Churches Together in Saffron Walden
An account of the United Service during
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2008
held at Abbey Lane United Reformed Church
Sunday January 20th 2008
with a Children’s and Young People’s Worship
in the Saffron Walden Salvation Army Hall
Theme
######
Working Together, Unity in Diversity, and 100 Years of Prayer
As the Congregation gathered for this Celebration the organist played “Songs without words” by Mendelssohn
Abbey Lane church was packed with folk from all the 9 churches of the town. The elderly lady next to me said “Is it not wonderful, and they tell me it’s going to be annual in future “.
Just after 10.30am Rev Murray George, minister of Abbey Lane Church welcomed us all and quoted as Call to Worship Psalm 34
I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
2My soul will boast in the LORD let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.
We sang together a Hymn of Charles Wesley (1707- 1788) chosen by the Methodist Church
All praise to our redeeming Lord,
Who joins us by his grace
and bids us, each to each, restored,
Together seek his face.
He bids us build each other up
And gathered into one
To our high calling’s glorious hope
We hand in hand go on.
The gift that he on one bestows,
We all delight to prove;
The grace though every vessel flows
In purest streams of love
Ev’n now we think and speak the same
And cordially agree
Concentrated all, through Jesu’s name
In perfect harmony
We all partake the joy of one
The Common peace we feel
The peace of sensual minds unknown
A joy unspeakable
and if our fellowship below
In Jesus be so sweet,
What heights of rapture shall we know
When round his throne we meet!
There followed an introduction by Murray George
He said that 100 years ago in down town San Francisco
some Christians met to pray led by Father Paul Watson of the Episcopalian Franciscans .
Whether it was the ongoing sufferings of the people due to the earthquake 2 years before; the ever changing world or the movement of the Holy Spirit, they met to pray together,
For the world, and for each other and for Christian Unity.
So began the Annual International Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
We have not achieved organic union of the whole Church but we have learned to understand each other better. We can now worship together and work together and support each other.
So we celebrate 100 years of praying and working together and of the work here in Saffron Walden and so let us rededicate ourselves to move forward together.
Our children and young people are worshipping together beside us in the Salvation Army Centre.
Let us seek to know one another better
Let us bear the burden of each other’s failure
Let us love one another.
Then Sheila Bidnall from the Religious Society of Friends led us in prayer.
The Revd Simon Mattholie, Chair of Churches Together in Saffron Walden spoke next to us referring to “ his dog KATIE. A Jack Russell cross Fox Terrier has a tendency to wander off chasing rabbits.
Each of our churches are distinct and unique We veer off to the left or to the right like Katy instead of being focused together on our task
of being one that the world shall believe, Our united purpose is Mission
He said “ I don’t want to go to Heaven just leading a lot of Baptists, but leading a lot of you, of us, Christians of all kinds with a lot of new ones
building up Christ’s kingdom together.
Our Covenant brings us together. Pray that what is written here will be our reality in 2008. Amongst the Church leaders there is a hunger for mission. Lets all share that together”
The Congregation then read the Covenant Together
We then sang a hymn chosen by the members of New Life Church
In Christ alone my hope is found
he is my light, my strength, my song
this cornerstone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest, drought or storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
when fears are stilled when strivings cease,!
My comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! Who took on flesh
fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
scorned by the ones he came to save,
Till on the cross, as Jesus died
the wrath of God was satisfied
for every sin on him was laid;
here in the death of Christ I stand.
There in the ground his body lay;
light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day
up from the grave he rose again!
and as he stands in victory
sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me,
for I am his and he is mine -
bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
this is the power of Christ in me;
from life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus command my destiny
No power of Hell. No scheme of man
can ever pluck me from his hand
till he returns or calls me home,
here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
Written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
Copyright 2001 Thank you musicadm.
worship together.com songs
At this point stewards waited upon us for the collection on wooden platters of the offering that was donated for Christian Aid projects around the world. During this the organ music played by organist John Evans was “The Gadfly” by Shostakovich
There followed the reading by
The Revd Lee Batson of John 17 verses 9-23
. 9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13"I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17SanctifyB them by the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. 20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
We then sang the hymn chosen by Members of the Salvation Army
God of burning cleansing flame Send the fire!
Your blood bought gift today we claim
Send the fire today!
Look down and see this waiting host,
And send the promised Holy Ghost;
We need another Pentecost
Send the fire today!.
Send the fire today!
God of Elijah, hear our cry; Send the fire!
And make us fit to live or die
Send the fire today!.
To burn up every trace of sin
To bring the light and glory in
The revolution now begin!
Send the fire today!.
Send the fire today!
It’s fire we want, for fire we plead: Send the fire!
The fire will meet our every need;
Send the fire today!
For strength to always do what’s right,
For power to walk the world in white
Send the fire today!.
