Sharing Sunday services

[FerminRomeroDeTorres]

Thought I’d start a new thread where we can share what we’ve been impacted by in our Sunday services each week. Whether it’s something from the preach, a particular song sung, a word from God or a kind word from a fellow Jesus follower.

I know that for some getting out on a Sunday morning is tricky, for all sorts of reasons, and for others Sundays are anything but a day of rest, either because they are serving in the church, or because they are constantly wrangling little ones and struggle to engage, so thought this might be a nice place to share encouragement with one another, and might be a particular help to those for whom Sunday mornings aren’t always a blessing - a way to share the faith of others as it were, when our own is struggling.

I’ll be leaving shortly to get down to church - I’m preaching this morning on the beauty of God.

Hi everyone, today was Exodus 2:1-10 and John 19: 25-27.
Today was about caring for others as well. I find it interesting in John that Jesus seemed to call Mary Magdalene his disciple.

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@Justmerach I thought John was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in that passage, and Jesus asked him to take care of his mother as if she were John’s own mother.

Thank you, that makes sense. I am glad that I understand this now. Thank you for explaining this InMySpareTime.

Hi everyone, today’s readings was (Ezekiel 37 1-14), (Psalm 130),(John 11, 1-45).

Today we had mostly Psalm 40:1-3, worship
as breakthrough.
Reminding us to keep praying and praising even through struggles, and to let go of pride and self-reliance because God works wonders when we let go and let Him do it His way.

Hi everyone, today focused on a walk with Jesus Christ. Today’s readings was Isaiah 50: 4-9a, Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-end,Matthew 21: 1-11.
I will quote a bit from the teaching-

“This week is holy, special, intense, a rollercoaster and that’s just for us who believe and trust in the ending. For the disciples and crowds it must have been something else – bewildering, grief-stricken and more.

Today is full of praise and next Sunday is full of praise. In between, as many stand aside, we seek to walk with Jesus through so much which sustains us on different parts of our own lives and journeys in faith.”

We had Matthew 21:1-11, no surprise there as it’s a standard Palm Sunday reading.
Topic was “Worship the king”, and we were urged to think about our place in the Palm Sunday story. Are we disciples, listening to Jesus’ words and obeying His commands? Are we the followers in the crowd, clearing the way and shouting Hosanna to the king? Or are we the Jerusalem residents, intrigued by this new figure that is attracting attention and asking “who is he?”?
Everyone has some kind of response to the message of Jesus, is it obedience, is it praise, is it surprise/wonder, or is it (looking to Good Friday) rejection?
We were asked to think about how we respond, and why we respond that way.

Absolute glorious chaos this morning! So many people we were fetching extra chairs from all round the church building (and probably breaching fire regs).
Sermon was about the facts of Jesus’ death and resurrection, with illustrations using a punctured beach ball (definitely dead), a Jenga tower (disciples weren’t lying or they’d have cracked eventually) and a jigsaw puzzle (lots of eyewitnesses make a more complete witness testimony than just one).
There was also a gospel choir and communion, and loads of tiny plastic Jesuses hidden round the church building. It was full on today.
Happy Easter everyone.

Hi everyone, today I attended two services, a dawn dusk service where fire was burnt to mark Jesus rescurrection. I have seen it four years running now. I filmed it here. I also attended the 8am service as well and listened online at 10am. The readings this week was - (Acts 10. 34-43) and (John 20. 1-18).

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ExmjIh_NB3o

Hi everyone, today’s readings was Acts 2.14 22-34, Psalm 16, John 20: 19-end.

Today the sermon focused on how and why the Gospels were written which I found interesting. I will include a bit below-

“Do remember the gospels were written at least a generation after the crucifixion and the readership they were written for. What was happening was that the people who knew Jesus, not only the apostles but people who had known him other ways, people like Martha and Mary and so on were all dying out. And the important thing to do was to get a record of his life while there were people alive who remembered.”

Hi everyone, today’s readings was (Zephaniah 3: 14-end), (Acts: 2: 14a, 36-41) and (Luke 24: 13-35).

