Service of the Word – Live Streamed – Sunday, 13 February 2022
Preachers: Revd Dr Sharon Prentis and Revd Calvert Prentis
Led by: Revd Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
and Revd George Mwaura
Please note that the video feed will go live from around 9:50 am and will be switched off after the service.
A separate video feed of the choir is available here.
Gathering Music: Funga Alafia
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
With my eyes, I welcome you.
With my words, I welcome you.
With my heart, I welcome you.
Today we, all welcome you.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Funga alafia, ah-shay ah-shay.
Welcome
Welcome to the house of God.
We have come from all the corners of the earth.
Welcome to the hospitality of God.
We come as we are; we bring our life, our stories, our journey.
Welcome, brothers and sisters.
We are the rainbow people of God.
Welcome, chosen people.
May God our companion bind us in his love.
Amen
[Silence]Gathering Prayer
We come from scattered lives to this place,
seeking unity in the Spirit,
seeking the grace of the Christ of all people,
seeking the peace of the God of All.
God’s people have gathered, in our glorious diversity and difference, as God created and intended.
Let us worship God together.
Amen
Hymn: All are welcome (Let us build a house)
Let us build a house where love can dwell
and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell
how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions,
rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where prophesy speak,
and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek
to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Marty Haugen (b. 1950)
CCL31580
Confession
Merciful God,
you made us in your image,
with minds to know you,
with hearts to love you,
with wills to serve you.
But our knowledge is imperfect,
our love inconstant and immature,
and our obedience incomplete and self-serving.
Help us to day by day grow in your likeness, which is so widely displayed in the diversity of creation.
Help us to understand our own prejudices and narrow-mindedness.
Help us to love our neighbour as we ourselves long to be loved.
Help us to serve others with humility and gratitude.
Do not hold our sin against us, but help us to repent of outdated and inappropriate world views.
Help us to mature in our thinking, loving and serving.
Amen
Kyrie
From Ghana
When we do not listen to the cries,
give us ears to hear.
When we do not recognise racism and injustice,
give us eyes to see.
When we do not speak truth to power,
give us voices to declare,
Amen
Prayer of the Week
Ever present God, you called us to be in relationship with one another
and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered.
In our community, we are many different people;
we come from many different places, have many different cultures.
Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding
the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us.
We pray in faith.
Amen
Ministry of the Word
Acts 10: 34–38
Read by Ade Adeyemi
34 Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
NIV®
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Luke 10: 25–37
Read by Grace Hunting
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
26 ‘What is written in the Law?’ he replied. ‘How do you read it?’
27 He answered, ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”’
28 ‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’
30 In reply Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
36 ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’
37 The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’
Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
NIV®
This is the Gospel of Christ.
Praise to Christ our light.
Poem: Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
Read by Suzanne Richardson-Bailey
Meditation
By Revd Dr Sharon Prentis & Revd Calvert Prentis
Choral Response
Question and Answer Session
With Revd Dr Sharon Prentis & Revd Calvert Prentis
Hymn: Brother, sister, let me serve you
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.
We are pilgrims on a journey
and companions on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.
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.
When we sing to God in heaven
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we’ve known together
of Christ’s love and agony.
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.
Richard Gillard (b. 1953)
CCL31580
Affirmation of Faith
We believe in the Creator:
the maker of all things.
We believe in the Son:
the redeemer of our broken world.
We believe in the Spirit:
The sacred wind that binds all things together in the family of God.
Creator Father, beloved Son and living Spirit.
Amen
Prayers and Intercessions
Led by Glynne Gordon-Carter
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.
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
Hymn: Put peace into each other’s hands
Put peace into each other’s hands
and like a treasure hold it;
protect it like a candle flame,
with tenderness enfold it.
Put peace into each other’s hands
with loving expectation;
be gentle in your words and ways,
in touch with God’s creation.
Put peace into each other’s hands
like bread we break for sharing;
look people warmly in the eye:
our life is meant for caring.
As at Communion, shape your hands
into a waiting cradle;
the gift of Christ receive, revere,
united round the table.
Put Christ into each other’s hands,
he is love’s deepest measure;
in love make peace, give peace a chance
and share it like a treasure.
Fred Kaan (1929–2009)
CCL31580
The Peace
Peace to you from God, who is our Father.
Peace from Jesus Christ, who is our peace.
Peace from the Holy Spirit, who gives us life
and desires we live reconciled lives
with the earth and all its inhabitants.
May the peace of God be always with you.
and also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of peace.
Notices
Revd Calvert Prentis & Revd Dr Sharon Prentis:
our visiting preachers
Revd Calvert Prentis & Revd Dr Sharon Prentis are Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Vocations Development, and Intercultural Mission Enabler and Dean of BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) Affairs, respectively, in the Anglican Diocese of Birmingham.
World Day of Prayer
Friday, 4 March 2022: at 12.30 pm in the Worship Area
This year, the service for World Day of Prayer has been prepared by women from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. If you are free on Friday lunchtime, please come and join us in this cycle of prayer, which will go around the world on that day. It will be extra special to know that Christians around the world will be praying with us on that day. The service is written in a way which tries to help us hear a range of women’s voices, so it is helpful if a number of different people can take part and read small sections of the service. If you would like to take part, please contact me by email (rosemary.kearsey@btopenworld.com) or telephone (01908 373263).
Rosemary Kearsey
Morsbags fundraiser
Thank you, Church Members, for supporting the Morsbags tote bag fundraiser. We made over £80 for church funds.
Pat Kyd
Active Listening EDI workshop: Guest speaker Gamiel Yafai
6.00–7.30 pm Monday, 21 February 2021 by Zoom
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) working group, supported by the Social Justice committee are presenting this virtual workshop on Active Listening by Zoom. Please contact David Chapman (dachapman9@gmail.com) to register for this event.
Fidele Mutwarasibo
Hymn: The church’s one foundation
The church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word;
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride,
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.
Elect from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.
’Mid toil, and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is one:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
J. Stone (1830–1900)
CCL31580
Blessing
In a world where we have, in the past, enslaved and dehumanised others,
we go to treat each person with dignity and respect.
In a world where profit is valued more than human life,
we go to proclaim the priceless worth of each person.
In a world where the ugliness of racism and White supremacy is found,
we go to show that love conquers all social ills.
Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good;
render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak;
help the afflicted; honour everyone;
love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen
Dismissal
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ,
Amen