Sunday 2nd October 2011

Please see below the order of services for the morning and evening services. Michael.

 

02.10.11 AM

10:30am-12:10pm - Last Sunday Morning Service in present Church Buildings

 

Welcome

 

Introduction

 

We are gathered here today to give thanks to God for his provision of these church buildings on this site over the years.

We are here, knowing that we shall be leaving these church buildings which have been a familiar home for us. This building for the last 143 years and the schoolrooms (once the main church building) for 177 years.

We are here to remember and reflect upon our past times, the activities, the activities, the events, the people within this place, and to give praise and thanks to God.

We are here to entrust ourselves into God’s hands, to commit ourselves to following him. 

 

Call to Worship                                    1 Chronicles 16:8-36

 

Song (Organ)                                        62           Christ Triumphant

 

Prayer                                                                  

 

Eternal God, God of the present time, of ages past and of all the ages that are to be, we worship you.

Compassionate God, who creates and sustains, comforts and redeems, guides and provides, we welcome you.

God of the church, who brings us together to worship, to learn, and to serve, we respond to you.

God who so loved the world and whose will is revealed in Jesus Christ, loving the unlovely, dying for the ungodly, we worship and glorify you. Amen.

 

Songs                                                                     1205       Come, now is the time to worship

                     268         I will enter his gates

 

Reading                                                                 Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 

Prayer

 

Living God, on this day we fix the eyes of faith upon you.

You whom we have encountered in this place, in this building.

This building used to the sound of singing;

This building, which has seen baptisms and funerals;

This building where people have come to be married, or to celebrate the birth of a child;

This building were people have wept, and been filled with joy;

This building where people have wrestled with the deep things of life, have prayed urgently, been stirred and changed.

In this building where you have so often been with your people, be with us now.

Holy and faithful God, whose love knows no limits and upon whose grace and mercy we depend, as we gather today to give thanks for what is past, to hear your words for today and to commend to you our future: fill us afresh with hope and vision so that having shared in worship we may live to your glory.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

 

Songs                                                                     935         My Jesus, My Saviour

                      192         How lovely on the mountains (popular version)

Prayer                                                                    Thanksgiving

 

Let us bring before the Lord our prayers of thanksgiving for our life together as the congregation of Wollaston Baptist Church and for the blessings God has brought us through this holy place of worship.

Lord, we thank you for the provision, upkeep and use of these buildings and of the various items and features contained within these buildings, which over the years have served their purpose.

 

We thank you for the baptisteries where through the waters of believer’s baptism, sins have been renounced, forgiveness received and new birth, new life has been testified to.

 

We thank you for the pulpit and lectern where the word of God has been faithfully read and powerfully preached.

You have lived among us through the gospel and the biblical stories of your people of faith.

Through your Word of preaching, you have called us.

Through your Word of teaching, you have taught us.

Through your Word of law and grace, you have guided us on our way.

And in your Word made flesh, you gave us our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We praise and thank you for your powerful Word that has been and will continue to be the light to our path and the guide for our lives.

 

We thank you for the piano and organ used to lead people in their worship, for the organists and pianists, for all musicians and singers who have used their talents for your glory.

 

We thank you for the pews, and the choir pews, where generations have sat and bowed and stood as they have gathered together in your presence – giving you their attention, giving you glory.

 

We thank you for the heating system and for those who down through the years have sought to ensure that there is physical warmth as well as a warm welcome.

 

We thank you for the communion table and chairs, enabling us to gather around the Lord’s table together.

At this table, you have welcomed us to the banquet of Our Lord and Savior and given us a foretaste of the feast to come.

You have united us with him and with one another in a feast of love through the sharing of his body and blood.

You have strengthened us for our mission and for our daily lives and sent us out to share Christ’s love with all the world.

We praise and thank you for the grace and favour you have shown us through the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and for the hope of sharing this feast with all the saints at the heavenly banquet.

 

We thank you for the provision of a stained glass window which we have been able to gaze upon as we have reflected upon you and your word to us.

