Welcome to our worship on this 27th June 2021. When we face difficult situation in our daily lives, do we ask ourselves “What would Jesus do in these circumstances?” If we did, would our attitude to serving others be more full of kindness and grace?

Call to Worship

We are here to worship God,
To know the warmth of love,
To have the assurance that someone cares,
To be confident of our worth,
To be bold to love in return,
To be washed over with grace,
To be accepted as we are:
This is to know God.
Then let us worship God.

HymnCH4 130; Ye Servants of God, your Master proclaim.

Prayer of Approach

Almighty God, this is a day of blessedness,
when we take the opportunity to come to you,
to give thanks for Your goodness and grace.
This is a time when we pause, to take note,
to see and know all that is around us,
and to give thanks for Your many blessings.
We are blessed with life, the living, breathing life which is Your gift to us.
We are blessed with creation, the beauty and wonder which is beyond our comprehension.
We are blessed with love, the ability to give love, and the joy of receiving it.
We are blessed by Your Love – a challenging love; a rebuking love; a healing love; an accepting love,
As the light of Your blessings shines upon us today, may we focus on You,
acknowledging that you are the centre and foundation of our lives.
May we be drawn closer to You in the warmth of Your Spirit.
Tender God, the God who keeps loving us despite our failures,
we bow our hearts and minds in humility,
trusting in your forgiveness,
leaning on your promise of welcome.
Remind us to appreciation and give thanks for each other,
remove judgemental thoughts from our minds,
that we will follow the example that was shown to us by Jesus.
And hear us as together we speak the words that Jesus taught us,

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name, 
thy kingdom come, 
thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our debts, 
as we forgive our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, and the glory, 
for ever and ever. Amen.

Scriptures

Mark 5:21-43
A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. ²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ ²⁴So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ ²⁹Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ³¹And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’ ³²He looked all round to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease.’

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ ³⁶But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ ³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.

Psalm 123
To you I lift up my eyes,
   O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
As the eyes of servants
   look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
   to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
   until he has mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us,
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
Our soul has had more than its fill
   of the scorn of those who are at ease,
   of the contempt of the proud.

Hymn 510; Jesus calls us here to meet him.

Reflection

Anyone who knows me, will know that I am a Street Pastor. I am passionate about listening to, helping, and caring for the people that we meet on the city centre streets at night. I would like to tell you of two encounters on the same night. As we walked down the Bridges after midnight, we saw a well-dressed young man asleep in a bus shelter. When we woke him, it was apparent that he was very drunk. His phone was ringing so we answered it, to the dismay of his very distressed wife. He was clearly well-to-do in his cashmere coat but was vulnerable and in need of our help. We waited with him until his wife came with the car to collect him.

On George Street, we regularly meet the same homeless people. One of them, I will call him Jim, told us when we last met that it would be his birthday on our next patrol night. We baked him a cake and brought candles. He was in his usual spot, we lit the candles and started to sing happy birthday. Many of the young revellers on George Street joined in. Jim was all smiles, enjoyed the attention and was delighted that we had remembered. A small gesture but a big impact.

These were two people obviously from different walks of life, but both vulnerable. As Street Pastors we feel called to serve God, and in difficult situations, we ask ourselves “what would Jesus do in these circumstances?”
In our reading today from Mark’s Gospel, we have a story within a story—the story of the woman with the haemorrhage set within the story of Jairus and his daughter. Jesus is dealing with people of vastly different standing. Jairus is well-to-do and influential, while the unnamed woman is financially impoverished and a social outcast. Jesus does not favour one over the other. He neither rebukes Jairus for his money and social standing nor ignores the woman because of her poverty and marginality.

The woman is considered to be unclean but in faith she believes that she can be cured by touching Jesus’ garment. She does this quietly and secretly thinking that Jesus will not notice but, of course he does, so she tells him the truth. Jesus openly and in front of the crowds tells the woman that because of her faith she has been healed. By doing this Jesus lets the gathered people know that she is no longer unclean thus improving her status in the community.

All the while Jairus is waiting to take Jesus to his dying daughter. How must he be feeling? Perhaps a bit resentful towards the woman. Then the news comes that his daughter is dead and Jairus probably feels desolate and hopeless, but Jesus offers hope “Do not fear, only believe”.

With his select few, James, John, Peter, Jairus and his wife in attendance, Jesus tells the little girl to get up. We read in the Mark’s Gospel “At this they were overcome with amazement”. Something of an understatement for Jairus and his wife, I am sure you will agree.

