If you would like to join this service of worship using just the videos playing one after another, you can visit our playlist on Youtube by following the link below:
Call to Worship and Opening Prayer (for the text, see below)
Call to Worship
God says: ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’
Let us worship God.
Please join with me in the prayer of approach:
Living God, you know us as we are, and you love us for ourselves. Sometimes every part of that statement is hard for us to take in and to believe. Things that happen challenge our sense of self-worth. Our thoughts, words and deeds rise up to accuse us. We question your wisdom, your compassion, even your existence. Assure us of your loving acceptance and renewing grace. And strengthen us to respond to you with love, as we worship and serve you, and reflect your love to other people. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
God of life and love, as we come before you now, may your Spirit guide our thoughts and our words, and may your love be expressed in our prayers. In the name of Jesus.
We pray first today for people who are struggling in dark places. We pray for all who are anxious or afraid, for whatever reason. We pray for those who live with pain, or who watch while loved ones suffer. We pray for the lonely and the despairing. We pray for the bereaved. Loving God, may your light and hope reach all for whom we pray.
B: Lord, hear us: R: Lord, graciously hear us.
We pray for the struggle for justice in our society. We pray for Black Lives Matter and for other initiatives to raise awareness, disturb complacency and change things for the better. We pray for courage to speak and for a willingness to listen. We pray for the growing among us of your reign of love, reaching each and every person.
B: Lord, hear us: R: Lord, graciously hear us.
We pray for the Church, and for the churches we ourselves know best. We pray for people who have discovered Christian community afresh or for the first time in recent months, and for those who have felt disconnected and disengaged. We pray for sensitivity and wisdom as we navigate the next phase of our common life. We pray for all who bear responsibility for leadership in your Church.
B: Lord, hear us: R: Lord, graciously hear us.
We pray for ourselves, offering to God particular people or places or situations on our hearts today, and naming before God our own personal needs and concerns.
[Silence]
B: Lord, hear us: R: Lord, graciously hear us.
We gather all our prayers in the words that Jesus gave his friends.
If you would like to join this service of worship using just the videos playing one after another, you can visit our playlist on Youtube by following the link below:
Introductions and Welcome and Opening Prayer (for the text, see below)
Welcome! I’m Rev John Anderson, one of the four Presbyteral ministers in the Oxford Circuit. This Sunday the readings include the familiar parables that Jesus told about the Kingdom of Heaven being like yeast and a mustard seed.
First, let us begin with a time of prayer – let us pray:
God of life, whose love enfolds us, and spirit fills us, we praise your holy name.
God of joy, whose sunrise wakes us, and sunset amazes us, we praise your holy name.
God of hope, whose promise sustains us, and power upholds us, we praise your holy name.
God of love, whose patience humbles us, and touch can heal us, we praise your holy name.
God of peace, who breaks down barriers, and walls that divide us, we praise your holy name.
God of eternity, who has always loved us, and by grace has saved us, we praise your holy name
Spend a moment thinking about all that God is and has done for us, and consider your individual response to God’s grace.
God of all ages, who from generation to generation has heard the cries of your children humbly seeking forgiveness, and has welcomed sinners back into your embrace, hear the thoughts of our hearts, examine our motives, forgive us our faults, of word and action. We ask this through your Son, who died that we might know the true cost of forgiveness. AMEN
For all whose day starts with anxiety, as they leave the security of home worrying about the risk of infection; particularly those whose health or age classifies them as vulnerable. Loving God, be close, keep them safe, along with all whose tasks today includes the care of frail and elderly. And for all of us, grant wisdom to make sensible choices, not just for ourselves, but for everybody.
Gracious God, let us never forget, as daily life becomes more difficult and restrictions cause annoyance, that there are many for whom this has been normality for years; affected by long-term drought or destructive storms; struggling in poverty, or through violence forced to adopt the life of refugee. May we remember to be thankful for what we have, and work together selflessly for all who need our help.
We pray for this world’s leaders, with difficult decisions to make affecting the lives of so many. May they be guided not by any personal agenda, but work for the common good of all, that this world might be led to a better place, where trust and honesty are the values both sought and demonstrated in those we choose to lead us.
Loving God, what we desire is this; that people see not us, but through our smile, greeting, helping hand or helpful word, your love reach out and touch, maybe at a time of need. Keep us focussed through this day on being your servants in this place, or wherever you might take us, and may your name be glorified.
The love of God be the passion in your heart. The joy of God your strength when times are hard. The presence of God a peace that overflows. The Word of God the seed that you might sow.
If you would like to join this service of worship using just the videos playing one after another, you can visit our playlist on Youtube by following the link below:
Introductions and Welcome (for the text, see below)
Good morning! and welcome to the Oxford Circuit service, my name is Michael Sawyer and I am a retired minister living in the Oxford circuit and my name is Margaret Sawyer and I am a local preacher in the same circuit of churches.
We welcome you whether you are circuit members or visiting us today on-line from farther afield. All are welcome!
Our theme for today is God with us, and we shall be exploring, through prayers and reflections music and song what the readings for today tell us about a sense of place and finding God with us wherever we may be. If there are any younger people joining us today perhaps you may like to draw or write about places that are important to you, the places you are missing and the places you remember but can’t go to right now. Afterwards, if it is appropriate, you may like to share them with the adults with you or store them in a memory bank as part of what this time of lockdown has meant for you.
Whatever each one does during this time; we hope you will know that God is with you.
