Led by: Revd George Mwaura

Welcome and Introduction

Hymn: All glory, laud and honour

All glory, laud, and honour
to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

Thou art the King of Israel,
thou David’s royal Son,
who in the Lord’s name comest,
the King and blessèd one:
All glory, laud, and honour …

The company of angels
are praising thee on high,
and mortal folk/men and all things
created make reply:
All glory, laud, and honour …

The people of the Hebrews
with palms before thee went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before thee we present:
All glory, laud, and honour …

To thee before thy passion
they sang their hymns of praise:
to thee now high exapted
our melody we raise:
All glory, laud, and honour …

Thou didst accept their praises,
accept the prayers we bring,
who in all good delightest,
thou good and gracious King:

All glory, laud, and honour
to thee, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.

Theodulph of Orleans (d. 821)
tr. J.M. Neale (1819–1866)
CCL31580

Prayer of Approach

Wonderful and gracious God; we enter your courts with thanksgiving and praise,
knowing that you have made us, and remembering we are loved.
We give thanks that Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King.
Keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Prayers of Confession

You, God, are our one and only King.
We beg your forgiveness for the other ‘kings’ that we kneel before:
money, power, gossip, self-righteousness, racial privilege, etc.
We beg your forgiveness, we who are broken and torn apart by our own doings and un-doings.
Guide us to be your servants. Lead us to trust in you as the only king we need.
Direct our faith in your sovereign power as we strive to follow you
through the power of your Holy Spirit, we pray.

[Silence]

n your mercy, hear our prayer of confession.
Grant us the humility to bow before you, the Ruler of all nations,
so that we may be faithful servants in your kingdom.
Through your Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Amen

Hymn: From heaven you came, helpless babe

From heaven you came, helpless babe,
entered our world, your glory veiled;
not to be served, but to serve,
and give your life, that we might live.
This our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King.

There in the garden of tears,
my heavy load he chose to bear;
his heart with sorrow was torn,
‘Yet not my will but yours,’ he said.
This our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King.

Come see his hands and his feet,
the scars that speak of sacrifice,
hands that flung stars into space
to cruel nails surrendered.
This our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King.

So let us learn how to serve,
and in our lives enthrone him;
each other’s needs to prefer,
for it is Christ we’re serving.
This our God, the Servant King,
he calls us now to follow him,
to bring our lives as a daily offering
of worship to the Servant King.

Graham Kendrick (b. 1950)
CCL31580

Prayer of the Week

Sovereign God, the supreme ruler of all creation,
in your infinite wisdom you sent Jesus to bear witness to the truth: that you alone are the Lord of life.
Grant us the unwavering ability to heed his voice at all times
so that we may boldly proclaim his dominion of justice, tranquillity, and boundless affection;
through him, who reigns ceaseless in our hearts as King of Kings.

Amen

Ministry of the Word

Psalm 95: 1–7a

Read by Stuart Kean

¹ Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.

³ For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.

⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
⁷ for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.

NIV®

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

Matthew 25: 31–46

Read by Adrian Boynton

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

³⁷ ‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?”

⁴⁰ ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

⁴¹ ‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.”

⁴⁴ ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?”

⁴⁵ ‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

⁴⁶ ‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

NIV®

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

Theme Introduction

Brother, sister, let me serve you,
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.

[…]

I will weep when you are weeping;
when you laugh I’ll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow
till we’ve seen this journey through.

[…]

Richard Gillard (b. 1953)
CCL31580

Blessings, and see you later!

Affirmation of Faith

We believe in God the Father,
infinite in wisdom, power and love,
whose mercy is over all his works,
and whose will is ever directed to his children’s good.

We believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man,
the gift of the Father’s unfailing grace, the ground of our hope,
and the promise of our deliverance from sin and death.

We believe in the Holy Spirit as the divine presence in our lives,
whereby we are kept in perpetual remembrance of the truth of Christ
and find strength and help in time of need.

We believe that this faith should manifest itself
in the service of love as set forth in the example of our blessed Lord, to the end that the kingdom of God may come upon the earth.

Amen

Intercessions

Led by Maggie Kean

Sharing Peace

God has received us, pardoned us and loved us;
let us forgive each other in love and share the peace of Christ.
Friends, may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be always with you.

And also with you!

