Sunday Worship - 22nd August 2021
Welcome to this morning's Come Together on Sunday Worship Service.
Worship today is led by Martin Sykes (in church and via this video)
We normally worship in church each week and also via Zoom, with a recording of the Zoom meeting published by Monday morning. If you are not currently on our mailing list for Zoom please contact Rev Christine: christineamfox@gmail.com
Click below on the red play button to start this morning's service video. You can also find the service on YouTube here if it isn’t working on the blog.
God Bless x
If you'd like to connect with Grangewood please contact us.
Rev Christine Fox: christineamfox@gmail.com
Thank you to all those who have been part of arranging this week's service.
Below you can find this weeks Message. Click here to find the whole worship sheet.
Message
The Ups & Downs of Life
Lucozade……..When life gets you down, Lucozade, picks you up!! What do we do when faced the problems/fears/troubles of daily life that can threaten our security -?
[1] breakdown in relationships [2] losing our job [3] losing our income [4] losing our health [5] even having problems with our faith or even losing our faith.
Life can be hard - can experience depression. Do we turn to a visible or invisible means of support? There are those who turn to alcohol for help and support - to help them drown their sorrows. But of course, there are so many pills and potions to pick-us-ups when we’re down or calm us when we’re up to choose from. Do we turn to a visible or invisible means of support? We all want to be safe and secure - yet many things can threaten our security. Our ability to handle these threats depends on the SOURCE OF OUR SECURITY. We must learn the true SOURCE of our SECURITY and then learn to TRUST THAT SOURCE - that is JESUS, HIMSELF.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus says, these words, “Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood has eternal life”, and it’s clear that some of His disciples found this teaching difficult. “This is hard teaching”, they said. “Who can accept it?” Aware that some of His disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them: “Does this offend you? And what if you see the son of man ascend to where he was before? The spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you, they’re full of the spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who don’t believe. ”For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them didn't believe, and who would betray him? He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them”. From this time on, many of the disciples turned back and no longer followed him. The multitudes began to perceive that Jesus would not be the political leader that they had hoped for. “From that time, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. ”The 12 had noticed that and they were also disappointed. And Jesus said to the 12 “will you also go away?” The question almost expects a negative answer. Then Simon Peter answered him. “Lord. To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we believe that are sure that you are the Christ, the son of the living God.”
A young man was born into a wealthy family in Banbridge, NI. He graduated from Trinity College in Dublin. Scriven fell in love with a lady and asked her to marry him. However, on the day before their wedding, she fell from her horse while crossing the river and drowned. He helplessly watched his beloved from the other side of the river. He emigrated to Canada to overcome his sorrow. He worked as a tutor to children of a wealthy landowner in Ontario. The landowner had a niece called Eliza and he fell in love again. Unluckily, she died of pneumonia before they could get married. His name is Joseph Scriven, and throughout his life his faith anchored him during these days of darkness. He took the vow of poverty, sold all his belongings, and offered himself to help the handicapped. Years after, Scriven was informed that his mother was sick. The shattered Scriven could not go home and take care of her, so he wrote a poem for her called “Pray, without ceasing”. The poem over time became best known for the first line of course - “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Joseph wrote that poem to console his mother in her time of sorrow. A friend asked how he had written such words - “The Lord and I wrote them together!” Those words were born out of his own deep suffering speak directly to the heart of his deep and lasting friendship with Jesus where he found and experienced perfect peace.
Helen LEMMEL’s friend’s story about when she was in her early 20’s visiting London with Helen when she was inspired to write the words of “TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS” [written in 1922]
The Stoning of Stephen – kept his eyes on Jesus
Paul’s trials: the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Philippians, and in chapter 3, he speaks about Jesus as the proper focus during times of suffering. In the second half of the chapter, Paul speaks of pressing on or straining toward Christ-like living He begins by stating that he is not yet perfect but is working toward living more like Jesus. He doesn’t focus on the past, but on the future. He is committed to the goal of the calling of Christ Jesus.
Paul falsely arrested and imprisoned After he was shipwrecked off Malta, Paul arrived in Rome where he spent 2 years under house arrest. Throughout all of this, Paul kept his eyes fixed firmly on Jesus - lived his life in the very presence of Jesus and could therefore experience security and thereby experience the power of Jesus in his life – and this gave him the strength to cope - gave him perfect peace. Sometimes we may become distracted by things going on round and about us - become obsessed by worries & fears and can lose all sense of reason. When confronted the problems before them, Joseph Scriven, Helen Lemmel, Stephen, Paul and the 12 Apostles all kept their eyes fixed firmly on Jesus, and that’s the challenge before us - when confronted with life’s problems, Do we turn to a visible or invisible means of support? We know in a very wonderfully reassuring way, that because Jesus loves us so much, that He will always be there for us, to inspire us, love us, lead us, guide us, encourage and challenge us - He didn’t call Himself the Way, the Truth & the Life for nothing - He is our Saviour and Lord who loves us so much He wants to lead.