Fathers Day
This short act of worship has been prepared for you. I invite you to share in a few moments with God, knowing that other people within Paulton, Trinity and Chew Stoke Methodist Churches are sharing this act of worship with you.
Revd Martin Slocombe
Psalm 121
Assurance of God’s Protection
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.
Hymn – Faithful One, so unchanging www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxviwvjyg1w
Faithful One, so unchanging, Ageless One, you're my rock of peace. Lord of all I depend on you, I call out to you again and again. I call out to you again and again. You are my rock in times of trouble. You lift me up when I fall down. All through the storm your love is the anchor, my hope is in you alone.
Brian Doerksen (b. 1965)
Prayer
Sovereign God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, ruler of time and space, we praise you that we can respond to you as a father, that we can approach you, not in fear, but as your children, assured of your love. We praise you that you care for us as much as any father cares for his child, and far more besides. Your hand is always there to guide us, to provide and protect, comfort and encourage, nurture and cherish.
Father of all, we worship you.
We come to you on this Father’s Day, giving thanks for everything that fathers mean to us, and rejoicing above all in your fatherly care for us. With grateful hearts we bring our praise and commit ourselves again to your service. Amen
Gracious God, we call you Father, but we rarely live as your children ought. We are stubborn and wilful, repeatedly rejecting your guidance and betraying your love. We speak of being called into your family, but we are often a family divided, allowing petty disputes, anger, bitterness, envy and resentment to come between us.
Forgive us everything that holds us back from loving you, and everything that prevents us from sharing that special relationship with others. Help us to respond joyfully to your love and, in childlike trust, to receive the blessings you so long to bestow upon us.
Come to us now, and draw us closer to you, and to each other, as members of your blessed family.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Readings
Genesis 21: 8-21
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.10So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’11The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.12But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you.13As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ 14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ 19Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Hymn – In the darkness of the still night www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV9aLPco_Tg
1 In the darkness of the still night, in the dawning of the daylight, in the mystery of creation, Creator God, you are there. In the breath of every being, in the birthing and the growing, in the earth and all its fullness, Creator God, you are there.
2 In the homeless and the hungry, in the broken and the lonely, in the grieving of your people, Creator God, you are there. In the tears and in the heartache, in the love through which we serve you, in the anguish of the dying, Creator God, you are there.
3 In our hearts and in our thinking, in the longing and the dreaming, in the yearning of our heartbeat, Creator God, you are there. In the love for one another, in the sharing of our being, in receiving and forgiving, Creator God, you are there.
4 In our joys, our hopes, our healing, in awakening to revealing, in your call and our responding, Creator God, you are there. In our prayer and in our service, in our praise and in our worship, in your love that is eternal, Creator God, you are there.
Margaret Rizza (b. 1929)
Reflection
Two weeks ago was Trinity Sunday, when we were thinking about God as Father, Son and Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is difficult for us to understand, but then, how can we possibly put into words our understanding of a God who is beyond anything we can imagine? The Trinity is man’s attempt at understanding the nature of God, as revealed to us in Scripture, but is at best, limited to our experience of God, and the things we compare God to.
So perhaps on this Father’s Day, we need to consider more carefully the image we have of God as Father. The problem any preacher has on Father’s Day, or Mothering Sunday come to that, is that not everyone has a positive experience of
their father, and so, we need to be mindful that our human fathers are precisely that, human, with all the faults and weaknesses that we carry also. God, however, is the perfect father, and is the ideal that we, as fathers, should strive to attain.
So, our reading today is, frankly, not a great one to reflect upon for Fathers Day, if we are taking Abraham as the role model. Sarah’s motivation for driving Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, from the family home are perhaps rooted in jealousy, and a desire to protect her own son’s inheritance, which is in some ways understandable, but her actions do not sit comfortably.
