Month: August 2024

O God you are our sovereign Lord; you are the Creator of all, the King above all Kings and you are the Lord of Lords. We rejoice as we come to worship and as your children we choose to lift our praise to you. Thank you for your mercy and grace, for the gift of salvation, and for the gift of this day of life.

As a segment of your church worldwide, we proclaim with joy the words of the Psalmist David. “Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvellous deeds; you alone are God.” (Psalm 80)

God, we praise you for the gift of your Son Jesus and celebrate His presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Continue to live in us and through us, enable us to honour you with our words and actions, and God we ask for your forgiveness when we fail you. Grant us the courage and faith to pray as David prayed when he said “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me.”

We joy in this opportunity to lift our praise to you, but we also recognize that many of us also come with heavy hearts, with our minds full of the pain, grief, and the challenges that friends, family and loved ones are facing. God, as we pause in silence, hear our personal prayers and cries for your mercy.

Pause………………………..

Thank you for hearing our prayers and we praise you for the way your will is being completed in these situations.

God, we also pray for those who are grieving the death of a loved one, whether their passing was days ago, months, or even years. Thank you for your comfort through your Holy Spirit, for the gift of memories, and for the peace that you offer each of us.

We rejoice with all who have experienced healing and we give you praise. We also pray for those who wait for medical appointments, for test results, or simply for signs of improved health or insight into their medical situation. God, in your mercy, grant strength, perseverance and hope. We also lift up those who are struggling with worry, fear, disappointment or loneliness. Help them to see beyond the immediate and realize your great love for them.

We pray all this in the name of Jesus.

Amen

DIVERSITY

GOOD MORNING GOD

Every day when we read the news paper, read X, scroll thru social media , watch the news on TV etc we recognize we live in a world of Diversity . Diversity of age, education, race, religious beliefs, political beliefs, economic standards, jobs , (sports teams) and many more….. . while we recognize diversity can be good and can help keep us in check as well as help us learn more about ourselves and other people and cultures. And that is good when that happens. We also recognize that diversity can sometimes distract us, eat away at us and even cause splits and conflict. That is not healthy. When we don’t understand fully what others are thinking or possibly where they have come from, I think we can begin to form bad and unproven thoughts about that person or persons.

We are reminded in Romans 12:4-5

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them”

As well as in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

These familiar passages teaches us that there are many gifts ,different thoughts/functions and even cultures but one body. God help us to apply this to our life scenarios where we aren’t all in the same brackets in age, socio-economical state, race, career, skin color, religious beliefs etc . Help us to have the same love, compassion and respect for others as you showed us when you welcomed Zaccheus down form the tree or dealt with the women at the well, or told the parable about the women who had sinned and how she should be treated . In all our diversities may we apply these lessons. Forgive us where bad thoughts of others have entered our mind. Help us to be more open and understanding to other cultures, beliefs and ways of doing things. Give us strength for this and help us to respect and try to understand those who think different from us, who have other culture backgrounds or just plain have other ideas.

This week we lift up those of our members and loved ones who may have lingering health issues or concerns. Continue to be with those who thru health issues may have to alter their life plans and direction. Guide their thoughts. We are thankful for the ways you have healed those who have had ailments and or continuing in their healing. We know your ways and knowledge are much higher then ours and we ask that you continue to hear the spoken and the unspoken word.

We ask that as we transition into Fall and new leadership and role responsibilities that continue to guide us and give us wisdom. Thank you for guiding us in current and future pastoral roles and transitions.

We also ask that you be with those around the world that are facing war and much uncertainty. It is hard for us to fathom the pain and loss war and unrest can cause as we live here in a peaceful nation. God be close to the innocent families and children where peace does not exist. Somehow allow the leaders of these groups to understand the frailty of life and to understand at what cost their power and decisions may be exacting .

We lift up our Household of Faith (HOF) this week.

God as we enter another week give us strength and energy to face whatever tasks are ahead of us. For some there may be challenges but we trust you will provide the energy and support required to meet these hurdles. As we enter one of the last weeks of summer holidays may we enjoy what you have to show us in nature whether in sunrises, clouds, sunsets, meteor showers, northern lights and yes even in the rain. We somehow know you have something to teach us in all this. May we not miss this.

In all this we ask it

AMEN

Hello God

As we have watched the Olympics this week I was reminded of the words in Isaiah 40:30-31(NLV)

³⁰ Even very young men get tired and become weak and strong young men trip and fall. ³¹ But they who wait upon the Lord will get new strength. They will rise up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weak.

As we watch Athletes apply their skills and strive to win the GOLD we think of the ways they have trained , the sacrifices they have made, the discipline in their life choices, the joys of victories, agony of defeat . We recognize that our spiritual lives are much like the lives of Athletes. We strive, read, pray, train, and work to be good people and to be good Christians . But sometimes we fail and miss the mark. It hurts when we don’t attain or maintain our Christian values or goals. It’s like missing the bar on a pole vault, or missing a shot in basketball , etc. We know the athletes trained and are trying to achieve their goals and to be the best; but it sometimes just does not happen. Similarly, we sometimes just get tired and worn down and we miss the mark of being a good Christian. God forgive us for this , its not like we didn’t try we just came up short. In all this cling to the words in Isaiah 40:30-31. We are human and we may grow weak and stumble, yes even the strongest of us. We find hope and are reenergized by vs 31 where we are taught that when wait on the Lord ie pause and listen ,we can get new strength and rise up like eagles run and not get weary, Walk and not grow weak. Thank you God for this reminder. As we apply this to both our spiritual and physical lives we can then maybe also apply the Olympic motto FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER.

We thank you for watching over us another week. We thank you for the many places we have been, the people we have met and sights we have seen. We have witnessed and felt your creation and for that we give you thanks, In some way we are all blessed.

God we thank you for the many ways you have stood by our members who have been sick , suffered some ailment or are waiting for upcoming medical procedures. We thank you for the healing you have allowed to happen in those of our Immediate and Church family. We know and thank you for being all knowing and caring for even the unspoken needs and ailments. May you grant patience and hope for those who may be struggling with sickness, ailments or pain. We especially ask that you be close to those who are dealing with the loss of a loved one. Give them strength and hope.

Loving Lord,

We sing with David the Psalmist who wrote in Psalm 103:

Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives you, and heals you,

who redeems your life from the pit, and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies you with good as long as you live . . .

We raise our hearts and prayers in gratitude and thanksgiving for all you’ve blessed our lives with – they are gifts of grace from your generous hand.

And we give voice to the concerns of our hearts . . .

The items mentioned in our info page – the voices that cry for peace in Myanmar, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, and Palestine – we pray for those who are displaced, those who search for family members, those who make decisions, and those who try to provide aid.

In our community of churches we lift up in prayer: the Lao Christian Fellowship, the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship, and especially Waterloo North Mennonite and Kendra’s family; still trying to find their feet in the wake of her sudden death.

We ask for your blessing on our joint worship service with Poole and Crosshill on Sunday,

And give thanks for our households of faith.