St. Albans and Welwyn Circuit Service for 26th March 2023

by admin · Published March 24, 2023 · Updated June 10, 2024

Prepared by Mr. Graham Phillips

Call to worship Psalm 130

A song of ascents

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If you, O lord, should mark my iniquities, Lord who could stand? But here is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revere. I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch in the morning, more than those who watch in the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord! for withy the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities

HYMN StF 416 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy

We come to our prayers of Adoration and Confession Let us pray.

Sovereign Lord, your hand has touched the dry bones of our faith; your word has breathed new life where there was death;

your Spirit has raised us up from where we lay; your love has brought us home and to your cross, and by your grace we stand forgiven, free.

Hallelujah!

Your forgiveness is total – no notebook or post it note to remind you of our sin.

you take our confession offered with hands outstretched and gently like the loving heavenly Father that you are, and put it to one side to be forgotten.

No grudges, no itching for judgement, no resentment or ill-will.

Not like us, who find it easy to say ‘sorry’ but so hard to forgive absolutely.

Forgive us, Father, that we are often more willing to accept forgiveness than to forgive, more willing to accept your love than to share it with those who have hurt us.

Teach us to forgive as you forgive. Amen

HYMN StF 357 Jesus the name high over all.

OLD TESTAMENT READING

Ezekiel 37 v 1-14 The valley of dried bones

The hand of the lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them; O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.

Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open up your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know the I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord

If you wish please read the Gospel reading which is John 11 v 1-45. ‘The raising of Lazarus”

A reflection on our reading from Ezekiel

The word “apocalypse” is Greek for uncovering or revealing something hitherto unseen. Ezekiel, God’s prophet had a vision and spends time uncovering, interpreting what it means for God’s people at that time, but there is still relevance in it, and we can still ask what is God saying to us in today’s world through Ezekiel’s vision all those years ago.

To me he didn’t have much to start with, ‘a valley of dry bones lying scattered all around ‘. But God had plans for him to prophesy to these bones until they reverted to life again.

The Israelites at this time were living in exile under Babylonian rule and had been doing so for ten long and no doubt arduous years. Taken away from what they held dear, those they loved, their homes, the jobs they used to have, to work as slave labour in lands far away from their homeland. It seems to me somethings never change, slavery is still rife even in our own so called enlightened society. But through Ezekiel’s prophesy he was letting them know they hadn’t been abandoned and he would return them to the fullness of life they once knew.

The Persian king Cyrus allowed the refugees to return home around 538BC, Ezekiel’s visions gave the Israelites something to hang on to when much of their hope had drained away, they were bereft of hope, something that at times we might have felt ourselves. There are times like this, that when we are out of hope we have to have faith that God knows the future even if we ourselves are unsure.

Ezekiel sees these bones ‘dry bones’ as they are described strewn across the valley floor, more than likely the site of a long forgotten battle, bleached by the sun and picked clean by wild animals, the term ‘very dry’ gives us a clue to the length of time they had lain there, all hope gone. That’s it for them, but not for God, for God this is the beginning.

Then God asks Ezekiel “Can these bones live?”. I wonder how we would respond if asked the same question, I would guess we would say, ‘of course not’, what a ridiculous question. But it’s not any Tom, Dick, or Harry asking the question, it’s God, so, wisely Ezekiel replies “Sovereign Lord, you alone know”. The word ‘sovereign’ that Ezekiel uses shows us that God is in charge, there is nothing that happens that he doesn’t know about, God is in control. The bones in Ezekiel’s valley seemed bereft of hope, but God knew differently as he brought new life and hope to a seemingly hopeless situation.

Just when we think we are out of options God is there for us. It is a reminder of the story of the person standing right on a cliff edge when it suddenly gives way, and he/she find themselves falling down at an ever increasing rate, but some way down he/she manages to grasp a tree branch sticking out of the cliff face, they are left hanging. They yell, ”Help! Help! is there anyone about who can help me?” Nothing. Then suddenly he/she hears a voice “I can help you, I’m here”. the person hanging on to the tree for dear life asks, “Who is that?” In reply the voice says “I’m God, and I can help you.” The person on hearing this says. “O yes please I’m about to die!” Then God replies, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you, just let go of the branch.” The person dangling thinks for a minute and asks, “Is there anyone else up there?”

Does that story remind you of anyone? It could be you or me, we think we know what our future will bring better then God, we don’t one hundred percent place our trust in him, there is so often that nagging doubt.

If we can shed that doubt we will get to know God completely we will discover a God who can do what is seemingly impossible, things that are way beyond our understanding.

Ezekiel is given a role in today’s reading, he has the privilege of partaking in a miracle. As Ezekiel prophesies God adds tendons then flesh and skin and finally that most precious of gifts, he breathes life into them with his own breath when he says, “I will put breath in you, and you will come to life.”

When we hear that God breathed new life into those bodies, that same word ‘breath’ is the same Hebrew word for ‘spirit’, he breathed his Spirit into these bodies created from dry bones and brought them to life.

What God did in Ezekiel’s presence all those years ago can still happen for us today. Making the impossible possible!

Let’s Pray

Lord when all seems lost and all hope has gone out of the window teach us to trust you in those seemingly impossible situations. Breath new and exciting life into us as we let go of the tree branch in the cliff and place our life in your hands in the certain knowledge that we are assured of you being with us when all seems lost. Amen

We continue prayer mode as we come to our PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION.

Join me in a moment of silence to reflect on those things in our lives that feel lifeless.

Let’s share them with God and imagine our dreams and our hopes starting to breath, like the bones Ezekiel describes.

Let’s imagine our dreams and hopes starting to breath and coming to life as possibilities.

Let us consider what we as individuals might need to do?

Then take a moment to consider how you can breathe life into the hopes of those around you. ( Quiet )

Breath of Life, hear our prayer.

God our hope is in you. Breathe on us and our world, as you blew breath into those bones of old,

Bring life into our weariness, and joy into our despair.