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 Sunday Service

 

                                 

WE BELIEVE IN LIFE BEFORE DEATH – PASSION FOR LIFE

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

CH4. 94       PRAISE GOD, FOR HE IS KIND

 

 

PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER (SUNG)

 

THE LORD SAID TO ME: JEREMIAH, I CHOSE YOU BEFORE I GAVE YOU LIFE, AND BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I SELECTED YOU TO BE A PROPHET TO THE NATIONS. I ANSWERED: SOVEREIGN LORD, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK; I AM TOO YOUNG. I WILL BE WITH YOU; I, THE LORD, HAVE SPOKEN!

 

Creator of all, we thank you for the miracle of life, of all life, not least our own life. Planner of all, we are grateful for the gift of time and space, in which to enjoy our lives, enabling us to grow and to learn and for some, at least, to mature! We rejoice, Our Lord, in the sheer variety of human life and in the uniqueness of each human life, again including our own.

 

Risen Lord of the living and the dead, we acknowledge in your presence now that life in all its fullness, beyond the horizon of our experience and imagination. Eternal Father, we celebrate the mystery of eternal life, as our ultimate destination, taking our place in the queue to join the magical host of the communion of saints. We listen to your words to Jeremiah, Word of life: I chose you before I gave you life, amazed that you know us before birth and can choose us even before conception, Our Father, whose words we sing together now ----

 

 

SGP. 4     ALL OVER THE WORLD THE SPIRIT IS MOVING

 

 

CHILDREN’S ADDRESS

 

ANDY IS GOING ON HOLIDAY, FLYING TOMORROW ALL THE WAY TO ARIZONA – AND BE WARNED, HE’S NOT JUST TAKING HIS SHADES, HE IS ALSO TAKING HIS CAMERA! LAST WEEK ANDY CAME TO (SLIDE 1) SEE ME IN THE VESTRY TO RECALL ALL THE EXCITING THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED TO HIM OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS – WELL, THIS IS THE SEASON OF REPEATS, ISN’T IT?

 

ANDY IS GOOD AT (SLIDE 2) SITTING, ISN’T HE, AND HE ALWAYS SEEMED TO BED SITTING (SLIDE 3), WHETHER OUTSIDE ON THE GARDENERS’ SEAT OR UPSTAIRS IN THE (SLIDE 4) MINISTER’S SEAT. THEN CAME THE DAY THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE (SLIDE 5) – HE MET POLLY, WHO WAS ON THE SHELF IN THE GLASITE HALL, AND HE WAS SO EXCITED THAT HE BROUGHT HER ALONG TO THE VESTRY AND THEN ROUND A COUPLE OF HIS FAVOURITE (SLIDE 6) HAUNTS AND GOT ALL (SLIDE 7) ROMANTIC ON THE STEP HERE IN A DAFFY NICE GESTURE!

 

ANDY AND POLLY WENT (SLIDE 8) TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY, WHERE THEY CHILLED OUT, BEFORE WAITING IN THEIR (SLIDE 9) HIGH CHAIRS FOR LOVELY GRUB, WHICH EVENTUALLY ARRIVED ON A (SLIDE 10) NEARBY TABLE, JUST LIKE ANOTHER COUPLE (SLIDE 11) OF CUSTOMERS.

 

AND REMEMBER LAST WEEK (SLIDE 12) THEY GAVE THEIR GOODY BAGS TO YOU, BOYS AND GIRLS, TO TAKE TO THE SUNDAY CLUB, THEMSELVES ENJOYING ANOTHER GOODY BAG FOR GIVING, NOT GETTING –A CHRISTIAN AID ENVELOPE. HERE IT IS ON ANDY AND POLLY’S LAP, BUT THERE IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THE ENVELOPE THIS WEEK – IT’S SEALED AND THEY HAVE FILLED IT WITH MONEY FOR THE POOR BOYS AND GIRLS ALL OVER THE WORLD, BUT ESPECIALLY JUST NOW IN THE LAND OF BURMA.

 

IT’S NOT A MATTER OF HOW MUCH WE GIVE. JESUS ONCE SAW RICH PEOPLE PUTTING LOTS OF MONEY INTO THE COLLECTION BOX, THEN A POOR WIDOW PUT IN A PENNY. HE SAID: THIS POOR WIDOW GAVE MORE THAN THEM BECAUSE SHE GAVE ALL SHE HAD – EVERY PENNY COUNTS, MAKE THESE ENVELOPES WONDERFUL GOODIE BAGS FOR JESUS.

 

 

 

 

CH4. 523    HANDS TO WORK AND FEET TO RUN

 

READING     JEREMIAH, 20, 7 – 18         DAN CRUICKSHANK

 

CH4. 427     ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA!

 

READING    ROMANS, 14, 1 – 12            DAN CRUICKSHANK

 

 

PRAYERS

 

On this Christian Aid Sunday, One Lord of One World, we affirm our belief in life before death with fair shares for all. Loving Father, we confess that we find it very difficult to ponder the harsh cruelty of life, far less confront it and often wonder why it has to be this way.

