Sunday Worship, 11th October 2020

CCL 125049              Charity No SC002937

Contents                                                                                                                  

  • Welcome
  • Hymn             229 We plough the fields and scatter Tune Wir Pflugen  (Church Hymnary 4th Edition)
  • Prayer
  • Reading         Matthew 22: 1-10 (Good News Bible)
  • Hymn             137 All things bright and beautiful Tune All things bright and beautiful (Church Hymnary 4th Edition)
  • Story from Christian Aid
  • Song:             Sent by the Lord
  • Story from Dumbarton
  • Prayer for others
  • Hymn              233 Come you thankful people come Tune St George’s Windsor  (Church Hymnary 4th Edition)
  • Blessing

Watch our service on YouTube


Welcome

Welcome and let us worship God

‘The earth has yielded its harvest. May God, our God, bless us.’

Psalm 67: 6

Hymn 229 We plough the fields and scatter

click play to hear the music

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

At Harvest time we come to say ‘Thank you’

 for the food we eat

 the beauty of the world

 the cycle of the seasons

If we think about it, we also say ‘Thank you’

 for things like fresh water

 all the people involved in bringing food to our table

 maybe even shelter from the cold and rain

But we don’t always think about things like

 fresh unpolluted air

 sources of energy, minerals and chemicals

 the many skills and abilities that we have

 jobs that we have or had

 regularity of income

 availability of benefits, pensions and charitable help

 bin collections and street cleaning

 the whole sanitary system

Sometimes it is only when we see pictures of other places

 or we experience life there for ourselves

 that we realise how much we take for granted

We take you for granted too

 we forget that you are there

 we don’t pay attention to your teaching or example

 we don’t give you the praise and thanks that you deserve

When we stop to think about it

 we are ashamed and sorry

Forgive us

Open our eyes to see the world around us

 the good things we have

 our dependence on so many people –

 and those in need

Open our hearts and lives

 to bring you the praise and honour you are due

 to live lives appropriate to those

 whom you have called to be your children

Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen


Bible reading           Matthew 22: 1-10

click play to watch and hear the reading

Jesus again used parables in talking to the people. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come. So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: ‘My feast is ready now; my bullocks and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!’ But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his shop, while others grabbed the servants, beat them and killed them. The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burnt own their city. Then he called his servants and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it. Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.


Hymn 137 All things bright and beautiful

click play to hear the music

Story from Christian Aid

On an October day like this, how many appreciate a warm drink to cheer you up? What do you prefer – tea, coffee, hot chocolate?

Coffee drinkers: do you go for the cheapest instant in the shop, or are you a connoisseur who insists on ground coffee in the cafetiere or percolator? Do you ask for a latte, a cappuccino, an Americano? Have you a preference where the coffee beans come from?

Angela is facing a crisis on her Nicaraguan coffee farm

This is Angela. She is a coffee farmer in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in Latin America. She and farmers like her are finding their harvests are failing due to irregular rainfall patterns and prolonged drought. She has watched her coffee crop fail, her livelihood devastated, because of a changing climate.

Angela’s community have been supported by Christian Aid’s partner Soppexcca to grow cocoa instead of coffee. And cocoa is used for making chocolate! It’s a source of joy for many of us. And a source of joy for Angela’s community too, since cocoa is much less vulnerable to the changing climate in Nicaragua and is a more reliable crop.

Angela

Song: Sent by the Lord

Story from Dumbarton

Food for Thought and West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare have both been extremely busy throughout this time with numbers of people they were supporting increasing by 50% or more. As well as supporting people in poverty, they also supported elderly people and people self-isolating. 

West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare commented that prior to lockdown many of their volunteers were elderly; therefore, the number of volunteers reduced from around 100 to only 2. They worked with 4 staff and 2 volunteers throughout this time to serve the most vulnerable.


Prayers for others

Heavenly Father

As we celebrate Harvest

 and give thanks for the food we eat

 we remember the many people

 who do not have ready access to food

 who worry about where the next meal will come from

 who can only afford food of low nutritional value

 some are in countries abroad

  exposed to extreme or unreliable weather

  exhausted soil, pests or blight

 some have had to flee from their homes

  seeking safety from war or violence

 some live in considerable poverty

 some live in our own country and community

  and have to turn regularly to foodbanks for assistance

we pray that governments will take appropriate steps

 to ensure that no one need go hungry

 that all will be confident about where their next meal will come from

 and that eating is something that can be done with dignity

We pray for groups like the foodbanks

 that provide emergency help

and for groups like Christian Aid

  who work for long-term sustainable solutions

Help us to do what we can to help others to eat

We pray too for all who are engaged in the process

 of bringing food to our table

 farmers, fishermen, growers

 transport and retail staff

We pray for all who are ill,

 those who look after them

 and those who worry about them

those waiting for or receiving treatment

 and those for whom there is no treatment

those who are lonely, feeling down, or grieving a friend or loved one

those who are worried about home, work or money

 a friend or a relative

those who are living with the after-effects of natural disasters

those who do not have enough to eat, or somewhere to call home

those who long to live in peace and safety

those who have fled from their homes seeking safety

We pray for the Queen, the Government

 all in positions of leadership in this and every land

We pray for your church

 our own congregation

 the wider church in Dumbarton

 the world-wide church

We bring to you our prayers for people and situations of special concern to us

And we sum up our prayers in the words of the prayer Jesus gave us

Our Father, who art in heaven,

 hallowed be thy name;

 thy kingdom come;

 thy will be done;

 on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

 as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation;

 but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

 the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen


Hymn 233 Come you thankful people come

click play to hear the music

Blessing

God the Father sends you out

 to be his witnesses wherever you go

 to work to bring healing and wholeness in all you do

and the blessing of God Almighty

 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

 rest and remain with you,  today, and every day, and for ever. Amen


Next: Our online Songs of Praise, October 2020

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