Sunday service for 2nd August

Sunday service for 2nd August 

BURTON JOYCE COMMUNITY CHURCH

Service for Sunday 2^nd August 2020

This short act of worship has been prepared by Deacon Helen Snowball.  Spend a few moments with God, knowing that other people are sharing this act of worship with you

Our first hymn is from SoF 377 Love Divine, all loves excelling

Time for some prayers͙: Gracious and Loving God, We praise your name, for all your blessings to us, for your grace and mercy. The world is your creation, and all that is in it. For rushing streams, majestic mountains, and crashing seas, we give you thanks.  For all the creatures and birds, the flowers and trees, we give you thanks. For all the times you have guided us, loved us when we have not been worthy, nurtured us when we have been hurt, we give you thanks. When we fail, we let ourselves and you down. When we speak words that do not honour you, we are sorry. When we do not speak out against injustice, we are sorry.  When we do not put you at the centre of our lives, we are sorry.  Because of your love for us, we can be confident of your forgiveness.  We are loved and cherished by you, and we give you thanks that we are washed clean, and able to begin afresh. Thank you, for your gracious, pure and ceaseless love.  Amen.

Our reading is from the gospel of John 6, 1-15

Reflection: It’s not always good to share – if you‘ve got germs, keep them to yourself!  Bad news, about redundancy or closures is something we don’t want to share either!   Mostly, though, it is good to share, things like good news, sweets, chocolate - and the young boy that the disciple Andrew had found knew that. He saw a need.  He didn’t have much, but the very least he could do was share what he had with Jesus. Picture this: we know there are 5000 men here, but women and children are not counted. So we can probably double the figure to 10,000 at the very least. Imagine Jesus sitting quietly with his friends when this huge crowd of people comes towards him. Imagine that view coming towards you, like a wave of people – young men, old men, women and children, fishermen, bakers, carpenters.  Perhaps a few will be wealthy, but most will be poor.  Maybe some are ill and hoping for healing. There is now a small football stadium sized crowd of people approaching Jesus, but he doesn’t turn them away. As usual, he has compassion for them. 

There is a need for food, everyone is hungry, so Jesus tells the disciples:  feed them!  Philip is from the area, he knows that there isn’t a Sainsbury’s nearby, and anyway it would take six month’s wages to feed this crowd. He feels the situation is hopeless, thinking logically, thinking only of what he himself can do.  Andrew is a little more proactive. He comes across the youth somehow, and he takes him to Jesus. Andrew can’t fix it, but he knows a man who can!  Only the evangelist John mentions the boy, clearly like his using of the disciples names he felt it was a significant detail. This miracle could not have happened without Andrew and the boy.

Perhaps John thought the significance of the boy was the fact that he gave up all he had, or that Andrew introduced him to Christ. Without knowing what Jesus would do, the boy willingly goes with Andrew, with his lunch at the ready. We know that this large crowd has followed Jesus because of the miracles and healings they have seen, but I doubt anyone thought much could be done to feed this crowd with five loaves and two fish. Still, he goes to Jesus. Handing his food over, I wonder if he said “It’s not much, but you can have it, it’s all I have”.   How often do we say that to God?  It’s all that I have - giving everything we have over to him and trusting that we can do what is needed.  Perhaps we assume that, even with God, we are inadequate, we’re not enough. Do our feelings of inadequacy prevent us from acting?  Perhaps we don’t trust God enough to get us through difficult situations.  If God has asked us to do something, he must think we can actually do it.

We must never think that what we have is not enough for him to use.  Whatever we have, gifts, time, best intentions, give them to Christ - he’ll know how best to use them.  He’ll know how we can be used to help others to share his Good News and our resources. . God has always known what he wants from us - and he has always known what we can do.  He would never expect more from us than we can deliver.

Whatever little you may think you may have, hand it to Christ, and he will do remarkable things with it.  Amen.

Let’s sing number 72 from SoF, Come let us sing of a wonderful love

Prayers of Intercession:  

We pray for all those affected by Covid 19;  we pray for NHS and key workers.  

We pray for Governments and world leaders.

We pray for the sick and for the bereaved.  

We pray for our friends and our families, near and far.                     

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

Our final hymn is SoF 457  O worship the Lord

Blessing

May you always know the blessings of God in your life.   May you feel his loving presence surrounding you and yours.  May you always feel the light of Christ in your heart.    Amen             

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.  In the name of Christ, Amen