Methodist Central Hall Morning Worship LIVE STREAM - Sunday, 6th March 2022

do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well good morning to you from our chapel here at the centre of london at methodist central hall westminster welcome to our first sunday in lent service i'm deacon ally mcmillan on behalf of the whole team here a very warm welcome to you here in the chapel joining me we have charlie our technician pressing the buttons along with chris and i am really pleased that ruth is with us ruth imbo who's a local preacher in training and ruth's going to be praying for us later on ruth we're so glad to have you with us here today um how is your local picture training going first of all good morning deacon d alex ali and good morning everyone who's watching sorry about that yes my local preaching is going really well i get a great mentor tutor and all the people helping me like you and robert and tony thank you we're so pleased to have you with us and we are praying for you as you do that training looking forward to hearing you pray later on thank you today we're marking the 65th anniversary of the ghanaian independence and we're delighted that kate eshen who's deputy chair of our ghanaian fellowship here is going to read our gospel lesson for us kate your deputy chair of the ghanaian fellowship what does that role involve oh i think you might be on mute there kate just take yourself off mute for us yeah sorry sorry about that no problem thank you we are a group of about 80 or so ghanaians at who attend methodist central hall on a regular basis we have a committee led by tony and when tony's away i am his deputy i make myself available to um to the members and come the interface between the group and the church oh that's wonderful we're so grateful for the life and the vibrancy that that ghanaian fellowship brings to our church and thank you for all that you do for them well don't forget that there's a service order that you can download just go to our youtube page or mchw dot live if you want to follow it there and don't forget to give the service a like just click that thumbs up button and subscribe to the channel both of those things just help us get the word out there later on in our service we're going to have another episode of alter egos and a global greeting which comes to us from ghana this week but let's just pause for a moment now and prepare ourselves for worship with some verses from psalm 25. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] from [Music] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] and so let us come before our god in prayer let us pray for the blessings of each day we praise your holy name o lord our god for strength to endure in times of distress shelter from storm and your arms to protect for footsteps to follow with you as our guide and grace that will show through actions and words for faith to believe and a heart filled with hope your presence beside us from the moment we wake for the blessings of each day we praise your holy name you call us to follow and yet our footsteps falter you hold out your hand and we treat you as a stranger you whisper our name and we simply ignore you gracious god slow to anger swift to bless forgive us restore us grant us hearts that stand firm a faith that is strong and a hope that endures that we might become willing servants of our heavenly king and your glory and praise may be the song that we sing sometimes you lead us by your spirit into wilderness places where faith is tested but you do not leave us on our own sometimes you lead us by your spirit into difficult places where words are required but it's your voice that's heard not our own sometimes you lead us by your spirit into desolate places where comfort is needed but your hands bring peace not our own for the places you lead us and the spirit you give us we bring this offering of thanks hear the prayer of our hearts and forgive us in jesus name and for his sake amen and so we say together now the prayer that jesus gave us in the form or language that we prefer 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 save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever amen well it's time now for another episode of alter egos this one made especially for our daffodil day yesterday [Music] a friend of mine is in hospital after eating what he thought was an onion but it turned out to be a daffodil bulb he's expected to be out in the spring wow it's daffodil day a day of encouragement and renewal oh that reminds me what renewal i need to take those books back to the library don't be silly renewal means god refreshing and restoring the church tell me what the bible says about encouragement he's never gonna give you up never gonna let you down no that's a song by rick astley who's he he was a pop singer from a long time ago i'll ask ref tea about him he's from a long time ago shush up you why don't you try doing what it says in thessalonians 5 verse 11. therefore encourage one another and build each other up okay i'll give it a try boy big g keep waving that stick around and maybe one of us will take notice and rev t keep talking i haven't slept so well in the service since you last preached hmm i've got some encouragement for you too yeah stop trying to be funny or you won't be getting any more cake i don't know how he gets away with those jokes every week but thank you to charlie and to ross of course for that episode of alter egos a few notices now for our congregation and for all of you are watching with us we've got lots of things happening as ever at central hall later today we've got in service at 11 o'clock in the great hall i'll be preaching there as well at one o'clock this afternoon is the ghanaian anniversary celebration which is happening in the orders gate room at six o'clock we have a healing service with communion and that's here in the chapel also brian will be preaching at that service well after this service uh today if you're worshiping with us live on the on youtube we have our breakout sessions as ever so you're really welcome to join that for some time of fellowship and just chatting with one another that's about half past 10 when