Words by David Hollows
Praise our God
From Psalm 147:
It is good to sing praise to our God; it is pleasant and right to praise Him.
A hymn of praise from St. Francis of Assisi to lead us into our time of praise. Please say the words:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was and who is to come. Let us praise and glorify Him forever. You are worthy, Lord our God, to receive praise and glory, honour and blessing. Let us praise and glorify Him forever. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive divine power, wisdom and strength, honour, glory and blessing. Let us praise and glorify Him forever. Bless the Lord all you works of the Lord. Let us praise and glorify Him forever. Praise our God all you His servants, honour Him, you who fear God, small and great. Let us praise and glorify Him forever. Let heaven and earth praise your glory; all creatures in heaven, on earth and under the earth, the sea and everything in it. Let us praise and glorify Him forever.
Amen
Photo by Joshua Earle via Unsplash
Praise – time; please now spend as much time as you wish in singing your favourite hymns and songs of praise to God. You may wish to start with:
Great is Thy faithfulness (Hymns and Psalms 66)
Please now say the Prayer of General Confession then spend the time thanking and praising God for all His blessings to you this week:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred, and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. Be merciful, O Lord, to us, miserable offenders. Spare us, O God, as we confess our faults. Restore us who are penitent according to your promises declared to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. And grant, most merciful Father, for His sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous and sober life, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen
From the Bible please now read Psalm 42
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God.
(Psalm 42 verse 5b)
Praising our God in song is part of the Methodist DNA as we are so good at this part of worship. And singing was a unifying force of society almost 40 years ago in Estonia where the people had lived under Soviet occupation for decades. The singing of patriotic Estonian songs began a movement which birthed a ‘singing revolution’ and this played a key role in restoring independence to the country in 1991.
Music can also play a significant part in helping us all in our daily living. We know that biologically chemicals are released into the brain when we sing to lift our spirits and when we sing together as one group of people then our heart beats are synchronised. The Psalmist reminds us that when we praise God, He comes and inhabits the praises of His people.
In Psalm 42 Asaph, the worship leader, is expressing through the Psalm his disillusionment during a dark period of his life and he has to remind himself how to resolve this; Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my God and my Saviour. The Gospels share with us another type of revolution when those who were expecting to be released from occupation were given a Saviour who was either accepted or denied. The Easter story is very much one of revolution as God used His only Son to restore those to Him who chose to be saved and set free to live life in all its fullness as promised by Jesus. We are part of this revolution.
In our own challenging times of Covid19, may we join with the psalmist with a singing revolution which overwhelms personal despair and worry with faith-fuelled confidence in God’s great love and faithfulness.
Photo by Christopher Sardegna via Unsplash
Challenge: How do you respond when life is overwhelming?
What songs bring you most comfort and why?
Your response:
Father, I thank you that your mercies are new every morning and Your faithfulness is great. Help me to sing the song of your great love, even when I must sing through my tears and pain.
Amen
(The message above is adapted from a message written by Bill Crowder and published in Our Daily Bread on April 20th)
Please say this prayer as you now spend as much time as you need praying for others and finish your time with The Lord’s Prayer:
This is my song, O God of all nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my hope, the country where my heart is, this is my hope, my dream and my shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams that are the same as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, the sunlight beams on clover leafs and pine; but other lands have sunlight too and clover, and other skies are just as blue as mine.
O hear my prayer, God of all the nations, a prayer of peace for other lands and mine.
The Lord’s Prayer
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash
Praise-time; you now can choose to spend as much time as you wish in singing your favourite hymns and songs to God. You might like to include:
To God be the glory (Hymns and Psalms 463)
A prayer for you to repeat:
Through every minute of this day, be with me, Lord. Through every day of all this week, be with me, Lord. Through every week of all this year, be with me, Lord. Through all the years of all this life, be with me, Lord.
So shall all the days and weeks and years be threaded on a golden chord and all draw on with sweet accord until your fullness, Lord, that so, when time is past, by grace I may, at last, be with you, my Lord.
- (John Oxenham)
The blessing of Moses:
The Lord bless you and keep, the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance and give you His peace.
Amen
Thank you for sharing your worship with us. If you would like to produce a worship resource for us to use, please contact Rev. David Burrow.
God bless you