 

We thank you for this whole worship space, for all of its fixtures and fittings, a place where countless services of worship, sombre and celebratory, have taken place.

We thank you for the provision of the schoolrooms, once standing alone as the main church building.  

We thank you for all that has taken place on this site down through the years.

For the baptisms, the weddings, the funerals, the anniversaries, the dedications, the acts of generosity, the acts of commitment and contrition, the tears of laughter and tears of sorrow.

For the celebration of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Harvest and church anniversaries in this place.

For the times of prayer and the study of your holy scriptures.

We thank you for the ministers and lay leaders who have led your people in word and worship.

We thank you for the work with the children and young people, for the stories, the songs, the craft, the games, those who have given of themselves to lead little ones into your presence on Sundays and throughout the week.

We thank you for the cups of tea and coffee, for the meals and cakes, for the eating together and washing up together. For friendship, fellowship, learning and growing together.

We thank you for the dedicated men and women who put in the hours and effort in maintaining, decorating, and cleaning these buildings.

Almighty God, on this site, in these buildings, you have been at work.

You have gathered your Church and filled our hearts with your love through our songs and our praises.

You heard our confessions and forgave our sins.

You lifted our sorrows and made us glad in our celebrations.

We praise and thank you for our fellowship and your love, for our meetings and our dinners, for our ministry and our mission, and for all that you have been for us and with us in our life together. In Christ’s name. Amen.

 

Song (Offering)                                    2004       Our God is a great big God

Prayers Offering & Crèche

Crèche Out

 

Song                                                      1419       Light of the world

 

 

Memories Shared :

Irene Dilley

Fred Dilley

Bob Draycott

Ernest Grant

Martin Watson

 

Prayer (Including the Lord’s Prayer)

 

Faithful God, who inspired the formation of a congregation here in Wollaston, we bring our thanks for what is past.

Thank You for the vision and courage of those pioneers who met in this place.

Thank you for the faithful witness and the sacrificial giving of those who laboured to plan, build and maintain these present buildings.

Thank you for their willingness to serve the people of this village and the surrounding communities, for their desire to continue the mission to which you had called them.

We thank you for those whose names are recorded on plaques, in minute books or tombstones – and for those whose names we will never know – each playing his or her part in the story of your church here.

We thank you too for the many organisations within the church that have provided fellowship and opportunities for service over the years.

 

In a moment of quiet, we bring you thanks for our personal memories…

 

Loving God, We offer you our memories in this place, so dear to our hearts.

We offer you the memories that we have heard.

We offer you the memories that we have expressed.

We offer you the memories that we keep deep within ourselves.

As you have blessed us in the listening and in the telling, so may you bless us as we bring them to mind and share them in the coming days.

 

Holy God, who has remained faithful throughout the story of this church, we bring our regrets and sorrow…

For the opportunities allowed to slip by.

For the times when differences of opinion have become a lack of unity.

For the decisions that, with hindsight, were neither wise nor helpful.

Forgiving God, we admit that we have not always acted in accordance with your will.

As we each silently confess to our failings, grant us assurance of your pardon through the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Loving God, as our time of meeting in this building nears its close, we bring to you our varied emotions.

A sense of loss, of bereavement – acknowledging the need to let go of that which has been a part of our lives for so long, that which has shaped us, been a part of our life and faith story.

A sense of anxiety, not knowing what the future will bring or will look like.

A sense of calm, relief, even a feeling of liberation with new possibilities ahead.

As you surround each of us with your love, we ask your help in seeing beyond our own reactions to those of others so that we might support one another not only at this time but also in the weeks and months ahead.

Living God, at this new beginning, as our journey moves from the known into the unknowable, we commend ourselves once more to your service.

By your Spirit’s indwelling, may we be granted wisdom and discernment in the decisions we make about our future life together as church and as individuals.

May we be willing to die to our old self in order to rise anew, just as Christ died and rose for us.

Give us courage to take risks and live and give sacrificially in your service.

Open our eyes, hearts and minds to see and understand the work your have for us to do as we play our part in your mission in this village and beyond and even internationally.

