Hymn – O For a Closer Walk With God
1 O for a closer walk with God,
a calm and heav’nly frame,
a light to shine upon the road
that leads me to the Lamb!
2 Where is the blessedness I knew
when first I sought the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
of Jesus and His Word?
3 What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their mem’ry still!
But they have left an aching void
the world can never fill.
4 Return, O holy Dove, return,
sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
and drove Thee from my breast.
5 The dearest idol I have known,
whate’er that idol be,
help me to tear it from Thy throne
and worship only Thee.
6 So shall my walk be close with God,
calm and serene my frame;
so purer light shall mark the road
that leads me to the Lamb. (by William Cowper 1772)
Preparation
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind.
Grace mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you
All: And also with you.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Confession
Jesus said, Before you offer your gift, go and be reconciled. As brothers and sisters in God’s family, we come together to ask our Father for forgiveness.
O God the Father of us all, we come to you in sorrow for we have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us; “Honour your father and mother.”
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as children. Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as parents, “Do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, bring them up with Christian discipline and instruction
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as the Christian family, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
Absolution
May the God of love
bring us back to himself,
forgive us our sins,
and assure us of his eternal love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Blessed is the Lord,
All: For He has heard the voice of our prayer;
Therefore shall our hearts dance for joy
All: And in our song will we praise our God.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, creator and redeemer of all;
to you be glory and praise for ever.
From the waters of chaos you drew forth the world, and in your great love fashioned us in your image. Now, through the deep waters of death, you have brought your people to new birth by raising your Son to life in triumph.
May Christ your light ever dawn in our hearts as we offer you our sacrifice of thanks and praise.
Blessed be God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
All: Blessed be God for ever.
Hymn – Revive Thy Work, O Lord
1 Revive thy work, O Lord,
thy mighty arm make bare;
speak with the voice that wakes the dead,
and make thy people hear.
2 Revive thy work, O Lord,
disturb this sleep of death;
quicken the smould’ring embers now
by thine almighty breath.
3 Revive thy work, O Lord,
create soul-thirst for thee;
and hung’ring for the Bread of Life
O may our spirits be.
4 Revive thy work, O Lord,
exalt thy precious name;
and, by the Holy Ghost, our love
for thee and thine inflame.
5 Revive thy work, O Lord, give Pentecostal show'rs; the glory shall be all thine own, the blessing, Lord, be ours. (by Albert Midlane 1826)
Collect for Mothering Sunday
God of compassion,
whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary,
shared the life of a home in Nazareth,
and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself:
strengthen us in our daily living
that in joy and in sorrow
we may know the power of your presence
to bind together and to heal;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
All: Amen
Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.
All: And Christ shall give you light.
You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.
All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on the earth.
All: And Christ shall give you light.
When Christ our life appears
you will appear with him in glory.
All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
Hymn – God Sent His Son They Called Him Jesus
Our First Reading id taken from – 1 Samuel
20 So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, and explained, “I asked the Lord for him.”
21 The time came again for Elkanah and his family to go to Shiloh and offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and the special sacrifice he had promised.
22 But this time Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will take him to the house of the Lord, where he will stay all his life.”
23 Elkanah answered, “All right, do whatever you think best; stay at home until you have weaned him. And may the Lord make your promise come true.” So Hannah stayed at home and nursed her child.
24 After she had weaned him, she took him to Shiloh, taking along a three-year-old bull, a bushel of flour, and a leather bag full of wine. She took Samuel, young as he was, to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.
25 After they had killed the bull, they took the child to Eli.
26 Hannah said to him, “Excuse me, sir. Do you remember me? I am the woman you saw standing here, praying to the Lord.
27 I asked him for this child, and he gave me what I asked for.
28 So I am dedicating him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he will belong to the Lord.” Then they worshiped the Lord there.
This is the Word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
Hymn – God Sent His Son They Called Him Jesus
Here the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to – Luke Chap: 2
33 The child’s father and mother were amazed at the things Simeon said about him.
34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, “This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against
35 and so reveal their secret thoughts. And sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart.”
This is the Word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God
Benediction
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,
All: who has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour,
All: born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets God promised of old
All: to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us,
To show mercy to our ancestors,
All: and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham:
All: to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
All: holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
All: for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
All: by the forgiveness of all their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
All: the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
All: and to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1.68-79)
All: Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever.
Amen.
Sermon for Mothering Sunday
John Chap: 14
23 Jesus said, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
24 …and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
Mothering Sunday has been celebrated in the church since the Middle Ages. It falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, right in the middle of the season; and on this day, it was traditional for Christians to visit their ‘mother church’ , the church in which they received the sacrament of baptism.
For me, that church is more than 100 miles from here, tucked away in a ‘fair hollow’ in the South Wales valleys (the parish name, Panteg, means ‘fair hollow’ in English). Instead of being there, I am more than happy to be here with you today.
