Worship at Home

Prayer:

Heavenly Father we come to you seeking hope and seeking understanding of all that you call us to be. Bless this time of worship. Be with all who will join us in this act of worship that we may be enhanced by your wonderful love. 

Amen

Hymn:

'Father we love you,we worship and Adore you, glorify your name in all the earth'

https://youtu.be/-sXUltnS6n0?si=OpesgUchPx00dUiN  

Prayer:

Loving God we thank you for your many blessings, we do want to praise you with every part of our being. You give us much in different ways. We thank you for the beauty of your Creation, for the food we eat, for the sounds of nature, for all that is good in our lives. Lord we are aware not everyone worships you with a joyful heart, I pray for those reading or listening to this Worship at Home who are sad and downhearted, that they may find hope and renewal.

The Lords Prayer:

We ask our prayers in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying;

Our father...

Gospel:

We hear now the Gospel for today in Luke k 12 v 13-21.  

Prayer:

Thank you Lord for your word in Holy Scripture and in our hymns. Bless us as we think on your word

Amen

Hymn:

'May the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day'

https://youtu.be/gE5fOXSymBc?si=Zgj1e8H04t7L3I_I  

Message:

This Parable is known as the Rich Fool. The story is simple, someone who has lots of material things wants to keep them all to himself yet Jesus shows that at the end of all things it is not our possessions that are important. The Parable had been prompted by two people arguing over inheritance. How often in life money and material things upset us, spoil relationships, cause jealousy and worry.  I remember many years ago taking our Senior Sunday School to a service at the Salvation Army Citadel to show them different types of worship. I remember the sermon after all those years. The theme was 'Money is the root of all evil', yet the preacher reminded us that money can't be the cause of all evil, it is our love of money which is sometimes the evil. We did discuss this the following Sunday. It would be easy to think that as Christians we should avoid making money and that to be well off and to have done well is not a good thing. I will disagree strongly, we need to pay the bills and we need to work to earn money, or to enjoy the 'fruits of our labour' once we are retired. As churches we need money and sometimes we need to raise money for things that are essential in the life of our church, or maybe we raise money for our chosen charity. Obviously we want to avoid spending all our time and effort on money raising and make sure that our faith lives are looked after.  

It is what we do with our money and time that really matters, do we put it to good use? It is lovely to treat our children and grandchildren, or at least I think so. It is good to be able to give to a charity to help people out. Of course we all make sure our wills are in order or we should do, yet it is important that in our lives we accumulate other wealth. The wealth that comes from love, from friendship, from worship and from prayer. The wealth that comes from being the best we can be, of following God's plan for each of us. What will we leave behind?  What will people see as being the wealth we have made? God calls us to his service, he gives us so many gifts spiritual and material. We sometimes need to count our blessings and see the joy of sharing God's love in whatever way we are called to do.

Amen

Prayer:

Lord forgive us when we put money and material possessions on too higher level in our lives. Forgive us if we ever ignore the needs of others, because we find it difficult to leave go of our money and our wealth.

Help us Lord to give as you have given to us.

Bless those who live in poverty, those who are homeless, who wonder where the next meal is coming from.

Bless those who live in countries without support, who really suffer because of the effects of war and of evil governments.   

We pray for all who work for Charities, who try to redistribute wealth so that all may be satisfied.  

We pray Lord for those who are ill and we ask that you will bless all who care.

We pray too for peace in our troubled world for a more even distribution of food and care           

Bless those who we love Hear our prayers in your name.

Amen

Hymn:

All I once held dear..

https://youtu.be/oxpPIa-BskY?si=AW4fjdln2NIZUrZ9  

Blessing:

The Grace and Blessing of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us and those we love and those it is difficult to love.

Amen