WELCOME TO St. Nicholas Church

22nd March 2020

10am Mothering Sunday

WELCOME The Lord be with you All: And also with you Gathering Prayer Heavenly Father, we rejoice with thanks for all those who have mothered us in our lives. In a world that is broken and in need of your motherly love, please use us to aid others as you do us in providing comfort, nurture, protection and support. We ask that you grow us as carers to those who need us, so that we might celebrate your goodness together even through our own brokenness. All: Amen

MORNING HAS BROKEN like the first morning; Blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them springing fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven, Like the first dew fall on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, Sprung in completeness where his feet pass. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning! Born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning God's recreation of the new day

Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) CCLI 6722

CONFESSION:

Loving God, we have come to church this morning to meet with you. We want to speak to you and listen to what you are saying to us. Please quieten our minds, and help us to think about what we are doing

All: There are things that we are sorry we did, because they were wrong. There are others things that we did not do, which we know we should have done. Please forgive us for our mistakes, and help us not to make them again.

ABSOLUTION: May almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. All: Amen. COLLECT FOR MOTHERING SUNDAY:

God of love, passionate and strong, tender and careful: watch over us and hold us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

BIBLE READING: Exodus 2:1-10 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river-bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, ‘I drew him out of the water.’ This is the Word of the Lord All: Thanks be to God

TO GOD BE THE GLORY Great things He hath done! So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gates that all may go in:

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory - great things He has done! O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To every believer the promise of God! The vilest offender who truly believes, That moment from Jesus a pardon receives: Great things He hath taught us, Great things He hath done, And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see;

Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) CCLI 6722

PRAYERS: Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy in this time of uncertainty and distress. Sustain and support the anxious and fearful, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may rejoice in your comfort knowing that nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Lord Jesus Christ, you taught us to love our neighbour, and to care for those in need as if we were caring for you. In this time of anxiety, give us strength to comfort the fearful, to tend the sick, and to assure the isolated of our love, and your love, for your name’s sake. Amen. God of compassion, be close to those who are ill, afraid or in isolation. In their loneliness, be their consolation; in their anxiety, be their hope; in their darkness, be their light; through him who suffered alone on the cross, but reigns with you in glory, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For those who are ill Merciful God, we entrust to your tender care those who are ill or in pain, knowing that whenever danger threatens your everlasting arms are there to hold them safe. Comfort and heal them, and restore them to health and strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For hospital staff and medical researchers Gracious God, give skill, sympathy and resilience to all who are caring for the sick, and your wisdom to those searching for a cure. Strengthen them with your Spirit, that through their work many will be restored to health; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For one who is ill or isolated O God, help me to trust you, help me to know that you are with me, help me to believe that nothing can separate me from your love revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. For the Christian community We are not people of fear: we are people of courage. We are not people who protect our own safety: we are people who protect our neighbours’ safety. We are not people of greed: we are people of generosity. We are your people God, giving and loving, wherever we are, whatever it costs For as long as it takes wherever you call us. Amen

LORD’S PRAYER: As our Saviour taught us, so we pray: All: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

FINAL PRAYER: God of Grace and compassion your son, Jesus Christ was part of a family in Nazareth. He knew the love of a mother and of a father and by dying on the cross brought us all together as new family. help us in the Christian Journey to strive for that day when the whole of humanity is one family together in your church. All Amen.

IN CHRIST ALONE MY HOPE IS FOUND

He is my light, my strength, my song This cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled, when strivings cease My comforter, my all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand In Christ alone, who took on flesh Fullness of God in helpless babe This gift of love and righteousness Scorned by the ones he came to save Till on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on him was laid Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground his body lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave he rose again And as he stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me For I am his and he is mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life, no fear in death This is the power of Christ in me From life’s first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny No power of hell, no scheme of man Can ever pluck me from his hand Till he returns or calls me home Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

S Townend © 2001 Kingsway’s Thankyou music CCLI no 6722

CLOSING PRAYER AND DISMISSAL: All: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and evermore. Amen. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. All: In the name of Christ. Amen