Sunday 4 November 2012

CALL TO WORSHIP:
Let us worship God with people of every time and place –
worship God in faith: for God is our constant and trustworthy God,
as he has always been;
worship God in hope: for God is our saving and healing God,
who brings his people from darkness into light;
worship God in love: for God is our generous and gracious God,
who bless and nurtures all his people.
Let us worship God together with joy in our hearts.

HYMN: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Tune: WOV 28)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation;
O my soul, praise him, for he is our health and salvation.
Come, all who hear:
brothers and sisters draw near,
joining in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, above all things so mightily reigning,
keeping us safe at his side, and so gently sustaining.
Have you not seen
how all you needed has been
met by God’s gracious ordaining?

Praise to the Lord, who will prosper our work and defend us;
surely his goodness and mercy will daily attend us;
ponder anew
what the Almighty can do,
who out of love will befriend us.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the Amen
sound from God’s people again:
gladly with praise we adore him. C/A

OPENING PRAYERS AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
TIME WITH THE CHILDREN ~ Hilary Moore

CHILDREN’S SONG: We Are the Church
I am the church! You are the church!
We are the church together!
All who follow Jesus,
all around the world!
Yes, we’re the church together!
The church is not a building;
the church is not a steeple;
the church is not a resting place;
the church is a people.

We’re many kinds of people,
with many kinds of faces,
all colours and all ages, too
from all times and places.

And when the people gather,
there’s singing and there’s praying;
there’s laughing and there’s crying sometimes,
all of it saying: © Hope Publishing (UMH)

READINGS: Psalm 146 Lindsay Day
Ruth 1: 1-18 Deborah Fitchett
SERMON

AN AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
We believe in God: source of all life, source of all love
ever creating, our past and our future
Father and mother of all that is to be.
We believe in God: Christ of our history, link with eternity
one with our humanness, revealing life’s hopefulness;
Traveller before us, the Sign of the Way.
We believe in God: Spirit of newness, Spirit of power,
wisdom and wonder, mystery and miracle
moving in freedom, transforming the earth
We believe in the Church: born amidst struggle, open to changes
centred in loving and sharing and moving and growing
heart of community turned to the world. Amen.

OFFERING
God of us all, you love us and give us so much;
We pray that our daily giving and receiving,
may be like this offertory, not simply out of habit or out of duty alone,
but out of a deep sense of gratitude and celebration of your love and grace toward us through Jesus Christ. AMEN.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

INVITATION TO COMMUNION & THE PEACE

HYMN: For Your Generous Providing (Tune: WOV 93 Abbots Leigh)
For your generous providing
which sustains us all our days,
for your Spirit here residing,
we proclaim our heartfelt praise.
Through the depths of joy and sorrow.
though the road be smooth or rough,
fearless, we can face tomorrow
for your grace will be enough.

Round your table, through your giving,
show us how to live and pray
till your kingdom’s way of living
is the bread we share each day:
bread for us and for our neighbour,
bread for body, mind, and soul,
bread of heaven and human labour –
broken bread that makes us whole. ? Leith Fisher

A GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
God be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to God.
Let us give thanks to God. It is good to give God thanks and praise.
It is always right and good … more like Jesus each day.
We give thanks for the many people who have gone before us,
who are forever part of our stories:
who tried to live God’s love every day,
and with their lives, have shown us how to be followers of Jesus…

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

HYMN: Song of Faith That Sings Forever
Song of faith that sings forever
through God’s people, ages long,
Word that holds the world together
when our hearts take up the song,
always, always somewhere sounding,
though the source we do not see,
counterpoint to all despairing,
it is hope that sets the key.

Song of faith in exultation,
rising through the vaults of prayer,
tune of simple celebration
offered up in open air,
song in chapel and cathedral,
descant to our daily tone,
song from sickbed or in prison:
faith must often sing alone.

And when life would overwhelm us,
when there seems no song to sing,
hear the constant voice of courage
out of fear and suffering:
all who’ve loved and trusted Jesus,
all who lift us to be strong,
endless, endless are the voices
of the faith that makes the song. © Shirley Murray (FFS)

THE BLESSING