May our lives individually and together be totally centred on Christ and committed to the coming and establishment of his Kingdom.

Eternal God, as we have prayed for ourselves, we remember that we are but a small part of your creation.

We cannot know or name every situation where your help or healing is needed.

In our troubled and disordered world, we simply pray for your peace and justice, so that all people might begin to grasp the amazing truth of your love.

We gather our feelings, thoughts and prayers together as we join together in the family prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to prayer, beginning :

 

Our Father …

 

Song                                       1084       We bow down

 

Message (Revd Michael Hogg)                   

 

Prayer                                                                    Moving on in Faith

 

Lord of the years, when you called Abraham to leave his familiar home and go to the land that you were yet to show him, he obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going, or when he would arrive there.

Lord, you inspired and directed your servant Moses, to lead your people to leave the land of Egypt for the promised land, and we remember how they encountered the uncertainty of the wilderness, and how some held on to your promise and persevered.

Lord, you called your servant Joshua to courageously lead your people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

You, O God, went with your people, as they left, as they wandered, as they persevered, as they held on to your promises, as they arrived at their destination.

Ever faithful God, we trust that you will be with us in the coming days, and will provide all that we need in order that we might follow you, that we might know you and might make you known.

O God who guides, O God who speaks, help us to look to you, help us to listen to you.

Lord, help us to look backward with gratitude, to look onward with hope and to look upward with confidence, for we place our trust in you our ageless, faithful God. Amen.

 

Notices

 

Song                                                                       892         Lord for the Years

 

Blessing

I close with verses that were preached from when this building was first opened, in the evening

Jude v24-25

 

Followed by Cuppa & Cake

 

 

 

 

 

02.10.11 PM

6:00pm-7:20pm

 

Welcome

 

Notices

 

Call to worship

 

People of God, we gather this evening to mark the final Sunday service in this building.

We gather to again remember with thanksgiving the many ways in which God has blessed his work and our lives in this place.

We gather to lift our voices in praise and song to the One who alone will continue to care for and sustain us as his people.

We gather around the Lord’s table, asking that he might nourish us and accompany us on the onward journey together.

We gather to commit ourselves to service, of our God, of one another, of the peoples we live amongst. 

 

Reading                       Acts 17:24–27

 

Prayer

 

We are God’s temple, God’s holy people. Let us pray …

Lord, we gather to give you thanks for the many years of our life within these the buildings on this site – a place we have called home.

We thank you for the opportunity and ability to gather Sunday by Sunday and throughout the week to hear your word, to praise and thank you for your presence in our lives, to gather around the Lord’s Table and be spiritually nourished by the body and blood of Christ, present amongst us, as our food for the journey of life.

We thank you for the granting of faith, and the growing of faith in this place.

And we gather aware of the journey ahead of us, an uncertain one, yet confident that you will go with us.

And so Lord, we gather and prepare ourselves to be sent forth, journeying with you and with one another.

Grant us all the courage, strength, wisdom, perseverance and peace that we shall need.

Lord God, in Christ you made us your people, a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

Wherever you lead us we will continue to be your holy people, your imperishable temple.

Hear us as we raise our minds and hearts to you through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reading                       Psalm 27:1-6

(Psalm 27:4 was the text of the first evening service in the original chapel September 9th 1834.)

 

Hymn                          559      To God be the glory

 

Reading                       1 Peter 2:4-12

 

Prayer

 

We give praise to the One who formed us and gathered us as church in this place.

Praise to the God of Israel, the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ!

We give praise to the One who has blessed us and given us our years of ministry in this village and beyond.

Praise to our God for all his blessings. Give thanks to God’s holy name.

Our God has caused his name to dwell in our midst.

God has stirred our hearts and enriched us by his presence.

God has nurtured and fed us in this place.

God has shown us his love in this place.

God has given himself in Word and Sacrament in this place.

God has empowered our faith through his Holy Spirit.

Praise to the Lord for all that is past! Praise him in all times and seasons!