Hymn: The King of love my shepherd is

The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
and he is mine for ever.

Where streams of living water flow
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow
with food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home rejoicing brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and O what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never:
good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever.

H.W. Baker (1821–1877)
CCL31580

Notices

Advent Bible Study starts this week

There will be three Advent Bible Study groups this year, on Tuesday at 7.15 pm led by Rosemary Kearsey, on Wednesday at 7.00 pm led by Revd George Mwaura and on Thursday at 7.30 pm led by Stuart Kean. We will be using some of the Methodist study materials called ‘Out of the Ordinary’. You can have a look at https://www.methodist.org.uk/for-churches/advent-and-christmas-resources.

The Bible readings for this week’s session, ‘Letting Stuff Go’, are Isaiah 64: 1–9 and Mark 13: 24–37.

If you would like to take part, contact Mark in the Office or, if you know which study group you would like to join, please contact Rosemary Kearsey or Robin Kyd for the Tuesday sessions, Pat or Robin Kyd for the Wednesday sessions, or Stuart Kean for the Thursday sessions.

Getting Ready!

10.00 am – 12.30 pm Saturday, 2 December 2023

On Saturday, 2 December from 10.00 am until 12.30 pm we are inviting you and our neighbours to come along and help decorate the church for Advent and Christmas. There is also a Cake Sale (in aid of church funds) with refreshments.

Help with decorating and cakes and other goodies will be needed. Tell Cathy or Cheryl if you can help out and/or bring cake. (we are both on the church WhatsApp group).

Cheryl Montgomery

Get involved in COP28

COP28 is the UN climate change conference that will be taking place in the United Arab Emirates 30 November – 12 December 2023. The Church of England has produced a short guide to COP28 http://bit.ly/cop28-guide that outlines three ways in which people can engage in the talks, despite not attending in person.

• People can pray ‘for every country to be willing to make concessions to see the kind of change we need to see’. Links are provided to prayer resources from Green Christian: https://greenchristian.org.uk/prayer-for-cop28-2/ and CAFOD: https://cafod.org.uk/pray/prayer-resources/cop28-prayer.
• People can write to their MP. Many MPs judge the level of concern of their constituents by the size of their mailbag on an issue. The guide provides links to the Make Polluters Pay website, which has a template and guide for writing to politicians.
• COP28 is an opportunity to raise awareness and discuss the issue of climate change with friends, colleagues and neighbours.

Global Day of Action for COP28 – 9 December 2023

As world leaders gather in Dubai for the UN climate talks, Christian Aid is calling for thousands of people around the world to take action for climate justice on 9 December 2023. Join one of the many events taking place across the UK or use the Prayers and Placards activity pack to explore climate justice with your church, or contact your MP. Marches, gatherings and actions are taking place in towns and cities across the UK. Find out how you can be part of this with information from Christian Aid: https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/climate-change/march-climate-justice-cop28 or https://bit.ly/march-climate-justice-cop28.

Cornerstone Eco Church Core Group

White Poppies from Peace Pledge Union

Sale of white poppies at Cornerstone raised £33.17, which has been sent to the Peace Pledge Union https://www.ppu.org.uk/.

David Chapman

Offering

Hymn: Crown him with many crowns

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon the throne;
hark, how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own!
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Virgin’s Son,
the God incarnate born,
whose arm those crimson trophies won
which now his brow adorn:
Fruit of the mystic Rose,
as of that Rose the Stem;
the Root whence mercy ever flows,
the Babe of Bethlehem.

Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
those wounds yet visible above
in beauty glorified:
no angel in the sky
can fully bear the sight,
but downward bends his burning eye
at mysteries so bright.

Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose power a sceptre sways
from pole to pole that, wars may cease
and all be prayer and praise;
his reign shall know no end
and round his pierced feet
fair flowers of paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of heaven,
one with the father known,
and the blest Spirit through him given
from yonder triune throne:
all hail, Redeemer, hail!
for thou hast died for me;
thy praise shall never, never fail
throughout eternity.

Matthew Bridges (1800–1894)
Revelation 19: 12)
CCL31580

Sending out

May Jesus Christ, the King of Kings make his reign known through your life.
May his Kingdom’s present reality be a constant reminder for you
to reflect his love and grace into this world and invite others to know our King.
And the blessings of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you today and always.

Amen