Welcome to our service today. We are starting a new sermon series looking at hope in the prophets as we head towards advent and Christmas and today we look at Isaiah's call in Isaiah 6:1-8.
We will be sharing in communion on zoom at 12.15pm so bring your bread and wine as we gather at the Lord's table together yet scattered. If you are unable to join us on zoom (the usual link please contact us if you need the link) the words for communion are at the end of this service.
In the coming days members will need to look our for a mailing (snail mail!) about the AGM that includes voting slips for our Deacons. As we can't meet in person we are all voting by postal vote this year and we ask that you get those votes returned as soon as possible. There are other things to read in the mailing about the life of the church which we will explore together in our meeting on the 29th November at 12.15pm on zoom. Any questions please get in touch with one of the leaders.
Worship
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it"
As we come to worship, let us draw near to God with hope and with faith knowing that his grace abounds, this his way is best and the future is full of the abundant amazing beauty of his fulfilled promises.
Songs for today - you might want to save a couple for towards the end.
In todays reading we come to a vision of the throne room of heaven in Isaiah 6:1-8 - have a read of it here
What do you think heaven will be like? Here are some ideas....
You might want to create a picture of what you think heaven will be like - perhaps be inspired by the throne room in Isaiah 6 or by some of the pictures in places like Daniel or Revelation. How can you describe the holiness of God in it all?
Word
Claire brings our sermon today based on Isaiah 6:1-8
Prayers
Our prayers today are led by Linda
Communion
Here are the words for communion if you are unable to join us on zoom.
The table is set, the banquet is laid out. The time we await is nearly here….
We are invited to a banquet where the rich and powerful will sit with the weak and poverty stricken. This is a table where young and old learn from each other. This a time when all will sit together in peace.
Here at this table we get a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. This is God’s table and all who seek to follow the way of Jesus are welcome to eat and drink from it.
Come and taste the grace eternal. Come and see that God is good.
God is with us. We are not alone. Christ is with us. The Spirit moves within us. Let us give thanks to God.
Prayers of thanks
As we wait for what is promised, we remember the life that Jesus lived. We remember how ate with the broken and the outcast. And we remember one special meal – the last supper – a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, where Jesus gathered with his friends in the upper room.
At that meal he took bread, broke it and gave thanks and said ‘take and eat, this is my body broken for you.
And then after supper he took the cup, gave thanks and passed it to them saying ‘this cup is the sign of the new covenant. Whenever you drink it remember me’.
Remembering the expectation of his coming, we remember also his life, his death and his resurrection. We remember how he poured his love out on all he met and on each one of us and look forward to his return and the coming reign of peace, love and justice.
The bread we break is the bread of life
Break bread
Let us eat, the banquet awaits
The cup we share is the cup of promise.
These are the gifts of God for the people of God.
Let us drink as we remember with expectation of what will come
Prayer
Holy Holy Holy God, God who promises so much more, God who leads us on the highway of holiness, we have eaten and drunk from your table. May the eating and the drinking fill us with hope in a world of despair. May we be beacons of hope as we wait for the day when the world will be changed. Grant that this taste of your banquet which is to come would give us the hunger for peace and justice in this community and around the world.
Amen