Sunday Worship

Hello and welcome to our Sunday Worship service as we join our Minister, Rev. Barry Hughes live from the Manse.

Our Sunday Worship services are streamed live on our Facebook Page each Sunday at 11am and can be easily viewed on Facebook or for those that can’t access Facebook you can watch the recorded service from our YouTube channel, which should show below.

Intimations

This morning we have a few announcements we would like to share.

Pentecost Sunday

The Moderator of the General Assembly, Rev Dr Martin Fair has invited everyone to join his love Pentecost Sunday Service next Sunday between 10am and 1030am this will be on the Church of Scotland website, Facebook and YouTube Channel.

Holy Communion

Next Sunday at 11am we will celebrate Holy Communion during our Sunday Worship service please join us as Barry invites you to bring your own bread.

Tour de Manse

Barry is continuing with le tour he has a week to go and so far he has cycled 1,279km out of the 1,735km he has to complete and has raised over £1,000 for Home Start Stirling.

Call to Worship

Come let us worship the Lord our God.
Let us fix our eyes on Him. 

Let us listen to what He has to say. 
Let us give our minds to what He wants to teach us.

Let us open our hearts to His message.
May every part of us be given to Him, For He is our God, and we are His people.

Our first hymn today is The Lord is my Shepard

Opening Prayer

O' God who is greater than the most powerful forces in this world, 
Enable us this morning to be still and know that you are God,
O' Lord who answers out of the whirlwind of everyday life, breath into us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, to comfort us, to guide us in the midst of the storm.
O' still small voice speak to us this hour that we might become makers of your peace in our homes, in our communities, in our world we pray all this in the name of the one who calmed the raging sea.
Father God as we come into your presence this morning where ever we are we are conscious of your awesome power, we are also conscious of our own short comings, but we know Lord if we truly come to you in repentance, through your son Jesus Christ then through his immeasurable grace we can be forgiven and you can breathe  life anew into each of us.
So Lord as we gather as your people to sing your praises, to hear your word spoken to us, to bring you our prayers, we do so in the name of your son Jesus Christ in who's name we now join together saying 
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come,
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.
Amen

Reading

Today we are having a look at ascension day which was on Thursday. We have two reading today that relate to this.

Our first reading is from John 13:33-35

³³ ‘My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: where I am going, you cannot come.
³⁴ ‘A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

Our second reading today is from Acts 1:1-11

Jesus taken up into heaven
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptised with^[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptised with^[b] the Holy Spirit.’
⁶ Then they gathered round him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
⁷ He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.’

Our second hymn today is A new Commandment I Give unto You

Prayers of Intercession

Lord God you sent down Jesus Christ our mediator and high priest, we thank you that he became human, that he experianced the joys and the sorrows of our lives, which assures us that through him you are able to sympathise and rejoice with us.
We praise you for the many joys of life, the beauty of creation, your work in this world, the growth of your kingdom, the greatest source of,our happiness, the gift of eternal life.
And Lord Jesus Christ as our mediator you stand before God, petitioning him on our behalf, so we boldly bring before you today our prayers for your creation and it's care,  for the nation's of the world, for our nation and its leaders, for our communities and all in authority, for the church around the world as it works on your behalf, for our local churches in their ministries, for al whom we know with particular needs.
And Lord as we come before you this morning we continue to pray for the many who continue to suffer around the world, those who are suffering because of Coronavirus because of its effects, those who are suffering because of physical ailments, those who are in poor mental health,  those who are suffering materially, those do not have all which we take for granted. We continue to pray for those in nations who do not enjoy the security and the peache which we do in our own nation. We pray for all who strive to bring an end to war and conflict, often against all the odds, Bless them Lord in their efforts.
And we pray for your church Lord around the world, we thank you for the many who have returned to church during this time of lockdown, is shows that the church is far more than just the buildings in which we meet. We pray that those that have come to a new understanding of you durig these last few months would be an,e to continue this once we can gather again in our places of worship.
And finally Lord let us bring before you those known to us in need of our prayers in a moment of silence 

Father God you know all the prayers of our hearts both spoken and unspoken, all of these prayers we offer in the name of your son our Lord Jesus Christ 
Amen

We closed the service with the blessing.

Thank you for joining us today, please join us tomorrow as we continue to look at The Beatitudes.

Thank you for joining us for our Sunday Worship, please join us tomorrow for our Daily Reflections session live on our Facebook Page at 11am and will be uploaded shortly after to our YouTube channel we will as always post them to our website too.