the service finishes and you can find the link in grapevine well as always we rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep with those who weep and we continue to pray for all those who are grieving at this time those who are connected with our church and those also around the world because of war and conflict well our beautiful flowers here and have been given by and the hymn sheets as well by the ghanaian fellowship here at methodist central hall westminster in gratitude for 65 years of independence and peace and they write we pray that god will bless us and our leaders with his divine wisdom love and compassion and guide us as we pursue his plans for our homeland ghana and we assure them of our prayers too well we had a wonderful time at our first session of our lent course on thursday we had over 40 people join us for that session our next session is this thursday the 10th of march and the theme is worship and we're really pleased to be led by bob bartingdale for that he's a methodist church officer for worship leaders and local preachers and i'll be hosting that session so do join us if you can you can sign up on the website or the link for that's in grapevine as well now you've been hearing for the last few weeks about our fun and fellowship weekend we really hope that if you'd like to join us for that you've got it in your diaries however you need to book by the 13th of march that's next sunday so if you want to join us for that time of fun and fellowship where sister denise creed will be leading on the theme of well-being in the kingdom of god do make sure you've signed up for that you can find all the information you need in grapevine or if you're here for the service at 11 o'clock there'll be forms there for you then today we're going to be making a special offering for poland to help the ukrainian refugees there that be happening after 11 o'clock service if you'd like to give towards that offering you can go to give.net forward slash mchw and just mark that that is for the ukrainian refugees dr joanna williamson who is a member here at methodist central westminster and a local preacher hails from poland and she has a relationship with a methodist church in presmal in poland and they are one of the main crossing points for refugees coming in i think we have the picture of the church that you can see on the screen of that church there and so we're sending money to that church through our official uh streams and if you'd like to give something for that work just as to say mark in that giving that that's who you'd like that to go to well now it's time for our global greeting this week and it comes to us today from the reverend dr paul buffo who is the presiding bishop of the methodist church in ghana god almighty for yet another year in which we can celebrate his goodness his faithfulness his love and his blessings upon us as a nation ghana is 65 years old and we say hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah we are recounting the blessings of god upon our nation we thank him for our leadership we thank him for the citizens of this nation and we thank him for all who are within ghana and outside for which you are a part and we join you in this celebration we ask for god's blessings and god's favor upon our dear nation and upon its people may he continue to be our guide in our shield and our portion and from the methodist church ghana the presiding bishop we bring you warm felicitations and as we celebrate let us continue to give him all the praise and as we look forward into the coming year may we be protected may we be guided and may we be fed and may we receive his favor upon our president the ministers our parliament and all in governance the lord be ourselves and our portion let us pray the lord bless you and keep you the lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you may the lord lift up the light of his countenance upon all of you and grant you peace now and forevermore amen [Music] well our men our apologies that you couldn't hear the first couple of seconds of that but we uh heard that message there from the uh reverend dr paul buffo and our thanks to him for that prayer of blessing and we join him in saying alleluia well it's time now to make our offering for the work of god in this uh church you can do that by going to give.net forward slash mchw if you make it clear in the reference whether you're giving your weekly offering or if it's a designated gift to support these livestream services that just helps us to make sure it goes to the right place we've been so blessed by your generosity of your giving over the last couple of years and we do thank you for that i'm going to say an offering prayer now as we consider the work that offers that we give for the work of god let us pray god of life savior of the poor receive our money with gratitude for your goodness with penitence for our pride and dedication to your service in jesus christ our lord we pray amen well as i said earlier we had our first lent study on thursday we're looking at the methodist way of life and we just began those explorations and we're going to watch a very short video now which just introduces the way of life to us so let's watch that now the methodist way of life is our companion in our pilgrimage of faith [Music] we breathe in god through prayer praise and reading scriptures we seek to connect with the spiritual base note humming around us closeness laughing crying listening sharing breaking bread worship where the holy spirit is invited to inspire and transform our worshiping community breathes out god through its services as head teachers as cleaners as those making decisions within their community and as parents and as carers by seeing need seeking to meet it and helping those who are vulnerable to feel included in god's feast of life they turn to others needs through community outreach and fellowship we're beginning a new post kobe adventure of community support and enrichment the methodist way of life is for me a pattern a discipline of consciously breathing and breathe out the love of god a methodist way of life for me means connectivity it's a commitment to daily prayer it's my