The Church and grounds open on Fridays 10-12. All welcome.
Categories
Online Worship worship

3rd October 2021

Unfortunately there is no recording of today’s worship order of Services and Intimations are bellow.

Minister: Rev. Jennifer Booth
Organist: Iain Mackinnon

Opening Voluntary – Prelude in D.  Frank Bridge (1879-1941)

Welcome and Intimations

Call to Worship –
(based on PsaIm 8)

O LORD our Sovereign,

How majestic is your name in all the earth!
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars that you have established,
What are human beings that you are mindful of them;
Mortals, that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than angels,
And crowned them with glory and honour,
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
You have put all things under their feet,
O LORD, our Sovereign,
How majestic is your name in all the earth.


Hymn 229 We plough the fields and scatter the good seed

1 We plough the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by God’s almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.
All good gifts around us
are sent from heaven above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
for all his love.

2 He only is the Maker
of all things near and far;
he paints the wayside flower,
he lights the evening star;
the wind and waves obey him,
by him the birds are fed;
much more to us, his children,
he gives our daily bread.

3 We thank you, then, O Father,
for all things bright and good:
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food;
no gifts have we to offer
for all your love imparts,
but that which you desire now:
our humble, thankful hearts!

Prayer of Approach ending with the Lord’s Prayer

First Thought  
Brian Drummond

Hymn 231 For the fruits of all creation
(Ar Hyd Y Nos)

1 For the fruits of all creation,
thanks be to God;
for these gifts to every nation,
thanks be to God;
for the ploughing, sowing, reaping,
silent growth while we are sleeping,
future needs in earth’s safe-keeping,
thanks be to God.

2 In the just reward of labour,
God’s will is done.
in the help we give our neighbour,
God’s will is done;
in our world-wide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvest we are sharing,
God’s will is done.

3 For the harvests of the Spirit,
thanks be to God;
for the good we all inherit,
thanks be to God;
for the wonders that astound us,
for the truths that still confound us,
most of all, that love has found us,
thanks be to God.

Scriptures:  Mark 10: 2-16  Reader, Gerry O’Neil
  

Jesus teaches about divorce

Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’
‘What did Moses command you?’ he replied.
They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’
‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied. ‘But at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female”. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’

10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.’Jesus blesses little children

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Sermon – The upside-down Kingdom – God’s inclusive Love

Doxology – spoken together
To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, praise be done;
may Christ the Lord upon us pour
the Spirit’s gift for evermore.

Prayer of Dedication for the Offering

Prayers for the World 
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

Hymn 233 Come, you thankful people come

1 Come, you thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest-home:
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin;
God, our Maker, will provide
for our needs to be supplied:
come to God’s own temple, come;
raise the song of harvest-home.

2 All this world is God’s own field,
bearing fruit his praise to yield;
wheat and tares together sown,
are to joy or sorrow grown;
first the blade and then the ear,
then the full corn shall appear:
Lord of harvest, grant that we
wholesome grain and pure may be.

3 For the Lord our God shall come,
and shall take His harvest home;
from his field shall in that day
all offences purge away;
give his angels charge at last
in the fire the tares to cast,
but the fruitful ears to store
in his storehouse evermore.

4 Even so, Lord, quickly, come;
bring your final harvest home:
gather all your people in,
free from sorrow, free from sin;
there, for ever purified,
in your presence to abide:
come, with all your angels come,
raise the glorious harvest-home.

Benediction
Threefold Amen

Closing Voluntary

Absoute.  Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)

INTIMATIONS

Sunday Services – We are pleased to welcome Rev Jennifer Booth and Brian Drummond, Reader in Training, from South Leith church to our service this morning.
Next Sunday, 10 October, the service will be led by Rev Jennifer Booth and Rev John Tait. We look forward to welcoming both of these ‘old friends’ back to North Leith.


The Moderator of the General Assembly, Lord Wallace, is due to visit Edinburgh Presbytery this month. A special service welcoming him to Leith will take place on Sunday 17 October at 7pm in South Leith Church. A warm invitation is open to all the Leith congregations. 

Opening the Church – The church building and garden are open to all on Friday mornings between 10 am and 12 noon. If you are able to help with the rota for this please speak to Tim Bell.

National Giving Day – Thank you to everyone who has donated to this appeal for church funds. If you would still like to donate, you can do so up till the end of October, indicating ‘Giving Day’ on the envelope or bank transfer.

Newspapers – Enough newspapers have now been collected.
“Thank you so much to all those who have helped me collect newspapers for my school. We are hugely grateful to everyone.”

With love,

Rena Brown (Jenny Martin’s daughter)

Prayer for this Sunday evening – Visit the Church of Scotland website to hear the prayer
Weekly prayers in response to the Covid-19 pandemic continue | The Church of Scotland

“What do we see? As we survey the day-to-day progress of life: What do we see? What we might prefer to see is a world that is coherent and ordered, with everything in its place and a place for everything.
“Equally, we might prefer to see a world subject to a guiding hand leading us on to a place of certainty. Whatever we might prefer to see, we may be certain that it is not yet the world as we see it today.
“The Letter to the Hebrews takes up the words of the Psalmist and pictures the ‘son of man’ as the One who has all things subject to Him. Indeed, the Letter affirms that: ‘God left nothing that is not subject to Him.’ Immediately thereafter, it states: ‘Yet at present we do not see everything subject to Him.’

“There is a vision of the world as it shall be and a realisation that the world in which we live is not yet aligned to that vision. What we see is the world as it is and not yet the world as it shall be in the providence of God.
“The place we inhabit is the point of tension between the world we see and the world as God intends it to be. In this place, and by the grace of God, ‘we see Jesus…now crowned with glory and honour because He suffered death’ and we resolve to live out our faith as we follow the One who is the author and pioneer of our salvation. (Hebrews 2: 5-12/Psalm 8: 4-6)”

We Pray

Living God,
You give life to the world
And to all Creation,
And we seek Your guiding hand
In the days in which we live.
Grant that we might discern Your guidance
And live faithfully in accordance with Your will.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
You give life to the world
And to all Creation,
And Your care for Creation
Overflows to all the earth.
Grant to us the resolve to care for Creation
In the place we inhabit and in the time You have given to us.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
You give life to the world
And to all Creation,
And You create us to reflect
The image of God.
Grant to us that we may see in our neighbour
A reflection of Your image and so value the lives of all.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
You give life to the world
And to all Creation,
And we see the world as it is
And know that it is not yet the world as You will it to be.
Grant to us faith that we might see Jesus and follow the One
Who is the author and pioneer of our salvation.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *