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Sunday 14th February - Living Stones


Welcome to worship this morning. We continue our series through 1 Peter looking at what it means to be living stones in 1 Peter 2:4-10. The online service will be followed by zoom communion at 12.15pm. Bring your own bread and wine. The link is here . If you can't make it to zoom the words for communion are at the end of this service.


This week lent begins. Regular in person attenders (in the long ago days when that was our normality) should receive a lent pack by Tuesday. If you would like one but have not received one please get in touch via our contact pages or directly with Claire. For the introduction to the packs watch the video below



This week we continue our Bible Studies on God's heart for mental health - Monday at 8pm and then repeated Wednesday at 10.30am on the zoom link above.


Worship


Call to Worship



Songs for Worship


The playlist below contains our songs for today. You may want to save the last two for after the sermon and after the prayers.



Valentine's Day


Today is St Valentine's Day - all about love - but when we learn about St Valentine we find it is much more than that - it is about the value of marriage and God's love lived out in relationships. Watch this video to find out more



You can read a bit more about what love is in 1 Corinthians 13 here . This is God's love - far bigger and far better than any love we can imagine.


You might want to make something for someone today to tell them how much they matter to you - how much you love them. It could be for a family member, someone in the church, a friend or someone else. It could be a card, or if you are thinking of being a bit more creative there are loads of ideas online - here is one video which might give you some ideas



Pray that God might help you to love like he does.


Word


Today's sermon is based on 1 Peter 2:4-10 'Living Stones'





Prayers



God of grace and light,

Found within and out with the structures of humanity,

You cannot be contained,

But on occasion choose to dwell in hearts and homes.

Glance lightly upon the hearts and homes dear to us,

The people and places where we seek blessing.

Build up our homes:

Where the happy may find peace;

The sad may find comfort;

The hungry may find food;

The weary may find rest.

Build up the places where we work:

Where the honest may find reward;

The dedicated may find delight;

The imaginative may find new horizons.

Build up our community:

Where the isolated may find friendship;

The marginalised may find welcome;

The unloved may find acceptance.

Build up our nation, loving Lord,

And bless those entrusted with the care of our society’s fabric.

May they use their skills, their calling, their hard graft

To fashion communities of grace and understanding,

Where generosity of heart and mind and soul

May be not only the gilding of our daily life

But its very core.

Build up the Church, redeeming Lord,

So that all Your children may find their place,

Unique and special,

Chosen and essential to the living edifice of grace,

Where by Your grace

Each one might know their value in Your economy,

And their significance in Your eyes.

Help us all, this day, to be living stones, and not dead weights,

Dreaming dreams, and living gloriously the joy and kindliness

Of a faith that edifies everything that life should be.

In the Name of our Saviour, our cornerstone, we pray. Amen


Communion


Join us for communion on zoom at 12.15pm, or if you are not able to join us use the words below as you share communion alongside your scattered church family. Words written by Catriona Gorton, Minister of Hillhead Baptist Church, Glasgow and used with permission.


Invitation


Here is the church, here is this church – a home composed of wonky human stones Here is the table, made ready for a banquet – at least in symbolic form Here are the guests, waiting for the guest of honour – who is already present within them And here is a mystery worth recalling – the home and the guests are one!

Here on the table is bread for breaking, and wine for sharing Here around the table are those who hunger for acceptance, mercy and love Here at the table all are welcomed, and none are excluded For here is a mystery worth recalling – Christ’s body finds expression in our broken-wholeness

Here in this moment, we must lay aside all labels, for all are equal Here in this sharing, we can know ourselves love, welcomed, accepted and affirmed Here in the ordinary, God speaks to us of things eternal And this is a mystery worth recalling – here heaven and earth meet.


Institution


For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.


Thanksgiving


Home-making God, who shelters us in the storms of life, Who provides us a refuge where we may recover from hurts or regrets And who promises us a banquet to satisfy our every need We thank you for all that is anticipated in the sharing of morsels of bread and sips of wine For the promises of a new creation, and an eternal home in a dwelling you will supply And ask that you bless us now as we live the memory and the hope of which we speak. Amen


Eat Bread and Drink Wine giving thanks


Acclamation


Death defeated, sin overcome Life everlasting, love without end These you have achieved for us, Lord Christ, So help us align our lives and our living to your perfect way Amen.

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