Trinity High Wycombe and Cores End United Reformed Churches - Sermons 1 year ago. #AllAreWelcome

Introduction to the theme: Saying Thank You  I have in mind a story from the Gospel  Do you remember the story where Jesus met 10 lepers on the road  They didn't come near but said to him - "Master, have pity on us"  He told them to go to the priest and they would be cleansed  There are 200,000 people suffering with leprosy in 2020  It can be cured now but there is st...

Short Talk: ‘Faith, hope and love NOW’  Are you among the ardent youth or the mellow age?  Most of us rather mellow Thinking of our anniversary, I tried to remember what it was like being 50  I remember being 40 more than 50 I was given an axe for my 50th birthday - in a pub!  What is it like being 50 In the history of the Church, 50 is nothing really, even less in the history...

Reading: 1 Corinthians 12. 1 – 5, 12 – 13, 31 (NIVUK)   Reaction to the reading   Held together in the Body of Christ through the freedom of the  Spirit, we rejoice in the diversity of the Spirit’s gifts and uphold the  rights of personal conviction. For the sake of faith and fellowship it  shall be for the church to decide where differences of conviction hurt  our un...

Introduction for all ages – joined together  I would have loved to give each of you a piece of this 50th anniversary  jigsaw but there is nothing more annoying than a missing piece  What kind of piece would you be?  Corner, curly, straight?  I was sent a single piece this week, sent to URC ministers  Every time you reach 35 years in the URC ministry, you receive a &nb...

Reading: Luke 12 8.1 – 9 Short Talk We live connected lives  Our display connects us with many people - rich and poor, black and  white, friends and enemies  Many situations linked to us, we can not live in a vacuum  The rich man in the parable tries this, no concern for his workers, just  what to do with all his wealth - go for growth, growth, growth  It could be a p...

Introduction: ‘harvest links’  The harvest display connects us with people across the country and across the world  Sunflower oil and sunflowers to creation and Ukraine  An ear of wheat - gleaning the leftovers after harvest from the field behind Cores End church - farmers everywhere  A coin - connecting to the Queen, thinking of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her family ...

Sermon followed by time of quite reflection  We heard two parables today, the lost sheep and the lost coin  Different but vividly illustrating the truth of John 3:16 - God so loved the world that he gave his only Son  Both follow the same pattern:  1. Something is lost 2. There is a search for the thing that is lost 3. There is great joy when the thing that is lost is found&nbs...

Reading: Luke 15 vv 1-10 Talk for All ages: I remember the chaplain coming to my last place of work  Misunderstanding the chaplain referring to us as a flock of sheep  Driving home from Wales one night and a sheep ran out into the side of the road.  God loves all of us and doesn't want any one of us to be lost  Lots of things make us wander off from God: Everyday life, tragedie...

Reading: Mark 4:1-9 (Good News)  Short Address: ‘Listen’  Geese flying over the house honking  Energy and the cost of living crisis leading to lots of honking from  politicians at the moment  A call to listen is at the heart of our worship today  To listen to the world around us and to God's voice  Wordplay from Jesus in the parable "If you have ears, listen"&nbs...

Opening Prayer Introduction to Season of Creation for all ages: ‘Listen up!’  September sees the beginning of the season of creation  Celebrated across the world by people from all kinds of backgrounds  Christians in Pakistan suffering from floods  Christians in East Africa suffering the worst drought in years Christians in Germany meeting at the council of World Churches Chris...

Introduction for all ages; ‘Awesome!’  What comes into your mind when you hear the word "awesome"?  Teenagers maybe?  It's a word for us all What do you find awesome?  Or is the world so jaded we have lost our sense of awe?  Sunsets, nature, God, Tour de France riders Awesome people: Skydivers, wheelchair racers at the Commonwealth Games, Malala Yousafzai Awesome nature: S...

Address:  What have we come to as we sit here or watch from home?  A building where people have gathered Sunday by Sunday for 122 years -  almost 9000 Sundays!  A place where the service is uplifting, the music empowering, the  preacher engaging?  A group of people yes, but also this awesome God  Political leaders come and go, wealth fades, athletic prowess &nbsp...

