Opening ourselves to the WordOpening Sentences (Isaiah 55:10-11 in the New King James Version) “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Lighting of a candle : We light this light in the name of God the Creator who said “Let there be light” and there was light. We light this light in the name of God in Jesus, light of the world. We light this light in the name of God, Holy Spirit: Light in our darkness, a lamp to our path
Sing along with hymn "Creator God, you gave us life..." Listening for the Word of God:
“In light of this, we live with a daring passion and know that our time spent in this body is also time we are not present with the Lord. The path we walk is charted by faith, not by what we see with our eyes. There is no doubt that we live with a daring passion, but in the end we prefer to be gone from this body so that we can be at home with the Lord. Ultimately it does not matter whether we are here or gone; our purpose stays fixed, and that is to please Him. In time we will all stand in judgment before the throne of the Anointed, the Liberating King, to receive what is just for our conduct (whether it be good or bad) while we lived in this temporary body.” The following hymn was written by Paul Gerhard (I spoke about his challenging life last week) and was translated into English by John Wesley. Will you sing along?
You may simply listen to the stories read (above) read them for yourself (below) or watch the video (below). The video is from "Godly Play" a method of Christian Education based on Maria Montessori's teachings. While "Godly Play" is mostly used these days with children in replacement of "Sunday School" models, I myself and many adults enjoy this way of biblical story telling. He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and increases, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” (NIV Translation)
Putting Word into Action
Offering of our Gifts and Prayers. followed by the Lord's Prayer In Closing : a piece which was recorded in NS last year
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