What it takes to be church - worshipful

Text of the Week: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:24

Welcome to today’s services … and a special welcome to any worshipping with us for the first time. It’s good to meet together – that’s right at the heart of what we do Sunday by Sunday in our services. It’s a time to catch up with each other, a time to share our joys and our sadnesses. Coming to church is a bit like meeting up with the family. It’s where we get to know each other. It is only as we get to know each other that we can be a support to each other. It’s also a place to meet with God. That’s an awesome thought. Once the greetings are done, the conversations over take a moment or two to be quiet, to be still in the presence of God. And then realise that this is not just a place for us to meet with God but for God to meet with us. Let’s have a spirit of expectation. In the words of our service and in the silence of our thoughts God meets us: it may be a challenge that we need, it may be the peace and the comfort God alone can give. Today we continue our look at what it takes to be church: we are called to be Christ-centred, Bible-based, Spirit-filled, Inclusive and today … Worshipful. We are working through our GIFT course as we seek to ‘Grow In Faith Together’. Still to come: Prayerful, Missional, Well-managed (look out for the questionnaire we are launching today!) and Visionary.

Welcome and Call to Worship

MTS 2 Be still

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Introducing our Survey about Church at Highbury

A custom to follow

What customs do you have?

What things do you do regularly?

Reading: Luke 4:16-21

Jesus went to the synagogue as was his custom – met together to do what

Value of gathering together

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

Gathering Together for Worship

What does it take to be church here at Highbury, our Highbury Congregational Church?

We are called to be Christ-centred, Bible-based, Spirit-filled, Inclusive and today … Worshipful. We are working through our GIFT course as we seek to ‘Grow In Faith Together’. Still to come: Prayerful, Missional, Well-managed (look out for the questionnaire we are launching today!) and Visionary. That’s going to lead us up to our Annual Meeting when we review the last three years and take stock of how we are doing and reflect on where we are going.

Worship is at the heart of what we do in Church – it is one of those things that sets us apart – it is the very nature of what it takes to be church. On Sunday at 10-30 and 6-30 we have our services of worship – what is it that makes worship so important to us.

So … why’s it important?

Let’s think tomorrow – someone asks you … so what did you do yesterday? I went to church – why do you do that?

Someone is making plans for next weekend – so what are you doing on Sunday?  - I go to church. Why do you do that?

How would you respond to someone who asked you … Why go to church – what’s the point – what’s in it for me?

Time to share in two’s and threes and then with us all

My response … a bit off the wall. Actually what goes on in here is not the thing that really counts – it’s what goes on out there. It’s not the hour here that makes the difference – it’s what we do tomorrow and every day this week.

So for me what counts is the rest of life – the working week – but I believe it’s not just a week to drift through – life is not just to drift through – you can do anything.

God’s given us our life – and he gives us a new life – a new purpose – a real sense it’s worthwhile – an ultimate goal - there’s a presence to geth us trhgough, a strength to draw on. Jesus maps out for us what to do.

I believe God’s behind this world, in this world and makes a difference – and he makes a difference through those who are willing to follow him and follow in the footsteps of Jesus and find the difference he can make in their lives.

It matters what we do who we are what we say what we think. We can make a difference.  And what counts is the rest of the week.

And that is what makes coming together for worship so important.

Three analogies.

Football – what counts is what happens on match day – scoring goals, keeping goals out. So a new striker joins the club this week – his name is Wootton – he arrives and what counts is what he does out there in the match. But the manager says – I’ll see you at the training ground. He coan’t say – no I won’t bother with the training I’ll just turn up to play.

Coming together in church is the training ground – this is where we are challenged

Think of stewards stewarding an event – who are going to be present shaping a crowd and what they do - they have to go to the briefing first.

This is the briefing for the week.

To keep the car on the road and doing what it needs to do you have to take it to be filled up with petrol – an interesting analogy – with the use of the word ‘service’ – you take it to be serviced to keep it on the road to a service station to top up with petrol.

This is what keeps us on the road.

Worship is a two way thing – we need to focus on God – but it’s used by God to speak to us.

A two way thing.

We speak to God – God speaks to us.

