The service can be downloaded and printed using the PDF link at the top of the page

Note:       The hymn numbers are from “Singing the Faith” the current hymnbook of the Methodist Church, you will need to look them up if your Church uses a different book.  I have also put links into YouTube for the hymns, my choice might not be yours, so by all means look for alternatives.

Bible Reading:                   Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16
In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame;
deliver me in your righteousness.
Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
Since you are my rock and my fortress,  for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,  for you are my refuge.
Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God

My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies,
from those who pursue me.
Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love

Hymn 628:                           Faithful one, so unchanging Watch on Youtube

Prayers  
Wondrous God
We are blessed that we can come together to praise you despite the restrictions and difficulties in our lives.
We come together to worship you and give you thanks. We celebrate our life together as your people.
In a moment of silence, we share with you the things we want to give praise and thanks for today.

Moment of silence

Thank you for this delicate but awe-inspiring world we live in; for the opportunities in the world to respond to your call.

Thank you for a world which is full of diversity, where there are many opportunities to worship you and to serve you and those we meet in different ways.

Help us not to use their differences as excuses to build walls that divide. Help us to see each difference as a rainbow of hope and as a pattern where each colour is linked and bound together by your unending love.

Forgive us, loving God, when we do not accept the diversity of the world; when we forget that we are all your people, loved equally and known to you by name.

Forgive us for our foolishness and our thoughtless use of the gifts of your creation,

Lord, have mercy.

For our neglect of you, and our failure to care for others,

Christ, have mercy.

For our selfishness in prayer and our carelessness in worship,

Lord, have mercy.

Moment of silence

Here is good news for all who put their trust in Christ.  Jesus says: ‘Your sins are forgiven.’

Amen. Thanks be to God

Bible Reading                     Acts 7: 55-60
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep

I can remember a time when the Church I attended would sing Christmas Carols outside the co-op in our village, I was a teenager at the time and hated this one hour a year in my life, why? Because was it a very public declaration of my faith.

Stephen nailed his colours to the mast and spoke out for his faith, his biggest risk went far beyond the mockery of schoolmates, his public declaration of faith cost him his life in a very painful way, yet even at the last, he seized the opportunity of his own death to proclaim his love for God and to pray for the forgiveness of those who caused his pain.

Consider:

• Times in your own life when your faith has cost you dearly, maybe not the point that Stephen had to face, but which tested your calling
• Have there been times in your own life when the actions of others have hurt you, if you didn’t forgive them at the time, ask for God’s strength to forgive them now.  This might be very difficult for some people and the time might not be right, that’s OK.

Hymn 349:                           I am not skilled to understand Watch on Youtube

                                                This hymn is new to me, the video clip has more verses than our hymnbook, please read the words if you don’t know the tune.

Epistle                                   1 Peter 2: 2-10
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”  and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

I often struggle with bouts of insecurity, believing that other preachers are better informed than I, more eloquent and challenging in their preaching, chose better hymns than I do and am far more in tune with congregations than I am.  At times, I look at ministerial colleagues and believe that they are better ministers than I am, better Church leaders, better pastors and more creative thinkers and in the end I put this down to the strength of faith others have and the poverty of my own faith.

That said, I believe that these words of Peter can give us all confidence, he reminds us that we are all: –

• Chosen by God and precious in his sight.
• Living stones, who, like Peter are the foundations of the Church
• Called to lead people out of darkness into the light

We might all feel insecure at times, inadequate compared to others and the least in the Kingdom of God, yet in his letter Peter reminds us of these wonderful truths.

Consider:            

• Are there times in your life when you feel inadequate for the tasks you believe God is calling you to do?
• On such occasions is your natural reaction to call upon the power of the Sprit of God to help you in your times of need.
• How do you show your appreciation for the gifts God is giving you through other people?

Prayer

God our Saviour,

We pray for those who feel hopeless that they may hear your good news and be freed from their anguish.

Silence

We pray for those who have had their expectation of hope torn away, for those who feel discarded and deceived.

Silence

We pray that the Church will stand together with those who are suffering, working for acceptance and peace.

Silence

We pray for those who are beginning to hope, those who dare to dream of a better tomorrow.

Silence

We pray for all affected during this Covid-19 pandemic. We pray for those who are poor, sick, homeless, lonely, imprisoned, weighed down and powerless.

Silence

May your love reach them and may we all stand together. May your Church reach out to those in need, so that all may come to give thanks to you, and celebrate together.

Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father ……

Hymn 677:                           Christ is made the sure foundation Watch on Youtube

Gospel:                                John 14: 1-14
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it

I’ve never been the kind of person who is happy with uncertainty.  I like to think that I am an optimist, who can recognise the positive aspects of most situations, consequently I have to confess that the current situation concerns me greatly and makes me feel uncomfortable, not least because I am making decisions on a daily basis that will affect the Church, potentially for years to come against a background of complete uncertainty.

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus is prepring his disciples for a time when their lives and their faith in him would be tested to the uttermost, a time when they would do amazing work for God and face opposition that could cause them pain and suffering.  He gives them words of assurance that they would be given power to work in ways that they could not currently imagine.

These are familiar words from scripture and as Stephen faced angry crowds armed with stones, he might well remember the first aposles sharing this great truth with him and he knew that he was now going to the place God had prepared for him.  Maybe he remebered the words of Peter, reminding him, that despite the hated of men, he was precious in God’s sight and he was one of the stones on which the Church of Christ was built.

Consider

• The signs you have seen in recent weeks that remind you of God’s glory.
• Appreciate and give thanks for the ways God is able to make use of your time and talents during this time, always recognising that we are all richly valued in his sight.

Hymn 346:                           Christ is the world’s light, Christ and none other Watch on Youtube

Prayer                                  A prayer of blessing

God the Father, by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead, strengthen us to walk with him in his risen life; and may almighty God bless us, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.