Worship for 27th June 2021
Prepared by Rev. Jane Cassidy
Given a New Life
Call to worship from Psalm 30
“Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; Give thanks to his holy name.”
May the words we read today live in our hearts and minds and lives.
Hymn: StF 88 Joachim Neander (1650-80) Tr. Catherine Winkworth (1827-78) and Rupert E. Davies (1909- ) v. 3 Watch on Youtube
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him,
for he is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Brothers and sisters, draw near,
Praise him in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord,
who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely his goodness
and mercy here daily attend thee:
Ponder anew
What the Almighty can do,
Who with his love doth befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord,
who doth nourish thy life and restore thee,
Fitting thee well for
the tasks that are ever before thee,
Then to thy need
He like a mother doth speed,
Spreading the wings of grace o’er thee.
Praise to the Lord,
who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless
do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth his light,
Chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with his mercy surrounding.
Praise to the Lord!
O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath,
come now with praises before him!
Let the amen
Sound from his people again:
Gladly for aye we adore him.
A prayer of confession and assurance of grace
God calls us in our lives to take a risk, to be like the woman in the gospel who reaches out to Jesus for healing for herself; or the father who risks the scorn of others to bring Jesus to his dying daughter.
Let us ponder for a moment the places in our lives where we may resist turning to God for healing and change.
We are sorry for the times when we resist your call to open our hearts to allow the freshness of your grace to enter:
When we close our eyes to your new and unexpected possibilities of healing and reconciliation.
When we let fear overwhelm us, and cling to the security of what we know instead of risking new steps toward your freedom and justice:
God’s mercies are fresh every morning. In Christ God offers forgiving grace and welcome into a community of trust, abundance, and hope.
Let us give thanks for the mercy of God. Amen
Scripture : Mark 5 : 21 – 43
Reflection
Two famous stories, which fit neatly within each other. Jairus’s daughter is 12 years old – on the cusp of womanhood – but falls into a deathly sleep, just like Sleeping Beauty instead of walking bravely into adulthood. The woman who Jesus encounters on the way would love to move on to the next stage of her life but 12 years ago – just as the little girl was born – she was afflicted with haemorrhaging which made her ritually unclean and ostracised from the life of her community. Desperate, she reaches out for a touch of his garment and is healed. To the little girl, Jesus reaches out his hand. In both cases the result is the same. They are restored to fullness of life through the touch and returned to their family/community.
To Ponder:
In a world which is fast changing at the best of times and even more uncertain at the moment what gives you “fullness of life”?
Imagine yourself reaching out to Jesus. What do you want from him?
Imagine Jesus taking your hand. Where does he want to lead you?
A Prayer
In Psalm 30 the psalmist cries out to the Lord and finds healing. Today we pray for those (and that might include ourselves) who feel dead inside and long for restoration.
Healing God, Penetrate the grieving heart, accompany the lonely one, remember the forgotten, reclaim the strayed, make music out of the disharmony of conflict and chaos and turn mourning into dancing.
Let restless hearts rest in you, O God. This we pray in the name of the Christ, who beckons us into the vision of Peace.
We pray with Christians around the world as we say “Our Father…”
Hymn StF 441 Timothy Dudley Smith Watch on Youtube
As water to the thirsty,
As beauty to the eyes,
As strength that follows weakness,
As truth instead of lies;
As songtime and springtime
And summertime to be,
So is my Lord,
My living Lord,
So is my Lord to me.
Like calm in place of clamour,
Like peace that follows pain,
Like meeting after parting,
Like sunshine after rain;
Like moonlight and starlight
And sunlight on the sea,
So is my Lord,
My living Lord,
So is my Lord to me.
As sleep that follows fever,
As gold instead of grey,
As freedom after bondage,
As sunrise to the day;
As home to the traveller
And all he longs to see,
So is my Lord,
My living Lord,
So is my Lord to me.
Blessing
Now live your life each day confident in the knowledge of God’s steadfast love for you,
assured of the healing touch of Jesus upon you and
emboldened by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit within you. Amen.