Building Better Community
We have missed sharing being together during this last month, but this Sunday we would like to invite you all to share in an Agape meal at home during our morning worship. Please see the link below for details of how to share in an Agape at home.
Recorded live from St. Andrew’s, Congresbury.
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for the Sunday service before Advent (Christ the King) – Sunday 22nd November
A New Church for a New Society: “Themes in John’s Gospel.”
(John 14:15-21 – “Living in the freedom of the Spirit”).
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
John 14:15-21: If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A15-21&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today (Sunday before Advent – Christ the King):
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 – For those who think that the Old Testament is nothing but ‘doom and gloom’ here is one of those beautiful passages that make your heart sing both in itself and also in the fact that hundreds of years later, on a hillside outside Bethsaida, a young preacher asked the crowd to sit down, took bread, gave thanks to God and gave it to all who had need (John 6:1-13). All would be cosy if it wasn’t also that right in the heart of this reading is also a word of challenge and God’s judgement. God will decide between those who live for themselves and those who live for others and for the Lord – the fat and the lean sheep.
Ephesians 1:15-end – Like with the Old Testament, we can sometimes assume St Paul only really does heavy duty theologically and brain stretching thinking. Here Paul reveals his heart, full of passion, thankfulness and love for his both his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and as much, if not more, in what Christ has done, and is going to do for the world.
Matthew 25:30-end – Jesus gives us on of His most remembered and powerful images. When He returns He will return as global King, whatever other politicians, cultural and religious leaders may think or say. “Good” we may say. But then Jesus brings the ‘global’ into the ‘micro.’ God is of such awesome intelligence and love that He is fully available and aware of every Act of Kindness, love and compassion ever done, whether by Christians or non-Christians alike. And God’s love hits the road when He says, to the sheep, the King will say, “well done my good and faithful servant.” And to the goat, He will say, “get away from me, I do not know you.” Unless our faith prompts us to greater love, then it is we who need to fall on our knees before God and plead for more time so that we can change. Of course, our faith is more than simply Acts of Kindness to wards others or Creation, but it is not less than.
Hymns and Songs for the Sunday before Advent (Christ the King):
Traditional:
Children’s songs:
Modern:
Freedom is a really important theme within much modern Church music and song writing, perhaps reflecting our times:
Videos/DVD:
Traditional:
Intercessions:
Children’s songs:
Modern:
Freedom is a really important theme within much modern Church music and song writing, perhaps reflecting our times:
Videos/DVD:
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for Remembrance Day –
Sunday 8th Nov 2020
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
Isaiah 40:28-31: “They will soar on wings like eagles” – If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+40%3A28-31&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today (Remembrance Sunday – 3rd before Advent):
Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16 – The author speaks about the value and availability of Wisdom but one must look to her and seek her. In the Old Testament is personified in other books such as the Book of Proverbs. In Christian understanding Jesus becomes the face of Wisdom, taking her qualities into himself. Therefore as we read this passage one could say the same of Jesus as of Wisdom, He is making Himself available, to seek Him is to find not only perfect understanding but love itself.
1Thessalonians 4:13-end – There is a lot that could be said about this passage. At one level it can seem somewhat strange to us, what with images of being “caught up in the air.” It starts off with the great hope – that because God raised Jesus from the dead, then God will raise all the dead including our loved ones. But this is where the confusion perhaps kicks in. Paul is not talking about life after death here, in a place we call “heaven.” As Tom Wright, the New Testament historian and author has stipulated, Paul, and indeed much of the New Testament, talks mainly about “what happens after, what happens to us when we die.” In other words, to the Bible the emphasis is on a time “after heaven,” what we would perhaps otherwise call “the Second Coming” as detailed in the Book of Revelation Ch 22. In this understanding, as here in Paul, we die, we go to be with God and Jesus in heaven. But then will come a day when heaven will come to earth and all things will be made new in Christ, beginning with raising those who are physically dead in Christ to be reborn in Christ on earth, wedding their spiritual bodies in heaven with new ‘resurrected’ physical bodies to live for ever. And this also includes those, says Paul, who are alive when this time comes – hence the reference to being caught up, and ‘transformed’/resurrected themselves in the air. This may all sound hugely confusing, but it is what the Bible consistently claims. What will it look like? How will it work out? The Bible doesn’t give us a blueprint but its key and important point is that “Love wins,” not just in heaven, “but on earth.” And everything that points to that is part of what Jesus calls “the Kingdom.”
Matthew 25:1-13 – Matthew continues the talk about the “Kingdom of heaven.” Not so much, about what happens when you die, but more about all those moments we all experience each and everyday when we can see the opportunity to love, to forgive, to be kind and we either see them and take them, or we can miss them and complain bitterly that we were away getting oil to get ready to see those moments in the future. Jesus those who are about love now. To love, is to love Him.
Hymns and Songs for Remembrance Sunday:
Traditional:
Children and Young People:
Modern:
Videos:
Recorded on All Saints’ Day, Sunday 1st November at St. Andrew’s, Congresbury.
