Preparation I’ve been having problems with my vision recently. I wear varifocals and things have been rather blurry, especially when I’ve been trying to read and play guitar (I’ve been learning guitar for about 2 years now) – basically I’m rubbish, but I enjoy it – although I’ve been banned to the back bedroom! My bad playing has been made worse by not being able to see the strings properly – my sight seems out of alignment somehow. Perhaps a visit to the opticians is needed – but I then I realised that the frame of my specs seemed to be a bit loose, so I hunted in the ‘man draw’ for one of the 20 sets of tiny screwdrivers (you know, the ones you get in Christmas Crackers) I thought I had – found 1 set from 1986, and managed to tighten the screws up – and suddenly, I’m seeing better. The Guitar playing is still awful though – as my neighbours will testify!

Someone once wrote that worship helps to re-align our vision of God which in turn helps to strengthen our spiritual joints in order to see more of who God is and all that God has done for us, which in turn, help us to become more effective as witnesses of God’s grace.

Our first hymn reminds us that at all times Jesus is our hope, our light, our strength and our song…

Hymn/Song: https://youtu.be/ouGuG97l2RYIn Christ Alone Hymn/Song: https://youtu.be/ouGuG97l2RY

In Christ alone my hope is found,He is my light, my strength, my songThis Cornerstone, this solid GroundFirm through the fiercest drought and storm.What heights of love, what depths of peaceWhen fears are stilled, when strivings ceaseMy Comforter, my All in AllHere 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 saveTill on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfied For every sin on Him was laidHere 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 dayUp from the grave He rose again

~AT HOME WORSHIP~Date 28 Feb 2021

Theme : Rocky relationships and unfulfilled expectations

And as He stands in victorySin'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 meFrom life's first cry to final breath,Jesus commands my destinyNo power of hell, no scheme of man,Can ever pluck me from His handTill He returns or calls me homeHere in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Opening Prayers

Thank you Heavenly Father for your love for us. We come this morning as your people, called by your name, to worship you. Lord, although we are apart, by your Spirit we are together. In these difficult days in which we live, we thank you that our hope is in you, that our lives are in you, that we are held by you. That you are our light, our strength, our song. We praise you that nothing can separate us from your love. We ask Lord Jesus that this morning as we sing, as we pray, as we hear your word - that our vision of you will be re-aligned – that our fears will be dispelled, that our hope will be renewed, that our hearts may be filled with your presence. That we may know the hope to which we have been called, the riches of our inheritance in you and the immeasurable greatness of your grace and power towards each one of us as individuals, as families and as a community of your people. Lord, by your Holy Spirit re-tune our hearts and open our eyes towards you. All: In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Prayer for the Day

Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy, to you be praise and glory for ever. In the darkness of our sin, your light breaks through like the dawn and your healing springs up for deliverance. As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help, sustain us with your bountiful Spirit and open our lips to sing your praise. Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All: Blessed be God for ever.

Saying SorryWe now come to the time when we confess to God, those things which we have failed to do, thoughts which have been unkind, words, actions and attitudes which have caused hurt to others and to God. In silence let’s bring our confession to God, knowing that we are loved, that we are forgiven. As we come to God asking for his forgiveness, yet believing in His forgiveness through what Jesus has done for us, take a minute to reflect on what this image of the Return of the Prodigal by Rembrandt means to you.

[please add this image to the ppt]

‘Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from wrong doing and our bodies washed with pure water’ Hebrews 10.22 (abridged)

Post Confessional Prayer

Adapted from the prayer of St Gertrude the Great (13th Century Benedictine nun and mystic)

‘O Almighty and merciful God, whose mercy is boundless, and the riches of whose goodness are infinite. We give you thanks with all of our minds and hearts for the amazing and exceeding goodness which you have shown us in so graciously pardoning all our sins and restoring us to your grace and favour. Blessed be your divine compassion O my God and blessed be the incomprehensible love of your beloved Son, which constrained Him to institute so gentle and so mighty a remedy for our sins. We bring our praises to you, we bring our lives to you. All: Amen’

Worship Song: My Jesus, my Saviour (repeats)

https://youtu.be/hGmZcTCXjmM

My Jesus, My Saviour Lord, there is none like You.All of my days I want to praise The wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter Tower of refuge and strength Let every breath, all that I am Never cease to worship You.

Shout to the Lord all the earth, let us sing Power and majesty, praise to the KingMountains bow downAnd the seas will roarAt the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the work of Your handsForever I'll love You, forever I'll standNothing compares to the promise I have in You.

