This Service will be by Zoom. This is the link: https://bit.ly/3b2gtjz
Full details on how to access the Zoom service can be found here.
A recording of the service is now available:

Led by Revd George Mwaura

Preacher: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Gathering Music

Call to Worship

Let us come from our everyday and our routine and meet with God –
the one who made us, and who gave us our daily bread through the week just gone.

Amen

Greetings and Welcome

Gathering Prayer

Loving Lord, thank you that you meet us where we are, in the middle and muddle of our daily tasks.
Help us to hear your call, to recognise your voice,
and to respond to your invitation to be with you now.

V1 The Lord called the disciples to be fishers of men.
V2 He calls us to follow him, to trust in, rely on, and have confidence in him.

V1 God of grace and healing, shine your light upon us –
V2 into those places of conflict and tension:
in our families, in our friendships, in our work and community relationships.

Come, let us cast our nets into his waters and offer ourselves in worship and praise.

Amen

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Confession

Lord we thank you, for all these blessings caught in your net of good news.
Thank you for the changes you have brought about in our lives,
and the difference you continue to make as we follow and learn from you.
We particularly want to thank you for the gift of the vaccines
which will ultimately allow your people the freedom to move and worship you wherever they want.
Thank you that you never ask us to go beyond our capabilities but to do our best.
Thank you for the many blessings we receive when we follow through on what you ask of us.
But Lord we know that it’s not always that we follow through
and at times fear can prevent us from spreading your ‘good news’,
or from responding to your call to do something different.
Fear of being unpopular.
Fear of being inadequate.
Fear of having to give up possessions.
Fear of losing people we love.
Fear of losing friendships.
Fear of hard life changes.
Fear of becoming different.
We are sorry, Lord, for giving in to our fears.
Help us to respond to your call without hesitation,
help us to lean on you in Jesus’ name.

[A moment of personal confessions…]

Absolution

Through the death and resurrection of his Son, God has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins.
Through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
and absolve you from your sins in Jesus’ name.

Amen

Prayer of the Week

Loving God, we come to you with heavy hearts,
remembering the six million Jewish souls murdered during the Holocaust.
In the horrors of that history, when so many groups were targeted
because of their identity, and in genocides which followed,
we recognise destructive prejudices that drive people apart.
Forgive us when we give space to fear, negativity and hatred of others,
simply because they are different from us.
In the light of God, we see everyone as equally precious manifestations of the Divine
and can know the courage to face the darkness.
Through our prayers and actions,
help us to stand together with those who are suffering,
so that light may banish all darkness, love will prevail over hate
and good will triumph over evil.

Amen

Bible readings

Psalm 62: 5–12

⁵ Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken.
⁷ My salvation and my honour depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

⁹ Surely the lowborn are but a breath,
the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance, they are nothing;
together they are only a breath.
¹⁰ Do not trust in extortion
or put vain hope in stolen goods;
though your riches increase,
do not set your heart on them.

¹¹ One thing God has spoken,
two things I have heard:
‘Power belongs to you, God,
¹²and with you, Lord, is unfailing love’;
and, ‘You reward everyone
according to what they have done.’

NIV®

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Mark 1: 14–20

Jesus Announces the Good News

¹⁴ After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ¹⁵ ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

¹⁶ As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed him.

¹⁹ When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. ²⁰ Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

NIV®

This is the Gospel of Christ.
Praise to Christ our light.

Reflections

By Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Musical Meditation

Sharing Peace

Church, may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

And also with you!

Even as we are separated physically, we are connected by the spirit of God.
Let us share peace with those with us and wave to those on the screen!

Intercessions

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever.

Amen

Closing Prayer

Loving God, you challenge us to follow you; not by staying as we are but by stepping out in faith,
casting our net into deeper water as with Simon Peter, fisherman.
You challenge us to trust you and be prepared for all eventualities,
even when the load is heavy, and we struggle to succeed.
But with your challenge comes blessing.
Flimsy nets are filled, broken lives made whole.
From emptiness to abundance.
Thank you for your challenge.
Grant us courage to follow.

Amen

Closing Responses

Led by Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga

Into our darkness in poverty and sorrow, in grief and injustice:

Let the light of Christ shine.

Into our communities in confusion and distress, in division and anger:

Let the word of Christ be spoken.

Into our World as one Body united in hope, as witnesses and bearers of light:

Let the people of Christ go forth.

Amen

Blessings

Loving God, help us to hear your call, to recognise your voice,
and to respond to your invitation to follow you whatever we might be doing.
And the blessings of God Almighty: Father, Son and Holy Spirit remain with us all
in our homes as we wait for redemption from the present age

Amen