Worship at Home
Worship for the Week Beginning 29th August 2021
To listen to the sermon and a hymn dial
01604 266000.
Sunday 29th August
Local Preacher Linda Leathersich has prepared this week’s message
This short act of worship is for use from home. Please use this service whenever you like during the week.
Pause to settle yourself in God’s presence, knowing that other people are sharing in worship with you.
Download other Resources
© ROOTS for Churches Ltd www.rootsontheweb.com. Reproduced with permission.
Call to Worship
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.
Jesus said that this is the greatest commandment.
And so we join together now to worship God.
STF 158 - Lord you sometimes speak in wonders
Lord you sometimes speak in wonders,
Unmistakable and clear,
Mighty signs that show your presence,
Overcoming doubt and fear.
O Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders.
Lord you sometimes speak in whispers,
Still and small and scarcely heard;
Only those who want to listen
Catch the all-important word.
O Lord, you sometimes speak in whispers.
Lord you sometimes speak in silence,
Through our loud and noisy day;
We can know and trust you better
When we quietly wait and pray.
O Lord, you sometimes speak in silence.
Lord, you often speak in Scripture,
Words that summon from the page,
Shown and taught us by your Spirit
With fresh light for very age.
O Lord, you often speak in Scripture.
Lord, you always speak in Jesus,
Always new yet still the same;
Teach us now more of our Saviour
Make our lives display his Name.
O Lord, you always speak in Jesus.
Prayer
Loving Lord, we ask that you will be close to us at this time, help us to put aside all that distracts us from putting you at the centre of our thoughts. We are here to worship you and we ask that you will let your love be in the praise we offer and in the words we share that our worship may bring joy and peace.
Merciful God, we confess to you that we have not loved you with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; And that we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves.
Help us to be truly sorry for the times we have let you down and to know in our hearts the joy of your forgiveness.
We give you thanks, loving Father that you have created us to love and serve you and to love and serve each other.
You know us, every hair of our head, every thought of our mind, every aspect of our character – nothing hidden from your gaze. Inside out and back to front, you know each of us intimately, and yearn that we might know you too.
You know us and still you love us and for that we offer our thanks and praise.
We bring our prayers in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Bible Reading
That which defiles
7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’
6 He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
‘“These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.”
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Message:
We seem to live in a world where people are always looking to catch someone doing something wrong! Jesus was quite used to that as well as we heard in our reading. He was challenged for allowing his disciples to eat with unwashed hands – “unclean” hands – something that we can all appreciate after many months of HANDS/FACE/SPACE , we know the importance of good hygiene.
For The Pharisees it was about ceremonial cleanness not just hygiene. The Law said you washed your hands before any meal and between courses as well, you should do it in a special way, if you didn’t you were guilty of bad manners and would be unclean in the sight of God – according to the Law.
The Law for a Jew meant 2 things – most important the 10 commandments given to Moses; and the first 5 books of the OT known as the Pentateuch. However the scribes and legal experts had decided that the moral principles in the 5 books were not sufficiently clear, so they set about making thousands of little rules to cover every action and situation in life. These rules were passed down to each generation and were known as the “oral” law.
The Law was the essence of the Jewish religion – observing it would please God, breaking it was a sin.
Not what Jesus believed, when he was challenged, he said that obeying and loving God wasn’t about ritual and rules but was about what is in our hearts. Observing the Law but having bad thoughts in our hearts and minds is paying lip-service to God but wasn’t pleasing to him.
Jesus said that God looked at the heart and it was what was there that impressed him. He said that the greatest commandment was to love God and our neighbour – this fulfils all the Law of Moses.
Jesus said that as God had made everything, nothing we put into our bodies could make us unclean, it is what comes out of us that makes us unclean. Our minds are powerful things, if we fill them with bad thoughts, evil comes out of us, when we fill them with positive, good things like God’s words, we will change not only ourselves, but, we will change life for others as we show God’s love in the world.
What do people see when they look at us? Do we practice what we preach? Does God’s love fill our hearts and overspill into our actions? Let’s make sure that we don’t just play lip-service to God but carry out his will each day.
Prayers of Intercession
Heavenly Father we bring now our concerns knowing that you will hear us.
Healing God, reach out to our broken world, bring closer the day when our divisions will be overcome, our differences put aside and our fear ended – a time when we will live in peace together, help us to think generously, deal gently and love all.
Loving God, hear our prayer for the sick and those who care for them – let’s pause and name in our hearts those we love who are ill at this time. Lord support them through family and friends, the skill of medical staff and your loving touch.
Merciful God, we know that appearances matter to a point, but you call us to action rather than ornamental discipleship, to a faith that makes a difference.
Save us from paying lip-service to our faith, fill us with your love so that we may be pleasing in your sight and useful in your service.
Faithful God, thank you that wherever we are, wherever we go, your love is with us to the ends of the earth.
We pray in the name of Jesus and bring our prayers together as we say the prayer that Jesus taught us.
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 161: Speak, O Lord, as we come to you
Speak, O Lord, as we come to you
to receive the food of your holy word.
Take your truth, plant it deep in us;
shape and fashion us in your likeness,
that the light of Christ might be seen today
in our acts of love and deeds of faith
Speak, O Lord, and fulfil in us
all your purposes, for your glory.
Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
in the radiance of your purity.
Cause our faith to rise,
cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
let their truth prevail over unbelief.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
help us grasp the heights of your plans for us. Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
that will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on your promises,
and by faith we’ll walk as you walk with us.
Speak O Lord till your Church is built
and the earth is filled with your glory.
Blessing:
Send us out Lord, with your law written on our hearts, send us out to live your gospel. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.
Amen.
Service prepared by Linda Leathersich
Webpage: Paul Deakin