Our hearts go out to the sorely afflicted people of Burma this morning, Gracious Lord, devastated by the horrific power of a cyclone, in particular, the district of Irrawaddy, set in the very eye of the storm; we commend the souls, Spirit of Life, of the thousands, very possibly hundreds of thousands of the dead to your healing care. We pray, Our Crucified Lord, for the survivors, themselves buried in the deep misery of loss, loss of home and village, loss of food and water, but we pray, not loss of ultimate hope. We contemplate an unthinkable cruelty even beyond the destructive force of the cyclone, namely the more lasting, devastating destructiveness of Burma’s tyrannical government, denying their people aid, while, no doubt, as always, themselves surviving in remarkable comfort. We pray for Christian Aid for the Burmese people and ask for a blessing for the efforts of all aid agencies and the United Nations in that stricken land.

 

At this the beginning of Christian Aid Week, Master turned Servant of all, we ask that you will open our eyes to the needs of other before the blinding demands of ourselves, in all corners of this world, where unfairness is the Master, but we pray in hope, fairness, like yourself, Our Risen Lord, is the Servant of all --

 

 

CH4. 165     PRAISE TO THE LORD FOR THE JOYS OF THE EARTH

 

 

ADDRESS

 

THROUGH THE IMMINENT HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY BILL, according to a letter I received last week from www.passionforlife.org.uk, PARLIAMENT IN A FEW WEEKS TIME WILL HAVE ALLOWED: MORE ABORTION, MORE EMBRYOS TO BE DESTROYED, HUMAN AND ANIMAL MIXED EMBRYOS TO BE CREATED, SAVIOUR SIBLINGS (BABIES CREATED TO ORDER FOR THEIR BLOOD, TISSUES AND PART ORGANS) AND A DOWNGRADING OF THE VALUE OF FATHERHOOD.

 

WE, DAVID ALTON, LIB. DEM., ANN WIDDICOMBE, TORY AND JIM DOBBIN, LABOUR, ARE WRITING AS MEMBERS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY PRO-LIFE GROUP TO ASK YOU TO TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO EXPLAIN TO YOUR CONGREGATION THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS MOMENT AND TO TAKE ACTION.

 

NOW THIS IS NOT THE SERMON I HAD PLANNED FOR THIS CHRISTIAN AID SUNDAY; ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE HORRIFIC CYCONE IN BURMA, BEING SO CRUELLY COVERED UP BY BURMA’S EQUALLY HORRIFIC GOVERNMENT NOR IS IT A SUBJECT, ON WHICH I’M AT ALL COMFORTABLE TO SERMONISE.

 

AND WITH THE WORDS IN FRONT OF ME, STARING ME IN THE FACE, GOADING ME ON, I’M STRAINING AGAINST THE PREACHING LEASH, BUT THE COMPULSION TO TACKLE THESE ISSUES, FOR THERE ARE SEVERAL HERE, POSSIBLY FOR SEVERAL SERMONS, JUST WOULD NOT GO AWAY.

 

CHRISTIAN AID POWERFULLY STATES ITS BELIEF IN LIFE BEFORE DEATH; THIS HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY BILL PROBES A PARALLEL BELIEF IN LIFE BEFORE BIRTH. LET US DO ALL WE CAN, the Parliamentary Pro-life group plead, TO DEFEND THE DIGNITY OF LIFE.

 

BUT WHEN DOES LIFE, this is the question, BECOME LIFE? THE WOMEN WE SEE, insists Ann Fureda of the British Pregnancy Advisory Council, CERTAINLY DON’T TREAT THEIR SITUATION IN ANY WAY LIGHTLY. IT’S HUGELY INSULTING TO THEM FOR POLITICIANS TO SECOND-GUESS THE REASONS WHY A WOMAN MIGHT NEED AN ABORTION TO END A PREGNANCY – OR WHY DOCTORS MIGHT SUPPORT OUR REQUESTS.

 

POLITICIANS, states politician, Dr. Evan Harris, LIB.DEM, WHO ARE AGAINST A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO HAVE AN ABORTION, SHOULD ADMIT IT IS BASED ON DOGMA AND IDEOLOGY AND NOT TRY TO DISGUISE IT AS PSEUDO-SCIENCE OR DODGY MEDICINE.

 

CURSE THE DAY I WAS BORN! yells out Jeremiah, who sounds as if he was in favour of a personal abortion, FORGET THE DAY MY MOTHER GAVE ME BIRTH! CURSE THE MAN WHO MADE MY FATHER GLAD WHEN HE BROUGHT HIM THE NEWS: IT’S A BOY! YOU HAVE A SON!

 

BRITAIN HAS 200,000 ABORTIONS A YEAR, 600 A DAY. I RESPECT A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE, affirms Nadine Parries, Tory MP, BUT WE ARE CLOSE TO BEING THE ABORTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD AND IT IS NOW TIME TO ADOPT A MORE MODERATE, COMMON-SENSE APPROACH TO ABORTION.

