Morning Service Sunday 18 August 2024

Welcome and Intimations

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.

CH4 510 Jesus Calls Us Here to Meet Him

1. Jesus calls us here to meet him
   as, through word and song and prayer,
   we affirm God’s promised presence
   where his people live and care.
   Praise the God who keeps his promise;
   praise the Son who calls us friends;
   praise the Spirit who, among us,
   to our hopes and fears attends.
   

2. Jesus calls us to confess him
   Word of life and Lord of all,
   sharer of our flesh and frailness,
   saving all who fail or fall.
   Tell his holy human story;
   tell his tales that all may hear;
   tell the world that Christ in glory
   came to earth to meet us here.
   

3. Jesus calls us to each other,
   vastly different though we are;
   creed and colour, class and gender
   neither limit nor debar.
   Join the hand of friend and stranger;
   join the hands of age and youth;
   join the faithful and the doubter
   in their common search for truth.
   

4. Jesus calls us to his table
   rooted firm in time and space,
   where the Church in earth and heaven
   finds a common meeting place.
   Share the bread and wine, his body;
   share the love of which we sing;
   share the feast for saints and sinners
   hosted by our Lord and King
   

1989 WGRG / The Iona Community

1. 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
2. Proverbs 9:1-6

CH4 604 Holy Wisdom, Lamp of Learning

1. Holy Wisdom, lamp of learning,
   bless the light that reason lends.
   Teach us judgment as we kindle
   sparks of thought your Spirit sends.
   Sanctify our search for knowledge
   and the truth that sets us free.
   Come, illumine mind and spirit
   joined in deepest unity.
   

2. Vine of truth, in you we flourish;
   by your grace we learn and grow.
   May the word of Christ among us
   shape our life, your will to know.
   Joined to Christ in living, dying,
   may we help the church convey
   witness to the saving gospel,
   bearing fruit of faith today.
   

3. Holy God, the hope of nations,
   tune us to your righteous will,
   as the symphony of ages
   claims our best, our finest skill.
   Shape our search for peace and justice
   through prophetic deed and word.
   Christ, conduct us, set our rhythm,
   that God’s praise be ever heard.
   

Pilgrim Press

Meditation

CH4 686 How Happy Are All They Who Hear

1. How happy are all they who hear
   true Wisdom's guiding voice;
   and who her understanding make
   their early, only choice.
   

2. For she has treasures greater far
   than east or west unfold;
   and her rewards more precious are
   than all their stores of gold.
   

3. In her right hand she holds to view
   a length of happy days;
   and riches with great honours joined
   are what her left displays.
   

4. She guides the young with innocence,
   in pleasure's paths to tread;
   a crown of glory she bestows
   upon the hoary head.
   

5. According as her labours rise,
   so her rewards increase;
   her ways are ways of pleasantness,
   and all her paths are peace.
   

Offering

Prayer of Intercession

CH4 198 Let Us Build a House

1. 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.
   

2. Let us build a house where prophets 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.
   

3. 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.
   

4. Let us build a house where hands will reach
   beyond the wood and stone
   to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
   and live the Word they’ve known.
   Here the outcast and the stranger
   bear the image of God’s face;
   let us bring an end to fear and danger:
   

   All are welcome, all are welcome,
   all are welcome in this place.
   

5. Let us build a house where all are named,
   their songs and visions heard
   and loved and treasured,
   taught and claimed
   as words within the Word.
   Built of tears and cries and laughter,
   prayers of faith and songs of grace,
   let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
   

   All are welcome, all are welcome,
   all are welcome in this place.
   

1994, GIA Publications, Inc.

Blessing