Today was about and the Road to Emmaus and how Jesus was on a pilgrimage/retreat as well. I found this interesting and read the sermon yesterday and asked a question which my minister responded to today and included it in their sermon today. I am going to Lourdes myself for a day pilgrimage/retreat in May. I often just use the word retreat for what some see as a pilgrimage. I have been to Aylesford priory too and it helped give me a sense of renewal. The subject of pilgrims is topical now in the BBC and the Church of England. I also liked learning about the daughter of Zion and daughter of Jerusalem who were real litreal women I believe the Daughter of Jerusalem and not symbolic? I like finding inspirational women in the Bible.

“Yesterday someone asked me to explain the difference between pilgrimage and retreat in Christian life and I found that an interesting question to ponder.
Often pilgrimage and retreats can go together. Pilgrimage is about making a journey with a spiritual intention often a physical journey involving travel and often with companions. Whereas retreat is about intentionally setting aside.”

“The road to Emmaus seems to combine elements of pilgrimage and retreat, although probably the disciples didn't realize either before they set out from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It's interesting that Jesus joins them on a walking journey out of the holy city, going away from the centre. Jesus gently inquires what they're discussing.”

We had Matthew 28, about the women’s response to the risen Jesus.
The message was challenging us to nurture a spirit of awe and respect, to stop and really ponder on the impact of the risen Christ in our lives.

InMySpareTime that is good to reflect on and thank you for posting your post.

I left out a bit in the paragraph what about today about the differences between a pilgraim and a retreat. This is about a retreat-

"Whereas retreat is about intentionally setting aside
time with God, often making space in the usual pattern of our lives, perhaps about being in a particular place, perhaps about silence".

Hi everyone, the reading today was ( Acts 2. 42-end), (Psalm 23) and (John 10.1-10).

Today was about the Good Shepherd and us hearing Jesus’ voice. I found it helpful. I will quote this from below from the sermon.

"I think today's readings are a helpful reminder that we are sheep and we have a tendency to let our fears have power and to get in the way of trusting the risen Jesus, the good shepherd who longs for us to recognise his voice, If we aren't careful, we can end up following the herd rather than the shepherd's voice. And if we aren't reflective, fear can become dominant and cause us to lose sight of the abundant life to which Jesus is calling us. Try to consider how and when it's realistic to make space to hear Jesus.”

Hi everyone, today’s readings which I attended was (Acts 7: 55-end), (Psalm 31: 1-5. 15-16) and (John 14: 1-14)
Today’s sermon was based on (John 14-13) and a sonnet by Malcolm Guite. I found the sonnet moving on the theme of bereavement . I have included what was said by Malcolm Guite.

This passage is very often chosen, and rightly so, reading at funerals because it expresses both empathy and hope. I've brought a sonnet for you this morning by the poet Malcolm Guite and he writes that this is a sonnet a reflection on (John 14 1-3). And when he came to compose this sonnet Malcolm wrote "I was gathering together the thoughts and prayers of the many funerals I've taken and hoping to write something that might be helpful in opening these verses for people who choose to have them read at a funeral. So, it's entitled, "Let not your hearts be troubled.
Always there comes this parting of the waves. The best is rested from us, born away. No one is with us always. Nothing stays. Night swallows even the most perfect day. Time makes a tragedy of human love. We plead forever to the one we choose only to find forever in the grave. We have just time enough to love and lose. You know too well this trouble in our hearts. Your heart is troubled for us. Feels it too. You share with us in time that shears and parts to draw us out of time and into you.”

I listened to online and it was different sermon at 10am.
“Wherever there is life in abundance then Jesus is there in our midst and we abide in him. This is essence of understanding Jesus in our lives now.” We are to make living Jesus in our life’s real and authentic.

Today’s service was entirely led by the church Youth groups, at their request.
They led worship, readings, prayer and preaching, and even got everyone line dancing with the “church clap”.
They preached on Ephesians 6:10-20 about the armour of God, helping us stand firm in our faith.
I’m so thankful that my church has such confident, faithful, knowledgeable young people who are so bold and willing to preach the Gospel.

InMySpareTime that sounds like such an inspiring service that you had.

