Service Date: 29 March, 2009

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Check on previous weeks: God's promise or covenant was given to Noah, rainbow, forever; Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, for everyone; Moses, burning bush, for freedom; Hosea, mother and child, for growth. Now we've got the final person telling us about God's covenant, and it's the prophet Jeremiah, talking about the human heart.
Did anyone have to learn things by heart when they were at school? What sort of things? Times tables, poetry, science formulae? Do you still remember them now? Did you enjoy learning things by heart? Not necessarily at the time, but afterwards it can really help not to have to think of things.
Think of first aid - I had to learn a checklist called ABC for airway, breathing, circulation. If those things are OK you can start checking for other injuries, but those are the most important things, and it's not something you want to be struggling to remember when someone's seriously ill.

Service Date: 5 April, 2009

Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9
We've been thinking these last few weeks of Lent about God's promise or covenant with us.[ Quick recap for each week: Noah, rainbow, God's promise is forever; Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, family tree, God's promise is for everyone; Moses, burning bush, God's promise is for freedom.] Now this week we've fast-forwarded through lots of Israelite history after the people settled in the promised land, to the moment when a prophet, someone who passes on God's message to other people, called Hosea, had something very important to tell the people of Israel.

Service Date: 15 March, 2009

Exodus 3:1-14

Service Date: 8 March, 2009

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Last week we started to think about God's promise to us. Do you remember what symbol we used to think about that promise? [a rainbow] What did I say that the rainbow means for us about God's promise? [it's forever]
Well, this week we go back to the other end of time, to the beginning of the story we know about God choosing a particular person, then a particular family to work with. That doesn't mean God didn't choose anyone else, but this is the story we know about as Christians.
And of course we know about our own family stories too. I always thought my father was an only child, but then I discovered he'd had an older step-brother. My grandfather had been married twice, and the son from his first marriage died young. The way my father talked about him, he hero-worshipped this older brother, and was really sad when he died. But not everyone gets on with their family, and family trees can be very complicated affairs.

Service Date: 1 March, 2009

Genesis 9:9-17

Service Date: 15 February, 2009

Bible Groupwork
There were three sessions of 10 minutes, broken up by the song:
Heaven and earth, join to worship your Creator!
Sing to the Lord, praise the one from whom you came.
Sing a new song to the God who goes before us,
Making all new, leaving nobody the same.
Words © 1995 WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH, Scotland.
Used by permission. CCLI license no 521928.

People chose between joining one of three groups or of staying where they were and reading the sermon quietly.

Service Date: 1 February, 2009

Looking round everyone gathered for worship this morning, I can't help but wonder: why have you all come to church today?
Some will be here because their parents have brought them - and if they're babies, they can't say no!
Some, like Douglas and me, and others taking particular parts in the service, will be here partly because we've promised, and we don't want to let people down.
Some may be here out of habit. What do you do on Sunday mornings? Oh, I go to church. I've always done that, it'd feel odd if I didn't.
Some may be here to see their friends and catch up on their lives this week.
But I hope we're not only here out of habit, because we'd be missed if we didn't come, or because we want to see friends, but also because we've things to give, and things to get out of gathering together in God's name.

Service Date: 1 February, 2009

Looking round everyone gathered for worship this morning, I can't help but wonder: why have you all come to church today?
Some will be here because their parents have brought them - and if they're babies, they can't say no!
Some, like Douglas and me, and others taking particular parts in the service, will be here partly because we've promised, and we don't want to let people down.
Some may be here out of habit. What do you do on Sunday mornings? Oh, I go to church. I've always done that, it'd feel odd if I didn't.
Some may be here to see their friends and catch up on their lives this week.
But I hope we're not only here out of habit, because we'd be missed if we didn't come, or because we want to see friends, but also because we've things to give, and things to get out of gathering together in God's name.

Service Date: 25 January, 2009

Mark 1:14-20
This church is usually very good at timekeeping - the instructions a preacher gets when they agree to come here are all timed to the minute for what should happen behind the scenes before the service begins. I often find myself synchronising watches with the pulpit elder, to make sure I'm not five minutes behind everyone else! But St Andrew's isn't the only group to place a big importance on time. Ever since the railways came in and it was important to keep time precisely in different parts of the country, we've been slaves of the clock. Bus timetables, school timetables, time signals on the radio - sometimes it feels as though if the clocks ran down the whole country would grind to a halt.

Service Date: 18 January, 2009

N: Erm, Philip?
P: Yes, Nathanael?
N: Is he always like that, your friend Jesus?
P: Well, I've not known him long myself. But what do you mean, like that?
N: Does he always make your head ache, thinking about what he said and what it means?
P: I do see what you mean. And it's catching, too. You know John, that wild man who's been baptising people in the Jordan? I know two of the people who follow him around, the Zebedee brothers. Apparently, they were walking together one day...
N: What's that got to do with Jesus?
P: I'm trying to tell you! They were walking together one day and Jesus went by. And what do you think John called him?
N: Cousin? Someone told me their mothers are cousins.