often you have forgotten and turned away. You have known and you have heard, there is only one God, Yahweh. It is in this God alone they should place their undivided trust, the loving and just sovereign of the universe. The days of wandering and doubt are to be left behind. It is a call to put God at the forefront of their living always. To carry these words with them in all times and all places, to remember them always.

All too often the people of Israel have found something other than Yahweh to place their hope and trust in. So the prophet calls them to remember all they have known and all they have heard of the mighty power of God; The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth!

There is no comparison between the power of God and the power of rulers and Princes. God’s word is first and last in all matters, God is the Holy One before whom they stand.

These verses from Isaiah are a powerful reminder to us today. We, like the people of Israel, time and again move from faith to doubt and doubt to faith and back again, weaving our human misunderstandings of the divine with our hope in the promises we hold dear. This is a call to remember the power of God in our lives. Do not let these foundations of our faith become withered. Take them deep into your soul where they may flourish and thrive. Forget them and they will wither and be carried away on the winds.

Mark’s Gospel doesn’t hold back on reminding us of the divine nature of Jesus Christ, God incarnate. No stories of birth, of shepherds nor angles, but straight in to give us signs and wonders of God at work in the person of Jesus. Jesus calls his disciples, heals a man with many unclean spirits and immediately we have the declaration of who Jesus is, ‘I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’

In our reading from Mark this morning we are shown the ministry of Jesus right from its start. The many healings at the home of Simon, a whole city gathered around the door watching, listening, as Jesus cured them from their illnesses and drove out the demons within. A whole city! Just think of that – even in terms of a small village today, all gathered around.

How would they respond later to the questions, have you not known, have you not heard? A whole city saw the power of God in people’s lives for themselves!

Jesus is eager to move on – to proclaim his message and to do God’s work and will in as many places as possible. His disciples might have wanted to stay in Capernaum, be with this miracle maker as he performed acts of wonder. Perhaps they were enjoying the attention they undoubtably received as friends of the great new hero in town. But Jesus knows his work is not for one town alone. He must keep on moving, sharing all that he is and all that is within him with others too.

So many of us listening today, have heard of the awesome power of our God. So many of us listening today, have known and experienced the wonders of God at work in our lives and the lives of those around us. We know, although often we fail to recognise fully, the power of God’s Spirit within us. Sometimes we are just too afraid to let go and let the Spirit of God flow in and through us.

But are still some who have not known or have not heard of God today. Sadly there are many have heard and have seen but can’t fully grasp the story is for them too so fall away. How do we take the message of God’s power, love and compassion to all people?

As the numbers of those who have known and those who have heard appear to be decreasing, we might ask, is our understanding of God declining with each generation? The stories we take for granted of this Creator God, to whom we are intimately bound are known and lived in by so few today.

The God who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in is no longer part of the experiences of many.
Yet we remain connected, in relationship with all God’s people through the ages. Too often we are like the people of Israel, questioning, unfaithful, doubting and tiresome. But our joy is that we share in the good news, that God came in human form to restore the failing relationships and to remind us that the creator God doesn’t tire of us, and God understands our failings and works with them to mould us and shape us into the people we are called to be, even still leaving us room to, for right or wrong, imprint something of ourselves into the plan.

As we work to be the people of God in our homes, churches and communities, may God give us the strength we need, to run and not be weary, to walk and not faint and to accept with joy and thanksgiving all we have known and all we have heard of our everlasting God.
Amen

Hymn Jesus Christ is Waiting
John L Bell & Graham Maule 1988

Jesus Christ is waiting,
Waiting in the streets;
No one is his neighbour,
All alone he eats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I am lonely too.
Make me, friend or stranger,
Fit to wait on you

2: Jesus Christ is raging,
Raging in the streets,
Where injustice spirals
And real hope retreats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I am angry too.
In the Kingdom’s causes
Let me rage with you.

3: Jesus Christ is healing,
Healing in the streets;
Curing those who suffer,
Touching those he greets.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I have pity too.
Let my care be active,
Healing just like you.

4: Jesus Christ is dancing,
Dancing in the streets,
Where each sign of hatred
He, with love, defeats.
Listen, Lord Jesus,
I should triumph too.
On suspicion’s graveyard
Let me dance with you.

5: Jesus Christ is calling,
calling in the streets,
”Who will join my journey?
I will guide their feet.”
Listen, Lord Jesus,
let my fears be few.
Walk one step before me;
I will follow you.