This week also looks at the next theme of Beauty in the Gospel of John.
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for All Saints Day –
17th Sunday of Re-opening – A New Church for a New Society:
“Themes in John’s Gospel.”
(John 13:1-17 – Jesus washes the Disciples’ feet)
Sunday 1st Nov 2020
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
John 13:1-17: If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13%3A1-17&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today (All Saints Day):
Revelation 7:9-end – This is one of John’s great visions of heaven. At the centre is the Lamb, Jesus, the one who in heaven and on earth is the Saviour, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Healer not just of humanity but of all creation. Around Him are those whose robes have been washed white in His blood. This is perhaps a strange image, how can robes be washed white by red blood? But if we view these words as pointing to something beyond themselves we discover a great spiritual truth and indeed reality – “that we grow by falling,” that the way to the true greatness of the saints is not that they were incredible women and men who somehow achieved spiritual enlightenment, but that they were simply men and women just like you and I, with many of the same faults and imperfections, but who simply chose a path to allow God to love them and to wash their souls ever more fully with His profound and infinite love. Beautiful.
1John 3:1-3 – John picks up in his letter so much of what we have just discovered in the reading from the Book of Revelation. John then simply puts it into his own words pointing us to the secret, or perhaps more importantly, the truth of the spiritual life, “those who draw close to Jesus in love, allow themselves, even unconsciously, to be purified by His love in the process, for such is His good pleasure – even as He is pure.
Matthew 5:1-12 – Matthew forms the same thoughts this time in Jesus’ vision and manifesto for a new world – a world upside down, or perhaps right side up in terms of today’s values. Where those who are humble are greatest, those who seek to tread gently discover they inherit much, those who care passionately about others will be rewarded, and those who long to build rather than tear down discover their true identity as children of God. Given how we as individuals, as the Church, and as humanity so often seem determined to walk in the opposite direction to such ways, we have much yet to learn.
Hymns and Songs for All Saints Sunday:
Traditional:
During Communion:
After the Livestream:
Something for Children:
Modern:
We have been told by Facebook that unfortunately we are not able to play recorded artists during the actual “Livestream” itself at present, so we are playing certain videos either Before or After as a physical Church. So that everyone can share in a full experience of the breadth of the worship life of the Church details of this music is given here:
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for 20th Sunday of Trinity –
16th Sunday of Re-opening – A New Church for a New Society:
“Themes in John’s Gospel.”
Sunday 25th Oct 2020
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
John 20:1-31: If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20%3A1-31&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today (Bible Sunday):
Nehemiah 8:1-4a, 8-12 – The Lost Book, which this passage from Nehemiah refers to is the book we know today as the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes many of the teachings and speeches of Moses. Basing their life around the Word of God was seen as a great comfort, a great joy, and a great strength as well as a challenge and a sacrifice.
Colossians 3:12-17 – Paul, in his writing to the little Church in Colossae continues this theme of basing a shared life around the life and teachings of God. What he adds is to depth and richness that can gained by seeing this engagement less as one of spiritual ‘lessons’ or ‘teachings,’ and more about the engagement and relationship with the person of Jesus – not just in the past but also in the here and now, across time and space, as a ‘living’ reality achieved by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 24:30-35 – Jesus takes up one of the great titles given by Jews and Greeks to the that which holds all things together – words. In John’s Gospel, Jesus is described as THE Word, the Word from which all other words flow. In other words, that/He who was before all words, is in all words, and is the culmination of all words. In other places Jesus is described as the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet), in other words, the first, last, and all letters in between of the whole alphabet and the whole of time.
Hymns and Songs for 20th Sunday after Trinity:
Traditional:
– also, an original arrangement and version by Sarah MacLauchlan with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFkjdFgqOY4&feature=youtu.be
During Communion:
Song for the Children:
Modern:
During the Service:
After the Livestream:
Other songs:
Videos:
Our annual All Souls’ Service will be held this Sunday, 25th October in Banwell and live streamed to our Facebook page from St. Andrew’s, Banwell at 4pm. It will be available to view on our website shortly afterwards.
If you would still like to add names, please email kirsty.bowles@newcreationchurches.org.uk or phone 07871 513151
Please note that by submitting names this year, you are giving permission for them to appear over the livestream.
If you know someone who would like to attend this service in the physical church building, please do get in touch as we can accommodate a few people in church.
Recorded at St. Andrew’s, Congresbury on 18th October, 2020.
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for 19th Sunday of Trinity –
15th Sunday of Re-opening – A New Church for a New Society:
“Themes in John’s Gospel.”
(John 7:37-44)
Sunday 18th Oct 2020
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
John 7:37-44: If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+7%3A37-44&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today:
Isaiah 45:1-7 – It would have come as a great shock to the Israelites of Isaiah’s time to learn that God used a neighbouring King, a great warrior King, King Cyrus of Persia, as his instrument of justice and transformation. Surely God loved his people and would instead use them. We can face the same issue today – do we think God only works through us as Christians or does He also work through many others to bring about His purposes even if they do not know Him?
