Mexborough Baptist Church Sunday 4th July 2021
We welcome everyone, whether in person or at home, gathering for worship and communion together today. You may like to get your bread and wine/juice ready now and your Bible for the reading. Wherever you are worshipping today, pause and be still for a moment and know that God is here with you now. When you are ready please click on the links to sing 'As We Are Gathered' followed by 'Majesty and All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name'
King of Kings, we love to sing praises to you. We rejoice in you, our maker. We exalt you, our King. We praise your name, for you delight in your people. We do not deserve to come into the presence of the Holy God of the Universe but you have crowned the humble with victory, you have lifted up those who are bowed down, you have clothed us in your righteousness. We come before you with confidence, not based on ourselves, but based on your love. Let your praises be in our hearts and on our lips. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Family Corner
Weather permitting, the children at church will be chalk-drawing flowers on the patio to continue our 'new season' theme. We hope to share some pictures in the EXTRA. At this time of year there are so many flowers in gardens, fields and hedgerows of all shapes, sizes and colours. They're all so bright and beautiful so let's sing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" click on the link
What are you? A leg? An arm? A hand or foot? An eye, an ear, a mouth or nose? That's a strange question, isn't it? Our Bible reading this morning will give you an idea why I am asking it.
Please read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
In several of his letters, the Apostle Paul calls the Church the Body of Christ. Christ is the head (Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 2:19) and all those who believe in him make up his body. In the New International Version it has 'parts of the body'; in the older versions it's 'members of the body.' So church membership, first and foremost, is organic. When we become Christians by turning away from our sins, trusting Jesus to save us and committing ourselves to live a new life in him, we become members of the worldwide Church of Jesus, his worldwide body. God becomes our Father and we all share the same spiritual DNA. We're all joined together in the one Body of Christ.
It's wonderful when we meet other parts of the Body, there is an instant connection. Last Saturday Paul and I went to Brodsworth and got talking to one of the volunteers who came from somewhere up north but attended a church somewhere near Brodsworth. On Friday we got chatting with a couple who went to church somewhere near Wetherby. Both times it was lovely to share something of our shared Christian faith with each other and what's happening in our various churches.
Working out where you fit in this great worldwide Body of Christ can be mind-boggling. Each of us is just one of several million Christians around the world. Maybe on that level we're each just one cell of millions. And yet, if we don't function well as a single cell, joined to others nearby, a section of the Body suffers.
It can be easier to see where we fit at the level of a local church. It's a smaller unit and, instead of cells, we are discernible body parts with discernible functions. These may change as we mature as Christians, as our knowledge of God grows and deepens, as our skills and abilities develop, as our own physical body ages and can no longer do what it once did. One of the points Paul makes in our reading is that we are all needed and vital for the healthy functioning of the Body of Christ in its local expression. Every single one of us has something to give to the life and work and mission of this local body of God's people. We are going to be thinking, talking and praying together about how that looks in this new season. As we work out together God's will for Mexborough Baptist Church we can be sure that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38,39). Absolutely nothing will stand in the way of God building His church, as this song reminds us - 'I will build my church' click on the link
In the organic sense, we are all, each one of us who believes in Jesus, members of His Body. There is another, more formal aspect, of membership in Baptist churches, where someone may wish to be involved in the decision-making of the church and more committed in serving the church. There is a process for application and acceptance which leads to the person being welcomed formally into the membership of the church, which we are going to do right now.
Communion
As we come to the Lord's Table, we welcome Lisa Bond into the membership of Mexborough Baptist Church and, on the church's behalf, Denise offers Lisa the right hand of fellowship.
Prayer
Lord God, we praise you for the ways you guide our lives and give sense and purpose to them, and thank you for all the direction and purpose that you have given in the life of Lisa. We are grateful that in this church she has found a home. We pray that the sense of your direction and purpose may not leave her but may grow and mature and bear fruit in her life and the life of the church. Send your blessing on our life together, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Trevor Hughes now leads us in our prayers....
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity for us to worship you in church today, and we thank you for those who worship with the email service lovingly put together by Denise and Paul.
Almighty God, Heavenly Father, you promised through your Son Jesus Christ to hear us when we pray in faith. Dear God, we come before you today as our NHS is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible to outpace the Delta Variant of Covid. We ask your help to keep us all safe as we try to live with a new normal.
We pray for your help and guidance to world leaders so that vaccines can reach everyone, particularly in countries where poverty or corruption are preventing access to vaccines. Give wisdom to all in authority; and direct ours and other nations in the ways of justice and peace. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for our church, for Denise and deacons who continue to give spiritual guidance during the pandemic. This week we pray especially for Lisa and the future of children’s activities within our church, may these activities be blessed with the fullness of your grace. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for the sick; and we ask for help for those on our prayer list, and in a moment of silence we pray for anyone in need known especially to us…….
Give strength to all doctors, nurses and care workers. Comfort and heal all those who suffer, give them courage and hope and bring them joy in your salvation. Lord in your mercy , hear our prayer.
We pray for ourselves and our whole community. God of healing, help us maintain good health, and help us look after our minds and keep ourselves in a state of well-being. We give thanks for a spirit of harmony and healing during the pandemic and may more people be inspired to help neighbours in need.
Give grace to us, our families and friends that we may serve Christ in one another, and love as he loves us.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
We come now to share in bread and wine. We are joined together by the love the Lord has for each one of us, shown to us by His sacrifice on the cross, for the forgiveness of sin. No matter how much you doubt or how much you believe, the invitation comes from the Lord himself to share in the breaking of bread and the drinking of wine, for it is here that we come to encounter our living Lord Jesus. It is here that He wants you to have that renewed relationship with Him as we experience Him anew. With these thoughts, let us sing the hymn 'How Deep the Father's Love For Us' click on the link
The song reminds us of God’s amazing love and so it is with confidence we come. Lord, we come to your table trusting in your mercy and not in any goodness of our own. We are not worthy even to gather up the crumbs under your table, but it is your nature to have mercy and on that we depend, so feed us with the body and blood of Jesus Christ your Son, that we may forever live in him and he in us.
Take the bread and break it. Say – "When we break bread, is it not a means of sharing in the body of Christ?" Take and eat this bread in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on Him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving. Eat the bread and offer your own thanksgiving.
Take the wine with the words. "How can I repay the Lord for His benefits to me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Lord by name. I shall pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people." Drink and remember that Christ’s blood was shed for you and use your own words of being thankful.
Hear God’s tender words of comfort for you. "Your struggles are ended, your sin is paid for. God will show you His glory, and you will receive the grace of forgiveness at His hand.”
Our closing song is 'We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord' click on the link
Benediction
And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us evermore. Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment