Our morning’s service last week was led by Mr Mark Savill. The music was provided by our organists Neil and Jill Barnett.
“Praise the Lord, all nations! Praise him all peoples! His love for us is strong and his faithfulness is eternal. Praise the Lord” were the words of Mark’s call to worship, from Psalm 117, the shortest psalm in the bible. With loud voice we sang our opening hymn “Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne”.
After an uplifting prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving we had two bible readings, the first from Psalm 118, a prayer of thanks for victory. The second in two parts, from Acts, chapter four, and from Ephesians, chapter two. The first part told of the apostles Peter and John standing before the Jewish Council and the second in which St Paul writes about Jesus being the cornerstone of the “building” which grows into a sacred temple, so Jews and Gentiles are One in Christ.
“Jesus at the Centre” was the theme of Mark’s address. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to have confidence in humans”, was a quotation used by Mark in his opening remarks. Is Jesus the first most important thing in your life, asked Mark, and is he at the centre of your life? We are called to put Jesus at the centre of our lives for God is love and we need to let his love enter our lives and dwell in it. Jesus is the cornerstone and capstone which holds the world together and he anchors us in his love, and trusting in Jesus helps us to survive the storms of life. He is the sure foundation in which we can build our own lives and stand firm by having our lives built on the rock of Jesus. Finally, Mark asked if we would let Jesus be at the centre of our lives and rededicate ourselves to him in faith.
Mark led our prayers for others, particularly for those suffering in the war in Ukraine and the rioting in France after which we closed our service with the great hymn “In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song.”