Welcome to our service today. We are starting a new mini-series looking at Psalm 90-92. This year as we continue to seek shelter as we move on into the new year, the leaders decided this year that we would choose Psalm 91 as our Psalm of the year - which we'll introduce next week. Looking at these three Psalms together we search with the Psalmist and find security in God. After the service today we will meet on zoom for coffee and cake at 12.15pm. The link is here
Next week is our covenant service. It will look a bit different this year, as you might expect! We will have our normal service online based on the Psalm and verse of the year and then at 12.15pm we will meet on zoom to covenant together and share communion together. It's a key time of the year to re-commit ourselves to Christ and to one another and this year, as we covenant together scattered in our homes, we celebrate the value of church family, called to walk and watch over one another through this time of crisis. If you are not able to join on zoom, the words of the covenant and communion will be available, which you might want to say at the same time, as we stand together with Christ at our centre.
This week is the Fresh Streams Leadership Conference and the invitation has been offered for churches to join the evening celebrations online which will be live on the Fresh Streams YouTube Channel here - Monday to Wednesday at 7.45pm - a chance to join with our Baptist brothers and sisters to hear some excellent speakers.
Worship
This week has been challenging in many ways, as we said goodbye to Angela on Monday, faced a new national lockdown, saw events unfold in Washington, US on Wednesday night and dealt with how we were going to manage work, school and lockdown for the coming weeks. Some of us are recovering from illness, some waiting results of tests, some isolating right now. Those of us who work in the NHS and care and schools and supermarkets and other frontline occupations are stretched and exhausted. As we come to worship today let us be still and let us lay it all down before the one who promises to carry all of our burdens for us. Make some time to be still before God now. Find a quiet space if you can..... focus your eyes on an object - a cross, a candle or look out of the window for a moment or two and listen to the silence.
Be still and know that God is God
Be still and find peace in your mind
Be still and listen to the world around
Hear the whirrs and the birds and the sound of silence
Be still
Songs
The songs for today are in the link below. You might want to save the last couple for towards the end.
The Wise Man and The Foolish Man
Today we are thinking about how we can be safe and that we find our safety in making God and his ways our home. A story in the Bible that talks about where we find home is the story Jesus told about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. If you feeling creative you might want to have a read and then reflect on the story as you build your own house. How can you depend on God better? What are the things you need to do more to find a safe place in him?
Here is the story in the Bible for you to read - click here
Here is a new song you might want to learn that tells the story
Prayers
This week our prayers are particularly focussed on the NHS as Covid-19 threatens to overwhelm our Health Service. Lou Adams who is the matron of the A&E department at a major teaching hospital reflects on the power of prayer with the Baptist Union Faith and Society Team Leader, Diane Watts as they call us to prayer. This is part of the interview to help lead us into prayer. You can find the full version of the interview here.
Here are some pointers to help you pray (taken from the Baptist Union Facebook Page)
Pray for all the NHS staff for their own safety, energy and peace in dealing with each and every patient. Pray for those in hospital leadership, for wisdom and for good decisions to give the best outcomes for patients. Pray for patients; for healing, for peace and ultimately to fight this disease and get home and pray for their relatives who feel helpless. Pray for the vaccine, that it will and is working against this latest strain of Covid-19. Pray for a reprieve and an end to Covid-19. Pray for those in our church family and others you know who work in the NHS.
Word
Claire brings our sermon based on Psalm 90. Read it first here
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