The idea of visiting a ‘mother church’ is one which forms the background of our two readings today.
For Jews living in the time of Jesus and earlier, the Temple in Jerusalem was that mother church, the focal point of their faith, around which the whole of their society revolved.
It was considered to be the particular place where God’s presence could be most keenly felt, and devout Jews were expected to visit it several times throughout their lives.
Jesus made the Temple a focus of his own ministry, spending time there regularly, and of course, it features heavily in the drama of the end of his human life.
It was in the Temple, of course, that his mother Mary encountered Simeon, who told her that the child she had brought to be dedicated was chosen and appointed by God for a special purpose, which Simeon characterises as the destruction and salvation of many.
A similar purpose faced Samuel, the child of Hannah in our first reading. Samuel’s journey does not begin in the Temple of Jerusalem, for the simple fact that it was not built yet, indeed, at the time of Samuel’s birth, Jerusalem itself was not part of the land of Israel, and the focal point of the Israelite faith was at Shiloh instead.
But that point aside, his journey bears many similarities to that of Jesus.
Like Jesus, Samuel is a miracle birth – not a virgin birth, true, but a child born to a mother believed barren.
Like Jesus, Samuel is taken to be dedicated to God; and like Jesus, he will spend his adult years wandering around the land, spreading the word of God and being a general thorn in the sides of the authorities.
Our religious experience today is different to the experience of Samuel and Jesus; thanks to Jesus and those who followed him, we have moved away from the idea that God can only be worshipped properly in one place.
The curtain is torn, and we live with the idea that God can be worshipped freely in any place, God told us from the earliest days that He is the God of the whole earth, but it took the death and resurrection of Jesus to enable us to convince ourselves that it is true.
So we don’t need to revisit our ‘mother church’, and instead this day has become a more general celebration of motherhood in general.
But as we celebrate our mothers, perhaps we are still able to celebrate with them, perhaps we can now only hold their memories in our hearts, let us not forget that each mother, each grandmother, is a link in a chain of descent that leads ultimately back to God.
We talk of God as Father, but God is our mother, too, nursing our species to birth and caring for us even when we turn away.
God chose Jesus, God chose Samuel, and God chooses each of us too, to fulfil some part of His great plan.
Our part in the plan may be large, it may be small; but we cannot know which, because we lack the cosmic vision of God to see the whole plan at once.
What we can know, however, is that my part in the plan, your part in the plan, however large or small they might be, are not less important than Samuel’s part in the plan.
Jesus built his ministry on foundations which were laid by Samuel and the other prophets, and he expects that ministry to be continued today through us. The chain is still being forged, and every link is vital.
My calling, your calling, God calls us all to his purpose and we should answer him today.
Amen
Time of Silence …..
We Say Together:
Affirmation of Faith
Please Stand
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 form on high.
We believe in God:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
All: 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, 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.
And 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.
Hymn – O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
Please go to this Web address:-
https://hymnary.org/text/o_love_that_wilt_not_let_me_go
Confession
Jesus said, Before you offer your gift, go and be reconciled. As brothers and sisters in God’s family, we come together to ask our Father for forgiveness.
O God the Father of us all, we come to you in sorrow for we have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us; “Honour your father and mother.”
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as children. Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as parents, “Do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, bring them up with Christian discipline and instruction
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
You have taught us as the Christian family, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
We have often failed you.
All: Lord, forgive us and help us to obey.
Absolution
May the God of love
bring us back to himself,
forgive us our sins,
and assure us of his eternal love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Closing Prayer
All: Lord and heavenly Father,
We thank you for our homes and families.
Make us thankful for all the blessings we receive,
Even if we do not have parents or children.
Make us aware of your loving care for us day by
day
Help us to remember those who are lonely
Or less fortunate than ourselves,
For the sake of Christ our Lord.
All: Amen.
Hymn – We Rest on Thee (The is especially for the Ukraine)
- We rest on thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender,
we rest on thee, and in thy name we go;
strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender,
we rest on thee, and in thy name we go.
- Yea, in thy name, O Captain of salvation!
In thy dear name, all other names above:
Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,
our Prince of glory and our King of love,
Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,
our Prince of glory and our King of love.
- We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
and needing more each day thy grace to know:
yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on thee, and in thy name we go”;
yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on thee, and in thy name we go.”
4 We rest on thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, thine shall be the praise;
when passing through the gates of pearly splendour,
victors, we rest with thee, through endless days;
when passing through the gates of pearly splendour,
victors, we rest with thee, through endless days . (by Edith A G Cherry 1872 to 1897)
The Grace
All: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
And the love of God,
And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
Be with us all evermore.
Amen
Go in joy and peace to love and serve the Lord
All: In the name of Christ Amen.
© 702211