My Jesus My Saviour Words and music Darlene Zschech © 1993 Darlene Zschech/Hillsongs Australia

BIBLE READINGS (Susan and Julian White)

Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16, GNB

Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right. 2 I will make my covenant with you and give you many descendants.” 3 Abram bowed down with his face touching the ground, and God said, 4 “I make this covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, [a] because I am making you the ancestor of many nations. 6 I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.

7 “I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.

15 God said to Abraham, “You must no longer call your wife Sarai; from now on her name is Sarah.[b] 16 I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants.”

NT: Mark 8:31-38, GNBJesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death

31 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life.” 32 He made this very clear to them. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. “Get away from me, Satan,” he said. “Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!”

34 Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. “If any of you want to come with me,” he told them, “you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. 35 For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it. 36 Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! 37 There is nothing you can give to regain your life. 38 If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

REFLECTION TIME

Short Reflection by Revd Lis Arnold

Mark 8.31-38

To misquote Claudia Winkleman and the Head and Shoulders advertisement “Do you suffer from unfulfilled expectations?” Unfulfilled expectations are when people, relationships, situations and events do not turn out the way we expected.

At the moment during this lockdown we all must be suffering to some extent from unfulfilled expectations. We can no longer plan with any certainty, we cannot expect to be where we thought we would be and with whom. When I moved to Wiltshire from Suffolk 16 months ago I planned to explore my new surroundings. I began to think of visiting the countryside and historic sites of this part of the world. I wanted to go to Cirencester to see the Roman mosaics in the museum. I expected to see a lot more of my family. None of this has been possible and they are only tiny things really in the overall scheme of things. They pale into insignificance when compared with what some people have suffered and lost.

When the disciples met Jesus, their expectations must have been sky high. They have witnessed miracles of healing, miracles of nature such as stilling the storm and walking on the water. He has fed the 5000 with hardly anything. He has raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, and cast out demons. His preaching was with authority and his parables were illuminating. People are wondering about his power. Even King Herod begins to wonder who he is.

The speculation must have reached Jesus because he says, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets.” And then he asks the crunch question, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Messiah.”

Jesus immediately tells them not to tell anyone and he never calls himself “Messiah”; he continues and refers to himself as “The Son of Man”.

And there follows his prediction of his death and suffering, his rejection by the elders, chief priests and scribes. This is all too much for Peter who rebukes him, “epitiman”, but Jesus turns on Peter and he tells him “epitemesen” which is “shut up! - we have translated it a bit more politely, but such is the vehemence of Jesus that it needs this harsh exchange - “shut up!”

Jesus knows that the disciples are still not understanding the true nature of his Messiahship. They are still evaluating what they are seeing in worldly terms.

Their expectations cloud their sight and render them blind. The expectation of a powerful, worldly Messiah stops them from seeing the true nature of Jesus and the Kingdom he brings. And the harsh prediction of suffering and death only confuses them even more.

This is brought to a head in Judas, who represents the ultimate case of unfulfilled expectation. His disappointment and frustration with Jesus prompts him to the act of betrayal which escalates into the Crucifixion. A really ‘rocky relationship’ culminating in disappointment.

And then Peter, for all his bluster, collapses at the challenge of being asked if he knows Jesus, the denial which seemingly ends it all for him. Another relationship flounders.

How would we have reacted? How do we react? What expectations do we have which prevent us from seeing Jesus as he is? What values do we put in place which supplant the values of the Gospel in our own lives?

These are questions to ponder during this season of Lent, a season of penitence when we can ask God to give us a clearer vision of the Kingdom and Gospel message. And to give us the grace to see what we need to see and not be blinded by our own views.

This pandemic has to some extent opened our eyes to the relationships which are indeed very rocky.

Our relationship with the environment, with all the resources of nature. We have exploited and plundered it.

Our relationship with those less fortunate than ourselves. We are all consumers of cheap products produced by slave labour in the 3rd world.

Our reliance on underpaid members of our society who actually serve us all.

All of these and many more examples fly in the face of the Kingdom values which the world has lost sight of. Our expectations have been corrupted.

Perhaps now as we begin, hopefully, to climb out of the valley of despair which Covid 19 has brought us into, we can repent of all this and begin to build a better, fairer world, when relationships between people and nations are built on mutual care and respect.

Amen

Children may choose to use the Activity Sheet [see sep document]

Hymn/Song: God of the Poor (beauty for brokenness)

https://youtu.be/MO1G-o7Yj-c

Beauty for brokennessHope for despairLord, in your sufferingThis is our prayerBread for the children Justice, joy, peace Sunrise to sunset Your kingdom increase!

