Welcome and Notices
You can learn more about Yeldall Manor’s Ride for Recovery and support our church families that are taking part by clicking here.
Invitation to Worship
Jesus Christ, whom we worship, is our crucified, risen and ascended Lord and we have walked with Him through His journey of love. We have faced the agony of His suffering and death on a cross. We have rejoiced at His bursting free from the bonds of death. We have enjoyed His risen presence with us and His revelation of Himself through the breaking of bread. We have seen His return to the throne before which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that this Jesus is Lord. And now, with the followers of His own time, we await the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, His gift to his people, through whom we make Christ known to the world.
As we wait in silence, Fill us with your Spirit As we listen to Your word. Fill us with your Spirit As we worship You in majesty, Fill us with your Spirit As we long for Your refreshing, Fill us with your Spirit As we long for Your renewing Fill us with your Spirit As we long for Your equipping, Fill us with your Spirit As we long for Your empowering Fill us with your Spirit
Song of worship
As we gather together in our different homes we come to worship, our hearts ready, free to respond as we remember again all you have done for us.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation. Ps 100: 4,5
Prayer of Penitence /Confession
A time to say sorry to God Jesus says, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
A short time of silence
Lord have mercy upon us, forgive us where we have gone wrong and sinned and help us to walk from now on in your way. Amen.
May the God of love and power bring you back to himself, forgive you and free you from your sins, and restore you to newness of life by his Spirit.
Bible Reading
Acts 16:6-15 New International Version (NIV)
Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia
6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Sermon
You can find the 10 minute prayer reflection from Pray As You Go by clicking here. Use it to help you practice noticing the Spirit in your daily life.
Song of worship
Speak O Lord …. make us ready to listen and obey.
Prayers of Intercession
Thanksgiving. Heavenly Father, thank-you for many prayers answered in relation to Corona virus. For healing and helping us, and for bringing communities closer together despite the lock-down. Thank-you for our dedicated NHS staff and for workers in other essential services.
And Lord we are grateful too for the obedience of your servant Paul, responding to your call, and planting the first Churches in Europe. Lord, make us more thankful for all your gifts and more obedient to your calling, where-ever that may take us.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our Nation. Lord, we pray for those in authority in our country, especially for wisdom for Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock and others in Govt, as they steer us out of the epidemic. As shops, businesses and schools slowly re-open, help us to show restraint and vigilance to stop a new flare up of the disease.
We pray for all who have been impacted by Covid 19 in many different ways, especially for any we know personally (quiet pause…….). We pray particularly for families put under strain by home-schooling, reduced income or working from home.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Wider World. As Britain emerges from the epidemic, other countries remain deeply affected. India, for example, has 31,000 cases in Mumbai alone, with hospitals overwhelmed.
We pray for the poor who can’t reach or can’t afford a hospital, or the hospital has little to offer; for many, lockdown simply means no work, no money, no food. And we pray for communities where war or natural disaster makes the fight against Corona doubly difficult – India and Bangadesh, for example, after the recent Cyclone and the Rohingya people crammed into refugee camps.
Elsewhere, we pray for farmers in East Africa coping with a different epidemic – for them, locusts devastating their crops. And we pray for aid agencies – Tearfund, Christian Aid – and their local partners, showing Christian compassion, but faced with such massive needs.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Mission Partners. Lord God, we pray for our mission partners, especially the overseas ones who have stayed put in times of crisis. Please protect the Ray family and the staff of Neema Craft, now involved in making face-masks for medics in Tanzania. Watch over the Fletcher family in Bangkok, and the team at Kimbilio in Lubumbashi, DRC. Encourage the staff at LAMB Hospital in Bangladesh, gearing up for a possible influx of cases.
Nearer to home, Father, we remember the work of Yeldall, thankfully clear of Corona so far, and for JAC, with much of its activity on hold and funds running short.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Local Community & Thy Kingdom Come. Father, we pray finally for Woodley. We pray for those in need who are known to us – though sickness, loneliness, bereavement or other hardship – and for the professionals and volunteers working to help them.
We pray especially for the 5 people we have targeted through Thy Kingdom Come. Help us to keep on praying with perseverance, and to find opportunities to share more of the Gospel with them. Lord, may we see many finding you as the Way, the Truth & the Life in the days ahead.
We ask these and all our prayers in the name of our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Song of worship
God calls each of us to go … and when we follow His calling God will give us the strength we need for the task in hand – That all the world his worthy praise may sing.
Commission and Blessing
For fifty days we have celebrated the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ over the powers of sin and death. We have proclaimed God’s mighty acts and we have prayed that the power that was at work when God raised Jesus from the dead might be at work in us. As part of God’s Church here in Woodley I call upon you to live out what you proclaim.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, will you dare to walk into God’s future, trusting Him to be your guide? By the Spirit’s power, we will.
Will you dare to virtually embrace each other and grow together in love? We will.
Will you dare to share your riches in common and minister to each other in need? We will.
Will you dare to pray for each other until your hearts beat with the longings of God? We will.
Will you dare to carry the light of Christ into the world’s dark places? We will.
Thank you for joining us for this week’s worship at home! Time for conversations and prayer will continue on Zoom at 11:20 and our Slack #chat channel. Let us know what you’ve learned or what bits you enjoyed!