In the service I attended this morning, today’s readings was (Acts 17:22-31),Psalm 66:7-18 and (John 14: 15-21).
The 8am had about an inner critic voice and about Satan being a judge and accusing voice. I found that interesting and have copied some of what was said below-
“The Holy Spirit is the council for the defense. So the accusing voice is there in Jesus's world and it's also there in our souls.
Where is the accusing voice at work in your soul? But thank God that the council for the defense, the Holy Spirit is stronger. God is the light whatever name we give it, it is an infinite presence which exceeds us infinitely and is closer to us than we are to ourselves. You see, when we surrender to this greater and more intimate presence, the voice of accusation will cease. and be replaced by the voice of peace.”

Hi everyone, today’s readings was (Acts 1:1-11), (Psalm 68: 1-10, 32-35) and (Matthew 28. 16-20). Today’s sermon was about Jesus’ walk on earth and our walk on earth and how he walks with us. The minister explained to how horse chestnut flowers can be a reminder of the ascension because the flowers point upwards to heaven. Sycamore flowers can also remind us about Jesus’ humbleness because they put down to earth. I am looking forward to next week as that is my favourite time in the calendar Pentecost day.

I have copied a bit from today.
“Where do our feet take us to be those hands, those feet, those ears, those voices of Christ in the world today. That's not something that we can do in our own strength, of course. And that's why next week we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As we heard in that gospel reading, Jesus says, "Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Hi everyone, today most of the church marks Pentecost day. I think that the Orthodox church marks it next week. Today’s readings was (Acts 2 .1-21) and (John 20. 19-23). Pentecost is my favourite event in the church. I attend an 8am service in person in the church I attend has another 10am service and listen in on it as it has usually a different sermon at 10am.

At 8am today I liked this sentence from it, how we are the disciples today-

“But God's fire now ignites a new cosmic re revolution. The church, us here today.

The 10am service had a flag service where the flags showed how God extends and meets all in the world. The had some balloons with the junior church which they they tried to sweep them to the altar to demonstrate about the wind of the Holy Spirit. I liked the introduction welcome message from this service how we are all welcome with our diverties in the church.

"And at Pentecost, we remember the way God poured out the Holy Spirit on all people in all our variety, in all our diversity, that all of us are loved by God and called by name, called as the people that we are. that the way our brain sees and understands the world, the way our brain relates to others, however that may be, is something that God has gifted us with to be our own selves for God in the world."

The readings today was (2 Corinthians 13.11-end), (Psalm 8) and (Matthew 28.16-20)
Today was about Trinity Sunday. Trying to understand that it came from lived experience , The minister shared some things that might be helpful to understand what God is like They mentioned-The Christ we share which was a three way imitative involving the Methodist church. They also mentioned a book called Images of God for young children. I myself think I have bought this book on Amazon which I think is it. This is what they said on it-“I think it's a book that every adult should own as well because there's a beautiful picture on every page, and it's God is in the sunshine. God is in the trees. God is in the rain.
It's just getting us to realise that God is everywhere.

This is all I could come up with and the author wasn't given. ”Link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Images-Young-Children-Marie-Helene-Delval/dp/0802853919/ref=sr_Link 13?crid=1GELQ7YTI46RB&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.npWyUgdFIEJxBSmpehDw195zyWvELXfHwr74K2Jwmq59DpKlCVuP2wUlPGaeyTHLNhAwBQVLQSIWxt7s9JOOXbM1NXQmhPlnLink q52oNcd7uPLbrAMiW3aCIlkB4aOF9YNUdDmVlUiZWKMeoFgRbd-tOjaCYmRgDwfuqWi6oYafYPGwx26pQX9c0qrOKYmY3lYtNHzeYvV-KMIVmpN6B4HoqS0tQKZwSpGTd4Y9qn0d4.vqB4KDHVyLLink Fv6mckRjlVkQqheJWvXnA8BfhKcSxqk4&dib_Link tag=se&keywords=iMAGES+OF+GOD+FOR+YOUNG+CHILDREN&qid=1780277601&sprefix=images+of+god+for+young+children%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-3OUAxU7WUEAHc5vLR4QFnoECDsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0jDg5GWAutC2KvJiRrg9J

The Christ we share images can still be seen on Facebook most of them or Youtube. I have to say they are not a favourite of mine and may not be to everybody’s taste the images, but they can be a conversation starter and they was used for a Lent series on Facebook. Christ we share is about seeing Christ through other people’s eyes in the world. You can see some of the images if you scroll to the bottom of this page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1281781571875986&type=3&comment_id=1282156825171794
...
"There's all sorts of images that we can give that help us understand that God is just so much bigger than any human words can describe.
We're told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God in Paul's letter to the Colossian church and in the preface to St. John's gospel that no one has ever seen God. It's Jesus who has made God known. So we do get some idea of the
character of God."