 

BY LOWERING THE TIME-LIMIT, as the Parliamentary Bill suggests, FROM 24 TO 20 WEEKS, THEY ESTIMATE THAT 2,300 LIVES COULD BE SAVED. CERTAINLY, DAVID STEEL, WHO INTRODUCED THE FIRST ABORTION BILL IN 1967, WOULD GO MUCH FURTHER, REDUCING THE TIME-LIMIT TO A MORE ACCEPTABLE 12 WEEKS, BUT, HOW ACCEPTABLE?

 

I WELL REMEMBER A CHAT HERE AT ONE OF OUR SATURDAY ELDERS’ CONFERENCES, WHEN I, WITH MY USUAL COCKTAIL OF MIXED FEELINGS, WAS DISPLAYING COPIES OF PRO-LIFE NEWS, WHICH PROMULGATES AN ENTIRELY ANTI-ABORTION LINE, WITHOUT ALLOWING ANY EXCEPTIONS.

 

AT THE TIME FIONA WAS IN THE EARLY STAGES OF THE PREGNANCY WHICH PRODUCED RORY AND SHE WAS PROUDLY SHOWING US ALL THE PHOTO OF THE TWELVE WEEK SCAN, REVEALING A FULLY RECOGNISABLE BABY’S BODY IN MINIATURE.

 

THIS BOTH THRILLED ME AND JOLTED ME. HOW, I ASKED THIS ELDER, COULD YOU ABORT THIS LIFE EVEN AT TWELVE WEEKS? HE AGREED, FROM THE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE, ADMITTING THAT THE FOETUS WHOM HE FELT STRONGLY AT THE TIME SHOULD BE ABORTED, WAS NOW A HEALTHY, CHERISHED LOVABLE FIVE YEAR OLD.

 

AND YET, I WANT TO REPEAT ANN FUREDA’S CHALLENGING WORDS, ESPECIALLY, I WOULD SAY, FOR MEN: THE WOMEN, she says, WE SEE CERTAINLY DON’T TREAT THEIR SITUATION IN ANY WAY LIGHTLY. IT’S HUGELY INSULTING TO THEM FOR POLITICIANS TO SECOND-GUESS THE REASONS WHY A WOMAN MIGHT NEED TO END A PREGNANCY – OR WHY DOCTORS MIGHT SUPPORT OUR REQUEST.

 

DAVID STEEL’S BILL, THE ABORTION ACT 1967, AS AMENDED, WAS DESIGNED TO TAKE ABORTION AWAY FROM THE BACKSTREETS, WHERE THOUSANDS OF WOMEN, AT BEST RISKED THEIR LIVES IN UNHYGIENIC CONDITIONS, ACCEPTING RIP-OFF COSTS IN THEIR SHEER DESPERATION.

 

BUT IT’S VERY MUCH OF ITS DAY AND NO LONGER WORKS AS INTENDED. DOES THE GOVERNMENT REALLY BELIEVE THAT ALMOST 7 MILLION ABORTIONS SINCE 1967, NOW 200,000 A YEAR, AND ONE IN FOUR PREGNANCIES ENDING IN ABORTION IS WHAT PARLIAMENT INTENDED? EVEN LORD STEEL, WHO INTRODUCED THE 1967 BILL, SAYS THE LIMIT SHOULD BE SET AT 12 WEEKS – BUT NOT ABOLISHED.

 

I HAVE TOUCHED ONLY ON THE ABORTION ANGLE OF THIS PROPOSED HUMAN FERTILISATION AND EMBRYOLOGY BILL, LEAVING THE WHOLE ISSUE OF EMBRYOS, THEIR USES AND STATUS FOR ANOTHER DAY. IN AN IDEAL WORLD, THINGS WOULD BE VERY DIFFERENT, BUT OURS IS A FALLEN WORLD, IN WHICH WE HAVE TO BE OPEN TO OPTIONS WHICH WE WOULDN’T NECESSARILY CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES.

 

AND FROM THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE, THERE ARE ANOTHER DIMENSION, BRINGING HOPE EVEN TO ABORTED LIFE: NONE OF US LIVES FOR HIM/HERSELF ONLY; NONE OF US DIES FOR HIM/HERSELF ONLY, Paul writes, going on:

 

IF WE LIVE, IT IS FOR THE LORD WE LIVE, IF WE DIE, IT IS FOR THE LORD WE DIE. SO WHETHER WE LIVE OR DIE, WE BELONG TO THE LORD. FOR CHRIST DIED AND ROSE TO LIFE IN ORDER TO BE LORD OF THE LIVING AND OF THE DEAD.

 

AND SO THIS CHRISTIAN AID SUNDAY WE AFFIRM OUR BELIEF IN LIFE BEFORE DEATH, BUT EQUALLY IN LIFE BEFORE BIRTH, DEPENDENT ALWAYS UPON OUR RISEN LORD, ETERNALLY THE LORD OF THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, BUT ALSO THE YET TO BE BORN!

 

 

OFFERING AND DEDICATION

 

CH4. 527     LORD, MAKE US SERVANTS OF YOUR PEACE

 

 

BENEDICTION