The Darkest Night (preparing for MGPC 2/8/20)

Gary Ware

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August 1, 2020

Jesus praying was not unusual.
This time, however we are given a detailed account of one night of prayer.
Why do we need to know both the content of Jesus’ prayer, and the earnestness with which he prayed?
So we can understand that everything that happens from this point on is the answer to prayer.

For those unable to join us at MGPC, the service will be live-streamed.
The video is available at our website and youtube channel.

Song: Yet Not I But Christ In Me
Welcome:
Call to Worship
Song: Behold The Lamb
Prayer Of Confession
Song: Amazing Grace
Affirming our Faith
Song: Worship, Honour, Glory, Blessing
Bible Reading: Acts 11:1-18 – The Apostle Peter’s recounts the vision of the cleansing of unclean animals for the church leaders in Jerusalem in order that they could understand that God has granted to the Gentiles the same repentance that leads to life which they had experienced.
gospel received by Greeks in Antioch.
Bible Memorisation:
Song: I Stand Amazed – How Marvellous
Bible Reading: Mark 14:32-42
Sermon: The Darkest Night
Announcements:
Pastoral Prayer:
Closing Blessing
Song: Broken Vessels

He Will Redeem It All by Melanie Penn

Gary Ware

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July 31, 2020

A video of Melanie Penn performing her song He Will Redeem It All,
A lyric of measured thoughtful hope.

So much injustice every day
It’s here at home and far away
The newscast is so bad

But through it all my hope is in the one
Who says all pain will be undone
We’ll never cry again
And in the end

He will redeem it all
Every sigh of sorrow will be turned into a song
He will redeem it all
Every tear will disappear in the light of that dawn
It’s always darkest right
Before the morning light
So hold on He will redeem it all

The Christian Practice Of Proclamation Was Born In The Resurrection (via Will Willimon)

Gary Ware

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July 31, 2020

Proclamation is intrinsic to Christian life.
When the disciples thought the conversation was over, the women visit a tomb and are spoken to – and then directed to go tell.
It simply defies imagination to conceive of the messenger at the tomb instructing the women to communicate to the others “He is risen!” and if necessary to use words to do so. Only words would do.
Everything we say in preaching is a continuation and repetition of that first message.
If it doesn’t spring from the cross and resurrection life, or lead to the cross and resurrection life, it’s not preaching.

From Leading With The Sermon:

The Christian practice of proclamation was born in the resurrection. His disciples thought the cross was the end of the conversation; by God’s grace, it was a new beginning. Time and again in our history with God, when we betrayed the love of God – with our infidelity or misunderstanding, or when the world intimidated us into silence, when we have fled into the darkness or stopped up our ears and hardened our hearts – this talkative God returned to us and resumed the conversation. Thus incarcerated Paul prayed not that God would get him out of jail but that God might “open a door for the word so we can preach” (Colossians 4:3). Paul knew that preaching – divine-human – conversation, is always at God’s initiative, not ours.
In that dialogue between heaven and earth, God has proved remarkably resourceful and imaginative, master of stratagems and devices – the Incarnation, Word Made Flesh, being the most ingenious of all. God refuses to be trapped in heaven or confined to monologue. There is a relentlessness about the speech of this God, an effusive loquaciousness, a dogged determination not to fall silent, nor to cease preaching, until the whole world joins in.

William H Willimon, Leading With The Sermon, Fortress Press, 2020, pg 7.

The Most Important Task Of A Pastor (via Will Willimon)

Gary Ware

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July 30, 2020

Will Willimon makes big statements, and has the capacity with words to back those statements up.

Introducing his book Leading With The Sermon, Willimon expands on his provocative opening statement.
Preaching is the most important task of an ordained leader.

Preaching is at the centre of pastoral work not only because in preaching a pastor is with more members of the congregation, in a more intentional and focused way, than in any other pastoral activity, making the pastor’s unique role visibly, definitively evident. Proclamation is at the centre because of who God is and what God is up to. We know the truth about God only because of the proclamation of the one true preacher, Jesus.
The pastor who pleads, “Though I’m not much of a preacher, I am a loving, caring pastor,” is lying. There’s no way to care for God’s people as pastor without loving them enough to tell them the truth about God, what God is up to in the world, and how they can hitch on.
Christianity is a “revealed religion”; it happens when humanity is confronted by a loquacious God. We are unable to think about a Trinitarian God on our own. The truth about God must be revealed, spoken to us as the gift of a God who refuses to be vague or coy. It is of the nature of the Trinity to be communicative, revelatory – the Father speaking to the Son, the Son mutually interacting with the Father, all in the power of the Holy Spirit, God speaking to God’s world.
A primary means of God’s revelation is preaching.

William H Willimon, Leading With The Sermon, Fortress Press, 2020, pg 2.

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