(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) Mission Praise (MP) or Hymns & Psalms (H&P) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at Wilsden Trinity Church LEP where Methodists and United Reformed worship and witness together, led by Rev Phil Drake our Superintendent Minister, looking at the story of Dorcas in Acts 9, on the theme of ‘Called to live’. The service at Wilsden will include the sacrament of baptism for an adult and a young child.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to worship:
Lord God, you call us to love and serve you,
and to live life in all its fullness.
You call us to show our faith, not only in words but in action.
Lord God, we come to you today, leaving our fears aside.
We seek to follow your call to us to live.
We are listening, Lord.
Song – StF 247 – The Lord of the dance
Or H&P 660 – Called by Christ to be disciples
Prayers of confession
Sometimes we think about life after death,
forgetting life before death.
For the times when we are content to live mindlessly:
Lord, we ask your forgiveness.
For the times we think faith is only about words, not action,
and we don’t use the talents you give us:
Lord, we ask your forgiveness.
For the times we take you for granted, too absorbed
by our own concerns to care for those who need us:
Lord, we ask your forgiveness. Amen.
Assurance of forgiveness
Creator God, you give us fullness of life.
You know all about us, you know every hair on our head.
How can we not believe that you will forgive our sin.
We are the sheep of your pasture.
No one can snatch us from your loving arms.
You freely forgive all who repent.
You freely forgive even us.
Amen.
Bible reading:
Food for thought
In the sacrament of baptism, we celebrate the God who calls each of us by name. This same God who calls us by name, also calls us into his service, to share the good news of Jesus not just through words, but through the actions we take and the way we live our lives.
The writer of Acts in telling the story affirms the importance of acts of love and kindness, a vital aspect of Christian discipleship. In the patriarchal world of Acts, Dorcas/Tabitha is celebrated as a committed female disciple. She is called out of the restraints of what traditional roles says she should be and do. She is committed to the needs of others in her vocation, responding to God’s calling through recognising where she can join in with God’s mission.
God has decided that while others may think her ministry is over, God has not finished with her for God’s purposes and so therefore she is restored to life. Do we sometimes prematurely think that God is finished with us or with other people? Or do we recognise that an important feature of joining in with a service of baptism is that God is calling us to a new start with Jesus?
The emphasis here, in relation to Easter, is new life, new beginnings and transformation. When God calls, people are transformed. In Christ, we are not dead, but called to new life, a life of discipleship as we follow the way of Jesus.
I had not thought about it before, but the footnote in the Good News bible tells us that the name Tabitha (in the Aramaic) or Dorcas (if we use the Greek equivalent) means ‘gazelle’ – I am no David Attenborough, but I know enough to have a picture in my head of a gazelle as a creature of graceful movement, not just getting around, but positively leaping and bounding. In this story of scripture, I see a message to find that part of ourselves and our calling which marks a renewal of energy and life in the service of the gospel.
Let us pray:
Dorcas, your faithful servant,
worked willingly for you and her friends.
We thank you that you called her to live.
Thank you for the friends who care for us.
May we seek opportunities to make our lives really count.
Thank you that you call us to live. Amen.
For reflection:
Baptism Promises:
You may wish to consider the promises associated with adult baptism and confirmation from the Methodist Worship Book
Will you commit yourself to the Christian life of worship and service, and be open to the renewing power of God?
Answer: With God’s help I will.
Will you seek the strength of God’s Spirit as you accept the cost of following Jesus Christ in your daily life?
Answer: With God’s help I will.
Will you witness, by word and deed, to the good news of God in Christ, and so bring glory to God.
Answer: With God’s help I will.
Reading them now, do these promises challenge you afresh in living out the Christian call and life? Please pray for all who have been recently baptised.
God’s love and care:
This Sunday is sometimes called ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ because the gospel reading comes from John Chapter 10, which focuses on Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
Prayerfully read the words of the accompanying Psalm 23, and then ask yourself, ‘How have I received or offered to others the loving care and concern of God this week?’:
Christian Aid:
Christian Aid Week starts on this Sunday. The work of Christian Aid – and helping to support that work – are one way of living out that Christian call to action and service. This year, the focus is on hope – the hope that we share through Jesus Christ and the hope we’re
called to show in action throughout our lives. It includes the story of Aurelia, who lives in
the Alta Verapaz region of Guatemala. Indigenous communities like Aurelia’s have seen first-hand the impact of the climate crisis and industrial exploitation, with rivers drying up, crops failing and food under threat. But Aurelia won’t give up. ‘I really give my life to my neighbours,’ she told Christian Aid.
Aurelia’s love for her neighbours and abounding hope sustain her, as she works to transform her prospects and those of her community. We are encouraged to pray for those like Aurelia whose hope overflows into action, and to seek to follow in Aurelia’s footsteps in our own commitment to the good of our neighbours.
A prayer for Christian Aid week:
Gracious God,
you gather all creation together in love.
As we meet today,
enlighten our hearts,
so that we may perceive the hope to
which you have called us.
As your children, may we
grow into your likeness,
filled with compassion and desiring justice.
Embolden us to live out our calling,
and put faith, hope and love into action.
Amen.
If you want to know more, you could watch this video:
https://resources.christianaid.org.uk/uk/christian-aid-week/christian-aid-week-film
Song – StF 480/MP 660 – The Lord is my Shepherd (Crimond)
or StF 481/MP 1008 (Stuart Townend’s version)
Words of blessing
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, forevermore. Amen
Acknowledgments: Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Prayers taken from Roots resources, copyright Roots For Churches Ltd.
Photos: font, Christine Dutton, downloaded from theworshipcloud.com and Christian Aid week promotional material.