When have you had to face something you didn't like but knew was going to happen  Not knowing when or why, what were your emotions  This is what Jesus was feeling in the gospel reading from Luke 12  He doesn't welcome the idea of what will happen in Jerusalem but accepts it  Jeremiah says many people claim to speak from God but are false prophets  He says the community is...

Opening Prayers and Lord’s Prayer   Introduction for all ages How many of you have one of these - an Apostle Spoon?  Whenever we visited an Aunt in childhood, a set of these would come out  to look at I bought a set of 6 many years ago, all but one disappeared now  They were originally given as gifts at the time of baptism as a symbol  the person was a follower of Jesus or...

Reading Hebrews 4.14 – 16 NIVUK 14   Talk: ‘Hold on!’  "Grace to help us in our time of need"  As we look at the world right now, we see a time of great need The Ukraine, China, Taiwan, The Other Western Nations, The Climate  Emergency, Environmental Need, Displacement due to conflict, the refugee  crisis, doubt in the democratic process as our government attempts to &nbsp...

Reading: Psalm 98 NIVUK    Reading: Hebrews 1. 1 – 8 NIVUK  1  Introducing the letter to the Hebrews (video)  Summary of the reading and letter to the Hebrews

Introduction: a word from Lighthouse  What is Lighthouse?  When is it?  Where is it held?  Who is involved?  What do we do?  How can you help?

Sermon: “Ask and you will receive”  These familiar words are used just after the Disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray   They highlight how important it is for us to ask, seek, knock and pray Why do some people say prayer is irrelevant  Looking at prayer in the context of our relationship with God  Finally thinking about the nature of God that sets the words in context&...

Talk for all ages: “Teach us to pray”  We are glad it's not as hot as last Monday and Tuesday  When it's that hot, it's hard to even think, one just wants to be still and get through it  Think about a time when you had to learn a skill  Sometimes the learning is successful, sometimes not Learning to tie shoelaces?  Learning to play the piano? Learning to drive?  In th...

Reading: Luke 4.14 – 21 (The Message) All age talk: ‘The Time is now!’ What a moment that must have been - that synagogue where Jesus read the words from Isaiah saying what he was about  For the United Reformed Church, this is seen as a jubilee year, when we want God's time to shine  Anniversary socks from the URC Ministers' gathering What else can you buy that's URC branded - soap!&nbsp...

Introduction: ‘Time!’  We make it or waste it  Where has the year gone?  Coming in 2 minutes early  Time to stay for refreshments afterwards  Watching the clock too much?  Images from the James Webb telescope, seeing images from things that happened thousands of years ago in the Southern Ring Nebula  8 minute for light from the sun to reach us  Do you have t...

Address: How to live a good life which honors God  The two bible readings could hardly be more different Separated in time by about 800 years, the tone of the two is markedly  different  Amos wrote his prophecy in around 760BC some 20 years before the better  known Isaiah  Amos didn't see himself as a prophet, not employed by anyone important,  he worked the land.&nbs...

Talk with all ages - Prophets  Our first reading will be from one of the Old Testament Prophets  Do any of our young people understand what prophets  One that prophesies, something where you spend money to make more money  Homophones and prophets/profits We all profit from the wisdom of the prophets  Prophets weren't actually telling the future, their job was to tell it &n...

Take a deep breath, relax, be conscious of the in-breath, hold and then release  Slowly breathe in and out feeling the air moving  Difficulty living with asthma  The breathing of the church  The church as Institutions and people of God Inviting others to come and breathe in the love of God  Living our christian and human lives day by day  Keeping in balance  Jesu...

Opening Prayers with response    Introduction: ‘receiving and sharing the gift’  Good to be back home  Think for a moment about a house - a childhood home, where you live today, a holiday home, a tent, a famous place  Buckingham Palace, the Queen welcoming a refugee from Peru at her recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations  Jesus sending out 72 disciples out to visit villa...