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Sunday Worship from Northern Ireland, introduced by Ruth Jennings

Script may not be as broadcast and may include various production notes and possible errors. It is provided as a guide only for those who wish to refer to the service content.

RUTH JENNINGS

Good morning and welcome to Belfast. You鈥檙e joining me here on the banks of the Lagan nestled between icons of our ship building heritage: on one side, we have the great yellow cranes of Harland and Wolff, named after the Biblical strongmen, Samson and Goliath and then on the other side, lies the Titanic slipway. Behind me is the SSE Arena a multipurpose venue which caters froe everything from ice hockey to touring musicians to pop concerts to ice hockey. But this week end it鈥檚 playing host to Sing! The Great Commission brought to us by Keith ad Krysten Getty, hymnwriters from here inn Northern Ireland and together with their bands, guests and the new Irish Choir and Orchestra , the stage has been set, thousands have gathered, so let鈥檚 sing the Great Commission .聽

Music聽 Come Christians, join to sing.

RUTH The Psalmist wrote:

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

So we pray:

God who is God of no beginning or end

God - more real than everything we see around us

God on whom all else depends

Constant, righteous Father

You are the stunning, absolute, giver of truth, goodness and beauty.

Glory to you. You chose and created us

Glory to you, who became human

Glory to you, who died as our substitute.聽

Glory to you, for resurrection and new life.聽

Glory to you, who makes us holy.聽

Glory to you, for you have promised to return!

It is our delight to sing to you - and in this way, to display your beauty to the world.

Yet we admit that our singing can be joyless and careless, without thought or enthusiasm. Protect us from devaluing the precious gift of worship in this way.聽

And we often sing without thinking of what we鈥檙e doing as a means of witnessing to your grace, truth and love

Have mercy on us, we pray

But help us to proclaim your Gospel as we sing.

May our minds be sharpened with the knowledge of your counsel.

May our emotions be warmed by your unconditional love聽

And may our voices always sing your praise.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord聽聽

Amen

MUSIC 2 His mercy is more or Amazing Grace

RUTH The theme of this year鈥檚 Sing Conference is Sing the Great Commission when after this Resurrection Jesus told the disciples.聽

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. And He also said you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth

Now we might not usually think of Singing the Great Commission. So why did Keith Getty choose that theme?

Conversation with Keith Getty

Music 3聽 聽When I survey the wondrous cross

RUTH

The writer of Psalm 130 is in despair, yet he realises that God鈥檚 love remains unfailing while Sr Paul in the 8th chapter of the letter to the Romans assures us that nothing can separate us from that love.

READER

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;

Lord, hear my voice.

Let your ears be attentive

to my cry for mercy.

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,

Lord, who could stand?

But with you there is forgiveness,

so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,聽

聽and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord聽 more than watchmen wait for the morning,

聽Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love

聽 and with him is full redemption.

聽He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

READER聽 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all鈥攈ow will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?聽 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.聽 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died鈥攎ore than that, who was raised to life鈥攊s at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.聽 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

鈥淔or your sake we face death all day long;

聽 聽 we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.鈥�

聽No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.聽 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,聽 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

RUTH And our next hymn takes up that theme, Christ our hope in life and death, and after that the Very Rev David Bruce will lead our reflection.

Music聽 Christ our hope in life and death

VERY REV DR DAVID BRUCE

Many years ago I watched a news report which showed a widow of the troubles standing at a graveside mourning the death of her murdered husband, shot while attending a service of worship in church. I鈥檓 not quite sure what the mourners present that day expected to see in this intensely personal and private space, but what I saw has remained with me for decades. Her hands were lifted high in praise to God, and she sang. Her face, tears and all, was radiant. Her posture of joy-filled faith in the presence of the deepest human trauma and grief at the loss of her loved one ought to have been incongruous, but strangely it wasn鈥檛. And neither was this some kind of religious escapism. She was doing what was entirely natural, for someone regarding her circumstances through the lens of faith in Christ, her risen Lord. In this particularly toxic moment of tension, it amounted to an audacious act of defiance against the evil she had witnessed. Deep grief called to deep evil and testified to something far greater than both.

To be human is to be in trouble, and to be a Christian is to be a person determined to live through it. You can鈥檛 always fix things or change the story. There may not be a medication to take or a policy to change which will make things better. As missionary pioneer Elizabeth Elliot聽 鈥� the widow of a husband martyred for his faith wrote while reflecting on the hard knocks that come in a life of faith: 鈥渢he secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances鈥�. Christian faith of the kind that endures, has a depth which acknowledges and deals with suffering.

