A MINISTRY FOR ‘ANTIQUES!’
Read: Samuel 3: 1-10 plus verse 19
This is the story of a small child who heard the voice of God calling in the night, but he didn’t know who it was until an old man told him.
It is a simple story that began a faith journey for Samuel, but it could be our story — YOUR story, because the bible is full of stories in which we can identify ourselves and our personal experiences.
God doesn’t fit in a box!
James 2: 1-10 + 14-17 and Mark 7: 24-end
As we prepare to move we are packing things into boxes, but they also have to fit into the right box so they can be found when needed. Books for here, books for there; clothes for winter, clothes for summer, the system is great until you are trying to find something you didn’t mean to pack.
Don’t trust the robots — they have no heart!
Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-17
I am not always worthy of the calling I have received as a minister in the United Reformed Church because with some telephone calls my patience runs thin and I admit love is totally absent from the conversation. I certainly do not sound humble or gentle and I have given up trying to make peace with the robotic voice I must communicate with.
Too tired to taste the honey!
As we prepare to listen to the Word of God it is an absent story that inspires my message this week. I found myself reflecting on what is not said rather than what will we read as I followed the lectionary reading for the week — with a few verses added by myself.
Mark 6: 1-13
The hometown for Jesus today is the Church. That is the place where his family live — so I am amazed at our lack of faith in what he tells us.
We are his brothers and sisters in the world today, but we make him weep because we don’t understand what he tells us and how to make peace. (Luke 19: 41) His home is now global, as well as local, and Jesus can’t do the miracles among us unless we have faith in what he tells us and in what he does.
BROADWAY URC – 27TH JUNE 2021
DIFFERING VOICES
CALL TO WORSHIP –
I wait eagerly for the Lord’s help,
I wait for the Lord more eagerly than watchmen wait for the dawn,
Trust in the Lord because his love is constant,
And he is always willing to save. Psalm 130
We’re not all in the same boat!
Mark 4: 35-41
If ever you are caught in a storm at sea remember there are others in boats far less seaworthy than your own. We can be on the same ocean, in the same storm, but in very different boats! Feeling a little queasy on a large passenger ship on the ocean, or a ferry crossing the North sea, is not the same as being in an overcrowded dinghy being overwhelmed by the waves. We are all in the same boat is not a phrase I agree with — but I do want to help people into my boat. Or jump in with them and help them safely reach the shore.
Earth is heaven’s Garden!
Reading: Mark 4: 26-34
It might not be a new thought, but it was new to me during the week, and I hope it will be as encouraging for you as it is to me. The thought was that, “The earth is heaven’s garden and God is the Gardener…”
Hope!
Introduction
Hope is not just a word – to Christians it conveys so much that sustains us from day to day. In the midst of uncertainty and a lack of clarity that might surround us, we have a Hope that is absolutely certain and unshakable. That hope lies in the life, death and resurrection of our living Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Living Hope and he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Without him in our lives we have no hope for the future, with him in our lives we have every hope for the future.
THE TRINITY OF POWER!
Read: John 3: 1-17
THE STORY OF THE EAGLE DOVE!
I want to tell you a story about the early christian missionaries who went to Africa and found something they never shared when they got home… They got something from their mission as great as what they gave.