Welcome
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give new life to you through his indwelling Spirit.
Romans 8: 11
Hymn 608 Spirit of truth and grace
Opening Prayer
Lord
You created a universe with freedom and potential
the Big Bang could have produced something very different
matter could have come together as different stars, systems, galaxies
life might not have developed
or might have developed in different ways
we have freedom
within the constraints of our humanity
and where we find ourselves
to take very different paths through life
You give us freedom
but you do not abandon us to cope alone
you have a hope, a vision
for what your world can be
what we can be
in your Spirit you are always active
addressing the failings, the injustices, the hurts
caused by people or by nature
You want your creation
you want us
to achieve our full potential
and be in a right relationship with you
You have called us to be your children
You have called us to belong to Christ Jesus your Son
But we have messed it up
We have misused our freedom
We haven’t acknowledged our potential
We have caused hurt to you, to others, to ourselves
We are sorry
Forgive us
Draw us back to you, to your path
that we may enjoy the true freedom
of loving and serving you
Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
All age time (for ages 0-100)
Video from Tina about Holy Land Bursary Scheme – see today’s YouTube service
Bible reading
2 Corinthians 4: 13 – 5: 1
Hymn 259 Beauty for brokenness
Reflection
It is estimated that in the years just before Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire, the majority of people living around the eastern Mediterranean were Christian – in spite of that being illegal, and with the threat of persecution being very real. In the video that we watched earlier we were reminded of the current situation for Christians in the Holy Land, where numbers have fallen drastically and they now represent a very small proportion of the population. The same is true for countries like Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey. Politics and population movements mean that just because the church has at some stage been established in a particular place, it won’t necessarily be there for ever.
If we look at the situation in Scotland, in Dumbarton, we see much the same thing. We don’t need to go back 100 or even 50 years – just picture what it was like 20 years ago:
- churches were much fuller, the average of the congregation was much younger
- how many have children who came to Sunday School, but don’t want to be part of the church now, or have their children involved?
- baptisms were a regular feature on Sundays, now we have very few
- similarly with weddings
- even funerals – until a couple of years ago we had quite a number of parish funerals each year. Now we have very few – people prefer using a Civil Celebrant or Humanist, even though they charge and we don’t
- we still have our chaplaincy links with Aitkenbar, Braehead, Dalreoch, Knoxland and Dumbarton Academy, which they appreciate. But a combination of curriculum changes and a small, but vociferous, secular group of parents means that input into assemblies and classwork has changed – even before Covid restrictions came in.
There are fewer of us, we are getting older, we have to cope with all sorts of new regulations concerning fire safety, health and safety, Covid regulations etc. It’s easy to be dispirited. And yet…! As Paul put it, ‘We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us.’ Paul had every reason to feel dispirited: he had been arrested, imprisoned and beaten so many times; the new churches he established kept going off the rails; and from the number of letters he sent the Corinthians, and the tone of them, he must have been getting fed up to the back teeth with them. But he looked beyond human strength, beyond the situation around him, and as he said, ‘we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen’, and trusted in the power of God. If God could raise Jesus from death, God can surely empower his church to do the work he has for it.
We cannot presume that just because the church has been present in Dumbarton for 1500 or 1600 years, it will be here in 100 years’ time. It may not. But God calls us to do our bit, to go out, make contact, tell the story, live the story, show his love – and trust that he can use our witness. If we can’t go out? We can still pray. Maybe we can phone people, or write letters, to show continuing concern for folk who are lonely or not well. God always has something for us to do, something we can do, if we are willing to give it a try.
Prayers for others
Gracious God
We sometimes feel dispirited
because things are not the way they were
we are older, and many of us feel less fit
church is not what it used to be
work is not what it used to be
family life and social life are not what they used to be
and the world seems different
sometimes it is hard to accept change and adjust to it
But you are constant, faithful and true
a God who works through change
who strives to put right mistakes and faults
who showed us your power in the raising of Jesus from the dead
Help us to trust you
to see beyond the immediate problems
to the potential for your world
to the potential that you see in us
help us as your church, your people
to see things as you see them
to be ready to do new things to share your love and Good News
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 you church
the worldwide church
the wider church in Dumbarton
our own congregation
help us always to be faithful to Jesus our Lord
we pray for Christians in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East
for all who face difficult or opposition for following Jesus
and for the children helped by the Bursary Scheme
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
Hymn 595 O breath of life come sweeping through us
Blessing
God the Holy Trinity make you strong
in faith, in hope, and love
And the blessing of God Almighty.
Nice service thank you