I liked this from the 10 sermon-

“Following Christ does not mean imitating Jesus of Nazareth as a historical person from the distant past. Rather, it is a journey toward and with Jesus, the one who declared of himself, "I am the way, and promised the disciples that they would do even greater deeds than he did." Faith is faith in Christ is a journey of trust and courage, of love and faithfulness. It is a movement towards the future that Christ has inaugurated and to which he extends an invitation.
So it's walking a journey with the Holy Spirit as we try to walk the path of Jesus.”

“It seems to me that the concept of the trinity comes not from theological
doctrine as we usually understand the term but from Christians experience of the impact of these three aspects of our faith. It is as it were lived theology rising from our experience.”

We had Acts 1:1-11, about being witnesses for grace in the world.
The sermon was lovely, the preacher is a decided introvert and talked about how when she first came to Christ she tried to be the sort of evangelist she imagined He wanted.
She memorised apologetics and thought she had to personally save everyone, then learned through reading scripture that we are not given Holy Spirit to change our personality, but to enhance it for the Glory of God.
Instead of asking “what clever argument will convince this person to choose God”, perhaps pray for discernment on the best way to show love and bring God’s light into interactions with others.
People are rarely saved by a change of mind, rather by a change of heart, seeing the confidence we have in our identity as Children of God.
We may never know who was saved by our interactions, and that’s fine. We should show Love, Grace and Mercy to people even when we don’t see the fruits of that. God does, and delights when we make this world a little bit more like Heaven.

Sunday’s reading was (Genesis 12. 1-9), (Psalm 33.1-12) and (Matthew 9. 9-13, 19-26). The theme this week seemed to be about generosity. I listened to two sermons at that church that I attend. I liked a line from the second sermon of the day about the standard that Jesus set us and I will quote from it below which one of the readings from (Luke 8). I do record the sermons to playback for myself and to read.

Btw- I got my book called Images of God for Young children which I posted last week and I do like the book.

“Now Jesus of course was the friend of the outcast. And in the passage that I just read from Luke's gospel chapter 8, we get a clear picture of his radical attitude to the marginalised. We hear of the woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for 12 years, rendering her ritually unclean. So she was socially ostracised.

But instead of rebuking her for becoming unclean, Jesus calls her daughter. He values her. He defies the deep seated prejudices of the time and restores her community standing, her dignity and spiritual identity. It's a powerful reminder of Jesus mission to seek out the outcast and give them a place in the family of God. And this of course was at the core of his message. This is radical inclusivity.

As someone put it, this was the democratisation of healing and the breaking down of oppressive social, patriarchal, and religious boundaries that existed at the time. And throughout the gospels, we see Jesus actively going out of his way to welcome the marginalised. In doing so, he frequently crossed rigid ethnic, gender, and social boundaries which shocked those around him.”

@Justmerach I found out something about why the bleeding woman touched only the hem of Jesus’ robe.
The tassels at the corners of traditional Jewish garments represent the promises of God, and the corners themselves are known as the “wings” of the garment.
In Malachi 4:2 the Sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings, so that’s all she touched.

I didn’t get to any church services yesterday because I used all my energy setting up a wildflower planting activity (literally just at the entrance to church) and spent the rest of the day in a crash.
DH reports that the sermon was about serving in the spirit and was entitled “running on empty?” Which felt a bit close to home.

I liked learning more about the significance of this story. Thank you for sharing it InMySpareTime and I hope that you feel more yourself soon.

I listen to a few sermons on Sunday. I attend normally an 8am service and then listen in at 10am online usually to a different sermon. I listen to my childhood church sermon at 11.30am and record that for my dad. I also tend to watch St Margarets sermon and the sermon there this week was the most liked by myself about getting out of human suffering. The have the sermon online and it isn't too long so I will post it below.