大象传媒

大象传媒 Radio 4. It鈥檚 ten past eight. Today鈥檚 Sunday Worship comes from the Keswick Convention in Cumbria. It鈥檚 introduced by John Taylor and Anna Putt. (0鈥�10鈥�)聽
Anna:Good morning.聽 This week, Christians of all ages and denominations are here in the Lake District town of Keswick, taking part in a 3-week summer Convention which has been running for over 140 years.This year the Keswick Convention is back in person (as well as online) and for the first time ever we are meeting in the historic pencil factory.聽 We are part way through the Derwent project which has sought to unify the convention on one site so that all generations, children, youth and adults old and young can meet together and worship the Lord. What a joy to be able to sing together once more even if the congregation is wearing masks!This week our worship is being led by Colin Webster and Phil MooreSong: Great is thy faithfulness
Song 1 鈥� Great is thy faithfulness Author: Thomas O. Chisholm (1923) (Faithfulness)
John:聽There is so much in our lives that has been uncertain in recent times and in life we can sometimes find that even those closest to us let us down. And so, it is precious indeed to be reminded that we have a God who is with us, who knows us intimately and loves us, who is utterly dependable and completely faithful to his promises and to his people.聽
Let鈥檚 pray together
Dear Father in heaven,Open the eyes of our hearts this morning we pray that we might see you as you truly are. That we might recall your lavish kindness to us, that we might remember your constant care for us, that we might know your mercy afresh today.聽
Song 2: Ten Thousand Reasons: Jonas Myrin and Matt RedmanCopyright: 漏 2011 Shout! Publishing, sixsteps Music, Said and Done Music and Thankyou Music (PRS), admin. in the United States and Canada at EMICMGPUBLISHING.com, sixsteps Music and Said and Done Music admin. at EMICMGPUBLISHING.com, Thankyou Music admin. worldwide
Anna:Our first reading is from Deuteronomy 6: verses 4-9Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Anna:Let us come before the Lord now in prayer;Holy and Merciful Lord we confess our unfaithfulness before you, we have followed after the desires of our own hearts rather than seeking your ways.聽 Yet your great ways are faithful, steadfast, eternal so we ask for your grace to be bestowed upon us, restore us to your ways everlasting and grant us your peace.
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 sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.Amen.
Song 3: We have a lamb (Phil Moore and Glen Scrivener) CCLI Song # 7154491漏 2020 Phil Moore Songs (Admin. by Song Solutions www.songsolutions.org)
聽ANNA: We鈥檙e hearing a lot about God鈥檚 faithfulness and his promises, especially in the music of today鈥檚 service. God鈥檚 goodness is something we鈥檝e had to hang on to during these past months, and life remains uncertain for us all. One family who have found God faithful through trying times is Elizabeth and her daughter Rebecca. A little earlier they told me about how they suffered a deep personal loss just before lockdown:聽
UNSCRIPTED INTERVIEW
Song 4: SOLO: A DAY WILL DAWN Cornerstone Worship UK Colin Webster & Phil Moore
JOHN:
Father,聽You are God of all the earth and we bring to you today this world that you made, that you sustain and that you love. Your wisdom and kindness made this world good, and you are the one who gives us every good and perfect gift, and for that we give you our thanks and praise.
But Father, this year, we have seen maybe more clearly than ever that this world is broken.聽Father, we are so thankful for all of the progress that has been made in stopping and treating the virus and we are so grateful for your promise that one day 鈥� There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away鈥�.聽Father, you are our hope, you are our anchor, you are our rock.聽
Song 5: We have an anchor - Original words: Pricilla Jane Owens & music by William James Kirkpatrick (public Domain).聽聽Additional words & music by Colin Webster & Phil Moore (C) 2017 administered by songsolutions
John:聽This morning鈥檚 reading is from Psalm 78: verses 1-8. Steve Moore, a local church leader is going to read for us and our preacher this morning is Alasdair Paine who is a trustee of the convention and the Vicar of St Andrew the Great Church, in Cambridge.聽Steve Moore:Psalm 78My people, hear my teaching;聽 聽 listen to the words of my mouth.2 I will open my mouth with a parable;聽 聽 I will utter hidden things, things from of old鈥�3 things we have heard and known,聽 聽 things our ancestors have told us.4 We will not hide them from their descendants;聽 聽 we will tell the next generationthe praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,聽 聽 his power, and the wonders he has done.5 He decreed statutes for Jacob聽 聽 and established the law in Israel,which he commanded our ancestors聽 聽 to teach their children,6 so the next generation would know them,聽 聽 even the children yet to be born,聽 聽 and they in turn would tell their children.7 Then they would put their trust in God聽 聽 and would not forget his deeds聽 聽 but would keep his commands.8 They would not be like their ancestors鈥斅� 聽 a stubborn and rebellious generation,whose hearts were not loyal to God,聽 聽 whose spirits were not faithful to him.