Poor old Abraham. He was promised that a great nation would be created from his descendants. Inheritance and the continuance of the family line was of ultimate importance at this time in history, but he was kept waiting for the birth of a son, until it was biologically no longer possible. And yet, God made it happen. Now Abraham is being forced to send Ishmael away, and will soon be challenged to sacrifice Isaac as well. This wasn’t part of the plan that he had anticipated. Abraham is forced to choose between his son, Ishmael, and his wife, Sarah, and their son Isaac. An impossible decision for any father.
Abraham turns to God who, perhaps surprisingly, tells him to send Hagar and Ishmael into the desert, and, as far as Abraham can guess, certain death. But God reassures Abraham that his purposes will be fulfilled for both sons, and Abraham must place his full trust in God.
We may have many male role models in our lives – sportsmen, actors, celebrities as well as male friends and relations, but would we be comfortable in putting the level of trust in any of these, in the way that God asks of Abraham? Ironically, this story contrasts Abraham’s responsibility as an earthly father with his responsibility to trust in his heavenly father, who promises that everything will be OK. There is an element here, of God having a wider understanding and care for Abraham and his descendants which Abraham himself cannot see.
Are we confident enough in our relationship with God to put our trust in our heavenly Father, who sees the bigger picture, and wants the best for us at all times, despite what we might think? Some of you may be going through difficult times at the moment, and are afraid of what might happen. Putting your trust in God that all will be well is not an easy answer. Sometimes we do not have a choice, and we trust in God as the place of last resort. Other times we are challenged to choose God as the only solution to our problems. The former is a place of desperation when our own efforts have been insufficient, the latter reflects a faith and trust where we place our most treasured possession, even our lives, in God’s hands.
Does this reading leave you feeling uncomfortable in placing your trust in a God who demands more than you are willing to give? Or does it reassure you that no matter what happens, God holds us and protects us, who’s knowledge far outreaches ours, and will ensure that all will be well?
This is a story, not of the abandonment of Ishmael by an uncaring father, but of the unrivalled love between God, Abraham and his offspring, which allows Abraham to trust his heavenly father unreservedly.
Our earthly fathers should be the ones that we can turn to in times of trouble, who can help us to overcome our fears, who love us unconditionally, and protect us from all harm. We love them and put our trust in them.
We should approach our heavenly father with the same child-like trust.
Intercessions & Lords Prayer
We thank you, loving God, that yours is a pattern of love for all fathers to copy. We pray today for all those entrusted with the responsibility of fatherhood, all who have the duty and privilege of raising children, forming their lives, and offering a stable and loving environment in which they can flourish and grow.
We also pray for fathers with no sense of responsibility, failing to make time for their children, careless in offering support and guidance, casual in providing discipline.
We pray for children of broken homes who are denied a father figure, unable to establish a meaningful and lasting relationship with a male role model.
We pray for children abused by their fathers, emotionally scarred by their experiences, struggling to come to terms with their past.
Father, we lift before you today fathers and their children. Enfold them in your love, surround them with your fatherly care, today and every day.
And we pray for our families and friends, and for all those in need at this present time:-
Silence
We pray for the churches in our Circuit, this week for Farrington Gurney, and their Minister, Rev. Stephen Robinson.
Father of all, hear our prayer
Amen
Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Hymn – Father I place into your hands www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfRNrvvUfc
1 Father, I place into your hands the things I cannot do. Father, I place into your hands the times that I've been through. Father, I place into your hands the way that I should go, for I know I always can trust you.
2 Father, I place into your hands my friends and family. Father, I place into your hands the things that trouble me. Father, I place into your hands the person I would be, for I know I always can trust you.
3 Father, we love to see your face, we love to hear your voice. Father, we love to sing your praise and in your name rejoice. Father, we love to walk with you and in your presence rest, for we know we always can trust you.
4 Father, I want to be with you and do the things you do. Father, I want to speak the words that you are speaking too. Father, I want to love the ones that you will draw to you, for I know that I am one with you.
Jenny Hewer (b. 1945)
Blessing
Loving Father, full of compassion, full of grace, full of power, full of majesty; fill our hearts, minds and souls, and send us out to build your kingdom, for your name’s sake.
And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you, now and forever more. Amen
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