It is how a football team works, it is how a briefing works, it is how you keep the car going – it is how God in Christ by the power of his spirit can make a difference in the world through us …

Jesus gathered together with others as was his custom – it’s what he did to sustain him.

And his first followers too:

What counts is out there for the rest of the week – and the great difference God in Christ by the power of his spirit can make in our lives – to change, transform, to comfort to challenge, to keep us going, to give us purpose, to give us direction – to make  a difference.

And it is transformative.

One of the finest descriptions of what makes up worship is in Acts 2:42

The lives of the followers of Jesus have been transformed and they are bubbling over – something makes a difference.

It’s worth being part of.

It’s something that can make a difference to everyone.

The outpouring of the Spirit – everyone sees the difference it makes – and they want a stake in it.

What shall we do – b part of of the movement …

Acts 2:27-32

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.’ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

That’s the elements of worship

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

            At the heart of what we do together is reading, sharing, opening ourselves to the Scriptrures and in the Scriptures reading through the eyes of Jesus as the Apostles have opened up to us. The teaching that’s been handed down.

Then interestingly the next thing is fellowship.

Fellowship with each other

It’s good to meet together – that’s right at the heart of what we do Sunday by Sunday in our services. It’s a time to catch up with each other, a time to share our joys and our sadnesses. Coming to church is a bit like meeting up with the family. It’s where we get to know each other. It is only as we get to know each other that we can be a support to each other.

It’s good to share greetings. It’s good to catch up with each other. This is where we can get to know each other. It’s not just a nice extra – it’s part of our worshp – it’s why we have brought our serving area for coffee and tea into the church so that it is very much part of what we do as we meet together.

Fellowship with each other.

But also fellowship with God.

 It’s also a place to meet with God.

That’s an awesome thought. Once the greetings are done, the conversations over take a moment or two to be quiet, to be still in the presence of God. And then realise that this is not just a place for us to meet with God but it’s also a place for God to meet with us. Let’s have a spirit of expectation. In the words of our service and in the silence of our thoughts God meets us: it may be a challenge that we need, it may be the peace and the comfort God alone can give. Let’s come expectantly.

Expectations –

The breaking of bread – that’s something special for us – we build it into our worship once a month in the morning and once a month in the evening – we are doing what Jesus has done, what has been done by his followers down through the ages. Something that is very special. The presence of the Spirit with us as we eat and as we drink of the cup.

And the prayers. What draws us close to God and what draws God close to us. Speaking to God, listening to God – something to share together – prayers we share together. The power of prayer in coming together.

Syn agogoue – is the gathering together place

Con-gregation – the gathering together

It is as we gather together in the name of Jesus that the presence of Jesus is with us here in our midst

OBG 43 and 44  As we are gathered                                               [Hy-Spirit]

There’s one more twist in the tale.

Can we keep this spirit of worship on into the week that lies ahead.

What we say with our lips do we live with our lives

I come back to that word service – it plays in so many ways.

We are called to serve God and to serve one another – and that is something that goes through the hwole of our lives.

In that conversation Jesus has with the woman at the well from Samaria that is very much to the fore.

A life shot through with service, a life shot through with worship

Reading: John 4:19-24

The woman said to him,

‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,

but you say

that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.’ 

Jesus said to her,

‘Woman, believe me,

the hour is coming when you will worship the Father

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know,

for salvation is from the Jews. 

But the hour is coming, and is now here,

when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,

for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.

 God is spirit,

and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’

It’s what’s in our hearts, what’s in our lives and not just what’s on our lips – and then that shapes us up for a week of service

The service doesn’t end with the grace – that’s when it begins!

MTS 1 Jesus, where can we find you?

Prayers of Concern

206 Come let us join our cheerful songs

Words of Blessing

What it takes to be church - inclusive church that's open to all

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome if you are worshipping with us for the first time. This afternoon we have a cream tea from 3-00 to 5-00 to celebrate our new serving area in church and our new café space too. We have invited those who use our premises during the week so come along and give them a warm welcome! 

In our services at the moment we are looking at what it takes to be church. 

We’ve looked at the way we are called to Christ-centred, Bible-based and Spirit-filled. 

Today we come on to reflect on the very last part of the vision we have for our church: that Highbury be a place that’s open to all … and so, inclusive. 

