A short service for Sunday 27th September 2020

 A short service for Sunday 27th September 2020

BURTON JOYCE COMMUNITY CHURCH

A short service for use at home 

Sunday 27th September 2020 

Prepared for Burton Joyce Community Church by Phil Colbourn  

The hymns are chosen mostly from the church hymnbook Songs of Fellowship 

If you don't have a copy of the hymnbook at home, you can often find a video of the hymn on Youtube with the words displayed on video. Also, you can find the Bible readings online at several websites, just search for the specific chapter and verse (e.g. Exodus16, 1-15)

Spend a few moments with God knowing that others share in this time of worship with you. 

WELCOME

Our first hymn is a well-known hymn of praise

HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 466 

Praise, my soul, the king of heaven

PRAYER AND PRAISE

Praise God for a love that hears and understands

Praise God for the dawn of light from the darkness

Praise God for a surrounding with glory and grace

Praise God for the provision of all that is good. Amen

CONFESSION

We confess, O Lord, our lack of confidence [Silence]

We confess, O Lord, our failure to understand [Silence]

Blessed be God Almighty, Creator & Lord of all!

You give us life and you give us love

You give us your self in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ 

And so, we thank you with our lives. Amen

As we continue reading in Exodus, we pray that we too can learn to walk with God day by day

Our next hymn puts it very well

HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 261 

I want to walk with Jesus Christ

READING: EXODUS 17: 1-7

Water from the rock

REFLECTION

In this is our last look at Exodus this month, we have come to Meribah. 

It is not so much that they are grumbling but that their grumbling shows they do not understand. This incident is picked up in Psalm 95 among other places in the Old Testament and in Hebrews 3 & 4, with other reflections throughout the New Testament. It is key to our own walk with God, so let’s consider it carefully. (Why not check those two passages of scripture and take a few moments to think about what they say.)

The children of Israel are in the desert and have no water; they are worrying about their physical well-being, understandably. We would too, but this is the fourth time that an undercurrent of dissatisfaction has surfaced since Passover night and it shows that they still don’t get it. They don’t understand what is going on and they don’t know God well enough to feel safe. They lack confidence in God.

I am reminded of an old hymn but it is not in Songs of Fellowship so here are a few of the verses. Let’s spend a few moments reflecting on them:

Through the night of doubt and sorrow 

onward goes the pilgrim band

Singing songs of expectation, 

marching to the promised land

One the object of our journey, 

one the faith which never tires

One the earnest looking forward, 

one the hope our God inspires

One the light of God’s own presence 

o’er his ransomed people shed

Chasing far the gloom and terror, 

brightening all the path we tread

One the gladness of rejoicing 

on the far eternal shore

Where the one almighty Father 

reigns in love for evermore.

Perhaps the lesson of Meribah is that we need to see God’s bigger picture. In Ephesians 1 & 2, Paul tries to put it all into words although it is beyond words. He prays, as he writes, that his fellow Christians understand what God is doing which is nothing short of creating a whole new world order & us as part of it.

We may be hungry, thirsty, tired and fed up; we may not understand what God is doing but we can trust God all the way. This month we have learnt that God hears & answers prayer, rescues his people and protects and provides for them time after time. We can trust God. Be encouraged. God is doing a new thing. Amen

Our next hymn picks up the theme of walking with God

HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 1229 

Father, hear the prayer we offer

INTERCESSORY PRAYERS 

We pray for... 

People in the news this week

Our local community and church family
Those dear to us and those known to us

Ourselves, that we keep going and keep singing songs of expectation

And, finally, let’s join in The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father 

In our final hymn, we affirm that, although we do not always understand, we do trust God for the future

HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 205 

I cannot tell

CLOSING PRAYERS 

O Lord, we are a motley band of refugees trekking through unknown country, so lead us on, we pray, and open our eyes to see your glory. Amen

And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with us on our journey and with all those whom we love, today and always. Amen.