BURTON JOYCE COMMUNITY CHURCH
A short service for use at home:
Sunday 8th November 2020
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. Search for the specific chapter and verse (e.g. Exodus16, 1-15)
Prepared by Phil Colbourn. Prayers adapted from Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, 2018.Take time to sit quietly with God as we share in fellowship together through this time of worship.
WELCOME
Today is Remembrance Sunday
November pierces with its bleak remembrance
Of all the bitterness and waste of war;
Our silence tries but fails to make a semblance
Of that lost peace they thought worth fighting for,
Our silence seethes instead with wraiths and whispers
And all the restless rumours of new wars,
For shells are falling round our vespers,
No moment is unscarred, there is no pause…
(From Malcolm Guite, Sounding the Seasons, seventy sonnets for the Christian year. Canterbury Press 2012. Altered.)
After a moment’s silence, we lift hearts and voices in our opening hymn:
HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 307
Jesus, the name high over all
PRAYER AND PRAISE
Praise and glory to the Lord who leads his people out of darkness
We bless you, O Lord, that your love is new every morning
We bless you that you are making all things new. Amen
HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 27
As the deer pants for the water
CONFESSION
Let us confess to God the sins and shortcomings of the world; its selfishness & pride, its greed, evil distortions and hatreds and let us confess our share in what is wrong, and our failure to seek and establish the peace that God wills for all peoples.
Almighty God, Heavenly Father,
have mercy upon us. Amen
HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 821
Into the darkness of this world
READINGS: Ephesians: 2, 1; 4, 17-32 and 5, 8
Isaiah: 2, 1-5
REFLECTION:
Today we remember those who died in war, and why they died.
Ever-living God, we remember the dead of many wars; bring justice to all and establish harmony among the nations, in and for our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
In the same way as scientists have to isolate the Covid-19 virus before a remedy can be found, we have to identify the problem if we are to be free of it. War is a symptom but the problem is deeper. Things keep going wrong. Why is this? There is a principle at work undermining all our best efforts. Paul calls it sin.
Teach us the way of peace, a peace that is strong, firm and brave: healing wounds, facing truth, understanding and generous to all. Amen
Things don’t have to be like this. God has provided a remedy. There is a way to change things for good. We can make a difference. It is the way of peace.
May the memory of those who died inspire our service to the living;
May the memory of the past move us to build a future of peace. Amen
God gives us a new path. The Bible describes it as going from darkness into light. In Jesus, suddenly, it all makes sense. So, Paul says: Walk in the light.
HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 977
Peace, perfect peace in this dark world of sin
INTERCESSORY PRAYERS
From all fear and prejudice, bitterness, and all hardness of heart,
Good Lord, deliver us.
From the desire to dominate and to impose our will
Good Lord, deliver us.
Open our hearts towards our neighbour and help us to work together for the common good. Strengthen us to stand together for what is just and right.
Bring release to those who have abiding memories of hurt and injury and bring comfort all who mourn and to all who call upon you in their distress.
Guide the leaders of the nations and those who work for peace; make us all subject to Christ’s just and gentle rule.
Lord, hear us and help us. Amen
Together, we say The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father …
HYMN: Songs of Fellowship 902 Lord of all hopefulness
CLOSING PRAYERS
May the blessing of God of Peace, Father, Son & Holy Spirit, be with us and all people everywhere, now, today, tomorrow and for evermore. Amen
ADDITIONAL HYMNS 1
If peace remains our purpose
If peace remains our purpose, what wisdom we shall need
to meet a world so broken with healing word and deed!
We dare not claim the high ground; we all need truth and grace
to humble our pretensions and claim a servant’s place.
With new and fearsome evils in every shifting scene,
we feel dismayed and tarnished and no-one’s hands are clean.
The lies that would deceive us divide us as we pray;
yet still we cry for answers to blow the fog away.
Where all is pain and darkness and certainties are rare,
our one unfailing watchword shall be, ’The Lord is here!’
For in our seeming chaos he has not lost control,
nor yet withdrawn his presence nor moved the Kingdom’s goal.
For Jesus says, ‘Be perfect and raise your eyes above’;
our Father is our pattern for justice and for love.
If we love God, each other, and neighbours far and near,
no enemy shall goad us to hatred or to fear.
Yes, peace is still our purpose, non-violence our creed,
and costly love, the programme that meets all human need.
Come, Holy Spirit, guide us! The empty cross still stands,
and Christ, in risen glory, the hope of all the lands.
Revd Christopher Idle 2017 (Anglican Priest & APF Member) Metre: 76 76D
Tune: Pinhoe by Sue Gilmurray, would also suit Aurelia
Published by the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship 2018. Registered Charity 209610
ADDITIONAL HYMNS 2
It is God who hold the nations
It is God who hold the nations in the hollow of his hand;
It is God whose light is shining in the darkness of the land;
It is God who builds his City on the Rock and not on sand:
May the living God be praised!
It is God whose purpose summons us to use the present hour;
Who recalls us to our senses when a nation's life turns sour;
In the discipline of freedom, we shall know his saving power:
May the living God be praised!
When a thankful nation, looking back, has cause to celebrate
Those who win our admiration by their service to the state;
When self-giving is a measure of the greatness of the great:
May the living God be praised!
God reminds us every sunrise that the world is ours on lease -
For the sake of life tomorrow, may our love for it increase;
May all races live together, share its riches, be at peace:
May the living God be praised!
Fred Pratt Green. Words © 1976
To the tune Glory, Glory, Halleluiah!
Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188
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