Weoley Hill Order of service for 11 January
prepared by Ann Evans but cancelled because of adverse weather
Welcome and notices given by Elder on duty
Call to Worship
We come today with many hopes: hope for ourselves and for our families, hope for our communities, hope for our world. We come with hope that may be full of life, or hope that may be dwindling. Let’s give our hopes to God, and be present to what God is doing here and now.
Let’s be hopeful about new possibilities that are ahead of us.
God of hope, open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to become more aware of the hope that you offer: a hope that is refreshing; a hope that has no limits; a hope that is for all people.
Amen.
Hymn 586 All my hope on God is founded
Opening prayers
Eternal God, in you our souls delight. And, as we gather to hear your word and reflect on your love, we celebrate your glory and embrace all that is new as it springs up ever fresh, ever beautiful, ever enlightening, ever drawing us closer to you, moment by moment, day by day,
as we worship, work and pray.
God of justice and resilience, we give you thanks for calling us by name, to shed your light where there is darkness, to lead others to your Son, our Saviour, to be open to the empowering hope of your Holy Spirit. May we never grow weary of praising you but serve you with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength, today and always.
Amen.
God of hope,
when we listen to your word, but don’t take it to heart:
please forgive us, we pray.
When you reach out your hand to us, but we don’t take it…
please forgive us, we pray.
When injustice needs to be challenged, but we remain silent…
please forgive us, we pray.
When we are lost and in darkness and don’t see your hope…
please forgive us, we pray.
Lord, draw us back to you.
Amen.
Assurance of forgiveness
God of richness and refreshment: your tenderness enables us to trust you, your forgiveness enables us to begin again, your call enables us to follow you, your faithfulness enables us to find peace in you, and your Spirit enables us to live as your servants in the world today.
Amen.
Sharing Good News
LYCIG (Leading your church into growth) Prayer said together
God of Mission,
Who alone brings growth to your Church,
Send your Holy Spirit to give,
Vision to our planning,
Wisdom to our actions,
Joy to our worship
And power to our witness.
Help our church to grow in numbers,
In spiritual commitment to you,
And in service to our local community,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Reading(s) Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17
Hymn 303 Spirit divine, attend our prayers
Reflection
The theme this week is hope refreshed and is based on the reading from Isaiah.
Classically, scholars have dubbed this the first of four songs commonly known as ‘servant songs’.
Quoting from roots material.
As one commentator has pointed out, the four ‘songs’ in Isaiah 40–55 continue a theme first introduced and spelled out in the early chapters of the text (notably chapter 9). The poet/prophet of the exile picks up the theme of good governance – the absence of which was a reason for the exile – and paints a picture of God’s servant that many Christians see perfectly fulfilled in Jesus – hence this text being used on the day we mark our Lord’s baptism.
Structurally, these verses are no more a ‘song’ than the surrounding context. Indeed, Isaiah 40–55 is one long poem/song focused on the situation of the Judeans in exile. The original audience here was a defeated and disillusioned group of exiles far from home and lacking hope. Verse 27 suggests that they assumed that even God had given up on them. However, there is good news for them in this passage of hope, comfort and good governance.
The call outlined in Isaiah 42:1-9 is for all the exiles to fulfil. But in Christian theology, this is also seen as a portrait of Jesus, the archetypal servant of God and the one who we are called to imitate in our lives.
Notice that this is a pastoral, prophetic and political calling, in that it is offering comfort to people, giving them a word of hope from God and pointing to good governance of their society; there is no separation between these three in the mind of God. While much of Isaiah 42 describes the ministry of Jesus, it also encapsulates the type of world God wants to see his people involved in creating, a vision that reaches its apex in Isaiah 65:17ff. Here God reminds his people that they are not abandoned in exile, that he has plans for their restoration and for them to play a key role in the delivering of his plans – outlined in brief here, especially in verses 3-4, 6-7.
There are lots of verbs in Isaiah 42: some of them apply to God, describing what he does; and some of them apply to us, detailing our call to be his servants in the world. Let us explore what these verbs tell us about God and us, and how God’s actions renew our hope and confidence in living as we are called to in our jobs, clubs, civil society meetings, etc. Also I will explore briefly how verses 6-7 apply to us. Think about what new thing God could do through us.
In the first few verses there are many verbs:
42 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
5 This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,
who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
God is talking about Jesus or a servant of that era who will be gentle and although people may be hurt or suffering in someway he will bring forth justice (mentioned 3 times) and not crush the people so there will still be space for hope. It is all encouraging.
In verses 6 & 7 we get the encouraging words about making the blind see, the captive free and release for those in darkness. All focussing on the marginalised and those who are suffering but these verses give space for hope to be refreshed.
