This short act of worship has been prepared for you I invite you to share in a few moments with God, knowing that other people within Paulton, Trinity and Chew Stoke Methodist Churches are sharing this act of worship with you.
Revd Martin Slocombe
Psalm 15 - Who Shall Abide in God’s Sanctuary?
A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue,
and do no evil to their friends,
nor take up a reproach against their neighbours;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,
but who honour those who fear the Lord;
who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest,
and do not take a bribe against the innocent.
Those who do these things shall never be moved.
Hymn – Teach me to dance
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Teach me to dance to the beat of your heart, 1 You wrote the rhythm of life, 2 Let all my movements express |
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Graham Kendrick (b. 1950) and Steve Thompson |
Introduction
The choices we make, and the words we speak reflect what is important to us, the values that we hold. Today we hear I our readings of Jesus being challenged about what is clean and what is unclean. His response is critical of the Pharisees who say one thing and do another. It is not what enters the body which defiles it, but what leaves it.
Prayer of adoration & confession
Father of light,
Father of truth and wisdom,
we worship you and adore you.
Turn us inside out as we bow at your throne today.
Let your light shine through us in the darkness,
most merciful and gracious God. Amen.
Unblemished God, forgive us
when we adhere to laws that are not of you,
when we criticise others because their ways are not our ways.
Cleanse our hearts and make us pure.
When we have not supported one another in love,
or protected those that are vulnerable.
Cleanse our hearts and make us pure.
When we have corrupted your laws and gone our own way, or when we have not nurtured those in our families and communities and let them go astray.
Cleanse our hearts and make us pure.
Help us to live as one community,
bound together in love and grace.
Help us to live alongside each other
and be there for one another.
Amen.
Thank you, O God, that we are a forgiven people, cleansed and restored by you,
made pure in your image.
Today we are free because of the cross.
Amen.
Readings
James 1:17-27
17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.
26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 - The Tradition of the Elders
7Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ 6He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’
Reflection
In the present age of this Covid pandemic, we have got very used to the idea of repeatedly sanitizing our hands whenever we enter or leave a building, and so, this reading in which the disciples are criticised for not washing their hands before eating might strike a chord. Jesus is angry with what he sees as the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who insist that a whole raft of trivial rules are followed, but at the same time abandon God’s instructions in relation to how they show love to others. He reminds them that it is what is on the inside coming out of the body which defiles them, not what is on the outside coming in.
Jesus challenges them as to the nature of the true values that they live by.
What are the important values that you chose to live by?
We are going to build a wall this morning. Each member of the congregation has a post-it which will be a brick in that wall. I invite you to write on your “brick” a value that you hold. It might be a practical value such as donating to charity, or it might be a virtue such as honesty, for example. When you have written something, come and stick it on our wall.
Why have you written the values that you have? Why is that value important? Have you made a conscious choice to live by a certain value? Are you surprised by a value someone else has written?
The letter of James communicates the importance of not just paying lip service to these values, but to actually living them out day by day.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
And also warns of the dangers of allowing the world to influence our choices.
to keep oneself unstained by the world.
May we hear Jesus’ words, being conscious of what we say and do, and live unblemished lives accordingly. Amen
Prayers for others
Almighty God, you call us to love each other as you first loved us. Help us to see others through your eyes and love them with your heart.
We pray for the world, in particular we continue to pray for Afghanistan. For those who have chosen to leave and rebuild a new life in a foreign country, for those who are forced to stay and live in fear, for those killed by the terrorist bomb; and for those who have taken power, that they might rule according to the Islamic values of peace and love.
We pray for your church in the world,
for the North East Somerset & Bath Circuit, of which we are a part, for it’s ministers, lay workers, churches and congregations – especially this week we join with the Circuit as we pray together for Weston, and their minister, Jan Tate.
We pray for our friends who are unwell, and their families who are supporting them, and for all those we know and love …………
And we pray for ourselves
In silence or spoken aloud, we bring our own prayers
silence
God of all, we ask on behalf of all those in need.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
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.
Communion Hymn – 610 – I come with joy to meet my Lord
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1 I come with joy, a child of God, 2 I come with Christians far and near 3 As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, 4 The Spirit of the risen Christ, 5 Together met, together bound |
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Brian Wren (b. 1936) |
Holy Communion
Bead and wine are uncovered
Prayer of invocation
Come, Lord Jesus, with friend, with stranger, with young and with old, be among us today. Come close to us that we may come close to you. Forgive us that we may forgive one another. Renew us so that, where we have failed, we may begin again. Amen
The Story of the Last Supper
Among friends, gathered round a table, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and, having blessed it, he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying. “This is my body which is given for you”.
In the same way he took wine, and, having given thanks for it, he poured it out and gave the cup to his disciples, saying, “This cup is the new relationship with God, sealed with my blood. Take this and share it. I shall drink wine with you next in the coming kingdom of God”.
So now, following Jesus’ example, we take this bread and this wine; the ordinary things of the world; through which God will bless us. And as Jesus offered thanks for the gifts of the earth, let us also celebrate God’s goodness.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Let us pray
Blessed are you, O God, for you have brought forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, O God, for you have created the fruit of the vine.
And here at your table, you offer us bread and wine for the journey to nourish us as sons and daughters. And so, with all our sisters and brothers, before us and beside us, we praise you from our hearts for your unending greatness. Amen
Blessing of the bread and wine
Lord Jesus Christ, present with us now, as we do in this place what you did in an upper room, breathe your Spirit upon us and upon this bread and this wine, that they may be heaven’s food and drink for us, renewing, sustaining and making us whole, so that we may be your body on earth, loving and caring in the world.
Breaking and sharing of the bread and wine
Look, the Bread of heaven is broken for the life of the world. The gifts of God for the people of God.
Invitation
Come to this sacred table, not because you must but because you may; come, not to declare that you are righteous, but that you desire to be true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Come, not because you are strong, but because you are weak; not because you have any claim on heaven’s rewards, but because in your frailty and sin you stand in constant need of heaven’s mercy and help.
Distribution
Prayer
We praise you Lord God, for the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation which you give for the life of the world. With this food for our journey bring us with your saints to the feast of your glory. Amen
Hymn - 724 – Blest are the pure in heart
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1 Blest are the pure in heart, 2 The Lord, who left the heavens 3 Still to the lowly soul 4 Lord, we your presence seek, |
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vv. 1, 3 John Keble (1792–1866) |
Blessing
Lord Jesus, help us to:
keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking.
Bless us and go with us all, now and always.
Amen.
CCLI Licence 354889