Welcome
Call to Worship – revelation 1:8 (NIV)
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Hymn 25 – Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
Opening prayer
Eternal God,
your eternal mercy
rises new in the morning of another day.
Give us grace to arise with Christ
who is our morning light.
In this new day of our life’s journey,
my we walk by faith in him and with a willing spirit
persevere us to the end
through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Father God,
you are from everlasting to everlasting,
without beginning or end of days.
Replenish us with heavenly grace we pray,
so that we might be enabled
to do your will,
seek your Kingdom,
and welcome your mercies.
Give us faith to meet today’s trials
and enough grace for our present troubles.
Fill us with your Spirit,
so that neither wishing for the past
nor worrying about the future,
would separate us from the joy of knowing you in this moment.
Through Christ you have called us to endless life,
and in his great name we pray,
Amen
Reading – Isaiah 43:15-21 (NIV)
I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.
The Lord’s Prayer
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,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Children’s announcement – SUper CSSM is starting today
This year CSSM is coming to straight to your home! Every morning there will be a service that you can watch together as a family. Then later in the day there is videos for every age group packed with fun, songs, crafts, and Bibles stories. You don’t want to miss it! For more details go to scriptureunion.ie/super-cssm
Children’s Praise – One Way
Reading – Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Sermon – Living in the Now With God
A prayer for rest in this strange season of summer
Lord of changing seasons,
we thank you for summer.
This year, like everything else, our summer feels different:
our holiday plans have been disrupted,
our church life feels like it is winding up not down,
school holidays feel like an extension of lockdown,
rather than a welcome change of rhythm and routine.
Often, we treat summer like an escape from reality,
but this year we need it to offer rest on an unfinished journey.
We come to you as reeds bruised by a stormy spring,
knowing that you desire to lift us up, not break us.
The smoldering wick of our spirit burns low,
but you want to fan it back into flame,
not see it snuffed out.
Shine again upon our lives like summer sun.
Calm our troubled souls like summer breeze.
Help us to relax into the carefreeness of long summer days
So renew us in mind.
Refresh us in body.
Restore us in spirit.
Recreate us again this summer,
that we might better bear again the likeness of your Son,
and find our rest in him.
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen.
Hymn 245 – Be Unto Your Name (We are a Moment)
Doxology (Revelation 4:8)
“Holy, Holy, Holy,
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
Amen
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Blackrock 