Alasdair Paine: Address:I wonder if you鈥檝e noticed how amazingly easy it is to forget family history?聽- I realised a while ago that I struggle to name my great-grandparents.聽 Even though they鈥檙e the people my own grandparents called mum and dad!- and I think of all the experiences they must have had in life, which I don鈥檛 know about - even though their lives will, one way or another, have shaped mine.- it wasn鈥檛 that long ago I discovered one of my gt-grandfathers was wounded WW1, left for dead, recovered, married nurse!- what a treasure!聽 But how quickly family history is forgotten!聽Psalm 78 is about the need for the Old Testament people of God - the Israelites - to remember their family history, which they, too, were in danger of forgetting.- and in their case, it wasn鈥檛 just something to look into on a rainy day.- their history was one in which the living God had been at work.- as the Ps writer says:聽 We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD.聽For this one little nation had had something happen to them that had happened to no other nation on earth.- the living God, the Creator of everything, had made Himself specially known to them, and done amazing things for them.- they had experienced, up close and personal, the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD.聽Their story had begun when the Creator of the universe had - for reasons known only to Him - picked out just one man, Abraham, not at time a follower of God at all.- and introduced Himself to him, and made a special friendship with him, like no other.- and gave him a son (amazing, since for years Abraham and Sarah had been childless)- from whom came the nation of Israel, this whole people with whom God had this special relationship.- and by the time this Ps was written God had grown and grown them in number,- & then rescued them from slavery in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea & then the desert, and then brought them in to the land He had promised them.聽聽Along the way there had been amazing events: the parting of the waters in the Red Sea, God鈥檚 supply of water and manna in the desert, the walls of Jericho collapsing and more.聽- God would go on and give them a king - David who as a young man famously fought the terrifying Goliath.聽- these and many more episodes in Israel鈥檚 family history were the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD which the psalm writer wanted everyone to remember.聽And why?聽 NOT just so as to be patriotic, as in a citizenship test!- but because these were how the living God had made Himself known to them:- almighty, at work in the world, actually drawing close to people and rescuing them.- so - know the family history, and you will come to know about God Himself.聽Now: this is our family history, too!聽 For when God called Abraham, He promised him that all nations on earth would be blessed through him.- the story of Israel鈥檚 history continued with prophecies of a great rescuer-king to come, a Messiah, who would come from King David鈥檚 line, who would be born in Bethlehem, who鈥檇 have a ministry in Galilee, who鈥檇 do wonderful things.- and yet who would suffer and be executed, treated like a criminal, before rising from the dead and being a light to people all over the world, far beyond Israel鈥檚 shores.聽And so Jesus came, perfectly fulfilling all these expectations.- and by His death He opened up the way to friendship with God for all who trust in Him, and, risen from the dead, sent His Spirit to be with His church, all over the world.- if today you are a follower of Jesus, that is your and my family history - jam packed with the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD!聽And what the Psalm writer calls his own generation to do, surely we must do too - we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD.聽You see if we don鈥檛, they will be forgotten.聽 In fact, in my experience I think a lot of people who reject Christianity don鈥檛 actually know what it鈥檚 about.- that was my own experience, and it was only when friends bothered to explain it to me that I realised what I鈥檇 been missing.聽And what a wonderful, vital true story we have to tell!聽 Of how the Bible, though it is written by many different authors over a span of perhaps more than a thousand years, has one great storyline, pointing to Jesus.聽A true story of how God showed Himself to be the true and living God by making promises which He then fulfilled.聽Of how God sent His own only Son into our world, and how Jesus makes God known to us, not from a distance, but in a real human life.聽Of how, by His loving, saving death, Jesus Christ came to deal with our sins, and offers full and free forgiveness to all who turn to Him.聽A true story of how the risen Jesus is at work today, building by peaceful persuasion a vast world-wide family, a great multitude that no-one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.- which is a truly world-wide family!聽 One that crosses cultures and cultural barriers- one of the great joys of travelling the world is meeting Christians across cultures!聽This is a family history worth telling!聽 Because this family history shows us the living God.It is life-transforming.聽 In fact, when I first had it explained to me I remember being a bit cross, thinking, 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 anyone tell me this before?鈥澛燬o will we pass this on - to those around us, and the next generation?聽 At home I have a little bookmark with a Bible verse on it, 鈥淲e love because He first loved us鈥�, 鈥淲ith love and best wishes from Great Grandma!鈥�- I wonder what she was thinking when she gave me that?聽 I think she wanted me to know the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.聽聽If you and I have the immense privilege of knowing Jesus, what can we be doing to pass on the news of the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord to the next generation?- it might be the gift of a Bible - or a book explaining the Christian faith.聽 It might be telling them your own story, of how Jesus has worked in your life.- it might include praying for some of the many youth events, including here at Keswick, which happen each summer where the next generation is told the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
Hymn:聽 Tell out my soul the greatness of the Lord - Author: Timothy Dudley-Smith (1961)Tune: WOODLANDS (Greatorex)
Anna:Almighty God we do indeed give you great praise for your wondrous deeds, may our souls tell out your greatness to all the world.聽 May your unnumbered blessings to us give voice to our spirits.Help us, to pass on the news of your praiseworthy deeds to the next generation.聽聽May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,who loved us and by his gracegive us eternal encouragement and good hope,encourage your hearts and strengthen youin every good deed and word.Amen.