The Church of Christ the Cornerstone
Baptist Union / Church of England / Methodist Church / Roman Catholic Church / United Reformed Church
We give you thanks, creator God,
for helping us to see you, to know you and to feel you.
We give you thanks for knowing us for who we are.
We give you thanks for seeing our potential,
encouraging us to reach out for it
and lifting us when we fall.
Amen
Heavenly Father, as we celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Her Majesty the Queen,
receive our heartfelt thanks for all that you have given her in these ninety years
and for all that she has given to her people.
Continue, we pray, your loving purposes in her,
and as you gather us together in celebration,
unite us also in love and service to one another;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
O Lord, our God,
we are in awe of you
and you have drawn us here;
draw us then to listen, to see, to feel, to know,
to give, to receive, and to be made whole.
Amen
Gracious God, when the pathway we travel is rough and steep, may we know your strengthening presence upholding us; when the road is smooth and straight, may we know you joyfully stepping out with us; when our direction of travel is uncertain, may we know your guiding influence alongside us; when the road we travel is a lonely one, may you give us companions along the way. We praise you for the journey of life.
Amen
God, we praise you
That you have made us your children,
And filled us with your Spirit.
We thank you that we can trust you with our lives
As you guide us forward, ever deeper into your truth.
Amen
Spirit of God, come to us now,
so that, in this time of Pentecost,
the sparkling light of faith,
the rushing wind of hope
and the joyful sound of praise
may echo round the world,
may echo in the church, and find their response in us.
Amen
O Saviour Christ,
in whose way of life lies the secret of all life
and the hopes of all the people,
we pray for quiet courage to meet this hour.
We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age.
but let its problems exhilarate us,
its injustice anger us,
its possibilities inspire us,
and its vigour renew us, for your Kingdom’s sake.
Amen
Risen and ascended God,
we know you and we do not know you;
you are mysterious and full of joy.
You know us and you understand us;
you are loving and full of truth.
You welcome us and you live in us;
you are holy and full of hope.
We look for you in each other;
we look for you in our midst.
Amen
Loving God,
we pray that our days are touched
by both cross shadow and resurrection light:
the love and hope at the base of our belief,
the pain and the purpose at the root of our faith,
the cost and the gift at the heart of our calling,
in Christ’s name.
Amen
We thank you Jesus that you give us
the perfect way of showing your love to others.
Open our hearts today
so that we can receive your love anew,
and then we can give far beyond
what we would have thought possible.
Amen
Thank you God that we belong to your worldwide family.
As we go about our daily lives,
may we be looking always for
places and people where we can share your love,
where we can know your love.
Amen
Every five years or so, we have a review of the Church commissioned by the Ecumenical Oversight Group of the Milton Keynes Mission Partnership. The Partnership have arranged for an experienced team of external reviewers who will be supported by three members of our Congregation. The team will be looking at our vision, mission and worship...
Lord, as we move into this week
with all that we have known for a long time,
but also all it’s newness,
help us to trust that you really do love us
and call us to walk with you
every step of the way.
Amen
Liberating God,
when we are locked in by sin and doubt,
break through our barriers and set us free.
When we are afraid and distressed,
speak peace to our troubled minds.
When we are hesitant and untrusting,
take our doubting hands in yours.
When we are anxious and lacking in confidence
breathe the energy of your Spirit into us.
Unlock the doors of our hearts and our churches
and set us free to go out and share
what we see and know
of the risen Christ.
Amen
[The full text of the sermon can be downloaded as a PDF here: Sermon APF Sell.]
The words we have heard from scripture, and the words we have sung, affirm the glorious message of the Christian gospel. The verses from the opening of the first letter of Peter tell us that through Christ’s resurrection we have been given a ‘new birth into a living hope’ (v.3). This hope is secure, that despite the trials we now face, whatever happens in the world around us, whatever happens to our loved ones, whatever we face in our own lives, we can live with the assurance, known by faith, that God loves and God saves. Or in the words of our first hymn:
Jesus lives! Thy terrors now can, O death, no more appal us
Jesus lives! By this we know thou, O grave, canst not enthral us.
Our short gospel reading records Jesus telling his disciples that while he is to leave them for a short time, he goes to prepare a place for them so that where he is, there also his disciples shall be (John 14:2–3). Or, again in the words of our hymn:
Jesus lives! To him the throne over all the world is given
May we go where he is gone, rest and reign with him in heaven.
As we gather today, these words encourage us not to linger in the shadow of death, but to look to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; a refuge and stronghold, a timely help in trouble (Psam 46:1–2). And so, what we feel and know to be such a great parting is not ultimate; as final as it seems, it will in fact pass; as much as it marks the end, we look forward to, and live in hope of, a new beginning. Because Jesus, who died, was raised from the dead and through God’s gracious gift, we share in what he has achieved, leaving us able to affirm with the Apostle Paul that
… there is nothing in death or life, in the realm of spirits or superhuman powers, in the world as it is or the world as it shall be, in the forces of the universe, in heights or depths – nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38–39).
Through these words – these mysterious, powerful, inspiring words – we are drawn to the faith that where we stand at our weakest, our most vulnerable, our most helpless, God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit does everything; everything to enable us to live this life, and everything to give us the living hope that death has been defeated. We are drawn back to God’s promises that the new life made real in Jesus Christ does not end at this point. And we are drawn back to God’s seal on those promises, for as we approach the Easter season, we see that in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, those promises are fulfilled, and so ‘sin and death and hall can never over us final triumph gain’.
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