Sharing Our Faith Together

Morning Worship for Sunday 28 June 2020

by Peter Blount 28 June 2020

Greetings in the name of Jesus – Joy and peace to you all.

NOTICE - TIME TO REJOICE

Rejoice because this morning’s service is the 100th morning post on the Newmount website under the title ‘Sharing Our Faith Together’. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has found time and inspiration to share their faith in this way.

Rejoice also because the number of hits (folk who have opened and hopefully read the posts) has reached an average of almost 50 per day! Fantastic!!

For writers and readers alike – may the blessings continue!

Now to our Call to Worship

This is the day that the Lord has made – Let us, rejoice, and be glad in it.

Prayers

Loving God who calls us each day to honour your name, we stand as always, in awe that you allow us into your presence and to gather in worship today.

Grant us your peace and strength as we look to the scripture to receive words of challenge and comfort. As in Wednesday’s prayers, allow our ‘Wings of Faith’ to grow in knowledge and love of you.

Grant our prayer in Jesus precious name.

Amen

First Hymn ‘Come Ye that Love the Lord’

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Prayers

(Please read each line then pause in silence and or add your own prayer)

Today there is much cause for prayer within our life, church and nation.

We pray for our government and the effect of the virus on daily life, for those who have lost loved ones, jobs and businesses.

We pray for those who find lockdown difficult, challenging and lonely.

We pray for our church, that soon we may be able to meet together for prayer and praise.

We pray for Keith and his family in their sorrow and for others we know who have been bereaved.

We pray for ourselves as lockdown is gradually lifted that we may emerge renewed and ready for whatever challenges are still to come.

Thank you that you hear all our prayers offered in your name.

Amen

We share together the words Jesus 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.

For our reading this morning we turn to the Old Testament and the familiar story of Abraham being tested to the point of sacrificing his only son.

Reading – Genesis 22 v 1 -14

Second Hymn ‘God is Love let heaven adore Him’

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As stated a moment ago this passage of scripture records God’s testing of Abraham, and for all you who are parents – some test! Especially when you hear, or say, things like ‘I’d do anything to keep my children safe’, or when they do have to face difficult challenges we say ‘I wish I could take their place’.

Today I’d like us to think about this story from a slightly different point of view, I often say imagine you are the main character in a story, in this case Abraham. But today, imagine you are not Abraham but Issac.

Issac has grown up as an only child and due to his much waited for arrival, I guess pampered and spoiled rotten. But still he would have played, made friends, explored and become ‘street wise’ like any other child of his day.

So here he is, on an expedition with his father, greatly excited and away from home. However, as the journey continues Issac, who is a bright child and has learnt all about the rituals of sacrifice, because it is a common practice of his day, realises early on and indeed, asks the question ‘where is the sacrifice’?

At this point when the answers from his father to Issac's questions become strange or are just silence, he must have worried – he must have feared – he must have worked out his own fate in this journey, one that started out so exciting and has now turned distinctly sinister. But, and it’s a big ‘but’, Issac does not make a fuss, does not shout for help, does not run away but trusts his father!

Let’s move forward a few hundred years to take a brief look at the life of Jesus and the relationship with His father. Very similar to that of Abraham and Issac or any father and son relationship for that matter, with one very significant difference – Jesus knew from the outset that when it came to the point of sacrifice, a common wooden cross, His father would go through with it!! The sacrifice had to be made complete. Why? To pave the way for every believer from that point onwards to overcome the power of death and be raised again to glory. In other words God allowed Jesus to be sacrificed for you and me.

Issac trusted his father, Jesus trusted His father, so I challenge you, with everything that we know, read in the scripture and experience in our daily life why should we make a fuss, shout for help or run away? Why not trust our father to the same extent as Issac trusted his father or even as Jesus trusted his father!

Prayer

Lord today, in our trials and temptations grant us patience and trust in our loving and gracious Heavenly Father. Amen

Conclusion

Our final music sung for us in the form of a Vesper (evening worship) and is in fact from a piece by Rachmaninoff called ‘All night Vigil’. Despite all that it is a beautiful setting of Psalm 103 Bless the Lord Oh my soul.

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AMEN