1Thessalonians 1:1-10 – Paul clearly delights in the young Church in Thessalonica. Interestingly, he says the community there received the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to believe, it is yet another to do so with joy, conviction, and surrender. These are the work of the Spirit, turning hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
Matthew 22:15-22 – “Pay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s!” so says Jesus in response to the Pharisees’ trickery. Some have therefore said this means the world of politics and economics should therefore be separate to the sphere of faith, with faith being resigned to being more of a personal and private matter. This could not be further from Jesus’ message and just shows how we love to try and put God in a box, place limitations on how much He seeks to have influence in my life and so control Him, as if we could. Instead, Jesus is challenging the Pharisees and all of us to see that indeed Caesar and all other governments, wise and flawed, along with the whole of each of us, in all aspects of our life, comes under His just, gentle, but also challenging gaze and rule. It’s what makes God, God. Nothing under heaven is beyond His care.
Hymns and Songs for 19th Sunday after Trinity:
Traditional:
During Communion:
Modern:
So that everyone can share in a full experience of the breadth of the worship life of the Church details of this music is given here:
After the Livestream:
Other songs:
Videos:
And from last week:
Film/TV Series
Each year we remember those how have gone before us, and particularly this year, it has an added poignancy both for those who have sadly lost loved ones during this time of the pandemic and also for those who have felt the loss of loved ones during this time from years past more acutely because of the Lockdown and isolation.
We are going to be holding two All Souls’ Day Services over the coming weeks:
For Banwell on the Sunday 25th October at 4.00pm
For Congresbury on Sunday 1st November also at 4.00pm
Anyone is very welcome to join us online as Kirsty and the Technology Team will be Livestreaming both services. (As to how to do this Please see Kirsty’s instructions below) PLEASE ALSO have a candle available to light at home as part of the service.
We also have space for a small number of people to attend physically, based on the usual Worship Guidelines for both Churches. But, PLEASE you will need to let us know, in advance that this is you wish. You can do so via email, phone, or by dropping us a line (see details below).
If you would like your loved one’s name read out as part of the service, please can you let us know again by email, phone, or by dropping us a line. Due to the service being online as well this year, we can only read out those names we have been given permission to read so WE NEED YOU to get in touch and let us know – doing so complies then with GDPR rules.
To get in touch re names, and/or wishing to attend in person, please contact:
To join us online:
You can access the Services by watching LIVE via the “New Creation Facebook Page” : https://www.facebook.com/NewCreationChurches/ or catch up later via the New Creation website: https://www.newcreationchurches.org.uk/ or New Creation YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXn34qIXlXBeOAmO1M1KbBw/
Please pass these details on to anyone you feel being part of such a service may be helpful.
Thank you.
Matt Thomson.
Recorded live from St. Andrew’s, Banwell and St. Andrew’s, Congresbury on Sunday 11th October.
Hymns, Songs, Readings and other links for Joint Harvest Festival –
14th Sunday of Re-opening – A New Church for a New Society:
“Joint Harvest Celebration”
( Matt 6:25-34 and “the Canticle of the Creatures” – Francis of Assisi)
Sunday 11th Oct 2020
Bible Readings:
Key Bible Reading:
Matt 6:25-34: If you would like to look up the reading for yourself – simply click the link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matt+6%3A25-34&version=NIVUK
Set Readings for today:
Isaiah 25:1-9 – This is one of Isaiah’s great speeches, embodying the hope that God will come, in the form of His Messiah, and put things right in the world, lifting up the lowly and humbling the proud. As Christians this is something we have both seen in Jesus’ first coming but also long to see completed by His second coming.
Philippians 4:1-9 – Paul is giving instructions and seeking to inspire perseverance in the little Philippian Christian community. He thereby encourages us to do likewise, letting our hearts be filled with thanksgiving, praise and prayer, these change us and how we then see the world.
Matthew 22:1-14 – This is one of the most powerful of Jesus’ parables and has just as much edge for today as it did in former times. The wedding banquet is the new Kingdom that God is seeking to usher in. Like the Israelites in the wilderness after the Exile, they/we need to be prepared for that Kingdom. Those invited first, are those in any age who think they have a ‘right’ to be there – the Jewish elite and religious types in Jesus’ day, those of us who would claim to be ‘faithful’ and go to Church in our own. But unless we allow our hearts to be changed our clothes remain as they always were. Wedding clothes are given by the Groom’s Father at a Jewish wedding – will we truly receive and wear the Cross of Jesus? Only then, are we worthy to enter the wedding banquet. So often I find, those who don’t think they are worthy are the ones Jesus speaks so favourably of in this parable, and those who think they have somehow got there have much yet to learn.
Hymns and Songs for Harvest Festival:
Traditional:
Children’s Harvest song:
During Communion:
Modern:
So that everyone can share in a full experience of the breadth of the worship life of the Church details of this music is given here:
As the Service begins:
After the Livestream:
Other songs:
Videos:
Film/TV Series