We are still at the beginning of the year.. Let us be hopeful for the year ahead. We may have a new minister, but we may not. Last week David Tennant told a story at the beginning of his sermon and ended it with the comment from a character – that needs thinking about. Or I need to think about that(or something like that).
We have to do some thinking about where we will be in 5 years’ time and such like things. We need to think about where we are going as a church and let us be hopeful. Let us think about what we want from a future minister whether it is Naomi or someone else. A lot of thinking has to be done so let share our thoughts at our next church meeting in 2 weeks’ time. Think and pray and let God guide you into being hopeful for our future and not pessimistic.
In the late 1880s, a young American girl, Helen Keller, was left blind and deaf after a serious illness. At a time when support for people with hearing or sight impairments was limited, it would have been easy for this child and her family to feel despair. However, Helen never gave up hope, and she went on to become a famous disability rights advocate and political activist who brought ‘hope refreshed’ to many people. She said this: ‘Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible’. Jesus’ baptism was set at a time in history when people were feeling disillusioned and had given up hope. They were in desperate need of ‘hope that sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible’ – perhaps this might be a good definition for ‘hope refreshed’. Through Jesus’ baptism, God stepped in and provided an everlasting hope. Whether people at the time realised it, or not, God was at work through Jesus and God’s promise of renewal and restoration was coming into fulfilment through Jesus.
What can we do to refresh our hope? And how can we share God’s hope? We can think and pray and share our thoughts for the future of Weoley Hill Church and share our faith with those we meet and hope we can sow seeds that take root.
Baptism is a new beginning. Thinking about baptism can be a renewal of our baptismal vows whether we said them or they were said on our behalf because we were infants. New beginnings are a time of hope.
As I said earlier Jesus’ baptism was set in a time of history when people were feeling disillusioned and hopeless. Has the world and its people changed? Yet at his baptism God declared that Jesus was his beloved son. That is as true today as it was then so let us remember that and have our hope refreshed by it.
Hymn 579 Lord, the church on earth is seeking
Prayers for the people
Lord of hope, we come with our joys and sorrows, our testing moments and touching moments. As we reflect on the week that’s just passed, fix our thoughts on where we saw glimpses of hope. As we focus on those images, help us to see where you were at work.
We thank you for good news this week, particularly remembering…
Lord of hope, sometimes our world feels hope-less. We hear of wars and rumours of wars, especially in Ukraine and the Middle East. Our world seems a place of confusion and unrest, especially in Venezuela and other parts of the western hemisphere. Leaders seem to grasp their power tightly and neglect justice; their words seem to be either black or white, love or hate; there seems to be no desire to compromise or understand each other. Lord of hope, you see all this and you weep. Yet, you also whisper a new way of living: the bruised and broken are tended to, justice is proclaimed, the sick are healed and the captives freed. Lord, you came to set us free. Help us to walk in that way of freedom, following your lead and bringing your justice and love to everyone we meet.
Lord of hope, we focus now on signs of hope within our community. We thank you for places of nurture and education, for our health services and places of recreation. We think of a particular part of our community that needs new life and hope and we wonder: Are you calling us to be the answer to our prayers? Take us out from here to be your servants, sowing seeds of hope into every place we go this week.
Lord of hope, we pray for our nation. We pray for those in government, that they may be people of integrity, honesty and peace. We thank you that you came in humility to be our King. May our earthly leaders follow your way of justice and love. We bring to mind a particular area of need in our country right now: give our leaders the courage and diligence to make change happen to the benefit of those who have little chance of making changes for themselves.
Lord of hope, at your baptism your Father declared his love and delight in you. We pray for our families now. We thank you for those who bring us joy and name them out loud or in our hearts. We pray for those family members who are causing us concern at the moment, through illness or trouble of some sort. Lord, enable us to be bringers of hope to them. We pray for those from whom we might be estranged. Lord, bring hope into our distance and bring us closer. We pray for those who have no family and long to be close to others. Give us eyes to see where there is need and to bring hope and friendship into their loneliness. And we remember those for whom family life is painful and scary. Lord, speak hope into their situations and bring them to places of safety.
See, he is doing a new thing among us.
Lord, bring in your kingdom and renew our hope.
Lord of hope, send us out into a new week refreshed by having spent time worshipping you, renewed in our zeal to bring your kingdom into every situation, startled by the joy that we glimpse unexpectedly and ready to serve you in the good times and the hard. Fill us with the hope that does not disappoint as we welcome you daily into our hearts.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Offertory dedication
To the God of us all; the God who gives, and wills all people freedom; we pray that our daily giving and receiving, may be like this offertory, not tired habit or empty duty alone but prompted and steered by celebration of the love of Christ. Amen
Hymn 531 Lord of all hopefulness
Blessing
God, you bring hope today, as well as to so many through the ages. May we be open to the hope that you bring: refreshing, restoring, renewing, and be ready to share that hope with others.
Amen.
The grace