Affirmation of Faith

In Jesus of Nazareth,
true humanity was realized once for all.
Jesus, a Palestinian Jew, lived among his own people and shared their needs, temptations, joys, and sorrows.
He expressed the love of God in word and deed
and became a brother to all kinds of sinful men and women.
But his complete obedience led him into conflict with his people.
His life and teaching judged their goodness,
religious aspirations, and national hopes.
Many rejected him and demanded his death.
In giving himself freely for them, he took upon himself the judgment
under which everyone stands convicted.
God raised him from the dead,
vindicating him as Messiah and Lord.
The victim of sin became victor, and won the victory
over sin and death for all.

Intercessions

God who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in, you care for all you have made and so we turn to you now in prayer.

We pray for a world facing a humanitarian crisis through disease, war, famine and natural disasters. Lord we have so much, give us generous hearts and a desire to serve you as caring, charitable people.

We pray for those throughout the world who have endured humiliation, torture and death because of their embodiment of love, freedom and justice.

We give thanks for the continuing efforts by the church, civil governments, the United Nations and other agencies to create an enduring culture of peace.

We pray for those people who live with the hard realities of persistent poverty, hunger, malnutrition, homelessness and unemployment. Farm workers and indigenous peoples, who are endangered by the loss of their lands and livelihoods.

We give thanks for the homes in which we live, the people who designed and built it and assisted us in the buying or renting of it. We pray that our homes will reflect all that we know and experience through our faith in you and that they may be a place of welcome and hospitality to all who enter into them.

Sustaining and redeeming God you know how much we need encouragement and affirmation in our daily lives. When we are feeling low and anxious help us in imagination to hear and see the great crowd of witnesses who encourage us to do well in the things you ask of us. Make us, too, encouragers, always ready, not just to see the good in others, but to tell others that we see it in them.

We ask that you surround all those whom are ill or in mourning. Hold them gently in the palm of your hand. Help them through this time of struggle and suffering they may know your truth and promise of eternal life.

When we are weary, unable to run the race of the day and feel faint in our faith, sustain us and grant us your strength
So may love and faith and hope grow in us and in those with whom we share this journey.
Amen

Offertory

In some of our churches within the group we use the words of the first verse to Hymn 404 as our offertory prayer

Lord of all good, our gifts we bring to thee,
Use them thy holy purpose to fulfil;
Tokens of love and pledges they shall be
That our whole life is offered to thy will

Hymn Canticle of the Turning
Rory Cooney (1990) Music: Star Of The County Down (Irish Traditional Folk Song)

My soul cries out
with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
And my spirit sings
of the wondrous things
that you bring
to the one who waits.
You fixed your sight
on the servant's plight,
and my weakness
you did not spurn,
So from east to west
shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?

2: Though I am small,
my God, my all,
you work great
things in me.
And your mercy will last
from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name
puts the proud to shame,
and those who would
for you yearn,
You will show your might,
put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.

My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears,
For the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.

3: From the halls of power
to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
every tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
These are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.

4: Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God's mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror's crushing grasp.
This saving word
that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
'Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.

Blessing

May the mystery of God enfold us,
may the wisdom of God uphold us,
may the fragrance of God be around us,
may the brightness of God surround us,
may the wonder of God renew us,
may the loving of God flow through us,
may the peace of God deeply move us,
may the moving of God bring us peace.
Amen

Thanks and sources

Blessing: Words by Joy Cowley New Zealand (Hymn 95 in Alleluia Aotearoa)

Organ Pieces

Liturgical Prelude by George Oldroyd
(organ of The Spire Church, Farnham – 2020)
Toccata from Suite Gothique by Leon Boëllman
(organ of St Thomas-on-The Bourne, Farnham – 2016)

Both pieces played by, and received with thanks from Brian Cotterill http://briancotterill.webs.com

How firm a foundation: Unknown 1787. Sung by Maddy Prior.
Everlasting God: Brenton Brown and Ken Riley 2006 © Integrity Music Sung by Chris Tomlin
Jesus Christ is Waiting: John L Bell & Graham Maule 1988 © The WGWRG from the Album Songs of Iona a Celtic Celebration

Canticle of the Turning: Paraphrase of Luke 1:46-58 Rory Cooney (1990) Music: Star Of The County Down (Irish Traditional Folk Song)

Thanks to Andrew Mann-Ray, Christopher Whitehead, Morag Donaldson, Diana Cullum-Hall, Dan Morrell, Elizabeth Gray-King for reading various spoken parts of the service.

Thanks to Alison Jiggins, Marion Thomas, Christopher Whitehead, Christine and David Shimmin, Kath Haynes, Ray Fraser, Phil, Carys and Lythan Nevard for the Call to Worship and Affirmation of Faith.
Where words are copyright reproduced under the terms of Barrhead URC’s CCLI licence number 1064776,
Some material reprinted, and streamed, with permission under ONE LICENSE A-734713 All rights reserved.
PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762