Last Sunday our service was again led by the Rev’d Roger Baker and he was warmly welcomed by steward Keith Harrison who alluded to Roger’s serving us well in two successive Sundays.
Roger used some words of the Psalmist as his opening call to worship and our music was again provided by Neil and Jill Barnett on the organ and key board. Neil and Jill also read the bible readings. We began by singing the much loved hymn ”Praise the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation”, written in the 17th century but as relevant today as then.
Roger then led our prayers of praise and adoration followed by a prayer of confession. Our two bible reading then followed firstly Psalm 42 which is a prayer of a man in exile who thirsts after the living God. Our second was from John, chapter seven which speaks of streams of life-giving water and in which Jesus said, ‘whoever is thirsty should come to me and drink’.
Roger in his address spoke of thirst under various headings. “We have all been thirsty” said Roger. There is that physical thirst but there is also spiritual thirst. Our bodies tell us when we are physically thirsty but we can find ourselves spiritually thirsty which only God can fulfil. Our relationship with Jesus Christ replenishes us spiritually and the Psalmist tells of three ways in which our thirst is replenished. First, we remember past times when we were at one with God, our faith was strong and God was at the forefront of our lives. Second, we should turn back to God and hear God speaking in the night. Third, the Psalmist hopes for the future and helps us to have a new confidence and trust in God. “Do we need to re-focus on God, remember the reality of times past, the presence of God in the present and express our hope for the future.
We concluded with our prayers for others and sang a loved hymn on the theme of thirst.