(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 Allerton Methodist Church led by Brian Gamble one of our Circuit Local Preachers.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to Worship
Gracious God,
Your love calls to us,
So we worship, pray, and praise you,
Waiting to receive, and to share your love.
As we worship, may we know your presence and, by your Spirit, join with the multitude of worshippers throughout your world.
Amen
Song – StF 530 – To be in your presence, to sit at your feet
Let’s pray
Holy God, we join together this morning to worship you. To acknowledge that you are the creator. All powerful, all knowing, all seeing, ever present.
We are amazed that one so great, so glorious can love us so much that, through Jesus your son, you allow us to call you Father.
So, Father we thank you for the hope with which you have filled our lives.
That in the coming of Christ you have given us assurance that you are in control of everything.
We thank you that in our times of doubt and despair his birth, life, death and resurrection renews our hope.
Thank you that, because of his promise, we can live each day in the knowledge that you hold all of creation in your care.
Thank you that we can make choices about many of the things we do each day.
Thank you for the opportunity to choose our clothes, food, entertainment, friends and partners.
May we only ask for the things that are necessary to live as your people.
Father, we confess that in this dark world we need your light to heal our brokenness, to restore our relationships, to show us the way.
We need your light to cleanse, renew and enable us so that we can offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us
and so that we can receive the forgiveness that you offer.
We confess our need of your light.
And we trust that you will light up our lives by your grace so that we may become a light to the nations. Amen
Song – StF 153 – Break thou the bread of life, O Lord, to me
Bible Readings
John 6:24-35
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Ephesians 4:1-16
Song – StF 254 – Seek ye first the kingdom of God
The story is told of two old friends who bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, “What has happened to make you look so sad?”
“You wouldn’t believe it” he said. “Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me twenty thousand pounds.”
“I can see you would be upset by the loss of your uncle but that’s a lot of money.”
“Yes but then two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me forty thousand pounds.”
“Well it sounds to me as though you’ve been really blessed….”
“You don’t understand!” he interrupted. “Last week my
great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million.”
Now he was really confused. “Then, why do you look so
glum?”
“This week I’ve had nothing!”
OK. I know that’s an exaggeration but it does make a point. We are really never satisfied. It seems to be our human nature to want more.
That’s the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. We are fortunate to live in a land of plenty and as a result we become complacent and think we are entitled to everything we receive.
The passage we heard from John’s gospel follows the feeding of the five thousand. The following day the crowds were still there and Jesus continued his teaching but they didn’t recognise the value of his words. They still didn’t understand that he was the Messiah. It was miracles they wanted not teaching.
Jesus had already met their physical needs and he now reminded them of the importance of their spirituality, of their need for the things of heaven.
Because of their history, the Jews saw God as the all powerful creator and he was to be feared. Access to Him was forbidden. God was hidden right in the heart of the temple in the Holy of Holies and the only one allowed in there was the high priest and then only one day in the year. They had great difficulty in accepting this new teaching of God as a loving and personal friend.
When these Jewish listeners were trying to grasp what Jesus was teaching them, he made a historical connection for them referring back to the Manna from Heaven that God provided for the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, reminding them that God met their needs when they needed it.
Again, Jesus turned the discussion to things of a spiritual nature and they asked him to provide “this food” for them. Jesus then said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. The same message still applies. If we come to Jesus and believe in him we shall never be hungry or thirsty……. at least not for things of eternal significance.
As we read the history of God’s people in the Old Testament we see that there is a constant cycle of God’s providence The people fall away from God Into other ways, worshipping other gods. Then comes God’s punishment, the people’s supplication and God’s renewal of his covenant.
This covenant was finally and irrevocably confirmed in Jesus and as we believe in Jesus, in his teaching, in his sacrifice, in his resurrection and ascension we come to understand that it is his offer of spiritual food which is the way to our salvation.
And yet we spend our time creating what is seen as a better life style, chasing new cars, better computers, bigger TVs, better houses and the list goes on, when we should be giving thanks for all the things we already have.
We have been blessed by God in ways too many to number, and yet, we behave just like the people in our reading today. It’s as if they were viewing Jesus’ ministry as a magic show and they weren’t satisfied with the things he had already done. He had used his miracles to demonstrate to them who he was and what it was that he had really come to do in their lives. But they wanted yet another demonstration of his power so “then they would believe”. Really with all they had witnessed it was well past time for them to believe in Jesus and in the Father who had sent him.
We too tend to hold back. We are looking for Jesus to give us one more thing… to give us one final demonstration of his power.
It is well past time for us as well to accept his teaching and to show our gratitude to him for the gifts he has already given to us.
But perhaps you aren’t feeling too blessed this morning.
There are times when we have difficulty in giving thanks. There are times when we can’t see the gifts that God has given us. There are times when the difficulties of life overwhelm us to the point where we can’t see how blessed we truly are.
Many of us today have been so blessed, that even those blessings don’t look all that good anymore. We live in a culture that teaches us to join the rat-race. To compete for status in a world of unthankful people
How then, can we overcome our apathy and move towards a true spirit of thanksgiving?
Well, I don’t pretend to have all of the answers, but I do think we need to recognise God’s blessings in all of their many manifestations and to give thanks to him even when it seems impossible to do so.
In a speech made in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
Are we too proud of our own achievements to say thank you to God?
We need to make more of an effort to give thanks. It’s easy to give thanks for the good things in life but I’d like to suggest some other things for which instead of moaning we should be thankful.
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you want. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when there are some things you don’t know, this gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times we grow.
Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary, because it means you’ve done something worthwhile.
So, giving thanks for all things, our lives will be worthy of the calling we have received.
Song – StF 78 – Give thanks with a grateful heart
Intercessions
As we study the teaching of Jesus we pray for those who teach others today.
For all who are involved in education, teaching in schools, colleges and universities.
May they have wisdom, integrity and commitment to share all that is good and true and right.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for those who are taught.
Children and young people; for those just starting school, those planning their future, those studying away from home and those trying to make use of all they have been taught.
may they discover that learning is more than just gathering information and that life is bigger than all they have learnt.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for those whose words and actions influence others.
People involved in television and the press, in social media and the internet.
For writers, poets and entertainers,
For sports men and women
And everyone who is a role model for others.
May they speak and act with an awareness of the responsibility they bear.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for those whose words and actions affect others.
For leaders of nations, politicians, trade union officials, police officers.
May they be aware of the impact they have on peoples lives.
Give them wisdom and understanding.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for church leaders and preachers, for church officers and members
For parents and youth workers, for families and friends.
May each of us be aware of the potential in every person we meet.
May we treat everyone as a unique, unrepeatable miracle of God.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for ourselves. As we hear your word give us understanding so that we may live honest and thankful lives.
We ask this in the name of Jesus our teacher and our friend.
The Lord’s Prayer
Song – StF 489 – All I once held dear, built my life upon
May God’s word feed us and his Spirit lead us into the days and weeks ahead.
Amen
