Each Sunday we post online worship resources when Tier 3 restrictions only allow 50 people to attend church. However the church this week is completely closed for worship. So we provide these to stay in touch and stay safe. They are accessible after our live Zoom worship for those unable to access via this platform.
The links to the hymns can be accessed by clicking on “Click here” beside the hymn title. These take you to Youtube and we have no control over the adverts you see.
The prayers are taken from the Church of Scotland Weekly Worship.
There is a bonus track at the end of the worship to enjoy.
Opening prayer
Approach to God/Call to worship
Almighty God
Through many and various ways You come to us.
Steal into our hearts now as we think once again
of the new gift of life granted to us through faith in Jesus Christ.
Clarify our vison and steady our nerves
so that we might be willing to venture forth
to serve You as we ought.
Capture our minds and devotions
as we realise in this moment of worship
Your power over death and the enormous possibilities
for victorious living day by day
granted to us through Jesus Christ
our Saviour and Lord.
Amen
The First Hymn:
Guide me O Thou great Jehovah Click here
Prayer of Reflective confession
Let us pray.
Most Merciful Protector,
We who claim Your care and interest
have denied our inheritance
and the name You have placed upon us.
We have participated in the destruction of the world’s resources;
We have told untruths and blatant lies;
We have been corrupt in ourselves
and have attempted to corrupt others.
We have quaked in terror
and lived as frightened fear-filled people
before the spectre of death,
rather than those for who Christ died and rose again.
Too often we have lived as if all powers in heaven and on earth
were ours, and ours alone,
and we have forgotten the source
from which all our gifts and talents have come.
We have denied and evaded
our responsibilities as members of the Church
and failed to identify ourselves with the sorrowful and suffering.
Hear us as we claim Your promise of forgiveness and mercy,
and cast us not away from Your presence.
We wish to be righteous,
but often find it tough and dangerous to be Your disciples
in a hostile and angry world.
Rescue us, we pray,
in our times of wavering and lack of conviction.
Grant us real and vibrant confidence in Your promises
which will never fail.
Spare us for being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus.
Refresh our thirsty souls with the water of life, hope and expectation.
Give us the power to grapple with the sin which is harboured within us,
and the courage to confront with boldness
all that threatens to decay
or destroy the potential for living and loving in our lives,
through Jesus, the Lord of life.
And so we pray the prayer Jesus called us to pray.
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
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever.
Amen
Bible Reading: John 4:46-54 Click Here
The Reflection: Click Here
Prayer of Thanksgiving
O gracious God,
We praise and glorify You for our adoption as Your children
For the experience of Your love and interest in our lives
Our confidence that You will guard and guide us in future.
We value our cherished conditions as those who have known deprivations
and destruction by our own hand,
when we wallow in sin
and cut ourselves off from our companions in the Church.
We are grateful this day – and every day –
for the wisdom and ability to choose between good and evil,
and for the opportunity to proclaim the reality of life over death,
truth over falsehood
love over apathy and malignant wickedness.
Our deepest and most proud thanksgiving
is saved for the extent of Your love for us
apparent in Jesus Christ our Lord.
He has wrestled with the anarchy caused by sin
He has consistently and habitually lived a life of obedience
He has even now invited us to know and love Him
So that we might be recognised as Your children
by the power of Your Holy Spirit.
Amen
The Second Hymn: Amazing Grace (The Tenors) Click here
Prayers of Intercession
Let us pray.
In these moments we bring before You, O God,
Those whose lives are high on our agenda
and in need of Your active creative love
through men and women like ourselves.
Those on the threshold of death
Those enduring terminal illness
Those who have realised that death is near
and all those struck down or badly injured.
May they experience the true life that can be found only in You and,
in the last days, their time may be lived out with dignity and peace.
Watch over all who love and care for them
and support them through the community of faith,
active in love and care.
For all who are bereaved,
who have just lost someone they love
and those who ache after many long lonely days,
Those shocked and shattered by an unexpected loss,
and those who have lost a child,
a life’s companion,
or a close friend.
In Your mercy, may those who mourn receive comfort,
support and understanding
so that they might be able to express grief
and begin to find healing and hope.
We pray for those who are prepared to be Your witnesses
and Your martyrs who are willing to die
for the causes of justice, peace, understanding and reconciliation
in this divided and distraught world.
For those tempted to refute and recant in the face of physical or mental torture.
The irresponsible and those unresponsive to the love shown by Your disciples towards them
Those deaf to the liberating knowledge of their inheritance of faith as Your children
Those who risk all to rescue others
Those who fight against injustice and inhumanity
Those who care enough to think out issues
and publicly acknowledge their position and convictions
against a tide of popular opinion.
There are many who find life unbearable;
The deeply distressed and depressed
Those in overwhelming and unrelenting pain
Those raked with guilt and fear.
Grant release to those who suffer
and bring them comfort in the knowledge of Your acceptance
and recreating and restoring forgiveness.
Comfort all who cry out silently, behind locked doors,
for hope and encouragement,
with the awareness of Your presence with them.
Grip once again the frail and the fragile,
the elderly and those incapacitated
with a powerful sense of thanksgiving
for all their experience of life as Your children.
Sustain them in the days ahead
with the knowledge that they can trust You
and rest easily in faith in Your love,
knowing that nothing in life or death
can separate them from Your care and love,
through Jesus Christ
our Saviour and Redeemer.
Amen
Closing Hymn: O Lord my God Click here
Closing Blessing
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God our Father
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all,
forever more
Amen
Bonus worship track from Chicago Church of Christ. Halleujah Click here (When you put the kettle on allow a different style into your life of worship)
Thank you for time in taking part by using these resources. If you have any messages you would like to share with us, please connect with us below.
Stay in touch and stay safe. This is why we provide the above.
St. James’ Pollok Parish Church 