They are told not to share the news that the daughter has been brought back from death. Why does Jesus do this? Jairus is a leader in the synagogue, where many of the leaders oppose Jesus but Jairus is a believer. Is Jesus trying to protect him? Or is it a matter of timing?  While Jesus would disclose more fully to his disciples the meaning of his messianic mission, he would reveal to the crowds only what they were prepared to understand.

Psalm 123 is about service and servanthood, and it begins by telling us who we serve. It tells us to serve God, but not by giving us a list of possible jobs and tasks that we could do in the church or the community. There is much less interest in our actions and more so in our attitude while we serve.
There are so many ways to serve. Think of a father helping his son with his homework and the husband who cooks supper for his family. Think of all the people who do the various tasks that make it possible for this church to run; tasks big and small, obvious, and upfront, behind-the-scenes and invisible, menial and not glamorous. We see the results, but we do not see the effort. The point is that service is not a narrow slice of life; rather, service is at the heart of much of our everyday life. There are lots of ways to serve, and most of us spend a lot of our time serving in one way or another.

We are not always thanked for the jobs we do. Either the job has gone unnoticed, or people just do not feel the need to make a big deal out of it. And this can really discourage us. Maybe we wonder whether we are doing a good enough job. Maybe we would just be grateful for even one kind word. Maybe we just want to know that our efforts are appreciated. Sometimes it goes further, and people respond in a negative manner. They tell you how the job could have been done in a better way.

This is why it is crucial that our first response to being criticised or not being thanked for our service is prayer. When we face criticism or when we feel frustrated that no one has noticed our work we can turn to the first verse of the psalm: “To you I lift my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens.”
When we see someone giving themselves to service, let us be encouraging. We are called to encourage one another and build one another up—and being built up is not the same thing as giving someone a big head!

We are called to serve one another so that through such mutual service and encouragement we can all follow Christ more closely and faithfully. Jesus is our example. Jesus came to serve. He came to do the will of our God who wants us to serve for the right reasons and with the right attitude. This is why the Psalm is not about what we do to serve but rather about who and how we serve. We are each called to serve one another out of the love for the Lord, not for the praise of people. We serve others, that is true, but God is the ultimate recipient of our service because our service is a part of our worship of Him.
Amen

Prayer of Intercession

Lord, our Rock and Redeemer, thank you that you know us, and you love us. Your Word says that your people are to love one another, serve one another, honour, and teach one another, and build one another up. Bless us so that we can fulfil these commands and help each other grow in faith.

We pray for those who are anxious, isolated, lonely, or grieving because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We pray for all for whom social distance, self-isolation or shielding has caused separation from the ones they love. We pray for those who are suffering because of the impact of the pandemic on their lives, their jobs, and their financial position.

We pray for the places around the world where COVID-19 seems to be out of control and for their politicians who are trying to control the epidemic. We pray that countries who have good supplies of vaccines, and the medical equipment needed may be generous in offering help to those most in need.

We lament the stigma and prejudice that infects our attitudes. We pray for all who have not been made welcome in our churches, our communities, our homes, or our hearts. We remember especially the homeless, prisoners, the poor, members of minority ethnic groups, the marginalised, and all those who suffer because of exclusion, prejudice, discrimination, rejection, bullying, or cruel words. We pray for those who struggle with addiction due for alcohol, drugs, and gambling.

We pray for all who care for the sick and the dying, for members of therapeutic communities, for charities and support projects. We pray for those who undertake research and for those who seek to plan, build, and deliver better, more effective, and more compassionate health services.

We pray for relatives, friends, carers, and all who struggle with the impact of ill health on relationships, homes, and families. We pray for those who suffer ill health in old age, for those whose memories and faculties are taken from them by dementia, and for those who care for them.

Help us to listen well that we may be bringers of wisdom, kindness, faith, hope and love. We pray that our churches may be places within which we welcome, nurture, encourage and include one another, and in which we do not tolerate stigma and prejudice.
We give thanks for the members of society who willing and voluntarily give their time, talents and donations to help those less fortunate than themselves.
May we know your presence with us.

We offer these prayers through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Amen

Hymn 527 – “Lord make us servants of your peace”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66L78JfkqxA

Closing Prayer

We need you, loving God, in every moment of every day; lover of all, we are conscious of our need of you and one another; with a wish to play our part in your mission and yet recognizing our own frailties. We ask that by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit we may love you and magnify your holy name as we go about our daily lives, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen