Listening and Doing

Listening and Doing

(Luke 6.46-49)

Things to bring...

- 12 piece jigsaw, (with pieces from another jigsaw)

- hand and ear acetates

- hand and ear cardboard cut-outs

- text cards

- song tape

- tape player

- Good News Bible

- service sheets--

- news sheets

Welcome and Notices

Opening Prayer

Can we please stand now to say together our opening prayer. It's on the top of the inside of our service sheets. Please join in with the words in bold.

The grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

Lord, direct our thoughts,

teach us to pray,

lift up our hearts to worship you in Spirit and in truth,

through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Song:

The theme of our service this morning is listening to God, and then acting on what we have heard - listening and doing. And so our first song is number 463 May the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day.

Confession

Please sit or kneel to pray now as we ask God's forgiveness for our sins. The words of our confession are in the service sheet.

God our Father, we come to you in sorrow for our sins.

For turning away from you, and ignoring your will for our lives;

Father forgive us:

save us and help us.

For behaving just as we wish, without thinking of you;

Father forgive us:

save us and help us.

For failing you by what we do, and think and say;

Father forgive us:

save us and help us.

For letting ourselves be drawn away from you by temptations in the world about us;

Father forgive us:

save us and help us.

For living as if we were ashamed to belong to your Son,

Father forgive us:

save us and help us.

God's word of forgiveness

The Bible declares: Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs have been pardoned. To them the Lord says, 'I will teach you the way you should go.' Be glad and rejoice because of what the Lord has done.

Collect

God our redeemer,

you have delivered us from the power of darkness

and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:

grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,

so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Jigsaw Activity

Ask two children to assemble a 12 piece jigsaw on the OHP. (Unknown to them, one piece has been substituted with a piece from another jigsaw).

Talk

From time to time it's good to take stock of our lives, and ask ourselves, "Is there anything missing?", ...or "Is there too much?".

One of the most exciting things about coming here to Allesley Park, is seeing the number of people who have decided to have a go at something. I know many people found themselves having to take on new responsibilities during the interregnum, and others have taken on new roles since we arrived here.

Some of these have been long-standing church members, but others are people who have not been involved with church for so long.

Only this week, one member of the church told me how much she was enjoying a new job that she'd taken on, and what a sense of achievement she was getting from doing it. She may have been a bit anxious about the responsibility to start with, but she was prepared to have a go, ...and she's very happy with how well it's working out.

And there are many people both here and at St. Christopher's who could tell you a similar story, ...they're excited by doing something new.

Perhaps you feel that there's a piece missing in the jigsaw of your life, ...something you've wanted to do, (either within the church, or elsewhere), but you haven't had the courage to act upon it. Well, if you are in that situation, make sure you have a word with Graeme some time - he's always keen to give people opportunities to use their gifts, or discover new ones!

But others of you may be feeling quite the opposite, that there are too many pieces in your jigsaw.

(Add extra pieces)

Life is just too full to enjoy it.

I remember a time when Graeme was working at Courtaulds which was particularly stressful.

We worshipped at Holy Trinity, and we were involved in quite a number of activities there.

- We led a housegroup,

- and helped with a drop-in centre,

- and organised parish weekends,

- Graeme set up a new computer database,

- and we both worked with a youth group.

And we loved every minute of it,

...but then Grame hit a particularly busy spell at work, and was asked to do a lot of overtime. He really enjoyed the work, ...and found the project he was working on to be very fulfilling.

And then our first baby was born. And he was delightful, but he didn't sleep much during the first nine months.

We'd both be up during the night, ...Grame would be going to work half dazed, ...staying late to work overtime, ...then straight to a church meeting in the evening. Meanwhile I was stuck at home finding it hard to cope with a baby who seemed to need a lot less sleep than I did, and still play my part in church life.

In the end, something had to go. We just had too many pieces in our jigsaw.

Graeme certainly feels that the last thing he wants is for anyone to think that just because they do something in this church, they've got to do it for life.

Again I'm sure there are people here today who are doing too much.

And sometimes people have had the courage to say that they want to give something up, so that they can make more space in their lives. That's fine!

Perhaps you feel that there's too many pieces in the jigsaw of your life, ...that you need to get rid of some of them, (either things you do within the church, or elsewhere). Well, if you are in that situation, again please make sure you talk to Graeme about it.

Others may feel you've got just the right number of pieces.

But there's something that you too need to take stock of. ...are they the right pieces.

The children who made the jigsaw this morning had the right number of pieces, ...but one of them didn't fit.

For a balanced life we need different types of pieces.

I'd like you to listen carefully to our Bible reading, for here we find two things that Jesus said were important. And after the reading I'll ask if you spotted them.

? Reading: Lk. 6.46-49

Talk

Ask children what two things Jesus said were important. If they get them right, ask them to come out to the front to wear the big hands, or big ears.

One very important piece of our jigsaw is to listen to God.

(OHP)

We can listen to God through prayer. Prayer is not just talking to God, ... prayer is a conversation with God, ...and as with any other conversation, at times we need to stop and listen. Trying to sense if God is saying anything to us.

