Description
Own Arrangement Service – ‘Change’
(You will need 2 leaders and 2 readers)
Leader 1 - Call to Worship:
Come, God’s people, let us worship the Living God,
The God of yesterday and tomorrow,
The God who makes the present moment holy
And crowns us, his people, with blessings.
HYMN: Through all the changing scenes of life
Leader 1 – Introduction:
Autumn is a time of change. The green leaves of spring and summer become a glorious display of
browns and crimsons and golds, as nature prepares the trees for the coming harshness of winter.
The nights draw in, the heating has to go on. Young people are back at college or school. Church
meetings start up again, with the start of the new church year. All is change. Some changes we
welcome, some we regret. Often, for us, the word ‘change’ comes to mean ‘challenge’. In our
service we’re going to be thinking about what change means to us as Christians who believe in a
God who is the God of yesterday, today and all our tomorrows.
Let us pray, and during this prayer there will be times of silence, to reflect on the words and the
thoughts they bring –
Prayer of Adoration:
Reader 1: Meditation: ‘Loving Now’ by Peter Firth
Lord of this Autumn morning, like me the year is growing old
And I still haven’t realised the urgency of loving now.
I know all the right thoughts and words - I say ‘Amen’
To your command to love my neighbour as myself,
But in my heart I know I pay much lip-service to love.
It’s something I keep promising to do tomorrow –
Because love is something you do, not just feel.
And I tell myself I’ve got enough to do already, looking after myself.
Yet in my heart I know this is not what you are saying to me…continues
Leader 2 – Prayer of Confession:
HYMN: Lord of all hopefulness
Leader 1: The trees let go of their autumn leaves…
Reader 1: Psalm 111
Leader 2: Prayer of Thanksgiving:
HYMN: Lord, for the years
Leader 1: One name for God in the Old Testament was YAHWEH (pronounced ‘yarway’), which means ‘I am what I am’…
Reader 2: Matthew 19:16-26
Leader 1: We can be afraid of change, and make excuses for putting it off…
Leader 2: The Offering: Let us pray:
Prayer of commitment:
HYMN: O the bitter shame and sorrow
Leader 1: God is God of the past, God of the present, and lastly, God of the future…
Reader 1: Readings from the Epistle to the Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; 12:1-2
Leader 2: Prayers of Intercession:
HYMN: - One more step along the world
Leader 1: Blessing:
- “Loving Now” a meditation written by Peter Firth from his book “Lord of the Seasons”
page 25, published by Lutterworth Press in 1978. Used by permission of Peter Firth