(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at Calverley Community Methodist Church led by Rev Lisa Quarmby one of our Circuit Ministers.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to Worship
“Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night: thine eye diffused a quickening ray – I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.”
‘And can it be’ – John Wesley
Song – StF 398 – There’s a spirit in the air
Prayers of adoration, confession and the Lord’s Prayer
Let’s come to God in prayer…
Just where we are now – let us each take a moment to be still, to sit quietly in God’s presence and let him come close to us.
[Pause for a moment or two to reflect and listen to God]
Loving Father God, we come today to praise and adore you, for all you are and all you mean to us…
With open eyes, we see the beauty of your creation – and sing of its wonder, refreshed by rain and sunshine. Trees full of life and shelter to the birds who build their nests, and the creatures who find safety in their hollows…
A new day has been given to us and we are truly grateful for this blessing, and all our blessings – our homes that provide love and security; our families, friends, neighbours, workmates, classmates and all who we will meet this week in our daily journeying…
We give you thanks that before you laid the earth’s foundations, you loved Jesus who would come to love us – bringing our salvation and everlasting life…
Forgive us the wrongs of this past week, when we have spoken out of turn, for thoughts we are not proud of – we ask your forgiveness in the quiet of our hearts and minds now.
With arms outstretched, you offer to us your forgiveness this day – so we come as one family and pray in the way Jesus taught us:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
On earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory; for ever and ever – Amen.
Song – StF 103 – God is love: let heaven adore him
Reading
Song – StF 161 – Speak, O Lord, as we come to you
Sermon – “…become a believer in God”
Let’s begin with a question to ponder over… what makes you feel free?
I so often feel free when I am reading a good book. My mind wanders off on an adventure while I’m sat in a comfy chair, brew at the ready and some quiet. In my imagination I am with the characters I’m reading about, I’m immersed, feeling what they feel, wondering what will be their next move, and how will they come through their latest predicament. Such times bring me joy, and freedom to soar…
What makes you feel free?
Is it the quiet of your own home, or a walk in nature? Is it being understood by someone closest to you so you feel free to be authentically yourself? Maybe it is financial freedom, when you have enough not to worry about everyday expenses; or being able to worship freely without being beaten, or put in prison just as Saul and Silas faced.
What does feeling free mean to you?
It’s strange that a passage about a woman caught up and used by her owners, men put in shackles and prison, and a prison guard who has to keep them there – becomes a story of freedom! But we learn in Acts how the slave-girl is freed from her ability to see and understand minds and future happenings – which then frees her from her usefulness to her slave-owners…
Paul and Silas – beaten and put in prison – are freed because their praise God led to an earthquake! The doors are flung wide open, giving them the freedom to walk out anytime; yet they choose the freedom to stay, to preach and teach, so that those around them can become believers in God.
Their fellow prisoners who are also enslaved in jail – the doors to their cells are wide open too, but they choose to stay. They see a different way to be free – their chains are falling off, but it’s not just the visible chains that are gone – but it’s the other things that enslave them: past wounds, present concerns…
And here is the prison guard who, on seeing the doors flung open, plans to fall on his sword because he knows he will be punished for letting the prisoners leave. But they are not gone! They have chosen to stay, to listen to these two men of God who are praising, praying, teaching. The guard is freed from making that decision to take his life, and thus gains the freedom he seeks for himself and his whole household – by believing in God!
Freedom for all these people! So what is it that keeps US in chains? Just take a moment to reflect on this question…
When I was seeking to candidate for Methodist ministry, I remember being asked by the then Chair of District – ‘what did Wesley mean when he said – my chains fell off, my heart was free?’
Indeed, this is a good question: for I am not an actual prisoner, so what is this verse saying to me? On the spot, I had to find a response in front of a panel of folks and my answer was simple: we can all feel bound by chains, imprisoned by the things that hold us back – past painful experiences; lack of confidence; rejection; conditional love; being ignored, devalued; the list goes on… these chains are not physical or visible but are nonetheless very real!
Through Jesus, who was loved before God lay the foundations of the world, we are freed: accepted, forgiven, welcomed, valued, seen, belonging, precious, SAVED!
This truly is freedom: the chains that held us back are gone. We are free as brothers and sisters of Christ. We become one with God, as Jesus is one with the Father. We are united, no longer standing alone; but receiving freedom in our shared path, walking with Christ, making believers, freeing others who are enslaved in whatever way that might be.
The Gospel we believe in, and live by, brings FREEDOM to us. And it is this Gospel of Freedom to which we are called, like the first Disciples, like Paul and Silas, like Lydia: to share with others around us. We live out that freedom – we offer it as we share the love of Jesus to the ones we love, to the stranger, and to the strange.
May God bless his word to us today. Amen.
Song – StF 636 – O love that wilt not let me go
Prayers of Intercession
As we come to God to pray for others, we take time between each need expressed to be quiet and to make our intercession…
Let us pray.
We pray today for our world: especially those areas caught up in war, violence, hunger and pain; thinking especially of Gaza and Ukraine.
We are praying today for people we know who seem to be enslaved: for those who have financial worries; for those caught up in alcohol or drug misuse; for those who work for others as slaves in this country and abroad, to make clothes that we wear and food that we eat; for young ones who feel caught up with peer pressure to act a certain way.
We pray for all who are unwell, in hospital or at home; for the dying and all who mourn. We ask for your grace and freedom.
Finally, we pray for our own needs today. (Ask God to prompt your prayers and put on your heart what you need to pray for.)
Through God, Three in One, we pray: Amen.
Song – StF 692 – Your hand O God has guided
Blessing
May God bless each and every one of us today – in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