Send the fire today!
To make our weak hearts strong and brave, Send the fire!
To live a dying world to save:
send the fire today!
Oh, see us on your altar lay,
We give our lives to you today.
So crown the offering now we pray
Send the fire today!
Send the fire today!.
SEND THE FIRE TODAY!
Pastor Jonathan Burton then spoke to us.
===============================
on UNITY IN DIVERSITY & UNITY IN MISSION
What follows is based on notes written down as he preached taken.
“It is good to be here today, or is it?”
Unity in Diversity ?-
The others seem a bit odd
Why should we not stay where we are? It would be easier, wouldn’t it?.
Unity and Mission ?
The World Council of Churches sprang out of a Mission Conference of the International Missionary Council, which then merged with the World Council of Churches.
The aims of the WCC are not to build one super church all thinking the same but to co-operate in mission and human service and endeavor and advance towards unity that the world may believe.
Together we are one church with One mission
The Mission is to win people to Christ and his Kingdom, not to transfer people from one congregation to another. We are to be fishers of men not fish tank keepers transferring from one tank to another.
JOHN chapter 17, Our Lord’s prayer for his church is critical and crucial for us all.
We are founded and established and urged to have faith in the TRINITY.
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, all equally together God
UNITY IN THE TRINITY
======================
The TRINITY expresses Unity in Diversity.
I have here a tripod for my camera, My camera relies on all 3 legs being in place, Remove one leg and the tripod collapses and the camera falls.
We need to have faith in the 3 persons of the Trinity we cannot do with trusting only two. Jesus the Son is united with his Father, and the Holy Spirit comes from them both to us to unite us with them. There is only One God but God is made up of three diverse persons with specific roles but all equal and together GOD.
John 17 v 21 declares “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
As Christians we are each and all united into the Triune God.
The Trinity Model is our model for the church on Earth
We are The Body of Christ
In him we are one Church however many denominations are part if it.
The Trinity Model of diversity in unity is the model for mission
Jesus wants us to be perfectly united verse 22 -23
“that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me”
The community that is the church is to reflect the Trinity
We have diverse beliefs, traditions, habits, rites, ways of worship but we share in the fact that there is only one way of salvation.
2 UNITY IN DIVERSIRTY
===================
Our Unity already exists. Christ’s body cannot be divided
If as the church we concentrate on our divisions we cannot properly function as Christ’s body on earth
We have to work on our unity
Some churches doing that, have merged together, but worldwide there are about 22,000 denominations. Surely there cannot be that many causes for division?
Are we happy working together in prayer and action
UNITY IN MISSION
=================
What do we have to offer the world if we cannot pray and worship together? .
If we cannot be united where does that leave the world?
Our work does not work well if we are not working together
We should live out our visible unity.
In many areas of the Church we don’t do that!
Does the world see our unity, or our wrangling, our irrelevant divisions.?
Locally our church unity is seen working such as in THE WELL and VBS
but we need to do more.
We must not just be building our church
but GOD’S CHURCH, and there is only one.
Our real purpose remains to build the Kingdom of God
we must lift our eyes above the organizational problems and see the job that we are called to do.
We are called to be united in mission
joining God in his mission to the world
ACTIVE IN UNITY
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We then sang the hymn chosen by members of the Catholic Church
Make me a channel of your peace
Where there is hatred let me bring love;
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord;
And where there’s doubt true faith in You.
Chorus
Oh Master grant that I my never seek
so much to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel for your peace
Where there’s despair in life let me bring hope
Where there is darkness let me bring your light
And where there’s sadness, bring your joy
Chorus
Oh Master grant that I my never seek
so much to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love with all my soul
Make me a channel for your peace
For when we give ourselves we will ourselves receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And in dying that we gain eternal life.
Chorus
Oh Master grant that I my never seek
so much to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
to be loved as to love with all my soul
Written by Sebastian Temple
Copyright 1967OCP Publications/Adm. By Calamus
A time of responsive prayers of intercession was led by the Revd Simon Mattholie
We sang our final hymn as chosen by members of The Anglican Church
The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord:
She is his new creation by water and the Word
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her and for her life he died.
Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the Earth,
Her charter of Salvation, One lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food
And to one hope she presses with every grace endued.
‘Mid toil and tribulation, and tumults of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace for evermore
Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest,
And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on Earth has union with God the Three in One
And mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.
Happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we
Like them the meek and lowly on high might dwell with thee
Written by Samuel John Stone ( 1839 - 1900)
Revd Murray George then gave us The Blessing and we all poured outside into the sunshine to the organ music of Bach’s Prelude in C minor (The Great)
Some to stand and converse, some to have refreshments in the United Reformed Church Hall or collect their children from the Salvation Army Hall or walk quietly reflectively home.
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