Lent 2 Sunday 5th March

Hymn – God Sent His Son They Called Him Jesus

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All: And also with you

Loving Lord,

Fill us with your life-giving,

joy-giving peace-giving presence,

That we may praise you now with our lips,

and all the day long with our lives

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Cast your burden upon the Lord

All: And he will sustain you

Create in us clean hearts, O God

All: And renew a right spirit within us

Cast us not away from your Presence

All: And take not your Holy Spirit from us

Give us the joy of your saving help

All: And sustain us with your life-giving Spirit

Blessed be the Lord day by day

All: The God of our salvation, who bears our burdens.

We have a moment of quiet, to call to mind the things we

Have thought, said and done which we know grieve the God

who loves us 

Come, let us return to the Lord and say: 

All: Almighty God

Long-suffering and of great goodness

I confess to you.

I confess with my whole heart

My neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments

My wrong doing, thinking and speaking:

The hurts I have done to others,

And the good I have left undone.

O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;

And raise me to newness of life;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May the God of love and power

Forgive us and free us from our sins,

Heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,

And raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.

All: Amen. 

We praise God for his love and forgiveness with:-

Hymn – He Who Would Valiant Be

1 He who would valiant be
‘gainst all disaster,
let him in constancy
follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement
shall make him once relent
his first avowed intent
to be a pilgrim.

2 Who so beset him round
with dismal stories,
do but themselves confound—
his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might,
though he with giants fight;
he will make good his right
to be a pilgrim.

3 Since, Lord, Thou dost defend
us with Thy Spirit,
we know we at the end
shall life inherit.
Then, fancies, flee away!
I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day
to be a pilgrim.
(By John Bunyan – 1628-1688) 

First Reading is from – Romans Chap: 4

1 What shall we say, then, of Abraham, the father of our race? What was his experience?

2 If he was put right with God by the things he did, he would have something to boast about – but not in God’s sight.

3 The scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.”

4 A person who works is paid wages, but they are not regarded as a gift; they are something that has been earned.

5 But those who depend on faith, not on deeds, and who believe in the God who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is this faith that God takes into account in order to put them right with himself. 

13 When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God.

14 For if what God promises is to be given to those who obey the Law, then faith means nothing and God’s promise is worthless.

15 The Law brings down God’s anger; but where there is no law, there is no disobeying of the law.

16 And so the promise was based on faith, in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God’s free gift to all of Abraham’s descendants – not just to those who obey the Law, but also to those who believe as Abraham did. For Abraham is the spiritual father of us all;

17 as the scripture says, “I have made you father of many nations.” So the promise is good in the sight of God, in whom Abraham believed – the God who brings the dead to life and whose command brings into being what did not exist. 

This is the word of the Christ

All: Praise to you oh Christ 

Second Reading is From – John Chap: 3

1 There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees.

2 One night he went to Jesus and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.”

3 Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”

4 “How can a grown man be born again?” Nicodemus asked. “He certainly cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time!”

5 “I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

6 A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit.

7 Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again.

8 The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can this be?” asked Nicodemus.

10 Jesus answered, “You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don’t know this?

11 I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message.

12 You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven?

13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.”

14 As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour. 

This is the word of the Christ

All: Praise to you oh Christ 

Sermon 

Today’s sermon spoke of the great faith Abraham had in God.

He left his home, not knowing where he would eventually live.

He was even prepared to sacrifice his only son.

He trusted God and he became the father of many nations.

He did as God has asked and he was the ancestor of our Saviour.

Amen

HymnThrough All the Changing Scenes of Life 

  • Through all the changing scenes of life,
    in trouble and in joy,
    the praises of my God shall still
    my heart and tongue employ.
     
  • O magnify the Lord with me,
    with me exalt his name;
    when in distress, to him I called
    he to my rescue came.
     
  • The hosts of God encamp around
    the dwellings of the just;
    his saving help he gives to all
    who in his mercy trust.
     
  • O taste his goodness, prove his love;
    experience will decide
    how blessed they are, and only they,
    who in his truth confide.
      
  • Fear him, you saints, and you will then
    have nothing else to fear;
    his service shall be your delight,
    your needs shall be his care.
  • To Father, Son and Spirit, praise!
    To God whom we adore
    be worship, glory, power and love,
    both now and evermore!
    (by N Brady – 1639 to 1736 and  N Tate – 1659 to 1726) 

Let us declare our faith in God.

All: We believe in God the Father,

From whom every family

In heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son

Who lives in our hearts through faith,

And fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit

Who strengthens us

With power from on high.

We believe in one God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Prayers and Intercessions

We pray for God to fill us with his Spirit.

Generous God,

we thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit.

We ask that we may be strengthened to serve you better.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the wisdom of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to make us wise to understand your will.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the peace of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to keep us confident of your love wherever you call us.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the healing of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to bring reconciliation and wholeness

where there is division, sickness and sorrow.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the gifts of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to equip us for the work which you have given us.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the fruit of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to reveal in our lives the love of Jesus.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the breath of your Holy Spirit,

given us by the risen Lord.

We ask you to keep the whole Church, living and departed,

in the joy of eternal life.

Lord, come to bless us

All: and fill us with your Spirit. 

All: Generous God,

hear our prayer,

and make us one in heart and mind

to serve you with joy for ever.

Amen.

We gather our thoughts and prayers in the words our Saviour gave us 

All: Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed by your name,

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

On earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread,

Forgive us our sins

As we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, ‘

Now and for ever.

Amen.

Hymn – What a friend we have in Jesus,

1 What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer!

2 Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!

3 Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge–
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do your friends despise, forsake you?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he’ll take and shield you;
you will find a solace there.
(by Joseph Medlicott Scriven – 1819 to 1886) 

Closing Prayer

May God give to you and to all those you love

his comfort and his peace,

his light and his joy,

in this world and the next;

and the blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ

and the Love of God

and the fellowship  of the Holy Sprit

be with us all evermore. 

All: Amen.

Hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness

  1. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
    there is no shadow of turning with thee.
    Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
    as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

  1. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
    sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
    join with all nature in manifold witness
    to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.

  1. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
    thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
    strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
    blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain:
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
all I have needed thy hand hath provided.
(by Thomas O. Chisholm – 1923) 

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil

And keep us in eternal life. 

All: Amen

© 702211.