KILRENNY PARISH CHURCH

KILRENNY PARISH CHURCH

Sunday 31st January, 2021

 

contact: Corinne

tele: 311408

corinne@peddies.com

 

Kilrenny Church website

https://e-voice.org.uk/kilrenny/

 

Worship and personal reflection

''our homes are in a Real and Important way the places of worship''

 

Online Service of worship conducted by Rev Michael Allardice for Sunday 31st January at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FckWx8lFeyU

Hymns:

CH 533                        Will you come and follow me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0aAkOe87mo

CH 543             Longing for light, we wait in darkness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3Qc04ulOM

CH 644                                     O Jesus I have promised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNz-33V1V8A

Church News

 

The new Presbytery of Fife meets on Saturday, 6th February for its first meeting, online, at which the election and installation of the First Moderator, Rev Jane Barron will take place. You will remember Jane, as she was Locum at Kilrenny for a period of time during 2019. Kilrenny Church will be represented by Michael and George as members of Presbytery.

Here are also links to video interviews with the designate Presbytery Clerk, Rev Dr. David Coulter, and the designate Mission Director, Neil Cambell, which you may find of interest.

Neil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drMbdciL_10

David: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7YNXCKTTiI

(you can also access the youtube links via the Church website)

 

 

Order of Service for Sunday 31^st January 2021

Online worship

 

Welcome

Welcome to worship with the community of Kilrenny Parish Church. We may not be able to worship in the Church building at this time, but we can still come together as a worshiping community to give thanks and praise God.

 

Thank you for all the feedback regarding the services I’ve done so far. I’ve been very encouraged by everyone’s comments and hopefully as we go along, we’ll find material that works well and hymns that you can sing along to.

 

Call to Worship

Lord Jesus, you call us to be your people in this place. Give us a sense of your power in our lives, your love in our hearts, and your joy in all we do. Join with us now as we worship you this day.

Amen.

 

Hymn CH 533             Will you come and follow me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0aAkOe87mo

 

 

 

Opening Prayer & Lord’s Prayer

Let us pray:

 

Almighty God

Through many and various ways You come to us.

Steal into our hearts now as we think once again

of the new gift of life granted to us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Clarify our vison and steady our nerves

so that we might be willing to venture forth

to serve You as we ought.

 

Capture our minds and devotions

as we realise in this moment of worship

Your power over death and the enormous possibilities

for victorious living day by day

granted to us through Jesus Christ

our Saviour and Lord.

 

Most Merciful Protector,

We who claim Your care and interest

have denied our inheritance

and the name You have placed upon us.

 

We have participated in the destruction of the world’s resources;

We have told untruths and blatant lies;

We have been corrupt in ourselves

and have attempted to corrupt others.

We have quaked in terror

and lived as frightened fear-filled people

before the spectre of death,

rather than those for who Christ died and rose again.

 

Too often we have lived as if all powers in heaven and on earth

were ours, and ours alone,

and we have forgotten the source

from which all our gifts and talents have come.

 

We wish to be righteous,

but often find it tough and dangerous to be Your disciples

in a hostile and angry world.

Rescue us, we pray,

in our times of wavering and lack of conviction.

Grant us real and vibrant confidence in Your promises

which will never fail.

 

Spare us for being ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus.

Refresh our thirsty souls with the water of life, hope and expectation.

Give us the power to grapple with the sin which is harboured within us,

and the courage to confront with boldness

all that threatens to decay

or destroy the potential for living and loving in our lives,

through Jesus, the Lord of life.

 

 

O gracious God,

We praise and glorify You for our adoption as Your children

For the experience of Your love and interest in our lives

Our confidence that You will guard and guide us in future.

We value our cherished conditions as those who have known deprivations and destruction by our own hand,

when we wallow in sin

and cut ourselves off from our companions in the Church.

 

We are grateful this day – and every day –

for the wisdom and ability to choose between good and evil,

and for the opportunity to proclaim the reality of life over death,

truth over falsehood

love over apathy and malignant wickedness.

 

Our deepest and most proud thanksgiving

is saved for the extent of Your love for us

apparent in Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

He has wrestled with the anarchy caused by sin

He has consistently and habitually lived a life of obedience

He has even now invited us to know and love Him

So that we might be recognised as Your children

by the power of Your Holy Spirit.

 

And now, we join our voices together in the Prayer Jesus taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever

Amen.

 

 

Reading: St Mark 1: 21 - 28

Jesus and his disciples came to the town of Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath Jesus went to the synagogue and began to teach. The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught, for he wasn't like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority.

Just then a man with an evil spirit came into the synagogue and screamed, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are—you are God's holy messenger!”

 

Jesus ordered the spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of the man!”

 

The evil spirit shook the man hard, gave a loud scream, and came out of him. The people were all so amazed that they started saying to one another, “What is this? Is it some kind of new teaching? This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!”

 

And so the news about Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee.

 

Amen: the Word of God for the People of God

 

 

 

Covid-19

Over the past few weeks, I’ve restricted my thoughts on the current pandemic to the prayers and a few comments in the Reflection. In some ways, I feel these services should be a place where we focus on the positives. However, in the week that saw the death toll cross the 100,000 barrier, we must acknowledge the depth of pain that number represents.