As you are preparing for this time of worship imagine for a moment you are outside our church.  What can you see?  Think of all the people who live in the houses around our church, the houses you have passed on your way to church. Next imagine you are walking down Oxford Street: you turn right on to the London Road and walk into town, through the Strand into the centre of town to Boots Corner … keep on walking down the High Street, past the new Brewery development and on down the lower High Street towards the Honeyborne line and the railway bridge just before Tesco’s. 

Who do you see?  

Elderly people, young people, children, wheelchair users, people of many nationalities, pushchairs, bikes, families, people who are homeless, women, men.   

Now think of all those who will be sharing in this service. 

And then think of all those who will be coming into these premises during the coming week. 

Ask yourself – does our church reflect the make-up of people you could see around you? If they came into our church, would they feel welcome? Would the worship and the life of the church include them, or drive them away? 

Spend some time in prayer and put your thoughts about these questions into God’s hands, seeking his blessing and praying that our church can indeed seek to be a place that is open to all.

Welcome and Call to Worship

Praise and worship with Hy-Spirit

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Jesus welcomes all

Galatians 3:26-28

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

All are welcome

Reading; Jeremiah 31:1-14

In our services at the moment we are looking at what it takes to be church. We’ve looked at the way we are called to Christ-centred, Bible-based and Spirit-filled. Today we come on to reflect on the very last part of the vision we have for our church: that Highbury be a place that’s open to all … and so, inclusive.

Did you try it? Bring to mind the experience? Try it now?

As you are preparing for this time of worship imagine for a moment you are outside our church.  What can you see?  Think of all the people who live in the houses around our church, the houses you have passed on your way to church.

Next imagine you are walking down Oxford Street: you turn right on to the London Road and walk into town, through the Strand into the centre of town to Boots Corner … keep on walking down the High Street, past the new Brewery development and on down the lower High Street towards the Honeyborne line and the railway bridge just before Tesco’s.

Who do you see?  Elderly people, young people, children, wheelchair users, people of many nationalities, pushchairs, bikes, families, people who are homeless, women, men.  

Now think of all those who will be sharing in this service.

How well do we know each other? On the surface we look fine. But under the surface. I guess we each of us have issues.

Now think of all those who will be coming into these premises during the coming week.

A large number of groups – a great number of people.

A number of groups provide care and support to particular groups of people for people to support each other: the Highbury Club for those who are blind and with visual impairments, Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous; two Heart to Heart Exercise Groups, a balance group, Slimming World and occasional meetings of the Gloucestershire 4 x 4 Response Group.

We host a number of life-long learning classes that enable people to study without working towards a qualification: with the University of the 3rd Age, two Bridge Classes, a Recorder Consort, an Art Group, a Shakespeare Group and a History of Art class. We host a Lace-making class, the Carlton Lacemakers, and two upholstery classes. Two further Art classes have started during the year.  For chidden and young people we host three schools: Monkey Music for toddlers, another music school for Toddlers and a Rock School for young people. And for all ages, the Cheltenham Philharmonic Orchestra rehearses each week at Highbury. And the Mid-life Choir-sis rehearses here too.

Among the interest groups  that use our premises are the local NHS Retirement Group and the committee of Cheltenham’s Horticultural Society.

We are home to the 1st Cheltenham (Highbury) Scout Group, and the 11th Cheltenham Guide Group, and the 7th and 11th Cheltenham Brownie Groups.

Ask yourself – does our church reflect the make-up of people you could see around you? If they came into our church, would they feel welcome? Would the worship and the life of the church include them, or drive them away?

What would people make of what we are doing now? Does it make connections? Is it alive? Is it something we believe in and so want to share?

We have started doing things differently – Film Club – a mix of different people coming in with something of a message in what we do. Messy Church – engaging in a different way with worship. Is this high on our order of priorities?

Are we welcoming of all people?

There’s a wonderful vision Jeremiah has at a moment of deep distress for the people of God. All has been lost. They languish in exile. There is nothing for them. Then he has a remarkable vision of the God who is the God of all the families of Israel.