We also listen to God as we read the Bible, ...asking God to speak to us through his written word.

But in the jigsaw of our life, their needs to be some pieces where we are listening to God.

Another important piece of our jigsaw is putting what we hear into action.

(OHP)

That was the whole point of Jesus' parable.

There's no point in listening to God, if we don't then do what he says. People like that are like foolish builders, who build a house on sand.

We need not just to be hearers of Gods word, but do-ers also.

In the jigsaw of our life, there needs to be some pieces where we put our faith into action.

Songs:

Our next song reminds us of the need to have space in our life to listen to God. It's number 50 Be still, for the presence

And in our next song we are reminded that when we hear God's word, it should make a difference in our lives. It's number 389 Jesus, you are changing me

These same two issues of listening and doing crop up in the children's story that I'd like us to listen to now.

It's told by Roy Castle, and it's based on the true story that we read in the Bible, about what happened when Jesus visited two of his best friends.

One was called Mary, ...and the other was called Martha.

Story Tape

Mary and Martha

Talk

Ask the two children with the big ears and hands to come back to the front.

N is like a cartoon picture of Mary, because what she liked to do was to sit and listen to Jesus, and she could listen to him for hours.

She probably liked listening to all sorts of people, and she may have been the kind of person that people could easily talk to, (because they could see she was interested in them).

Mary's idea of cooking was probably beans on toast, and she probably didn't notice the dust in her house until she could write in it!

Y is like a cartoon picture of Martha, because what she liked best was doing things for people, and making sure that they had everything they needed. Her idea of cooking a meal would probably be a roast dinner with all the trimmings. If you wanted something done, you'd ask Martha.

Who are you most like.

Are you more like Mary? or are you more like Martha?

Let me ask the children first. Children put you hands up if you're like Mary, ...you like listening to people rather than doing things.

...and put your hands up if you're more like Martha.

(Repeat for the adults, and comment on the answers).

I started this service by saying that from time to time it's good to take stock of our lives.

We all need a balance in our lives, ...and so the sort of challenge we need to hear, will depend on whether we are more like Mary or Martha.

Those like Mary need to hear those words of Jesus which we heard in our Bible reading.

Some Christians come to church regularly, they're good at listening, ...but that's as far as it gets. ...Don't be like the foolish builder, but like the wise one, who built is house on rock, ...by listening to God, and then putting those words into practice.

Those like Martha need to hear those words of Jesus that we heard in our children's story.

Some Christians are so busy doing things that we just don't take time to listen to God. ...Slow down, ...and spend more time with him.

On your seat you should have found one of these little yellow cards.

On it you'll find those two passages that we've been thinking about this morning.

Take that card, and pop it into your pocket, your wallet, handbag, ...or whatever.

And sometime this month, try to find half an hour when you can be alone, ...away from the family, the TV, the telephone. Ask God to help you to take stock of your life, then read those two passages.

What does the jigsaw of your life look like?

Statement of belief

And now, can we stand to declare our faith in God in the words at the bottom of the service sheet.

Let us declare our faith in God:

We believe in God the Father,

from whom every family

in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son,

who lives in our hearts through faith,

and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

who strengthens us

with power from on high.

We believe in one God;

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Song:

And now, recognising that we rely on God to help us make the jigsaw pieces of our lives fit together, we sing number 133 Father I place into your hands the things that I can't do.

Prayers

Can we sit to pray now please.

Humankind has been brought into life by God. We owe our very existence to him.

Let us pray to him now.

We pray for each living person

inhabiting our world with us,

with all the needs, emotions and experiences we share.

We pray that we may recognise one another as brothers and sisters

sharing the same heavenly Father.

Silence

Lord in your mercy

hear our prayer.

We pray for greater reverence for God's creation in the way we use and manage

resources and wildlife.

Silence

Lord in your mercy

hear our prayer.

We pray for all of us in the ship of the Church, that whenever storms rock the boat and appear to threaten us,

we may trust God to bring us safely through.

Silence

Lord in your mercy

hear our prayer.

We pray for the work of Christian Aid as they seek to make your love known to those without food, shelter or other basic needs.

Silence

Lord in your mercy

hear our prayer.

We pray for those who have chronic illness and have to live in constant pain.

We ask for God's comfort and reassurance to support them. And from our new sheet this week, we pray for Sarah Glenn, Ricky Richards and Katherine.

Silence

Lord in your mercy

hear our prayer.

Merciful Father,

accept these prayers

for the sake of your Son,

our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

And can we say the Lord's Prayer together now.

Lord's Prayer

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 sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom,

the power, and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

Song:

And in our final song, we ask God to forgive us for the times when we behave foolishly. It's number 111 Dear Lord and Father of mankind

Blessing and dismissal

And now a prayer of blessing:

The Lord bless us and watch over us,

the Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us,

the Lord look kindly on us and give us peace;

and the blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be among us and remain with us always.

Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ. Amen.