Welcome
CTW - HP 882 Psalm 133
HP 252 All hail the power of Jesus’ name
Prayers of adoration
Prayer of thanksgiving
Reading
1 Thessalonians 5: 12a, 13b-18
SOF 303 Jesus stand among us
Sermon
SOF 43 Bind us together
SOF 388 May the fragrance of Jesus
Intercessions
HP 758 In Christ there is no east or west
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Why are you here today?
Because you always come to these Churches together things?
Because you feel strongly about Christian unity?
Because you are passionate about prayer?
Because there was nothing on the TV?
Because you wanted to see me? – Ok probably not!
Next question: where are you from?
Where has your journey of faith taken you?
Perhaps you have always from toddler to whatever age you are now been an Anglican or Catholic. Maybe you are a 5th generation Anglican or 3rd generation Methodist.
Me – well without my knowledge & certainly without any level of parental commitment I began life being baptised as a Methodist, but my parents quickly forgot this. Then we were sent to the local Baptists for Sunday School & BB. I came to faith / was born again in a Pentecostal Church after being brought to that place by Christian Union at college full of people who belonged to predominantly Pentecostal Churches. I returned to my Baptist Church & simultaneously attended a Pentecostal & a Methodist Church. Then & threw my lot in with the Methodists. . . . & it seems I belong here - for now! I don’t say that flippantly but genuinely because I think it is really a state of flux.
I don’t think I am that unusual – a lot of people these days journey to Jesus via different denominations & sometimes never really feel like they belong in any one completely. I know that I used to balk when asked at hospital to name my denomination & always wanted to just say Christian. Maybe you identify with that, maybe not.
Why is this important – well what unites us is far more important than what separates us, & as we move on in this generation where our denominational differences mean less not to us but to those we need to reach it is vital we understand that.
There are so many more people who have no history with us & unless we work closer together & for the kingdom & not our own little empires the more impact we will make for Jesus will be reduced & harmed.
We are here to pray for Christian Unity, but of course not for Christian Uniformity. I think it is a sign of God at work with & through us that there is such variety & richness in our Churches. There is much difference between us, before we think about our different Church cultures & this is something to be valued. We are made up of so many different histories, so many different personalities, so many different stages of life and faith, and yet Christ longs for us to be together, to share what we have with each other. We are stronger when we walk, talk & work together, so much stronger.
Think about a sheet of paper - anyone can rip one or two pieces but if you stack paper on paper on paper eventually you find that it becomes more & more difficult. In that same way we need to learn Church that there is great strength when we stand together.
Our passage from 1 Thessalonians 5 exhorts that as we stand together we should encourage one another, be patient & joyful with one another & be continually at prayer. Are we about these things in practice though? Too often I think we end up noticing one another’s problems & differences. We are not patient with those who prefer to do things differently or see things differently within our own Churches let alone across the denominational divides. In practice the prayer meeting is probably one of the poorest attended meetings in our Churches & Churches together events?
I think we need to hear the challenge of the scriptures.
We need to value one another more & work more closely together for these communities we serve & for the sake of Jesus our Lord.
But what needs saying too is that praying about unity is a waste of time if we do not work for unity too. We have to be people who value variety & difference in one another. We have to talk more freely together & see being united as one of our priorities. I have to say as a relative newcomer to this Community the level of support for Churches Together is not exactly wonderful. Attendance when we worship together is mostly poor & getting our people excited about being with the Methodists or the Anglicans or even the URC’s is hard isn’t it?!
I think as well as praying for unity we should be making a positive commitment to being unified. Let’s see if the joint worship planned for Lent can have record high attendances. Let’s make a commitment those of us here to getting our friends in our congregations out for the Good Friday witness.
Then we will be becoming part of the answer to our prayer for Christian unity in this small corner of His vineyard.
For Jesus sake
Amen.
Now that the sermon part of our time is over we have some practical work to go together. I noticed that as we arrived we have predominantly sat together in denominational groups, which is fair enough. But this next part of the service will only work properly if we actually move around – just think of it as a kind of like sharing the peace. How will we move, well I would like those whose age ends with an odd number (so those whose age ends with an odd number (i.e.: 41, 53, 65 etc) move to the right side of the Church, & all those whose age ends with an even number (i.e.: 42, 54, 66 etc) move to the left.
Once you are there please do your best not to sit with someone else from your Church. Would you please take your hymn books with & do that moving now.
Ok – now in just 2’s I would like you to spend 5 minutes listening to the person you are sitting with about their Church – tell something of the joys & the difficulties of life in your setting. Then when I tell you the 5 minutes is up swap around so that the person who has listened now shares their story.
Now I want us to pray for one another in our 2’s. Perhaps you will sit in silence. Perhaps if you are used to praying out loud you will pray for the concerns you have heard.
We will spend only 5 minutes in this part of the service so please do try to be brief enough so that both of you can pray.
We conclude our worship moving back our seats committing to cultivate the relationships we have begun, to pray for one another, talk to one another, maybe even worship with one another. BUT we do move back because there is not the unity there should be even amongst us.
We move as we sing:
Bind us together