At that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Thus says the Lord:
The people who survived the sword
   found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest,
   the Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
   therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
   O virgin Israel!
Again you shall take your tambourines,
   and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
   on the mountains of Samaria;
the planters shall plant,
   and shall enjoy the fruit.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
   in the hill country of Ephraim:
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
   to the Lord our God.’ 

Then comes a remarkable passage and a remarkable vision. It says a great deal about people with disabilities. Usually when in the Bible we tell stories of people with things like leprosy, or blindness, or not able to walk the stories are about the healing that comes to them. But that can be troubling for those who live with conditions that are not going to go away. Is there something missing.

This is one of those remarkable moments in the Bible story – when all are welcome as they are. It is not just when they are ‘better’ when their condition has finished or been overcome.

For thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
   and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
   ‘Save, O Lord, your people,
   the remnant of Israel.’
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
   and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
   those with child and those in labour, together;
   a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
   and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
   in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
   and Ephraim is my firstborn. 

The exciting thing about this passage is that all come as they are – not as they have the potential to become.

See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
   and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
   those with child and those in labour, together;
   a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
   and with consolations I will lead them back,

We have worked with Through the Roof on disability issues – the point of what we were doing was not just to put in ramps and better facilities in our building, though we have worked hard to do that. It was about attitudes. It was about acceptance. It was about our understanding and willingness to accept. The recognition that people are people made in the image of God and that we affirm each other with our rich variety of abilities.

Richard Sharpe sent me a link to a new group that has recently started who aim to share just that – introducing disability and Jesus.

http://www.disabilityandjesus.org.uk/index.html

In that way our vision is that we be open to all.

Spend some time in prayer and put your thoughts about these questions into God’s hands, seeking his blessing and praying that our church can indeed seek to be a place that is open to all.

Song: The Lord’s my shepherd

To seek to be open to all is a challenge at one level – of understanding, of acceptance – a challenge to us in what we do.

There is also a challenge at another level.

Faith is a funny thing … and religion even funnier. Religion can so often draw lines to mark out those who are in and those who are out.

That was very much the case at the time of Jesus and in the experience of Peter. There were all sorts of things you need to do to be part of that people of God. Ritual things to do; particular foods to eat; particular foods to avoid.

In that setting Luke tells the story of one of those moments of breakthrough for Peter. He had a clear idea in his mind of where to draw those boundaries.

In any other circumstances if he had been challenged to accept the hospitality of a high up centurion in the elite part of the occupying Roman army he would have baulked at the idea.

Acts 10:1-8

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’ He stared at him in terror and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ He answered, ‘Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.’ When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

At the very same time Peter had a remarkable vision of all manner of foodstuffs that were banned. And yet in his vision he distinctly heard the voice of God commanding him to get up, kill and eat. Coming to he found Cornelius’s men at the gate. He was prompted to go. What is difficult for us to appreciate in this story is just how much it took for Peter to cross that line, break through that barrier he had erected on religious grounds between us who are in and them who are out.

Acts 10:25-28

⁵On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshipped him. ²⁶But Peter made him get up, saying, ‘Stand up; I am only a mortal.’ ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; ²⁸and he said to them, ‘You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”

That’s a remarkable comment to make.

Jesus had said, judge not that you be not judged.

This is the moment Peter sees the full impact of that insight.

He shares with Cornelius and with everyone in his house. And then says some remarkable words

Acts 10:32-36

Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 

This is a question that has hit some parts of the church hard in the context of sexuality. Is our sexuality all about behaviour that can be changed … or is our sexuality something that is a part of us that God accepts in all his glory?

I am drawn to the latter view. Whether we are heterosexual or homosexual is part of our make-up. And all of us, equally, are loved by God and made in his image. For all of us there are wonderful guidelines that our faith offers us about building relationships that are loving, caring, respectful, faithful and forgiving and they apply to heterosexual and homosexual relationships alike. It’s not something to make into a big defining issue where boundaries are drawn … it is simply part of being in that one body of God’s people where God shows no partiality and where we are all equally called to share our lives in God’s way of love that is truly open to all.

MTS 10 I the Lord of sea and sky

Prayers of Concern

Praise and Worship with Hy-Spirit

Words of Blessing

What it takes to be church - Spirit-filled

Text for the week:   Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, … even if you say to this mountain, “Be lifted up and thrown into the sea”, it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’ Matthew 21:21-22

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any worshipping with us today. During this morning’s service we are going to share in the Lord’s Supper: we invite all who love the Lord Jesus Christ to share with us around the table as once again we do as Jesus asked us to do and remember all that he has done for us.

