SUNDAY MAY 17
WHERE IS YOUR GOD?
WELCOME
A warm welcome!
When we own our faith in Jesus Christ and are open about it, we open ourselves up to the taunts of others. Taunt’s like this one which might be directed against us in times where our life’s circumstances are particularly hard or depressing – ‘Where is your God?’ Jesus faced these kinds of taunts when he was being crucified. Little did those who mocked Jesus realize – God was the one they were taunting. Our first song ‘Meekness & Majesty’ is all about what makes Jesus so gloriously God. Take in the words. Own them by faith. Especially the words of the chorus which tell us where true life, everlasting life is to be found. ‘Bow down and worship, for this is your God.’
PRAYERS
Some prayers for children to pray
Dear God,
thank you that you have the whole world in your hands
and you care for each one of us here today.
Please grow us to be more like the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Heavenly Father,
I can see that all is not good now in the world I live in.
But because you are good I can trust you in all things.
Help me to believe the good news about your Son Jesus.
Thank you that because of his goodness I can be part of your family.
Amen.
A prayer for hearing God’s word read and taught
Lord God, as we read your Holy Word,
give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
so that we may know Christ better.
Open our minds and soften our wills
until our hearts are still before you;
Speak Lord! Your people are listening. Amen.
BIBLE READING
Psalm 42-43
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation 6 and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
11 Why are you downcast, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
SONG
Here is a song based on Psalm 42 - ‘As the deer’
TALK
Discussion/Reflection Questions:
1. What was something interesting or shocking about these Psalms?
2. Discuss any questions you have
3. Have you ever felt far from God?
4. What did you find helpful about these Psalms in your own walk with Christ?
5. How can you use these Psalms to care for brothers and sisters in Christ who are struggling?
6. How might we take up these Psalms honestly when we are in a good place with God? And why might it be a good thing?
A time for crying out to God to forgive us and help us
When Jesus met a Samaritan women at a well where she had come to draw water, he told her that what she was looking for in male affection could only be found in him and the eternal life he had come to bring us. So often our longings for work success, social acceptance or even family affection can function in the same way. Often when we are in trouble our inner voice tells us, ‘we have to have this or we won’t make it. This must happen or all is lost.’ The assumption is that God alone will not be enough – some other circumstance or condition or possession is necessary to be happy and secure.
Confession of our Sins
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father
we have gone our own way, not loving you as we ought,
nor loving neighbour as ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed
and in what we have failed to do.
We deserve your condemnation.
Father, forgive us.
Help us to love you and our neighbour,
and to live for your honour and glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is God’s love towards those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
FINAL SONG
CLOSING PRAYER
Merciful Lord, teach us to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the changes and chances of this world,
our hearts may surely be fixed
where true joys are to be found,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.