Hello and welcome to our Sunday Worship page for April 26th 2020. We hope you will find everything you need here to help you take part in our worship today, whether you join us at 10.30 on Sunday or later.
As we have done over the last five weeks, we will be meeting together online on April 26th. If you want to join in with the service live as it happens, you will need to go to The Emmanuel Group of Churches Facebook Page. Once the service is over we will upload the video here and on The Emmanuel Group of Churches YouTube Channel as quickly as we can, so if you don’t manage to watch the service as it happens, there’ll be plenty of opportunity afterwards.
Here is the video of this morning’s service
Here is an Order of Service for today’s worship
Here are the words to the songs we are singing today
Stuart Jenkins has presented us with the opportunity to learn ‘a shanty and a spiritual’ this week. You can find his video for those below. Thank you to Stuart for this!
Chris Pearson offers us a Sermon for today. You can watch it below
Here are Chris’s notes for the sermon
Haydon’s sermon notes for the Facebook service are here:
Krissy Cressey has again come up trumps with a video exploring the story we are looking at today. Here it is:
She has also prepared some instructions for a craft activity for us all to look at together. This is what it should look like when completed:
And here are some instructions to help you make it successfully:
Kris Hatherly has sent us an excellent Opening Prayer for this morning. Here it is:
Opening Prayer
Creator, architect, parent, guide: we come to you today in confusing times. On the one hand we are fearful of the implications of COVID-19. On the other hand we see our world coming together. As we self-isolate we’re being more intentional about community. Political sides no longer matter. When we are weak or in crisis, we look for help. Father, thank you that there are so many people willing to help their community in this difficult time. We worship you for being with us in such difficult times. We give thanks that even when something so intimidating happens you open doors to deeper love and grace.
We come to you this morning not only recognizing you, but recognizing us. We are fragile and fearful. Rarely is this so obvious but we are being confronted with our own limitations. We are so aware that we have a finite time on this planet. We are so aware that we don’t understand everything – often even our own actions. And when we fear for our lives it’s very easy to put ourselves first. We recognize that we are human and that you are God. We don’t understand while you understand everything. And so in your great wisdom and understanding we ask forgiveness. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
God, we ask for wisdom and peace. Give us stillness and give us inspiration as we reflect on our relationship with you and reflect on your scriptures. Help us to discern your call in our lives specifically and see that you can use even these difficult times to build up good in the world. Amen.