Can you spot what looks like a mistake that’s actually not a mistake? Think about that for a moment. Through January and February we are drawing on part of the GIFT Course and asking what it takes to be church here at Highbury. We have already looked at the importance of being a Christ-centred church and of being a church that is rooted in the Bible. Today we are going to reflect on the need to be a Spirit-filled church. How good that we do that on the day we share together in the Lord’s Supper. It was as Jesus shared with his disciples on the night of his betrayal and arrest that he recognised that they were going to feel very much alone after all that was to happen in the next few days. It was here, during this meal that he promised that they would have a presence to draw on, a strength from beyond themselves, a comforter, to give them the strength that on their own they would never have.  That strength from beyond themselves, that presence alongside them, that comforter was that Spirit that was the very Holy Spirit of God himself. As we seek to be the body of Christ here in this place we cannot do all that we need to do in our own strength. We too need that strength from beyond ourselves. And we need it not just occasionally … but all the time. It is as we are being constantly filled with the Spirit that we will be equipped with the gifts we need to be the church here in this place. More than that, we will together and individually have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – the very things that are the mark of being the church of Christ here in this place. No, it’s not a mistake. Today’s text for the week may look the same as last week’s, but it is drawn from this week’s readings in Fresh from the Word. Maybe Jesus said much the same thing twice because he wanted us to be aware that with that strength of the Spirit within mountains that seem immoveable can be moved!

Welcome and Call to Worship

207 Come let us worship the Christ of creation

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Seeing Stars!

Reading: Job 38:1-5, 31-3 and 40:3-5

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

No longer alone

Jesus knew what was going to happen.

It wasn’t just that he wanted to prepare his disciples for it.

It wasn’t just that he wanted to make arrangements that would be straightforward enough for them to carry out.

He wanted to share with them something else that he knew.

It wasn’t something he hoped for.

It wasn’t something conditional on what they did – though Jesus knew exactly how he wanted them to be, how he wanted them to behave.

He wanted to tell them what was going to happen. It was a reassurance. It was what would make all the difference.

It was the night on which he was betrayed. He gathered his close circle of friends together in that Upper Room in Jerusalem knowing full well what was in store.

They gathered around the table to share one last Supper – it was the festival of Passover and so it was special.

They were about to eat when Jesus took a bowl of water and began to wash the feet of his disciples – that’s how he wanted them to be as well – people always willing to serve, people always willing to serve in love.

He took his place at the table and he shared thoughts. It was the last conversation he had with them.

And in John’s gospel the words are recorded at length.

He prayed a prayer with them – and John records that prayer – a most wonderful prayer.

He took bread, he gave thanks, he broke it and he shared it.

He took the cup also and he shared it

This was it – a body broken for them, blood shed for them – sealing a new relationship – a partnership with each other – a partnership with Jesus – a partnership with God – a new covenant.

It was all so special.

He knew what was in store.

And he knew it was not the end of that wonderful partnership – but the beginning of something remarkable, something wonderfully special, something for eternity.

He shared two things with them.

The first was love.

It’s the way he has mapped out.

It’s the way he has lived out.

It’s the way that has brought them together as friends, friends with each other, friends with God and friends towards everyone.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

It’s what he said once had washed their feet and given them that example. It’s what he came back to time and again in the words he sahred at that last supper.

I give you a new commandment,

that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also should love one another. 

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.

It’s a wonderfully simple thing to say.

It’s a massively difficult thing to do.

Just as I have loved you

You also should love one another.

And then Jesus said something else. And this too was something he repeated not once not twice but four times – as if to press the point home.

‘If you love me,

you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate,

to be with you for ever.

This is the Spirit of truth,

This is the most wonderful thing about the faith that we share.

If you love me – love Jesus and then you will keep my commandments.

And then something follows.

I will ask the Father … and he will give you another …

Now that’s what Jesus says is wonderfully powerful. But difficult to grasp the full meaning of what he intends.

