Virtual Worship - 27 June 2021

Parables for Bradford - Week 4

Offering God’s hand of friendship

Service Sheet (pdf)

Welcome

Imagine a love seat with just you and God sitting there. On the table is your Bible and the freshest , thirst-quenching summer drink. Come and worship God, relax with Him. All are welcome: if you are sorted or in a mess, feeling like it or anxious, come and worship God who holds you so lovingly in the palm of His hand. He invites each one of us, see His smile and His kind eyes welcoming you to worship Him. He enjoys our presence sitting beside Him. He befriends each of us with His love. Let’s sing about that friendship and love now….

Song

Hymn 88 STF: Praise to the Lord , the Almighty

Opening Prayers

Father God, we thank you for summer skies, that hold the sun, moon and stars, that give life and strength to summer. We thank you that you are our Creator God. As we gaze up and imagine where heaven is we thank you Father that you are a safe place of refuge, an oasis of rest and peace. We especially thank you for Jesus. As we see you both seated on your thrones we marvel at how good a God you are to us. Jesus for your love of us, your mercy washing over us as we see Your fresh, life-giving water that your hand invites us to drink. We see your blood from your sacrifice on the cross, forgiving us, renewing us as we say sorry for the things we’ve done wrong and the things we haven’t got round to…. Silent saying sorry. …….. We thank you Jesus that it is your nature to be merciful. We thank you that your word reassures us that those things we are sorry for you are quick and eager to forgive. We take a gulp of your life-giving water, Your Holy Spirit. We can feel all our anger and irritations being washed away, the warmth of Your love spreading over us, our hearts being refilled. Thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit for who You are and how you love us, Amen. 

Let us gather up our spoken and silent prayers and say the Lord’s prayer together:

Song

Hymn 113 STF: Let’s join with the angels and sing our next hymn, Chris Tomlin’s modern arrangement of, ‘O worship the King. Let’s praise Jesus for being our maker, defender, redeemer and our friend

Reading

Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10 v 25- 37) watch this version or read it in the Bible

Interview with Jon who is a Samaritan’s’ volunteer

Chad Varah an Anglican priest started the 999 helpline for desperate people, calling it the Samaritans in 1953. Jon volunteers at the Halifax branch. Doing one shift per week, lasting several hours, he started volunteering because he went through a very difficult time in his life and wanted to help others who found themselves in a mess or difficult situation. Anyone can volunteer , all faiths or none, and no matter what your problem is, big or small you can be listened to by their helpline. In lockdown they interact through calls and emails and hopefully face to face after lockdown.

Calls can last from a few minutes to several hours and all sectors of society phone up, but in lockdown there have been many from all sectors who have been desperately lonely. People can experience multiple traumas and may be suicidal. The most vulnerable groups for suicide are men in their late 40’s, women in their early 50’s and it’s the biggest killer of 16-24 year olds. He encourages us to give a donation or volunteer for the training process. He urges us in the church to be good listeners, to be non judgmental and enable opportunities for people to tell their story and us to listen well, not advising! We thank God for Jon and fellow volunteers, for Chad Varah having that vision from God and for the work that the Samaritans do. Let’s sing about someone who is the perfect listener whom we can go to any time of the day and night:

Song

Hymn 531 STF: What a friend we have in Jesus: Let’s sing about the perfect listener who is ALWAYS available for us, Jesus, God’s own Son.

Reading

1 Corinthians 10 v 1-13

Interview with Thomas Knight: 

The new Debt Centre is an example of God’s helping hand for those in the mess of debt. Thomas is the new, Shipley debt centre manager employed by Shipley Christians Together and Christians against Poverty. He was brought up in a Christian home and got to know Jesus bit by bit. He enjoyed his friends, them choosing him to be their friend, sometimes just relaxing with them with no need to speak, at other times sharing his pain, asking their forgiveness. He got to know Jesus in the same way, hanging out with Him, with and without words, gradually knowing He was there more and more. Debt is a horrible trauma and the debt centre offers a process whereby people can be enabled out of debt and are offered the friendship of Jesus.

Reflection: 

As we listen to our next song or read the words let us reflect on what God can do for us today. Are we needing help or being called to be a Good Samaritan in an area of help? If you are in a mess ask God to provide an escape route out. Are you using excuses like the priest or Levite, not to help? Maybe you know someone who is in a mess and ask God how you can be their hand of friendship. The lyrics are: God draws near in times of fear and pain… the breath of God brings strength to me… He makes my faith into gold…. In the shadows I see the triumph of the cross.

Song

When Trials Come:

Prayers of Intercession: 

Response: When I say, ‘Father God, would you respond with, ‘may their hands be your helping hands.’

We pray firstly for world leaders, The Queen, the G7 leaders, Naphtali Bennet and the new Israeli government. We pray that all leaders may seek your friendship in their leading for delivering justice and Peace for all who live in their nation.

Father God
may their hands be your helping hands

We pray for the United Kingdom, the Queen and house of Windsor, Boris Johnson, his cabinet and every MP, the judiciary and all who seek justice and help for those in difficulty. 

Father God
may their hands be your helping hands

We pray for West Yorkshire, for all charities and organizations who offer help in times of need, for Jon and the Samaritans, for Thomas, and the debt centre and ….. Silence as we pray for those organizations and charities we know

Father God
may their hands be your helping hands

For the Church: For the outworkings of Methodist conference, for the new president and Vice President, Sonia Hicks and Barbara Easton, For Kerry Tankard chair of Yorkshire West, Nick Blundell, Phil Drake, Christine Crabtree and Merry Evans in Bradford North, for each of our congregations …. and all those who offer God’s hand of friendship.

Father God
may their hands be your helping hands

For those of our own neighbours, friends and family who need to escape messes, whose hearts are crying out in their situations. May we listen to them and offer them the news of the beauty and friendship of Jesus. We pray for those who do not know Jesus and need Him as a friend. Silence …. May we give them practical help, support them in professional help and journey with them. ….. silence ….

Father God
may our hands be your helping hands

And lastly we climb on your knee Father and ask for your blessing for our own needs and for the anointing of Your Spirit to building friendships for Jesus. We offer up to you any messy part of our lives that needs your help and Your life breathing into it. We ask for encouragement and patience in all our networks, that we may be to them as Jesus wants us to be. We offer all expected and unexpected diary events, and ask that You would continue to refresh our faith and make it gold for you to delight in. We give you or worries, fears, hopes and dreams…. Silence ….

We ask our prayers, as we see them ascending like fragrance up to Jesus, in His precious name, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Song

Hymn 663 StF: I the Lord, of sea and Sky, Let’s offer ourselves, as we sing, as a helping hand, like the Good Samaritan did, to God, wherever He want to use us

Blessing: 

May the help and perfect friendship of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you and all those that you love, now and forever more, Amen.