Praise to the Lord for all our days. Praise him for evermore! Amen.

 

 

Prayer

 

Blessed are you, O Lord our God.

You fill the entire world with your presence; your name is to be hallowed through all the earth.

Receive our praise and thanksgiving for the blessings, help, and comfort which you bestowed upon your people in this place.

Continue your mercies to your Church, that we may be conscious of your unchanging love, and your powerful presence and provision as take leave of this place of worship, and as we meet elsewhere.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Hymn                          88        Facing a task unfinished

 

Reading                       Luke 9:57-62

 

Hymn  (Offering)        147      Great is thy faithfulness

Prayer Offering

 

Prayer                          Intercession

 

Lord Jesus, by your resurrection, you change our death into your life;

We pray to you: Jesus Christ, risen Lord, have mercy on us.

Give us kindness wherever you find bitterness, confidence wherever you find distress, joy wherever you find sorrow;

We pray to you: Jesus Christ, risen Lord, have mercy on us.

Give us humility wherever pride reigns, pardon wherever offense abides, grace wherever sin abounds;

We pray to you: Jesus Christ, risen Lord, have mercy on us.

Give us love wherever hatred burns, hope wherever despair is crying, faith wherever doubt prevails;

We pray to you: Jesus Christ, risen Lord, have mercy on us.

Give us a new spirit, a new heart, and new hope in your holy resurrection;

We pray to you: Jesus Christ, risen Lord, have mercy on us.

 

Let us continue in prayer, by praying together the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, beginning …

Our Father….

 

Hymn                          44        Blessed assurance

 

Reading                       Luke 10:1-24

 

Sermon

 

Hymn                          50        Break thou the bread of life

 

The Lord’s Supper

 

Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

 

Prayer

 

Almighty loving God, move among us this evening by the presence and power of your Spirit, uniting us in heart and in purpose, as we gather around the table of your Son. Make us love what you command and desire what you promise, so that, amid all the changes and challenges that we shall encounter in these coming days, our hearts and our minds and our wills may be fixed where true joy is found: Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

Reading 1 Corinthians 1:10, 9:16-17, 11:17-34

 

Sharing Bread & Wine

 

Renewing of our commitment to Christ.

 

Brothers and sisters, God our loving Father calls us together to be one body in Christ our Lord.

As we come together as one community let us commit ourselves afresh to following and serving our Lord.

Let us say together the following.

We believe in God, the Father, almighty creator of heaven and earth.

We believe in God, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and was buried.

We believe that he rose from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, one with the Father and the Son, giver and sustainer of life eternal.

Our Living, Loving God, who guides and provides.

We commit ourselves afresh to you.

To follow you, to obey you, to serve you, to know you and to make you known.

We seek to throw of that which would hinder us, and the sin that so easily entangles.

We seek to run with perseverance the race that you mark out for us.

We seek to live as your holy people in an unholy world.

We seek to live as a people of light in a dark and needy world.

We seek to live as salt, a people who are flavoured by you.

Wherever you may call us.

In Christ’s strength and in Christ’s name. Amen.

 

Prayer

 

Confident that God is always with us in both our joy and our sorrow let us pray and ask him to calm our fears as we prepare to leave this church building:

 

Lord of the universe, you fill the entire world with your presence that your name may be hallowed through all the earth.

Lord of the years, as we leave this building to go into the future, we once more thank you for all that is past and commend to you all that is to come.

Lord of our lives, in this place we have heard your word proclaimed, we have received your life in the sacraments, and we commit ourselves to go forth to be your presence in our world.

As we prepare to leave this place we ask you fill us with trust in your will and confidence that you will be our guide in the future, and provide all that we need.

May we who have encountered your love here share it with the world;

we whose lives have been changed by Jesus share the Good News in word and deed;

we who are refreshed by your Spirit grasp the vision you set before us.

Walk with us, we pray, turn our sorrow to joy and above all grant us your peace, today and always.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Hymn                          77        Crown him with many crowns

 

The Grace

 

The Peace                    Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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