Sunday Morning Reflection 24.5.20
Sunday Morning Reflection 24.5.20
Good Morning , I am Karen Harbison, the Minister of Westburn Parish Church , Greenock and I am glad to welcome you to this time of worship. Everyone is welcome, whether you are often at Westburn Parish Church, or whether you have never been there in person before. Everyone is welcome as we, each in our own places, our own homes, come to worship God.
The Psalmist says
‘I pray to you, O Lord;
You hear my voice in the morning;
At sunrise I offer my prayer
And wait for your answer .’
Take a moment to reflect on Jesus praying for his disciples and Jesus call to each of us to pray as we listen to the music of
Hymn 547 – What a friend we have in Jesus
Let us pray
Gracious God
help us to pray
not just with words
but with our lives.
Help us to understand,
not just to hear or perceive,
but to understand with our hearts
what is the depth of your love,
the assurance of your forgiveness,
the grace of your Son
and your call to us to love and to pray.
So hear us as we pray together in Jesus’ words
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 debts
as we forgive our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil
for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Now and forever
Amen
Over these last few weeks we have been reading from John’s gospel and learning from Jesus’ words to his disciples. At the end of the long farewell speech , Jesus , prayed for his disciples , his friends, the ones he loved, the ones he had spent so much time with, the ones he had prayed for before, the ones he had taught to pray, the ones who would continue in the world after he was gone and would carry on his work .He prayed that they might be one in heart and mind and bear the message of God’s love in their living. Let us hear those words from Jesus as we read from John’s gospel
Bible Reading – John 17 : 1 –11 and Joanne Lindsay will read for us
Jesus ‘ words, Jesus’ prayer for his disciples ‘ I am no longer in the world but they are in the world …. protect them ‘ are surely even more poignant to us today. We are in our world today, a world , a situation so very different and difficult and still Jesus prays for us . These words are like a blessing prayed over us by Jesus and at the same time a call to us, as they were to his friends, to be the ones in the world who act and pray in love .
One of the fundamental things about being a disciple is bringing light or being light in a dark situation. As a small boy, the 19th century Edinburgh writer, Robert Louis Stevenson would sit gazing out of the window in his parents’ home watching the evening shadows fade and give way to darkness. The old fashioned lamp lighter, who would each evening walk down the street lighting the gas street lamps, fascinated him. Stevenson is reported to have been so excited about this on one occasion that he shouted to his nanny “Look, there’s a man coming down the street punching holes in the darkness!” That is what we are called to do and pray for today. The pattern of Christ’s life and therefore the life of Christ’s Church is not to escape the world ,nor to be shaped by the desires of the world , but to be in the world , living and praying in ways that punch holes in the darkness by showing compassion, acting in love and speaking in hope. May we find ways to punch holes in the darkness to day.
Let us pray
Lord Jesus
We thank you for your prayers for your disciples,
We thank you for your prayers for us
We thank you for your call to us to pray
We thank you for your gift to us in the people who pray for us
And we bring to you our prayers for others
We pray for those who are ill and those who love them
For those who are dying and those who are grieving
We pray for all those who are working tirelessly as key workers and in the background
Caring and serving others in the midst of this pandemic.
We pray for all those in our minds and on our hearts this morning….
Lord Jesus, Lord of compassion
May the light of your love shine and may it never be put out.
Amen
Let us sing ‘Love Divine , all loves excelling ‘
Blessing
May the Lord bless you ,
May the Lord keep you,
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
And give you peace , and give you peace. Amen
Listen to ‘The UK Blessing’ – youtube.com/watch?v=PUtll3mNj5U
No Response to “Sunday Morning Reflection 24.5.20”