Online worship: Sunday 30 August 2020

 

Welcome! Please click on the play button (the triangle) in the sound file above to listen to Sunday worship from St Andrew’s and St George’s West, Edinburgh. 

You can download a PDF of the Order of Service here  or just follow it below:

 

Preparing for Worship

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am
Be still and know
Be still
Be

Psalm 46 v10

 

Welcome

 

Call to Worship                                  Seasons of the Spirit

Look, over there, the spark of God’s presence calls to us.
We must be standing on holy ground!
Look, all around, the light of God’s love is in each person present.
We must be standing on holy ground!
Look, deep within, the light of God’s creativity and compassion
are part of our being.
We must be standing on holy ground!
God is calling for our curiosity and our attention. In this time of worship
let us recognise the flame of God’s presence everywhere.
And let us celebrate that we are standing on Holy Ground!

 

Hymn 716:    Come and find the quiet centre

Come and find the quiet centre
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the space where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.

Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace;
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.

In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other’s pain;
let our lives and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming,
there’s a time for hearts to care;
in the Spirit’s lively scheming
there is always room to spare.

Words: Shirley Erena Murray (1931-2020)
Tune: Lewis Folk Melody

 

Opening Prayer

(words by *Bishop Thomas Ken 1637 – 1711, and **Seasons of the Spirit)

*Oh God,
make the door of our church wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, and a heavenly Father’s care
and narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and hate.
Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling-block to children,
nor to straying feet,
but rugged enough to turn back the tempter’s power:
make it a gateway to thine eternal kingdom.

**God, you call us to be agents of intervention and change in a broken world.
But who are we, that you should do such a thing?
God, you ask us to speak up, to show up, and to lead.
But who are we, that you should do such a thing?
God, you nudge us forward into the arenas of participation rather than passivity.
But who are we, that you should do such a thing?

We are your children, Loving God, yet we confess we are reluctant to hear your call.
We confess, Holy Presence, that we turn away and resist your urging displays,
even when the signs are all around us.
We are fearful and would rather imagine ourselves to be powerless than enter frays of conflict and oppression that exist all around us.

The Great “I AM” is calling, showing us that WE ARE as well.

We do not know how TO BE all we are called TO BE.
Forgive us and show the way, we pray.

The great “I AM” is always with us, and makes all things possible
through God’s grace.

People of God, let us not fear the signs of God’s glistening presence.
But rather, let us be affirmed and drawn in, ready to step forward and allow God to work through us. God is always with us. In this, let us be assured. Amen.

 

Show and Tell:     based on Exodus 3:1-15                  Seasons of the Spirit

The craft activity for ‘show and tell’ can be found here.

 

Old Testament Reading:        Exodus 3:1-15 (NRSV)

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,  and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.  The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.  So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”  He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

 

Hymn 755: Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.

I am the Lord who saves and heals.
I am the Lord who saves and heals.
I am the Lord who saves and heals.

In you, Lord God, I put my trust.
In you, Lord God, I put my trust.
In you, Lord God, I put my trust.
​​

Author and composer unknown
​​Based on Psalm 46:10

 

Reflection

 

Anthem

God be in my head and in my understanding.
God be in mine eyes and in my looking.
God be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God be in my heart and in my thinking.
God be at mine end and at my departing.

Words: Book of Hours 1514
Music: Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941)

 

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer                  Seasons of the Spirit (adapted)

Holy Word, you have caught our attention today.

We have noticed your flickering presence in our midst, and we recognise that we abide on Holy Ground (silence)

We bring our compassionate curiosity to you, Loving Parent. We bring our often reluctant, but honestly caring hearts and ask, “Who are we that you should call us? (silence)

Open our eyes to the ways life is being consumed and requires protection.
Encourage us in the promise of new life beyond the pain (silence)

We lift our hearts to all who suffer under the oppression of social systems of discrimination (silence)

We lift our prayers for all who grieve or struggle in physical pain and anguish (silence)

We lift our voice in solidarity with all who are imprisoned in body, mind, or spirit (silence)

And we strive to lift our beings in willingness to say “yes” to your invitation to help (silence)

May the Holy Ground on which we stand today empower our steps towards the journey of healing in which we have been placed as your people.

May the energy of your Earth reach into our beings and give us the strength to say “yes” again and again.

May the burning bushes all around us continue to call out for attention and transformation, until the new life they reflect is fulfilled.

Bless us for the journey, we pray. Help us always to embrace the curiosity strengthened by the prayer that Jesus taught saying together:

Our Father in heaven.
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us in the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen

 

Blessing and Sending

People of God,
may every step you take into this week and into this world
be a step toward new life and renewal.
Be still and know.
Be still, within yourself, and go in curiosity and peace.

And may God, who is the very ground of our being,
God, who calls us beyond where we thought we could go
and God who companions us so that every step is walked on holy ground,
bless you this day and every day. Amen.

 

Sung Blessing    The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you
and give you peace.

 

 

Minister: Rosie Magee
Leaders: David and Marie Austin
Reader: Ruth Sheard
Prayers of Intercession: Mary Godden
Director of Music: Brigitte Harris
The Choir of St Andrew’s and St George’s West
Vocal ensemble: Eleanor Wilson, Caitlin McGillivray, Drew Crichton, Andrew Carvel
Piano accompaniment: Eleanor Wilson
Communications: Alison Bruce and Susan McLarty
Service produced by Andrew Carvel

Cover photo: Frances Cooper (text added)
*The Pocket Oxford Book of Prayer 2000
Seasons of the Spirit items: from SeasonsFusion by Wood Lake Publishing
Hymns used under licence from CCLI 247862
Streaming licence 351013

St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church of Scotland Edinburgh. Charity SC008990

www.edinburghnewtownchurch.org.uk