ebb and flow and so now we sing together the lenten hymn 40 days and 40 nights days [Music] 40 days throughout the [Music] oh heart soul and body [Music] give to us [Music] shall be is [Music] keep us [Music] is [Music] well our thanks to roz for recording that for us and now kate eshen is going to read our gospel lesson for us kate the gospel reading is taken from luke chapter 4 verses 1 to 13. jesus full of the holy spirit left the jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness where he for 40 days he was tempted by the devil he ate nothing during those days and at the end of them he was hungry the devil said to him if you are the son of god tell the stone to become bread jesus answered it is written man shall not live by bread alone the devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world and he said to him i will give you all your authority and splendor it has been given to me and i can give it to anyone i want if you worship me it will all be yours jesus answered it is written worship the lord your god and serve him only the devil led him to jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple if you are the son of god he said throw yourself down from here for it is written he will give command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone jesus answered it is said do not put the lord your god to the test when the devil had finished all this tempting he left him until an opportune time this is the word of the lord thanks be to god thank you so much kate for bringing us that reading well let's pause for a moment now and reflect on that reading with this short video [Music] [Music] pouring lord receive the sacrifice of a broken heart jesus what can i give what can i bring [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] you deserve my every breath for you paid the great cost giving up your life to death even death on a cross [Music] jesus [Music] for the things [Music] [Music] what [Music] what can i sing [Music] in spirit and truth [Music] [Music] lord receive the sacrifice of a broken heart jesus what can i give what can i bring to so faithful [Music] oh [Music] well with the words of that song let's pray to our god i will offer up my life in spirit and truth pouring out the oil of love as my worship to you in surrender i must give my every part lord receive the sacrifice of a broken heart and may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight o lord our strength and our redeemer amen well we're five days into lent how are you doing with your lenten discipline so far i confess that i haven't even decided what my lenten discipline is going to be this year let alone being good about keeping to it it's been a busy week here at methodist central westminster our lent study started we had the world day of prayer service on friday and of course it was daffodil day yesterday i feel as if i've barely had time to think about what i'm doing for the next two hours let alone the next 40 days but i'm already regretting not taking that time to consider my lenten journey lent is a special time each year as i travel with jesus from the desert to the cross i was able to be part of our ash wednesday service here on wednesday so i have at least begun the journey and today the dust of ash wednesday becomes the sand of the desert in our reading from luke who are you is the title that i've given to this sermon and a few weeks ago i asked you how you introduce yourself to people and in that sermon i invited you to reflect on your identity and encouraged us all that we can be known as children of god to know that is our primary identity and that week at the beginning of january our lectionary reading was the baptism of jesus from luke chapter 3. and now here we are a couple of months later only just arriving at luke chapter 4 and the temptations of jesus in the desert which follows in the bible the baptism those are the quirks of following the lectionary sometimes the baptism needed to follow soon after epiphany but the temptation needed to wait until lent anyway here we are jesus has been declared god's son at his baptism and now he is led by the spirit into the desert fasts for 40 days and is tempted the first temptation the devil says to jesus if you are the son of god tell this stone to become bread inviting him to satisfy his hunger and fulfill his own needs in the second temptation all jesus had to do is worship the devil and all the kingdoms of the world would be his and he would gain power and authority the final temptation is to test god by throwing himself from the highest point of the temple three temptations meeting his own needs power and authority and testing god in all of these temptations jesus responds by quoting scripture jesus knew the word of god and even when the devil tried to twist it round and use scripture himself jesus shows how it is more than knowing the words of scripture but it is also knowing god's nature and trusting that it is god who should guide our lives these temptations are about self-control not about self-control they are rather about trusting god jesus knew who he was and therefore he trusted and followed god and up to this point in luke's gospel jesus's identity has been confirmed by mary elizabeth simeon anna and john the baptism and in that baptism of course we heard that voice of heaven declare you are my son whom i love with you i am well pleased so we've had all of this so far in the gospel identifying who jesus is and then just in case we had any doubt at all we have the genealogy of jesus 15 verses that stretch back from joseph all the way to adam luke wants us to be very clear in our minds that jesus is god's son more than that we are to know that jesus is moving into this time of temptation with this knowledge of who he is and where he has come from god wants us to to have that same assurance that we are precious beloved children who can trust god through all the challenges of life that we too can rely on the words of scripture but i just want to take a moment to note how this time of temptation finishes in luke's gospel you might have noticed that there are no angels tending to jesus's needs rather we read when the devil had