Sunday, April 23, 2017

On Eagles' Wings

Text of the week:
those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Welcome to our services today … and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time.  Next Sunday is a special day in our church calendar as it is our Gift Day. As a church we do not have any source of funding from beyond our own church. Our Gift Day is one of a couple of occasions in the year when we have the opportunity to make a special gift for the mission project we have undertaken for a number of years now, employing our Children’s worker, Andrea. Please remember all we do as a church in your prayers and make a special gift for our Gift Day. If you are able to you can Gift Aid your gift by placing it in a Gift Aid envelope and filling in the details. We will be joined in the morning by Mark and Denise Evans and Samuel. It’s the start of the Christian Arts Festival with a wonderful array of events through the town in the next fortnight. Francophonia, the first of our films is on Tuesday evening. On Thursday morning we will be hanging an exhibition of art works from one of the classes that meets at Highbury and previewing the show on Friday at 7-00. On Saturday afternoon Marguerite is hosting a felt-making workshop from 2-00 to 4-00.

Welcome and Call to Worship

Praise and Worship


Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
On Eagles’ Wings

Introducing the Christian Arts Festival – Mary has been working with Cooler – share their picture – with prayer activity.


Reading: Isaiah 40:28-31 – Kate

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

Resurrection Power

Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23 - Marguerite

Did you have a good Easter?

Lots of chocolate? Time with the family?

Easter is about hope … what is the hope of Easter for you?  What is the hope of the cross and the resurrection?

A moment or two to introduce yourself, say hello to someone near you – and then share – what for you is the Easter hope?

A couple of minutes of sharing.

Hold on to those thoughts for a moment or two.

You look and look but don’t see – one of my frustrations when I was little.  Look, there it is!  But I can’t see it!

The Lady of Snowdon

It really is as vivid as that.

It was when I was a child.

It still is!

Once you have seen it you always see it!

Maybe you can think of something – can you see?  No, I can’t.  There it is – yes! I can see it.

It’s what Jacqui shared when she shared her paintings – just for Easter and into the art exhibition we are having from Friday –

What do you see in a painting – comments about her painting – lots of things she has put in …

I love the way Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus from his imprisonment in Rome …

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.

In my mind’s eye I see Paul praying for us … giving thanks for the faith we have in the Lord Jesus and for the love we have for each other.  That’s encouraging.

Then Paul makes his prayer for the people in Ephesus

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,

What did you come up with when you shared – what was that hope you sensed you had.

Time to feed back some of those thoughts about Easter Hope

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,

I love that phrase … may he give you ‘a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart enlightened …

One of our students is ministering in hospital chaplaincy and in church ministry in Dundee, I think it is. She shared with us at our course just before weekend a song by a singer-songwriter Godfrey Birtill, a friend of hers. It was just before Easter and it seemed so powerful …

What do you see in the cross?

What do you see in the blood of Jesus?

What do you see in Easter and the resurrection.

As we listen and reflect on these words

May we we come to know him so that with the eyes of our hearts enlightened we may know what is the hope to which he has called us …







How can we hold on to this hope?

There’s more to Paul’s prayer

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know … what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,

We can’t do it on our own. It’s too hard sometimes … the eyes of our hearts are not enlightened, we cannot see the hope … but we are not alone. We are surrounded by one another. We have each other – the support of one another. The tremendous riches of the people of God around us – real support, real strengthening from each other and the fellowship. That’s the importance of fellowship together.

And more …

There is a strength from beyond ourselves to draw on.

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

The immeasureable greatness of his power – a power and a strength from beyond ourselves.

What a prayer – to have the eyes our hearts enlightened to see


The hope

The support of the fellowship

The power from beyond ourselves we need day by day.

And how can we be certain of all this?

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.



                          Song: Before the throne of God above     



 

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