Shelter for fragile lives Cures for their ills Work for the craftsman Trade for their skills Land for the dispossessed Rights for the weak Voices to plead the cause Of those who can't speak

God of the poor Friend of the weak Give us compassion we pray Melt our cold hearts Let tears fall like rain Come, change our love From a spark to a flame

Refuge from cruel wars Havens from fear Cities for sanctuary Freedoms to share Peace to the killing-fields

Scorched earth to green Christ for the bitterness His cross for the pain

Rest for the ravaged earth Oceans and streams Plundered and poisoned Our future, our dreams Lord, end our madness Carelessness, greed Make us content with The things that we need

Lighten our darkness Breathe on this flame Until your justice Burns brightly again Until the nations Learn of your ways Seek your salvation And bring you their praise

Graham Kendrick Copyright © 1993 Make Way Music, www.grahamkendrick.co.uk

Time for Prayer (Susan and Julian White)

Let us pray

Dear Lord, like the first disciples we often limit You by our ideas and expectations. As we come to You now, we ask You to forgive us. Please, expand our minds…

(As I read the following prayer, I invite you to make it yours too…) I worship You Lord because You are my God, the source of everything I am and have. You are far more wonderful than I can ever imagine. Give me faith like Abraham to believe You for greater things. I humble myself before You now and ask You to help me see You as You really are.

We praise You Lord God for answering the prayers of millions and giving scientists skill to develop vaccines against Covid-19 that are working far better than even they dared hope. Thank you that many of them have recognised this is ‘a miracle’. Give us the words to explain to people that this is because God loves them and has been with us in all of this, working on a plan to set us free.Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Thank you for guiding our government to produce the plan laid out on Monday to ease the Covid restrictions. We pray that You deliver us safely over the coming weeks from the power of the virus to disrupt our lives, health and the economy. We ask that no-one will forget the outpouring of care and help for others by so many during the tough times; as life gets back to ‘normal’, may we all care for each other more than before.Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Lord, You recognised that we will always have poor among us in our imperfect human society. So, we pray for those who have struggled during the pandemic with loss of jobs and money, whilst others have been able to save more. As we emerge from the restrictions, please guide our government to create fair laws and encourage practices to distribute wealth. Please move in people’s consciences so that those, who can give

more, have generous hearts - may the inequalities between rich and poor get smaller not bigger. Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Father of all, we thank you for the willingness of nations to work together in the Covax initiative to vaccinate the world and for the delivery of the first vaccines to Ghana this week. We pray that this spirit of generosity will continue. We ask that you use the vaccination programme to help heal the divisions between ethnic communities including within our own country and that everyone will be protected.Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Thank you Lord that Your eyes see everything - nothing is hidden from You, from the deepest weaknesses of our own hearts to the injustices carried out by some in wider society. You are the only one who can judge correctly so it is a huge relief to know that we can leave that to You because You will always, sooner or later, bring consequences to bear. O Lover of justice, shine Your light to reveal oppression and help us to work against it. Help our security forces and courts to administer justice effectively. Please bring justice for both sides in our new arrangements for trade and security with the EU and guide Lord Frost who has just been appointed to lead the talks.Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Creator God, we are so sorry for the effects of our sin on the natural world. We pray for the leaders of the G7 countries and for their encouraging goals expressed in their recent online meeting. We ask that at the summit in Cornwall in June, chaired by Boris Johnson, that they will agree on measures both to help countries recover economically and to protect the environment.Lord, help us to see You as You really are.

Heavenly Father, we lift up to You those we know whose rocky relationships have come under so much pressure because of the pandemic that they have broken down. (In a moment of silence, lift up the names of people you know.) But we ask for good to come: that the extra time that parents have been able to spend with their children will build a stronger foundation of love in their lives so that they can understand the love of their Heavenly Father more easily. Lord, help us to see You as You really are.Dear Lord, the rockiest of our relationships is the one we have with You. Thank you that we can be real with you, like Peter was, knowing that You love and accept us as we are, and can pick us up and put us straight when we stumble. Lord we confess we have been shaken by the pandemic. We have struggled with fears, seeing so much suffering and the grief of losing loved ones. We miss seeing and hugging those we love and the comfort of the usual structures of our lives. We come to You now and open our hearts to You, Healer of hearts and Binder of wounds - Lord, please come into our hearts and help us.

We ask all these prayers in the Name of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.Amen

The Lord’s Prayer

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 sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.

Amen.

Hymn/Song: The servant king (this is our God)

https://youtu.be/C4FtZ9XzZag

Closing Prayer

May the beauty of Jesus be reflected in our eyesMay the love of Jesus influence the work of our handsMay the wisdom of Jesus be reflected in our thinkingMay the knowledge of Jesus flow from our hearts

That all may see and in seeing believe…

The Grace (together)

[There is an opportunity after the service to stay on Zoom for a few minutes to chat and catch up with each other – so if you can, do grab yourself a tea/coffee/juice and come back.]

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