9th July

Father, you are the source of creation, the giver of life.
Jesus, you are the one who embodies the freedom God offers, embracing life as it should be lived.

We do not come here to God’s house because we have to ,but because we want to.
Jesus has invited us, and we have accepted with joy and thanksgiving. We come to offer
God our praise and adoration, to learn of God’s love and the life Jesus offers, so that we may live
and love better day by day, following Him, living his way.

StF 75 From all that dwells below the skies

Prayers
Almighty God we rejoice that we worship you with your people across the
world in north, south, east and west, that your praise is sung in grand
buildings and in open air, by young and old. We join our praises with those
who have served you in the past and will worship you into eternity.
Father, you are the source of creation, the giver of life.
Jesus, you are the one who embodies the freedom God offers, embracing life
as it should be lived. You showed the great love of God in your death and
resurrection.
Holy Spirit, you are the inspiration and motivation to live the kingdom life here
and now as you have guided God's people through the ages.
God of truth and love, we confess we have not always lived the kingdom life
and followed the example of Jesus. Be merciful to us and we ask for your
forgiveness thorough Jesus Christ our Lord.
May God grant us pardon and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit.
In the name of Jesus, Amen
​
: StF 25 God is here! as we his people

Psalm 145:8-19        New International Version
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
    your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
    and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing
​17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.

Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
​
SF 322 How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

​Message
What does it mean to rest? How can we know the compassion the Psalmist
promised? Picture someone staggering down a railway station platform with
heavy suitcases and seeing at the end of the platform a poster - Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Yes
please! How does Jesus bring rest? Human life brings all kinds of burdens
in the midst of the joys and the church is not immune to adding to these
pressures.
In the verses from Matthew we hear something of the conflicts of religious
authorities with John the Baptist and Jesus. There is a picture from a
childrens game. John the Baptist sang the dirge. He was austere, living in
the desert. Jesus played the pipe, he was different, mixing with all kinds of
people including those regarded as sinners. It was the ordinary people and
the outcasts who responded to both of them - not the learned religious
leaders.
Looking at the crowds Jesus sees people being dragged from pillar to post by
all kinds of poor leadership; in particular, he sees them weighed down by the
expectations of their leaders and calls them to himself because he will give
them refreshment, rest, life, adventure, and company. He offers the
compassion the Psalmist spoke about. Here Jesus is offering peace and the
kind of leadership that will result in the formation of a community where all are
looked after and all will find fulfilment. Jesus is telling the crowd they have
been badly led and, as a result of that, they are burdened with impossible
expectations and unending conflicts.
An example was the rules around the Sabbath day. The commandments
forbad work but for a reason:
Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you,
nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your
donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so
that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. (Deuteronomy 5:13-
14)
But the authorities strove to define work in great detail to the point they forbad
picking up a small load. If you broke one of the detailed rules you broke the
law. The original purpose of rest in a society where people worked hard 6
days a week had got lost. There is always the challenge to the church as to
whether we do the same and elaborate God's teaching.
There are all kind of pressures in life today over relationships, health and
money and many others. Church life can also involve burdens. As living
under Roman rule could burden people as a church we have to wrestle with
what society imposes on us (for sound reasons) such as the requirements of
charity law and regulations about building. But sometimes we impose loads
on each other in the church. Many of us are aware of the pressures, jobs that
we struggle to fill, the issues that can arise. In all this we come back to the
promise of Jesus of rest.
But Jesus is not offering a withdrawal from life. Eleswhere he told us to take
up his cross and follow him. Rather, he is inviting us to be yoked to him as he
brings the rule of God into the world. He is inviting us into partnership in the
fulfilment of God’s plans and purposes..It is our response to the grace and
forgiveness that Jesus offers us in light of his death and resurrection.
The word yoke can mean entering into submission to something - the yoke of
the law or the yoke of Jesus. It can also mean the yoke that was put on
animals when they were pulling a plough. The plough could be heavy but an
oxen were strong. The word can mean well-fitting, the yoke was hand
finished so that it tailor fitted the animals and did not gall the neck. Then the
strong oxen could pull it. Sometimes the problem in the life of the church is
that the yoke is not well fitting or the load is still too heavy. How much easier
is it to do something if it matches our gifts There are times as individuals we
need to say no and step back from roles. There are times for the church to
stop things. We need to find that balance between the good and exciting
ideas we want to follow and what we can do without burdening people.
Jesus is not just offering a spirituality that will help us navigate a hostile world;
he is offering us a role in changing that world to fit the values of his kingdom:
to live in a way that draws people to Jesus, a truly fulfilling life for each one of
us. It could be a public role or one not very prominent. It could be a role that
seems to take little of our time but something our situation and health allow us
to do. A role that we have the gifts to carry out and not burden us. That is
the vision Jesus calls the church and his people to.
Meanwhile we know many people are burdened and maybe we feel that
ourselves. The hymn we sing know is based on the words of Dietrich
Bonhoeffer when he was in prison. He was a German minister who opposed
Hitler and was executed. He knew what it was like to be burdened and knew
the strength of Jesus in that situation.

Hymn: StF 640 We turn to God when we are solely pressed

Prayers of concern.
We pray Father for the times when we are sorely pressed. In the quiet we
bring to you what we do in the coming week where we need your guidance and strength.

We pray for our families and friends when they are sorely pressed, that your
healing grace may be at work in their lives strengthening them to face the
future. We pray that as we walk alongside them, you will use us to bring
them close to you, and they will learn of your love.

We pray for a world and its people that is often sorely pressed. We pray for
all in authority, that they will be respectfully conscious of the weight on their
shoulders, and that they will act responsibly for the people they serve.
We pray for your church across the world, especially for those who suffer
persecution. We pray for our circuit, for our ministers and their families.
As we live in a way that seeks draw others to Jesus we pray that you would
prompt as we seek to do what we can through prayer, action, talking and
giving to be an answer to our prayers.
Loving Lord Jesus, we thank you for your love and grace
we take your yoke upon us now.
Give us rest, and lead us to those activities
that you have prepared for us to do this week.
Be glorified in us as we walk with you.
Amen
​
Lords Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.

StF 608 All praise to our redeeming Lord

​Blessing
The Blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit goes with us until we meet
around his throne.