Service Date: 29 January, 2012

Mark 1:21-28
* I've been trying to visit Mary in hospital, but I've not been having much luck. This week when I turned up, she'd just left the ward for a bone scan. But last week, her ward was having major problems with the Norovirus, and only essential visitors were allowed in. I reckoned that however much I wanted to see her, if I were to get the infection and pass it on to you, I'd not be very popular.

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Service Date: 15 January, 2012

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Sarah: What do you think the point of this particular story is? If we want to be like Samuel, what should we always be ready to do? [Ask congregation - Listen to God] Absolutely. Listening to God is the most important thing we can ever do in life.
God: Sarah?
Sarah: If we don't keep our ears open, we'll never pick up what God wants to tell us. And we need to be ready at any time, day or night. After all, when Eli told Samuel it was bedtime, Samuel never expected to hear God calling his name in the middle of the night.
God: Sarah?
Sarah: We may be at work; we may be having a conversation with someone; we may be reading a book or watching TV - there are all sorts of ways God can speak to us.
God: Sarah?

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Service Date: 25 December, 2011

St Andrew's Advent Carol 2011
1
With Andrew we consider now
An answer to this mystery:
How God will tear down stone from stone,
Yet make His people just and free.
Light, light a candle, tie the blue:
We'll wait and see what God will do.

2
With Zechariah we desire
To keep things orderly and right.
Should angels of the Lord appear
We'd need a sign that's clear and bright.
Light, light two candles, purple tie:
Set tongues free so God's praise we'll cry!

3
With Mary's husband, Joseph, dream
We of a perfect family.
But when our aspirations fail,
There, in the muddle, God we see.
Light, light three candles, tie the red:
God's gifts will bring us joy instead.

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Service Date: 18 December, 2011

Luke 2:8-20
Sarah: Thank you for sparing the time to talk to me, sir.
David: Sir? No need to call me that. I'm just an ordinary shepherd.
Sarah: They told me you were the senior shepherd of this flock.
David: Senior? That usually means people don't take you seriously any more. But never mind that. What can I do for you?
Sarah: Well, I've heard funny rumours of USOs in Bethlehem.
David: USOs?
Sarah: Unidentified shining objects. And I don't mean stars. So it occurred to me, why not ask a shepherd? After all, if anyone gets a clear view of the night sky, it's you.
David: I suppose that's right. Out with the sheep all night and all day too. That's why I don't get to synagogue much, and, as I'm afraid you'll have noticed, washing doesn't come too high up the agenda either. It's embarrassing, but there it is. You put up with it.

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Service Date: 11 December, 2011

Sarah: Joseph! Joseph of Nazareth! I'm sure we did have an interview set up. I wonder, has he forgotten? Joseph!
Joseph: All right, all right, I'm coming. Give me a moment to open the door, won't you? You young people are so impatient!
Sarah: Sorry - I just wondered whether I'd missed you and you'd gone to work already. I know you carpenters have to get up early in the morning to fit in all the jobs people want you to do.
Joseph: Well, no, actually, I must have overslept. Normally I hear the dawn chorus, but this morning I was still snoring when you started to thump on my door.
Sarah: I hope I've not done any permanent damage. I honestly didn't think the wood would be in such bad repair. It must be true what they say, the carpenter's door never fits.
Joseph: I'll be getting around to sorting it out any day now! Anyway, now you've woken me up, what was it you wanted?

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Service Date: 4 December, 2011

Luke 1:5-20 (retold)
Sarah: I was looking back over my old reports from 30 years ago - I wasn't even ordained rabbi back then - and I found some very interesting interviews I taped around the birth of this Jesus Andrew was telling me about last week. Mind you, it's a bit embarrassing listening to some of them. I was so young! And maybe not quite as tactful as I might have been...
Anyway, here's the first of my interviews, with a lady named Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: Yes? Can I help you?
Sarah: Well, actually I was looking for Zechariah. Zechariah the priest.
I hear he's had an incredible encounter of some kind, and our readers would like to read all about it in the Jerusalem Post.
Elizabeth: I see. Well, I'm sorry, but you can't. You'll have to speak to me instead.
Sarah: Why's that? What secrets don't you want him to tell the world?

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Service Date: 27 November, 2011

Sarah: May I introduce myself? I'm Rabbi Sarah, roving news reporter. You may have seen me on Jerusalem Today. But now there's been all these cutbacks, I've gone freelance, and something tells me that you, Andrew, have a very important story to tell.
Andrew: How do you know my name?
Sarah: Well, I've just been overhearing a very interesting conversation you were having with your friends. Peter, I think?
Andrew: He's no friend. He's my brother.
Sarah: Two rather excitable young men -
Andrew: James and John. They must have been the reason you started eavesdropping on us. They have no idea of a quiet conversation - it always ends up in shouting.
Sarah: And one more man. Jesus, I think you called him? It's a common name, of course, but somehow I seem to remember something about him. He's been in the news, hasn't he? A while back?

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Service Date: 20 November, 2011

[Margaret reads Matthew 25:31-46]
Margaret) [together] I was never so surprised in all my life!
Sarah )
Sarah: So the same thing happened to you?
Margaret: I don't know! How was your audition for the choir?
Sarah: I thought it was going really well. He had me sing a few scales to warm up.
Margaret: Yes, he asked me that too.
Sarah: I had a cold, but I could still get quite an impressive range, for an alto. It's all technique.
Margaret: I've still got a cold, and somehow I couldn't quite get the top notes. It was a little embarrassing.
Sarah: Then we did some sight-singing. Fortunately, it was a piece I already knew, so I could make a good job of it.
Margaret: Did you tell him?
Sarah: Oh, no! Why would he need to know that?

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Service Date: 13 November, 2011

We come now to our act of remembrance; its order is in your service sheets and it will proceed without announcement. Three points before we begin: The names of those inscribed on our War Memorial will be read in the form that was known to their families and friends. The two minutes silence is observed in thanksgiving for and remembrance of both them and all the others who have lost their lives in later conflicts. And we will end this act of remembrance by singing both verses of the National Anthem, which you will find on your orders of service as a prayer, on this our national day of remembrance.

We commemorate today...
Andrew Briggs
John Brunton
James Cumming
Bernard Duke
Charlie Goodsir
Roy Harrow
Charles Henderson
Frank Mastin
Bruce Mathews
Farquahar Nicolson
Harry Pilcher-Clayton
Ross Simpson **
David Colquhoun
Tom Colquhoun
Sydney Hyde
George MacBeth

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Service Date: 30 October, 2011

Revelation 7:9-17
This is the end of One World Week. I know some people here today who have recently been exploring parts of our one world beyond Sheffield.
• So please put your hands up if you've recently or in the past had a holiday elsewhere in the world. Where? Keep them up!
• Please put your hand up too if you've lived somewhere in the world other than England. Scotland sort of counts, but preferably somewhere beyond the British Isles altogether. Where? Keep them up!
• Please put your hand up if some of your favourite food originally comes from another culture -What? Keep them up!
• Please put up your hand if some of your favourite music was written by someone who comes from another country. What? Keep them up!
• Please put up your hand if you can say some words in a language other than English - and saying American doesn't count! What? Keep them up!

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