When Jerome translated the Greek of John’s gospel into Latin he just used the same word – he couldn’t translate it. Paraclete. Some English translations use that very word. The Good News Bible – translates the word as ‘Helper’. The NRSV as Advocate. The NIV as Counsellor – all sorts of different ways of translating the word.

But it’s a powerful word. It’s one of the most important words in the New Testament.

I looked it up in Barbara Friberg and Timothy Friberg and Neva Miller’s Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament – it’s a recent dictionary of the Greek of the New Testament.

a verbal adjective with a basic meaning one called alongside to help; (1) as a legal technical term, as one who appears in another's behalf advocate, defender, intercessor (1J 2.1); (2) as one who gives protection, help, and security helper, comforter, counselor (JN 14.16)

William Tyndale came up with the English word ‘comforter’. That comes from com – with alongside – and fort from fortification – a real strength and fortification alongside us for always.

If you love Jesus you will keep his commandments.

But in doing it you are not alone.

There is one who is with you – how constantly is called alongside you to help – he is an advocate who will speak up for you in God’s presence, he is a defender who will stick up for you, an intercessor who will pray with you and for you. He is one who gives protection, help and security – a helper, a comforter, a counsellor.

He is that strength from beyond ourselves we need to get by from one day to the next.

This is the Spirit of truth.

I will not leave you orphaned;

I will not leave you all on your own with no one to help, with no source of support.

I will not leave you orphaned.

I am coming to you. 

In a little while the world will no longer see me,

but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 

On that day

you will know that I am in my Father,

and you in me,

and I in you. 

They who have my commandments and keep them

are those who love me;

and those who love me will be loved by my Father,

and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ 

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

 ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 

But the Advocate, the One who is called alongside to help, the Advocate, the Defender, the Intercessor, the one who gives protection, help and security, the helper, the comforter, the counsellor,

the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything,

and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Then comes the most wonderful promise of all.

Peace I leave with you;

my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

This is a wonderful message for us.

At the heart of our Christian faith is the love we are to share with each other. The simplest of things .. and the most difficult of things.

But we have a strength from beyond ourselves to draw on, to keep us going: one who is called alongside to help, on who gives protection, help and security – the very Spirit of God.

Reading: John 14:15-27

 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever.This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

 ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

 ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Praise and worship – Hy-Spirit

Spirit-filled Church

Let’s think of the Spirit of God as the driving force within us – the energy that keeps us going – the power within.

The Royal Institution Christmas lectures – all about energy – Supercharged, Fuelling the Future.

The 80^th anniversary – lots of former lecturers. Saiful Islam, a Chemist.

Generating energy to keep the lecture theatre going. Energy measured in the number of double a batteries needed. Great fun. Lots of drum rolls from the audience. All whizz bang crash as you would expect from a chemistry lecturer.

All about the way the body needs energy to keep going. Plants grow thanks to the energy from the sun – and then that energy is stored in the plants and in the food we eat. We need to eat food – and then we store that energy – which we can then use.

Living the Christian life takes energy – we have an energy source – in the Holy Spirit – from God himself.

But just as the body needs to take in energy.

We need to take in energy from God. Draw in that energy from the Holy Spirit.

In the opening couple of months of the year we are looking at what it takes to be church. Christ centred, Bible based – today we are reflecting on the way in church we are called to be Spirit-filled.

We consatnatly need to be taking in, filling up with the energy we need for living our lives. Imagine the person who gets a new car … they fill it up with fuel. And it’s done.

That’s not how it works.

You need constantly to keep filling the car up with fuel.

So too with our Christian lives – we need to be constantly filling up with the Energy, the power source, the strength we need – in the Holy Spirit.

Pray for that strength we need.

We do that individually: we do that together as a church family too. It is as we together take in that energy and power that we need that we have the power and the energy we need.

The Holy  Spirit gives us the range of gifts we need as a church family to be body of Christ and it is that energy source that bears the fruit that is the Christian life.

Reading: Galatians 5:22-26

the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

There is no law against such things.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus

have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited,

competing against one another, envying one another.

the fruit of the Spirit is

love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

233 Filled with the Spirit’s power

Prayers of Concern

S 23 and 24 Spirit of the living God

The Lord’s Supper

237 O breath of life

Words of Blessing