Sermon Tone Analysis
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WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
Waking up this morning,
we see a new day has dawned.
Let us raise our hands in thanksgiving
for the wonders of being alive,
for the 24 brand-new hours in which we are now living,
and the possibility of so many, many more.
HYMN
Lord for the years your love has kept and guided (STF 470)
PRAYERS
Wonderful God,
thank you for the sensations of sacred breath,
your miraculous gift of life to each one of us.
We lift our hearts to you.
Our souls sing with joy.
May we know your presence in all our challenges,
and may our thankfulness pour out of our lives.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Creator God, loving Saviour, living Spirit,
we celebrate your generosity
in receiving all that we would give you.
We rejoice in your generosity
as you pour out, you’re blessing on all you have made.
We commit ourselves to reflecting your generosity in our lives,
by giving the best of all we have and are wherever there is need.
Amen.
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Please, forgive us, faithful God,
when we fill the rooms we enter with negativity, not warmth.
Forgive us, and bless us
Forgive us when we justify our reluctance to give and share.
Forgive us, and bless us
Forgive us when we are slow to express gratitude,
and take what we have for granted.
Forgive us, and bless us
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
Ever-giving God,
we sometimes close our hearts to you and to others;
but your heart is always open,
pouring out your grace and love,
filling our lives with the fragrance of forgiveness
and friendship,
wiping away our fears and our regrets,
and receiving the thanks we would offer you.
May the trickle of our praise become a torrent,
and may the whole world be filled with your truth.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
THE Lord’s Prayer
HYMN
Take my life and let it be (STF 566)
READINGS
Isaiah 43: 16-21
John 12: 1-8
HYMN
Love divine, all love excelling (STF 503)
SERMON
There is an old story about a young couple who had no money I mean they were flat broke; it was coming up to Christmas and they wanted to celebrate their love for one another.
The only thing Jane had of any value was her lovely long hair as at the time there was a need for human hair to make wigs.
So, she sold it to buy Tom a chain to go with his pocket watch.
When she got home, she obviously had to tell Tom what she had done.
Then it was Tom’s turn to look shyly at her and hand over a couple of really nice slides for hair!
How did he afford them he sold his watch!
I bet they fell about laughing and although the gifts were now of no immediate use, they were defiantly an example of sacrifice and thankfulness for one another, and the preciousness of their relationship.
Thanksgiving is extremely important in the Old and New Testament we see time and again the best things are given to God in thankfulness for all God has provided.
From the very beginning we see an example of true giving from Able compared to the gift of Cain that God rejected it is the attitude that counts.
We often celebrate important family events.
We invite friends and relatives to enjoy the food and festivities.
It usually costs, and sometimes it cost a lot!
The average wedding cost around 25K!
Celebration is a way of saying a big thank you for a blessing we don’t want to take for granted.
Saying grace before a meal is a smaller, and for some people daily, ritual of thanksgiving, a pause in the daily routine to say thank you to God for the means of life.
and we renew our intention to share our own blessings with others.
The point is, being thankful, and giving thanks to God is the right response to the blessings we have.
In this chapter of John’s Gospel, John permits us to feel the tension building as Jesus leaves his retreat at Ephraim and begins his final march on Jerusalem.
It’s just over a week before the Passover and Jesus chooses to break his journey at Bethany.
The place of his recent miracle in raising Lazarus, it will provide him with further encouragement as he prepares for the fearful trial ahead.
So, Jesus arrived at Bethany.
A public meal is being held in his honour, with Martha, predictably severing, and Lazarus is among the guests.
We can recall how John showed us at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, which began at the wedding feast in Cana when Jesus performed his first miracle.
And now as he moves to the close of his ministry on earth we are at another social occasion at Bethany.
The mood though is strikingly different.
At Cana, Jesus and the disciples had attended the launch of his mission, the bringing of the new wine of the kingdom.
The mood was a celebration of a happy couple’s wedding.
But today here the tone is different.
A bit darker, heavy clouds are massing on the horizon; there is a burden in the heart of Jesus.
The celebration is a little muted.
The talk is about burial rather than renewal.
The meal is interrupted as Mary comes up behind Jesus as he reclines, his head close to the low central table where the food was laid.
In an act of moving devotion, she approaches Jesus and, breaking open a bottle of very expensive perfume, anoints his feet.
Nard is an oil-like perfume extracted from the root and spike of the nard plant, grown in India; definitely not one of the cheap brands sold at the Bethany supermarket!
With the reading fresh in our minds, I would like us to think about living thankfully and what it means to us.
If you look, we have a table set up for a meal.
We have bread and grapes laid before us.
Now imagine yourself in the room of.
We are all invited to this special meal.
Just imagine you where there when Lazarus was raised from the grave and now, we are enjoying a celebration meal, we see Lazarus laughing and hear the disciples chatting.
Everyone is having a great time.
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