Welcome
Welcome to our ‘Church at Home’ services for Sunday 27th September. On this page you will find prayers, readings, hymns and a short video message to help you to worship God this morning wherever you are. Today we are continuing our sermon series looking at the New Testament Letter to the Philippians.
Call to Worship – Psalm 105:1-4 (NIV)
Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
Hymn 18 – All things bright and beautiful
Opening Prayer
Almighty and everlasting God,
the highest heaven of heavens
cannot contain your infinite glory,
yet you fix you affection on us.
We pray that you would give us
a humility of spirit and a purity of heart
so that our praise would be pleasing to you.
Father God we worship and adore
you for the great love that you have for us,
for the gift of your Son who redeemed us,
and for the presence of the Holy Spirit
who bring your power into our lives.
God of goodness and grace,
we pray for your mercy and
ask you to forgive us our sins.
Fill us with the love of Jesus Christ our Saviour,
and increase the fruit of the Spirit in our lives,
so that we would be quick to admit our wrongs
and swift in our repentance,
that our lives may be holy and righteous in your sight.
Grant, O merciful God,
that your Church,
being gathered by your Holy Spirit into one,
may show forth your power among all peoples,
to the glory of your name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who loves and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Reading – Philippians 2:5-11 (NRSV)
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
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 Talk – Paul’s Philippians Friends; Timothy
Children’s Praise – All Through History
A prayer that we might be refined by our experience of God
Lord, you have promised to be like a refiner’s fire,
proving and purifying our lives as your people.
You refine us like silver and test our lives like gold.
In these last months we have suffered grief and known all kinds of trials.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of our faith
– of far greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire –
may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
It all sounds so stirring and heroic when we read it on the page of Scripture,
but, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego of old in the fiery furnace,
we have felt the heat of the flames that have licked around our lives.
We’re not sure whether we shine brighter,
or we are in danger of shrinking back from the lessons you have taught us.
But we want your refining to redefine our lives as your people,
and as your church.
Help us to take confidence that as we have walked through the fire,
we have not been burned and the flames have not set us ablaze.
Already refined by the experience of pandemic and lockdown,
give us a fresh faith to call on your name,
and to know that you will answer us and say, ‘They are my people,’
so that we can reply with new vigour, ‘The LORD is our God.’
As your work in us is further revealed by fire in these days,
and that furnace tests the quality of our life and witness,
may we be further refined into your ways for us –
reformed, remoulded, reshaped, re-polished, reignited,
for your glory.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Sermon – Select your Seat (Philippians 2:5-11)
Hymn 644 – At the Name of Jesus
Final Prayer
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God
fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all, evermore,
Amen
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