 

The last 10 months have been hard for everyone, but those families that have been directly impacted by Covid, either through illness or the loss of a loved one, have been through the toughest time of all. I know from my work with Nursing Students, the strain and pressures being experienced in Hospitals and Nursing Homes. Staff at all levels of the healthcare system are beyond exhausted, but they continue to go into work every day. So many others are struggling to cope with isolation or being cooped up with family for weeks at a time. And parents have discovered how difficult being a teacher really is!

 

Let us take a few moments to remember all who are struggling at this time.

 

 

Hymn CH 543                        Longing for light, we wait in darkness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3Qc04ulOM

 

 

 

Reflection: “The work begins”

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in your sight Lord, amen.

 

In the last two weeks, we’ve heard of the calling of the Disciples, Jesus’ core group. No sooner has He done so than the work begins. We really get a sense of that from Mark’s Gospel. We are still in chapter one, but already we see Jesus at work: the teaching and healing begins.

Many other teachers might have gathered their acolytes around them, gone off to some secluded spot and spent weeks, months or even years teaching and training them in the philosophies He wanted to spread. Jesus, on the other hand, had no sooner recruited His team than He began His work. They would be learning on the job: work experience, if you like!

 

In the past there had been healers, miracle workers and great teachers, but never had there been all of these wrapped together in one man. No sooner had Jesus begun His work than people realised He was different. He wasn’t some quack medic, purveying acme potions and promising instant cures. Nor was He some trickster, conning the crowds with fake miracles. He wasn’t Del Boy Trotter, calling an old man out of the crowd and curing his lumbago. Jesus was real, and the people recognised that He had genuine gifts. Jesus didn’t need the slick tricks of the con-artist, indeed when He extracted the evil spirit from the man, He demanded that the spirit stay silent.  

 

What impressed people most was His teaching in the synagogue. His teaching struck a cord and cut through all the theological mumbo jumbo of the religious leaders. Jesus spoke to peoples’ hearts and souls, not just their heads: what He had to say was based in reality, the lived reality of the everyday man and woman. Moreover, He spoke with authority, He spoke in a way no one had ever done so before.

 

 

This particular gift sparked both admiration and fear: admiration from those who felt He’d captured their experience and encapsulated all their hopes for a Messiah, but others saw Jesus as a threat and they feared His ability to stir emotions in the ordinary people.

 

We’ll explore the threat Jesus’ teaching posed in later weeks as we travel through Lent, but for the moment, it’s His authority that marks Jesus out as a remarkable teacher and someone to follow from village to village, town to town. In Mark we get that sense of urgency that is embodied in Jesus as He travels around Galilee. He is a man in a hurry: a man on a mission.

 

So today, do we still have that sense of Jesus the teacher, healer and miracle-worker or do we simply put His message into the background noise of the modern world? Jesus meant action and sincerity to those who saw Him heal and heard Him teach: does He still mean the same to us today or are we so cynical and jaded now that our ears are closed to His words and our eyes are closed to His actions?

 

As we follow Jesus over the next few months, let us open our ears to His voice speaking directly to us through the Scriptures, and let us look for Jesus in action in the world around us.

Amen.

 

 

Prayers of Intercession

Gracious God,

You give us a glimpse of your glory

In the face of Jesus Christ.

Through him we are able to come before your presence

And to rejoice in your love.

Through him alone we are counted worthy to approach you.

 

We give you thanks and praise

For the coming of Jesus into our world.

Silence

Lord of all power and might,

Hear our prayer.

 

We remember in your presence

All who have not heard the Good News.

We pray for those

Who do not know anything of being healed or forgiven.

Grant that the Church may proclaim

Your love and saving power.

We pray for all who administer the sacraments

And who preach the word.

Silence

Lord of all power and might,

Hear our prayer.

 

 

We pray for areas of our world

Where darkness seems to triumph over light

We remember people who are afflicted by addiction.

We remember also those who feel they are possessed by evil.

May they all come to know the glorious liberty

Of the children of God.

 

We give you thanks and praise

For those who have shared their faith with us,

For all who have encouraged us in the way of goodness.

We ask your blessing upon them

And upon our loved ones and friends.

 

We pray for all who have been ill for a long time,

For those whose illness finds no cure.

We pray for all

Who feel they are losing their faculties or mobility,

All who cannot cope on their own.

We remember those who are in hospices and care homes

 

And now, in the silence of our hearts we remember all those we know of in need of your comfort, care and compassion       

 

Lord of all power and might,

Hear our prayer.

 

 

We rejoice in the fellowship of the saints.

We remember loved ones who are departed from us.

We commend the whole of creation and ourselves

To your unfailing love.

Silence

Merciful Father,

Accept these prayers

For the sake of your Son,

Our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ,

Amen.

 

 

 

Hymn CH 644                        O Jesus I have promised

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNz-33V1V8A

 

 

Blessing

Deep peace of the running wave to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

Deep peace of the infinite peace to you

These things we ask in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  

Amen