finished all this tempting he left him until an opportune time this wasn't her once and it's done kind of situation it wasn't a box to be ticked on the checklist of human experiences jesus went on to be tempted again in his life and ministry we hear that jesus prays on the mount of olives father if you are willing take this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done and later on the cross the soldiers call out to him if you are the king of the jews save yourself obedience to god needs to be a constant reality in our lives we need to be saying your will not ours to god every day sometimes the path of obedience and trust is obvious and straightforward other times it takes careful prayer and discernment and difficult decisions to know what path god wants us to take in our world we see again and again where people behave in selfish and self-serving ways where concern for the welfare of others isn't even on the agenda left alone top of the list my heart breaks as i watch the news coming from ukraine i'm sure yours does as well whilst we may feel that there's nothing that we can do we are each called to follow in the footsteps of jesus to know and trust in the word of god and to be signs of kingdom in the world one thing that we can learn from today's reading is that if our choices put our own needs first if they help us to acquire or to keep power and authority if they are testing god then they're not god's will for us we are called to live our lives in ways that put the needs of others first where we serve others with humility and above all where we trust god and the promises of his word well whatever your lenten discipline is this year even if like me you haven't decided yet i pray that as you journey from the dust of ash wednesday to the sand of the desert and on to the nails of the cross that you will know who you are in god and through that knowledge that you will have confidence to face the temptations and the challenges of life amen [Music] [Music] [Music] there will be an image on the screen as we pray you may focus your on the image as we pray or you may close your eyes let us now be united as we come in the present of our god and to plea for mercy let us now pray for ourselves and others let us pray dear heavenly father our almighty god we leave your name on high there is none stronger and greater than you we worship and we honor you o god you are our refuge shelter a strong tower and deliverer you are the prince of peace god sometimes our situation can feel like a mountain full of challenges and difficulty lord help us in our suffering and strengthen us in our weaknesses merciful and gracious god we remember those who are in trading we pray for fair trading we pray for those suffering due to unfair trading we pray for those who develop new ways of trading we pray for rules and practices of trading to be fair we pray for those making decisions about what to sell or what to buy loving god we thank you for the 65 years of ghanaian independence anniversary we pray that you will grant knowledge wisdom and skills to the leaders of ghana especially in making decisions in designing policies for the betterment of their nation caring god we bring to you the situation in ukraine we pray for president zielinski please give him peace in the midst of chaos please walk with him dear god we pray for wisdom knowledge and skills in making the rights and appropriate decisions we pray for the ukrainians for peace comfort protection and for them to be strong and united in the midst of these challenging and difficult times we pray for all churches agencies organizations and individuals who are helping refugees and migrants we pray for all charities extending their help to bring essentials to those who are affected by the war we pray for the world leaders to be united in seeking peace amongst the nation we pray for those who are ill feeling lonely and isolated we bring to you those who will undergo medical investigations procedures or treatment this week and those who are recovering from treatment and procedures lord we thank you as we begin the season of lent that you came to redeem us thank you jesus that you are obedient to the will of god that you willingly gave your own life for the atonement of our sin as we start our journey through land help us to spend more time in reading your holy scripture and communing with you by prayer and reflection lord hear us graciously hear us we offer these prayers in the name of jesus redeemer of the world and may you grant us peace amen let us now see our final hymn cut plain of israel host and guide [Music] so [Music] [Music] breathe [Music] oh [Music] [Music] i love those words from charles wesley by you're on erring spirit led we shall not in the desert stray well if you feel as if you are in the midst of the desert today and you are in need of prayer we are here and we would like to pray for you you can send your healing requests into healingprayer.team at mchw.org.uk that's healingprayer.team at mchw.org.uk we're not able to reply to emails that come in but we assure you that every single one is lifted to god by our healing prayer team and we do love praying for you so if you're in need do email us now the blessing whatever wilderness the spirit has brought you to walk in boldness as a beloved child of god walk in peace under the shelter of the most high walk in faith knowing christ walks with you and may the blessing of god father son and holy spirit be with us all evermore amen [Music] um [Music] hmm [Music] you [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] that was gerard brooks our director of music at methodist central hall westminster and don't forget we'll have another live stream service for you next sunday morning at 9 30 a.m and now may the lord richly bless the rest of your day you

Channel: Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

Views: 869

Keywords: Methodist Central Hall, Live Church Services, Church Online, Streamed Church Service, Covid 19 Church Services, Westminster, Revd Tony Miles, Deacon Ali McMillan, Healing Service, #MCHWLive

Id: 5LeIhSIC9gY

Length: 63min 5sec (3785 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022