Prayers of Approach
Following the bidding …..and Christ has said, please respond with, “Behold I am with you to the end of the age. “
We gather together for worship, where all that we offer, no matter how humble, Is accepted, cherished and multiplied.
Come! let us walk with Christ on our journey with God’s blessing and gift, these companions God has given us upon the way.
God, be with us on our journey, give us strength and support when we are tired, help us to recognise the unexpected gift, of places and people who offer us rest.
We are wayfarers, following roads to the ends of the earth, pilgrims on our way to the end of the age and Christ has said, ‘Behold, I am with you to the end of the age.’
We’ll travel lightly, we’ll travel together, we’ll learn as we go; we are disciples, our mission is love, the journey is long and Christ has said, ‘Behold, I am with you to the end of the age.’
We’ll travel with humility, no task is too small; we are servants, the cross is our compass love is our sign and Christ has said,‘Behold, I am with you to the end of the age.’
When the way is uncertain, shadows are sinister, and dangers threaten, we’ll not be afraid, but take heart because Christ has said, ‘Behold, I am with you to the end of the age.’
To the bidding, “God hears our prayer”, please respond with, “Thanks be to God”.
Generous God, who has given us a world of great beauty, rich in its diversity and filled with plenty to meet the needs of the world, we offer You our thanks for all that we enjoy. For country lanes and undulating hills, for bird song, the sound of animals and the wildlife we have discovered in our gardens and on our walks, and for the life in us which is Your gift to us.
We thank you for our national Health service, its staff and all the work that goes on in hospitals and places of care recognising how fortunate we are to have such a national system. So we recall places where health care is far from adequate, where poverty and hardship is the norm, where people struggle every day to live.
God hears our prayer: Thanks be to God
We thank you for the place called church which we have enjoyed gathering in, for other places that have been significant to us in our lives and for the memories that these places remind us of.
In our new places of worship may we find You afresh at our dining tables and in our homes. May we seek You afresh in the faces of those who suffer and protest. May we know You are with us wherever we are and rejoice in Your presence with us.
God hears our prayer: Thanks be to God
But these are troubling times! Fear and uncertainty govern our decisions. Our human instinct to reach out, welcome and comfort is restricted, too many suffer where we could help and cannot. So we pray to You, Creator, Son and Spirit to hear our longings for Your world. Wind of God blow round us, the gentle breeze of the son of God, caress us, life giving spirit of God, hear our prayer.
We hold before You, O God, all those whose lives are disfigured through prejudice and ignorance, praying that one day we will be able to say, “Lives Matter” because those with power and authority have taken inclusion very seriously and put the needs of all people before any other consideration.
God hears our prayer Thanks be to God
We hold before You, O God, communities, families, and individuals who have become ill with the Corona Virus. We pray especially for those who have lost loved ones and have not been able to say goodbye as they would have wished. We pray for those who have been on their own, may they know we are thinking of them and that through our prayers for them they may know You are with them also.
God hears our prayer Thanks be to God
We hold before God all those affected in other ways by this present pandemic. We thank God for those who take risks with their own wellbeing to help us, shop assistants and pub and restaurant staff, bus and taxi drivers, train operators and delivery people.. For children and young people whose regular pattern of daily life has been disrupted, for those whose livelihood has disappeared and do not have any sense of what the future may bring, for those who have been abused and are being abused by the people with whom they live. We hold them all before You, O God, in concern.
God hears our prayer Thanks be to God
We hold before God the Church in its need to provide for Your people, that wisdom will guide its decisions and actions, that the new ways of meeting will be valued and utilised, that the mission of the church to reach out with the good news will not be lost in the fear of taking risks. We pray for all those who had been expecting to be ordained within the Church at this time, may they know Your blessing upon them. Within this Methodist Oxford Circuit of churches we pray for Martin and Fiona as they prepare to move to London and for Peter Powers who is coming to be our next superintendent and Miriam Moul who will serve Cowley Road and will be chaplain at Oxford Brookes University and give thanks for our circuit stewards who will prepare the way for these changes.
God hears our prayer Thanks be to God
Wind of God blow round us, the gentle breeze of the son of God, caress us, life giving spirit of God, hear our prayers today and every day, Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from a time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are Yours, now and for ever. Amen
The peace of the earth be with you, the peace of the heavens too; the peace of the rivers be with you, the peace of the oceans too. Deep peace falling over you. God’s peace, God’s peace growing in you. Amen
If you would like to join this service of worship using just the videos playing one after another, you can visit our playlist on Youtube by following the link below:
Loving and gracious God, you are the sower who just keeps on sowing. Yours is the water which gently washes us, which cleanses us and shapes us.
Where we have found your word too comforting, forgive us and challenge us.
Where we have found shame, help us to know you accept us and lift us up.
We bring your world before you: a world in need of the good news of your love, your grace, a world in need of the cleansing of your water.
We do not know the answers; it is not always easy even to know the questions. But the concerns of our heart: we bring them to you. We bring them in faith and in trust that your love overcomes everything; that the waters which come down from your heaven will shape everything.
And so we come, both bold and humble, and hold your world — our world — before you.
Give us the strength to live our life in your love.
Take our talents and skills and help us to play our part in sowing the seed, in washing with the water, in making your word, your message, your grace, your love, known to all the earth.
With the breath of the Spirit and in the name of Christ we pray.
As our worship draws to a close, even though we are in separate places, let’s remember that we belong together in God through Christ and bless each other with the words of the Grace:
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.
