Friday, May 26, 2017

Your Kingdom Come


Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshiping with us for the first time. Today is Sunday Special. This morning our children and young people are meeting first for breakfast and then to explore the faith together before joining us for the last part of our service as we share in the Lord’s Supper together. 

For forty days the risen Jesus appeared to his followers on different occasions and then came the moment when that brief time came to an end. Jesus parting words to his disciples were a promise and a challenge: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

Then followed ten days of waiting. Or was it ten days of preparation? Whatever it was Luke leaves us in no doubt, they were ten days of prayer. 

Then on the fiftieth day after the day of resurrection it happened. They received power as the Holy  Spirit came upon them. The promise was fulfilled. And the disciples rose to the challenge and from that day on their story is the story of the way they bore witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ and the transformation it brings into people’s lives. 

We are invited to a special period of prayer for the ten days from the Day of Ascension on Thursday to the Day of Pentecost on 4th June. The prayer is inspired by the Lord’s Prayer and that passage in Acts 1. Thy Kingdom Come. 

Almighty God, your ascended Son has sent us into the world 
to preach the good news of your kingdom:
inspire us with your Spirit 
and fill our hearts with the fire of your love, 
that all who hear your Word may be drawn to you, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Welcome and Call to Worship

Praise and Worship with Hy-Spirit

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

In Praise of God

Psalm 46 – the Congregation

God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

It’s so very easy just to say those words … let’s pause and think what is we have just shared in reading …

a Psalm

It’s Praise

It’s Prayer

It’s Poetry

What is poetry?

Poetry has a way of saying things that ordinary everyday language cannot quite achieve.

I’ve got a wonderful collection of modern poems called staying alive – it starts with a section of quotations headed Poets on Poetry.

This is what poetry is …

Coleridge: Poetry, the best words in the best order.

Yeats: Poetry is truth seen with passion.

Wordsworth: Poetry is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge … Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility …’

Christopher Logue – Poetry cannot be defined, only experienced.

The Book of Psalms is the poetry collection of the Bible – though by no means the only place in the Bible where poetry is found.

It helps to get the idea of how the poetry of the Bible works. It’s not built on rhyme. Instead there is an echo – the meaning of one line is echoed in the next line. The ideas of one line are paralleled in the next line. There’s a rhythm of ideas.


And when it comes to THE most important  thought expressed in these words we will all say it together.


·         the breath and spirit of all knowledge
·         as truth seen with passion
·         as the BEST words in the best order
·         as something that cannot be defined … only experienced.

   a very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.

‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’

The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble.
 Therefore we will not fear,

It cannot be defined … only experienced.

MTS 2 Be still for the presence of the Lord



How good are you at counting?

Sometimes we count the years – it’s the year of our Lord, 2017

This is the point when I will ask everyone to get up and we will all meet in the entrance to the church. Something very special greeted you – a host of golden … not daffodils but tulips and roses – because John and Trish are counting 50 years since they got married.

Yesterday was a day of celebrations at Highbury! And we’ve got the flowers to prove it. Here in the church, the wedding flowers. Claire, who has led Beavers and now Cubs for the last six years or so felt so much part of our extended church family that she chose Highbury for her wedding – Claire and Chris are therefore counting the days – and they are now into day 1

And as you arrived and as you leave in the porch flowers with a golden hue. If Chris and Claire are counting the days, John and Trish are counting the years – yesterday was their golden wedding anniversary.

So, counting the years this year is the Year of Our Lord, 2017.

What’s today for those who like counting the days?

A bit of a trick question!

It’s day 36 … and counting … since Easter. It’s very easy to think of Easter just as the weekend around two bank holidays. But Easter stretches further than that. It’s still the Easter period – when the risen Jesus shared much with his disciples. It’s fascinating to reflect what was it that the risen Jesus shared with his disciples in this period of resurrection. At the heart of the Christian Arts festival the Mark Drama. Nikki Seville is talking of commissioning a play around the resurrection appearances of Jesus.
Reading: Acts 1:1-3

In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

What comes into your mind when Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God? What is ‘the kingdom of God’?