Of course the Psalms are full of such lived stories of people struggling to find or maintain faith in God while navigated the most desperate of times. Deteriorating mental health, politically inspired oppression, institutional injustice, persecution, bullying, threats of violence and even death, illness and despair 鈥� it鈥檚 all there, and you can hear it in the language the writers use. 鈥淥ut of the depths I cry to you Lord, Lord hear my voice鈥�. 鈥淟et your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy鈥�. 鈥淗ow long Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from, me?鈥� These words and this language do not hide suffering away as an inconvenient truth 鈥� something incompatible with a life of faith, to be concealed, or even denied, as if they are shameful, and a sign of deep personal failure. On the contrary, these hard experiences are taken by Scripture as the rough fabric of human life, and are shaken open, hung on the line and aired for all to see. And once out there on view, these things become a testimony 鈥� a story which counterintuitively testifties to the reality of hope. The depth to which these experiences point, is simply the height inverted, as Scottish theologian PT Forsythe explains it. It led him to say that the worst thing that can happen to a person is to have no God to cry to, out of the depth. And it is from this basic position that we are taken to a new place, in the company of the writers of these Psalms. It was in all likelihood King David who wrote 鈥淗ow long Lord? Will you forget me forever. Long enough God! I鈥檝e looked at the back of your head long enough!鈥� But at the end of Psalm 13 he is saying, 鈥淢y heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord鈥檚 praise for he has been good to me.鈥� Sing? Really? His anguish becomes a testimony as he sings the praises of God, from the depths.聽

This journey from despair to hope 鈥� from mute anguish to joy-filled singing聽 is not trite, even if it is puzzling at first sight. This is the deepest of all human journeys. The Hebrew exiles saw its difficulty when goaded to sing the praises of God when everything they had known and trusted had been taken away from them. As a crowd of uprooted and homeless refugees they asked the question of their tormentors, 鈥淗ow can we sing the Lord鈥檚 song in a strange land?鈥� as they wept by the rivers of Babylon. But their anguish becomes a testimony when later, they were able to reflect: 鈥淭hose who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy carrying sheaves with them. Songs? Really? Their anguish becomes a testimony as they sing from their hearts with joy.

When Jesus taught his disciples to go in his name and bring the good news of the gospel to all nations he was commissioning a piece of work which would change the world for ever. This was not a project of self-improvement, but of self-denial. Not a gospel of positive thinking, but of truthful acknowledgement of the awfulness of the human condition. Not an affirmation of the rich and powerful, but a reclamation of the lost and the broken. In short this was the offer of hope, resting firmly on the foundation of his own suffering, death and then resurrection, which gives us the permission we need to sing from our hearts with joy in his name, especially when the human circumstances we face don鈥檛 warrant it.聽

Keith and Krysten Getty鈥檚 version of the hymn !He will hold me fast鈥� captures it well 鈥� as it includes these words:聽

When I fear my faith will fail

Christ will hold me fast

When the tempter would prevail

He will hold me fast

I could never keep my hold

Through life's fearful path

For my love is often cold

He must hold me fast

He will hold me fast聽

For my Saviour loves me so

He will hold me fast

May this testimony of hope in Christ be yours, even if the texture of your life today is hard. Those who sow in tears will return with songs of joy.聽

Amen.

READER We pray Lord God for Christians all over the world, that you will give them grace to fulfil their mission; that they may be faithful in preaching the Gospel, compassionate in concern for the suffering and courageous in their witness for truth and righteousness so that your Kingdom may be furthered and your name glorified.

READER聽 We give you thanks for the countless numbers who, throughout the ages, have produced music to your glory and praise. For the inspiration of those who compose it, the skill and devotion of those who perform it, and the gifts you鈥檝e given that help us participate in it.聽 We ask for your continued blessing on all who make music to honour you; composers and poets; instrumentalists, conductors and soloists; singers in choirs and congregations - together, may they magnify your glorious name and witness to your love.

READER聽 聽We聽 pray for our world and again think of those areas where people are living with hunger, uncertainty, tension and the consequences of violence. Lord may your peace come,聽 Guide those who lead and rule; support and comfort those who are the victims of brutality.聽 Give us courage to speak up for those whose voice is unheard and for those who live in fear.聽聽

READER聽 聽We remember the sick and suffering, the uncertain and the unsure, the hungry and poor, the sad and lonely, the dying and bereaved. May they know you peace and power.聽 Help all of us, in love, to ease their pain and distress.

We offer these and all our prayers in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord

RUTH聽 Thank you for joining us from Belfast and may God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit guide, bless and keep you.

MUSIC 6聽 聽IN CHRIST ALONE