Worship at Home
Worship for 7th March 2021
Kingsley Park Anniversary
To listen to the sermon and a hymn dial
01604 266000.
Sunday 7th March 10:30 AM
(or whenever you wish)
This week’s message has been prepared by Rev Romeo Pedro.
This short act of worship is for use from home. Pause to settle yourself in God’s presence, knowing that other people are sharing in worship with you.
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© ROOTS for Churches Ltd www.rootsontheweb.com. Reproduced with permission.
Call to Worship
As one and as many,
come and celebrate the love of God.
In psalms and hymns, sing out your praise.
In silence and words, offer your prayers.
Come, celebrate the love of God.
Amen.
StF 15: The splendour of the King
The splendour of a King,
clothed in majesty;
Let all the earth rejoice. (repeat)
He wraps himself in light
And darkness tries to hide,
And trembles at His voice (repeat)
How great is our God, sing with me,
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God.
Age to age He stands,
And time is in His hands;
Beginning and the end. (repeat)
The Godhead, Three in One,
Father, Spirit, Son
The Lion and the Lamb. (repeat)
We look back with gratitude
We praise you and give you thanks, O God, our Creator! We give thanks specifically today for the life and witness of Joseph Mallard, a Local Preacher from Gold Street Methodist Church (part of Queensgrove today), who had the vision and worked with others to plant a church at Kingsley Park.
Thank you for 136 years, in which you have nurtured and fed us at Kingsley Park Methodist Church. For 136 years, you have shown us your grace. For 136 years, you have given yourself in Word and Sacrament. For 136 years, you have empowered us with your Holy Spirit. For 136 years, you have made us your witnesses in the world. For 136 years, you have placed us in loving fellowship with one another. We praise you for 136 years of worship on the corner of Milton Street and Kettering Road! And we praise you for your presence with this circuit of churches throughout generations, worshipping you and witnessing about you in this part of your world.
Amen.
We say that we are sorry…
We know your perfect love, but we are not perfect people.
We have looked at other churches; and envied their buildings, their worship, their activities and their fellowship. Help us to walk in our own path and be ourselves, as you would have us.
We have looked at other Christians and believe that because they are different, they are wrong. Help us to see the work of the Spirit in every church and be prepared to learn from their experience of Christ.
We have not valued or used the gifts of everyone in our churches and have prevented some from playing their part. Help us to become a community where all feel welcome and each one can contribute to the good of us all.
We have acted as though the future of the church was more important than the coming of your Reign. Help us to share your priorities and teach us to take risks in our church life.
We have planned our worship to make us feel good rather than open ourselves to the awesome power of your self-giving love. Forgive us. In all things, help us to become more Christlike.
Amen.
Please listen to the song "Imela"
Bible Reading
19 ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’
21 ‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Romeo reflects:
In a Methodist Way of Life we commit ourselves to worship, and in this week we will concentrate on the second commitment: “We will worship with others regularly”. We believe that worship has a twofold intention: first, adoration and praise, and, second, our transformation by the grace and power of God.
If anyone knew what it was like to be worn out by life, and rejected by neighbours, it was the Samaritan woman in today’s reading. We do not know the reasons for her sexual history. But, we can be sure, since she came to the well at the one time when no one else was supposed to be there, that she did not have a good relationship with her neighbours. With all of this rejection and pain, the encounter with Jesus must have felt quite threatening at first. But, this soon changed.
God’s Spirit lives within us and will empower and inspire us if we open our hearts and lives to the Spirit’s influence. Some questions to consider: Why do we come to worship? How has worshipping regularly strengthened your faith?
But, we are also called to be carriers of God’s living water to those around us. We can only imagine what a difference this experience must have made to her life from that moment on, but we know that the entire village came to faith in Jesus. This may have been the preparation for the Samaritan revival that is mentioned in the book of Acts.
Secondly, we commit ourselves to worshipping with others. The followers of Jesus are called to be a community of believers, a faithful people, and to make disciples of all nations (see Matthew 28:19 and 1 Peter 2:9-10). The Samaritan/Jewish conflict so dominated the woman’s perspective that her words to Jesus (v20) contain no reference to who is being worshipped. True worship, Jesus says, is no longer defined by place, but as worship “in spirit and in truth” (vv23-24). This does not point to to an internal, spiritualised worship, but to a form of worship that reflects and is shaped by the character of God, as revealed in Jesus (unconditional love, grace, inclusion, justice…). Around us are others who also need the living water, and we have a responsibility to share it with them, irrespective of who they are. It means that we can simply accept and love them, as Jesus did with this woman, and through our welcome bring healing and refreshment to their hearts.
Archbishop Rowan Williams, writing about Holy Communion, reminds us that we are there because God invites us, and we should remember that this obliges us to see the person next to us as wanted by God. God desires that person’s company as well as our own. Some questions to consider: Did the Covid-19 pandemic make us reappraise our commitment to community? How diverse is the community with whom you worship? How far do our own traditions and prejudices affect our form of worship? What can you do to let your worship reflect something of God’s character?
We look to the future
Loving God, in our worship and witness, empower us with your Spirit that we might proclaim your Gospel to all people. Break down those prejudices and barriers which divide us, and make us all one in your Son, Jesus Christ. Grant that we may continually grow in the Spirit and in the ministry that you give us as members of your royal priesthood, the priesthood of all believers, so that we may carry out our mission of service and love. Continue to comfort, heal, and lift up the broken and afflicted among us. By the promise of your presence, bring us your healing love. Loving God, draw our hearts to you, guide our minds, fill our imaginations and make us wholly yours. Use us as you will, to the glory of your holy name and the welfare of all your people.
Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Please use the version that you prefer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
StF 57: Let all the world in every corner sing.
Let all the world in every corner sing:
my God and King!
The heavens are not too high,
his praise may thither fly;
the earth is not too low,
his praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing:
my God and King!
Let all the world in every corner sing:
my God and King!
The Church with psalms must shout,
no door can keep them out;
but above all, the heart
must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing:
my God and King!
Final Prayer from Finding the Way
Gracious God, thank you for your extraordinary love shown to us in Jesus.
Help us to live each moment of each day in gratitude, loving those around us and witnessing to the ways of your kingdom.
Refresh us continually in the power of the Holy Spirit to be people of the Way.
Amen.
Service prepared by Rev Romeo Pedro
Webpage: Paul Deakin