A time to share with each other in 2’s and 3’s
then some feedback

The clue for me lies in the Lord’s prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven, - heaven, not so much the place where you go when you die, but heaven, God’s realm, it’s where God’s way of doing things prevails.

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done.

The way Hebrew poetry works the idea is express – and then there’s the echo –

We’ve said it once … Let’s try saying the prayer in a different kind of way.

So this time those on the left facing the front will read the first idea … and then those on the right facing the front will be the echo …

And when it comes to THE most important  thought expressed in these words we will all say it together.

Let’s think of these words as

·         the breath and spirit of all knowledge
·         as truth seen with passion
·         as the BEST words in the best order
·         as something that cannot be defined … only experienced.

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 trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us

And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory
forever and ever, Amen.

What is the kingdom?

It’s where God’s will is done

Where’s that – our prayer every day is that it is on earth as it is in heaven.

What is the kingdom?
It’s not our way of doing things – it’s God’s way of doing things

It may feel like a way of weakness – loving God, loving your neighbor, loving your enemy.

But make no mistake it is a way of strength and of power and of glory

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Forever and ever.

So it’s the power we need …

Reading: Acts 1:4-

4While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; 5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

Jesus sets us a task.

It’s not just about coming together – it’s not just about – doing our best

It’s about witnessing to this Jesus – it’s about doing God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven – it’s about bringing that kingdom into people’s lives to make a difference in their lives.

Some mark it religiously. I never have. But this year I have been thinking of it.

If today is day 36 what is Thursday? Day 40.

It’s Ascension day.

It’s that rounding off of the life and teaching, the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Before the power of the risen Lord is let loose into the world in resurrection.

Notice what happens next

Reading Acts 1:9-14

 9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

The come together for prayer.

It’s the betwixt and between time.

Count the days – it’s 10 days.

And that’s the invitation for us … to commit to pray.

And what is the prayer?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

That God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Think specifically – how does that work out for you … how does that work out for each person in your family – how does that work out for the people you know – how does that work out in what’s going on in our nation at the moment – in the election – in the day to day living people experience around us – how does that work out in the face of the refugee crisis – how does that work out – maybe something each day … but from all of those can you think of one person you would pray for and one situation you woujld pray for through those ten days.
That thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

The prayer that is being shared …

Almighty God, your ascended Son has sent us into the world to preach the good news of your kingdom: inspire us with your Spirit and fill our hearts with the fire of your love, that all who hear your Word may be drawn to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Make real the kingdom

Video clip of your kingdom come by the Rend Collective





Prayer for those things – and for one in particular.

 Songs of Worship

Dedication of Christian Aid gifts

This year is the 60th Christian Aid collection and in a moment we are going to receive the gifts that have been collected ... Christian Aid was the British churches' response to the  refugee crisis after the second world war. By the time of the first street collection that was still a major crisis. As we face another refugee crisis in Europe it is still as important as ever.





Intercessions (based on John 14:1-10)

Lord, who spoke the words of comfort,
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’,
we come to you with troubled hearts.
Troubled for those in Syria,
still enduring the suffering of war.
Troubled for those in Afghanistan,
enduring the trauma of torture.
Troubled for those in Yemen,
enduring famine and conflict.
Troubled for those in South Sudan,
enduring displacement once again.
Troubled for those in Haiti,
having to rebuild their lives and hopes.
Troubled for those in Bangladesh,
living in fear of the river rising.
Troubled for those in Greece,
stuck in the trauma of refugee camps.
And with our troubled hearts we turn to you,
believing in you and in your promise
that if we ask for anything, you will do it.
We ask that those dwelling places,
those many rooms you spoke of,
would not just be for the few, then,
but also for the many, here and now.
We still believe in life before death
and so we pray for life abundant
for those who have been refused hospitality
by those who have many rooms.
Help us to change the story
from rejection to refuge
from displacement to
a safe place to call home
for all this Christian Aid Week.
So help us God,
Amen


Dedication of Christian Aid gifts

Hy-Spirit song

The children and young people returned to lead us in
The Lord’s Supper

Communion Offering & Dedication

Praise and Worship
My lighthouse



Words of Blessing

Retiring Collection


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