Lead: 4 Oct 2020

1. WELCOME

Covid-19 Regulations

We have a seating capacity of 340, which means we can seat up to 75 on Sundays

Please contact Antoinette during the week and register for the coming Sunday

For those who are unable to attend, we are now recording the sermons and uploading to YouTube and Facebook. Audio recording will also be posted to the Whatsapp group

Wearing a mask is compulsory

Sanitizer has been placed at the doors with spare masks

Sanitizer has been placed in the toilets and paper towels in place of towel

The church is sanitized before and after each service

We must keep a register of everyone attending - please be patient

Please practice social distancing when standing in the queue to get in, and when entering the foyer

Every second row is for seating

Please sit behind the yellow stickers

Families may sit together

We sill be singing, but there will be no worship team up front leading us with instruments. We will be playing selected hymns and worship songs from YouTube with lyrics.

We can sing, but face masks must be worn at all times

We will take up a collection. The ushers will bring the offering bags to you, but instead of passing the bags down the isles, they will walk between the pews where nobody is sitting

We cannot offer communion meals yet

After the service, please remember to practice social distancing when leaving the sanctuary and don’t crowd the foyer or the doors

We cannot offer tea or other refreshments after the services.

2. OPENING READINGS

Psalm 134 ESV

A Song of Ascents. 1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 2 Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!

Isaiah 25:1–9 ESV

1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 2 For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners’ palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down. 6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

3. PRAYER

Praise & Thanksgiving

We exalt and praise your name

Your faithfulness has continued throughout this long lockdown and period of separation

You have been a stronghold to the poor and needy, and a shelter from the storm

Supplication

We think of our brothers & sisters now from our congregation who have gone home to be with you

We pray for their families in their time of grief, and for each other as we mourn the fact that in many cases we were not able to say our goodbyes

May all of us find comfort in the fact that they have gone home to the place that you prepared for them in heaven

We thank you for their lives and their testimonies while they were with us, and for your great salvation through our Saviour, Jesus Christ

We thank you Lord, that you have made for them and prepared for us a feast of rich food and well aged wine

We praise you Lord Jesus, because you have swallowed up death forever, and will wipe away every tear from the faces of your people

As we begin to gather again as a body Lord, we find joy in being together and with one voice rejoicing in your salvation.

And now Lord, please help us as we wait for you.

Please forgive us our sin, and give us mercy.

Please be gracious to us and strengthen us.

Please lift up our eyes to see Jesus, even now as we meet with you this morning in this place, and fill us with strength and joy, comfort and peace, and renewed commitment to you and to each other in unity in your Spirit.

May our time together this morning uplift our souls and encourage us, and give us strong confidence in our holy God.

You are holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty. Your word never fails, and your faithfulness endures through all the ages and forevermore.

Amen.

TAKE A MOMENT IN SILENT PRAYER TOGETHER AND THANK THE LORD FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO HAVE PASSED INTO GLORY.

4. OPENING SONG

Holy, Holy, Holy

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pastoral Activities

Lockdown has made pastoral work challenging

We have tried to obey the letter and the spirit of the law and avoid gatherings

Pastor Siya has been contacting our members by phone and many of us have been in contact with each other through WhatsApp and other means

The church Whatsapp group with daily devotions, prayers and messages, and weekly sermons has gone well and has kept us going

It was never a perfect solution, and we are not perfect shepherds

We are aware that there are many ways in which we found the situation difficult and have not done enough

So at this point, speaking now on behalf of the elders, we want to ask your forgiveness if we have not given you the care that you need.

If we have in any way failed you, failed to reach out to you, or made it feel uncomfortable for you to approach us, then please forgive us.

We invite you, if you have any grievance or concerns or any needs, to come and speak with us so that we can talk and pray together.

6. WORSHIP

How has your personal walk with the Lord been during lockdown?

If we have to take any positives out of the past few months, one thing we hope that it has done is give us a better appreciation for the gathering of the church on Sundays.

When we gather, we gather to worship the Lord and give thanks to Him and get encouragement and wisdom from His word.

But in another sense, we also gather for each other’s sake.

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So, hopefully, we all felt the void that was created by not being able to gather and encourage one another. Yes, we were able to worship God at home, and listen to the sermons at home. It was a necessary temporary arrangement for our physical safety, but God has united us in one and the same Holy Spirit and as one body to worship Him together as one body.

So have you found yourself drifting from God and from the church?

Have you found your love for God’s Word or for the Church to be growing cold?

Have you fallen into temptation, or been drawn away from God by the cares of this world?

Have your troubles caused you to seek help in places other than God, or to seek refuge in places away from God?

Have you found yourself doubting God, or blaming God for your situation?

Then you are in the right place this morning.

Hopefully these songs of worship will be of encouragement to you, as well as the message that Pastor Siya has prepared for us this morning.

1. Before the Throne of God Above

2. How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

3. Come Oh Sinner

7. OFFERING

8. SERMON

Psalm 130 ESV

A Song of Ascents. 1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

9. CLOSING SONG

His Mercy is More

10. BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.