Welcome to our online service. This service is a replica of our in person service at 11am. If you are planning on joining in person, please bring a mask for singing. Sunday Zone is running and they will be following the same theme.
Today is a communion service. The words we will be using in person are at the end of this blog if you want to share in communion at home
AGM
Our AGM is 21st November 2021 after the service - papers will be available before the meeting. We have vacancies for deacons and elders and one deacon up for re-election - more details will follow nearer the time.
We would encourage all members to attend these members meeting if they can. Non-members are welcome, but will not be able to vote. If you are interested in membership please speak to Claire or one of the deacons.
Prayer Course
Every Monday (with a break for half term) we are running The Prayer Course on Zoom at 8pm and at 2pm in person on Mondays. This is an 8 week course that will help you to grow and deepen your prayer life and it is based on the Lord's Prayer. See the intro video below.
For the zoom link, please contact us and we will send it to you.
Make Lunch
We are running Make Lunch for families we support on Wednesday 27th October. If you would like to volunteer to help please see Sandra or Vic.
Worship
Call to Worship
We’ve come to worship God,
who loved us before we were yet born,
who knows us even better than we know ourselves,
whose presence never leaves us,
and whose love for us never ceases.
This is our God.
As you come to worship, spend some time being still in God's presence. Ask him to take your worries and anxieties and hold them for you as you focus on him.
Let’s worship together.
Songs for today
You might want to save the last two for after the sermon and before communion
Looking back and looking forward
How has your week been? Where have you seen God's goodness? Where have your struggles been?
What are you facing in the week ahead?
Spend some time now bringing your week gone and your week ahead to God. Pray particularly for any difficult decisions you will need to make in the coming week - that God will guide you and lead you in His way.
Watch this video based on Psalm 139
Word
Our sermon today is based on Jeremiah 38:1-13. You can read it here
Here is Claire with the sermon
Communion
Taken from "Gathering for Worship" - published by the Baptist Union of Great Britain p40
Re-membering and Reconciling
This pattern explores and celebrates the many meanings implicit in Jesus invitation: ‘do this to remember me’. It highlights how the action of ‘re-membering’ is a past, present and future tense experience. When we re-member: broken damaged and dismembered aspects of our past lives are put together again; mind and body and soul in the present tense enjoy wholeness; and helplessness in the face of the unknown future gives way to resurrection hope.
Words of Approach
We gather at this table to celebrate Life:
the life of God in the world,
made flesh and blood in Jesus,
embodied in us.
We come to re-member
the body that was broken:
the hands that touched the untouchable,
healed the hurting and did no violence;
the feet that got dusty along city streets
and at the lake’s shore;
the arms that welcomed the stranger
and embraced the outcast;
the legs that entered homes and synagogues
and danced at celebrations;
the eyes that blazed against injustice,
knew how to cry
and saw the potential in everyone;
the belly that shared table with unexpected people
and shook with laughter;
the lips that wove stories and painted pictures
of a new community and a better world.
This blessèd body
that was broken, abused and rejected,
we come to re-member,
for we are called to be the body of Christ.
As you Risen Christ re-member our lives,
so we re-member you.
And not only at this table,
but in our life together
may we embody your kingdom
and re-member your life in the world.
Words of Thanksgiving
O God,
we give thanks for this bread and wine:
A timeless reminder
of the flesh-and-blood life of Jesus:
broken,
rejected,
yet unstoppable.
In Christ we see
– a life that could not be ended by death
– a purpose that could not be silenced by the forces of violence
– a desire deep within you for the transformation of the world.
As we eat the bread and drink the wine:
we thank you
for the acceptance and tenderness
with which you have transformed our shame into dignity
and loved us into life;
we thank you
for cherishing the potential in us
and for calling us to be partners
in your vision for this world.
As we eat the bread and drink the wine:
we call on your Spirit
to come alongside us, so that
together, in the company of your spirit
we may give ourselves afresh
to the task of re-membering you,
of being the body of Christ,
of living your life in this world. Amen.
The Sharing
The bread is broken as these words are said
This broken bread we share
is the body of Christ.
It is a sign
of all that we live and risk together
as the community of Christ.
Let all who seek Christ take and eat.
The cup is lifted as these words are said
This cup we drink together is the wine of the kingdom of God,
the sign of God’s undertaking for the life of the world.
Let all who seek Christ take and drink.
Prayer after Communion
We have taken bread and wine into our bodies.
Now may these hands be the hands of Christ in the world,
may they do no violence.
May these eyes see those who are overlooked,
may these ears listen to those who are unheard,
may these voices be raised for the voiceless,
lest our songs of praise be empty.
May these feet take us where Christ leads,
and may these hearts and minds be open to your Spirit.
Christ has re-membered us,
may we re-member Christ. Amen.