Based on a service at Mayfield Chapel on Sunday 29th 2021
Opening verses:
John’s gospel, chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Song:
Love Divine All Loves Excelling - YouTube
Prayers:
Lord, we thank you for your love and goodness shown to us in your creation.
We thank you for your love shown in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and our subsequent reconciliation to you.
We thank you that you accept us just as we are, with all our failings and our sins.
We thank you that when we confess our sins you will forgive, cleanse and restore us.
Open up your word to us.
Placed us in touch with your Holy Spirit, and let us go out knowing that we have been with you.
Amen.
Song:
A New Commandment I Give Unto You [with lyrics for congregations] - YouTube
Readings:
Psalm 1
1st letter of John: chapter 3, verses 1 to 6
Song:
O Lord My God! (How Great Thou Art) - YouTube
Prayers:
We pray for the situation in Afghanistan. The situation is confused, and we know so little, but what information we have tells us that it is a difficult circumstance.
We pray for the Christian believers in Afghanistan, meeting in secret. Be with them, and support them.
We pray for the women of Afghanistan, having to come to terms with the new situation. Comfort and support them in their difficulties.
We pray for the government and the Taliban, that the Holy spirit might work through them and promote kindness and equity. We pray that people’s rights will be respected.
We pray for the problems in Haiti, caused by the earthquake recently. Haiti has rather dropped out of sight in the news, but the problems remain.
We pray for the reconstruction efforts, and the families mourning their losses.
We pray for the efforts of the organisations working in Haiti.
We pray for our own needs, and the burdens we carry. We give thanks that God cares for individuals, and is with us in our troubles.
Amen.
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to have been born somewhere else? A palace, the home of someone in government? Would it have made any difference to who we are?
We owe a great deal of what we are to our parents. Of course, a lot of that is through our DNA.
Perhaps we wish that some part of our inheritance were different? The shape of our body, or part of our face? “If my nose had been a different shape, I could have been a model.”
Perhaps our temperament could have been different, preferably better, more accepting or tolerant of others?
A man was once advised at his wedding, “If you want to know what you wife will look like in later life, look at her mother.”
Our similarities to our parents are proof of our relationship with them.
The first letter of John, chapter 3 lays out our relationship between us and God. If we are children of God, it will be reflected in our lives.
It is a relationship based on Love. The lavish love of God.
A speaker at a camp started out with a large jug of custard. As they spoke, they poured custard out of the jug into a smaller one. As they added more and more they kept asking “Is this lavish?” Eventually the smaller jug overflowed, and the audience agreed that this what was meant by lavish.
The love of God is overflowing. It is an antidote to the bad and sad with which we are bombarded.
In the first letter to Timothy, we are told that there is 1 mediator for us. In spite of our sin and rebellion against the holy and perfect God, we stand amazed at the love which God has shown to us. The change which Love brings about.
In 2011 there was a mass changing of names by girls in Mumbai. Many girls were not given proper names, because their parents would have preferred boys. Often such girls had been named Nakusa, meaning Unwanted.
After the ceremony, when girls accepted new names, they had also received a new identity. One said “Now my friends call me by my new name. I am happy, I am no longer Nakusa.”
God makes us all his children, and changes us., through his grace and love.
If we are children, then we are heirs. This makes us co-heirs with Christ.
We have the opportunity to develop our potential, the potential to be like Christ. In Genesis chapter 1, God’s creation of humans is said to be in his image. Male and Female in God’s, image. One of their purposes is the creation of more men and women in the image of God.
The letter of James is very practical, and very challenging. The idea of faith without deeds is declared to be dead.
We should live according to the principles of the Kingdom, so that we present the evidence of God’s lavish love to the world.
In the Olympics and Paralympics we have seen some outstanding performances.
There have been medal winners, and personal bests, many of the participants have declared themselves to be very pleased. Such performances do not come without work, and preparation. The competitors cannot just turn up and expect to perform well.
We are anticipating eternity, and we should be preparing for it.
When we fail, and we will, we rejoice that we can confess our failing and God will forgive. Jesus, “The Great High Priest”, will pray for us. The lavish love of God will adopt us into his family.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! “
Song:
WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL-DEAR LORD AND FATHER OF MANKIND - YouTube
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