Sunday service for 26th July

 Sunday service for 26th July

BURTON JOYCE COMMUNITY CHURCH 26th July 2020 

With the Nottingham North East Circuit of the Methodist Church

This short act of worship has been prepared by Revd Moses Agyam for you to use at home. Spend a few moments with God, knowing others are sharing this act of worship with you. 

         Image: ‘Hurting’ © Jake Lever

We gather before an image of pain and suffering: a blasted tree, echoing the battlefields of World War One. The image also suggests the cross. Out of suffering and hurt, God is able to bring healing & life. In our worship now, we seek to open ourselves to that gift of healing, offer ourselves as part of God’s response to our hurting & suffering world. 

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship 1412

Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us 

Compassionate God, you long to bring a healing touch. In our broken world, we pray for wholeness & restoration. May we find the path of healing in the footsteps of Jesus & the power of your life-giving & liberating Spirit. Amen. 

Psalm 34:4-8 

I sought the Lord, and he answered me, 

and delivered me from all my fears.

O taste and see the LORD is good; 

happy are those who takes refuge in him! 

Reading – Romans 8:1-17 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free 

Meditate on the image above for a few minutes

Reflection: Already / Not yet

Paul often speaks about the Already / Not yet in the Christian life. We know God’s love but do not yet experience full freedom as children of God. Paul argues here that there are two solid bases for our new life as believers. The first is what God has done for us and the second is the Spirit’s work in us. 

At the heart of Paul’s message today is one of assurance: we belong to Christ in life & in death. As Methodists we know this was something John Wesley rediscovered when he had his ‘Aldersgate experience’: 

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. 

In our everyday lives, we may live with cancer or racial injustice but we long for what is ‘yet’ to come knowing whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s: 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men … he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more.  [Revelation 21, 1-5]

So, taking hold of what God has done & living in the Spirit, we struggle forward together, not in fear, but in hope, to our heavenly home. Amen. 

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship 194

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

Prayers 

We recognise: 

•       places of suffering & pain in our world and our own lives
•       the tension of ‘already/not yet’ in our lives  
•       the choices we make that bring pain to others

Compassionate God, you long for our deepest well-being. Meet our need with your healing grace. When we make poor choices, draw us back to your way. Reach out, touch us and make us whole. Amen. 

The Spirit of the living God fill you, heal you and make you whole 

Our Father 

Hymn: Songs of Fellowship 297 

Jesus, lover of my soul,

Blessing

The blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us and our closest, now and for ever. Amen.