recorded morning worship led by majors david and jane alton
TRANSCRIPT
Sunday 23 August 2020
Recorded Morning Worship led by Majors David and Jane Alton
To KNOW Christ ~ To LIVE Christ ~ To SHARE Christ
BOSCOMBE CORPS NEWS
Prayer Requests We have a number of our corps family who need our prayers at the
moment for various reasons. Please pray for Alison Lowe who is undergoing treatment in hospital this week, for Ella Wright who is still recovering following surgery on her ankle, for Millie Otter and for Nigel and Eve Bishop’s grandson, Jack. Please pray for any you know who
are facing difficult circumstances relating to employment, health or relationships. Pray for those who live alone and for many of the older
members of the congregation who are finding this time particularly difficult. (Thank you to all those who are helping, making phone calls or sending cards – maybe there are others who would like to do something
like this).
Exam Results Harvey Wood has passed his final inspection and graduated on Friday. Tom Nock got a distinction in his Masters of Architecture and Melissa Nock got a
First Class Honours in English Literature. Many congratulations to the three of you and to all those who have also received results over the past few
weeks, especially in these challenging times.
People News
We are pleased to announce the engagement of Anabel Forsyth Smith and John Fraser earlier this week. Many congratulations to you both and best
wishes for your future together.
Newsletter If you have any news that you would like to share, why not let us know
and we will add it to the next edition of the newsletter.
Bring Me Sunshine! Remember, if you have a joke or story that you would like to share with the Corps, please send it to Joanne who will include it in a future edition
of the ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ page. You can either contact her via text, WhatsApp, Messenger or by emailing her on
Financial Giving
There are many things people miss about worshipping God together in our corps building. We miss sharing fellowship and doing things
altogether. One thing we would usually do together in corporate worship is giving back to God in response to his goodness and provision
through the offering. From this Sunday there will be an opportunity to give during (or indeed
after) our online meeting. This is through GivT, an organisation that The Salvation Army is working with territorially. If you have a smart phone this is a very easy way to give, especially in our increasingly cashless
society. Just download the GivT app and register.
(Please note this is not instead of standing orders etc., it’s an opportunity to give what you would in the plate as it came round.) There is a video on the corps Facebook page which has been
prepared especially for Boscombe corps which gives more details so please check that out so you can be ready to join in giving during our
worship meeting on Sunday. Alternatively here are a few helpful points:
With Givt, giving is easy 1) Select the amount you want to
give. 2) Select how you want to give 3) Done
This means giving is fast
With Givt, you are in control ● You decide how much you want to
give on any one occasion ● You give anonymously ● You can choose to Gift Aid ● You can cancel mistakes
This means giving is safe
With Givt, you choose how to give in any situation: 1) Give to the ‘collection device’ in church 2) Scan the ← ‘QR code’ 3) Find your church in the ‘List’ 4) Choose ‘Location’ if you’re in the church
If you have any questions please contact Major Jane. God Bless you!
PRAYER MATTERS Compiled by Lieut-Colonel David Phillips
This week we will keep to a summer theme as we near the end of this year’s summer. Monday 24 August – Read Genesis 1 v 3: And God said, ‘Let there be light!’ Light the symbol of vision. A summer prayer. Thank you for summer, for green grass, leafy trees, running streams, balmy days, singing birds, the smell of the summer rain and beauty everywhere I turn. Amen. Pray for your family today. (Song 261 ‘Shine, Jesus, shine’)
Tuesday 25 August – Read Psalm 74 v17. Oh Lord creator of all things, during this summer holiday guide us so daily we can demonstrate your love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness and kindness. Pray for our corps family today including our Officers. Pray especially for those who are not so well. (Song 3 ‘All things bright and beautiful’)
Wednesday 26 August – Read Amos 8 v 1: A basket of ripe fruit. It is a long time since I have seen one! I remember years ago on Harvest Sunday families bringing their harvest baskets. We always appear to have all we need, not only in summertime but all through the year. Pray for people not so well blessed as we are. Dear Lord, we thank You for supplying our needs during this summer period. Amen. (Song 70 We plough the fields, and scatter')
Thursday 27 August – Read Matthew 24 v 32. Another timely verse and spiritual lesson from nature. For some people this summer has not been good, they have lost a loved one, families have split up, divorce, separation, loneliness. Dear Lord, we pray for families experiencing loneliness and heart break due to bereavement, separation. Comfort their hearts and may Your hand be upon them. Your Grace is sufficient. Amen. (Song 795 ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’)
Friday 28 August – Read Proverbs 10 v 5. Another thought provoking verse encouraging us to be active and to attend to what is necessary. Give thanks today for those who harvest our supplies enabling us to have necessary provisions. Thank You, Lord for all Your blessings, for the strength
You give us each day and for all people around us who make life more meaningful. Amen. Pray for all people working for us to ensure we have what we need. (Song 364 ‘Give thanks with a grateful heart’) Saturday 29 August – Read James 1 v 17. Let us consider simple summer enjoyments such as sitting reading a book in the shade of a beautiful garden, watching people enjoying themselves on the beach, growing flowers and vegetables and caring for our gardens, walking in the sunshine on a summers day and listening to the dawn chorus as the summer sun begins to shine. Lord Jesus, I praise You and love You. Thank you for the countless ways You have blessed us. Amen. Pray and thank God for the gifts He has presented to us during this period of summer. (Song 390 ‘Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord’) Sunday 30 August – Read Psalm 113 v 3. Another great Psalm of praise. Again we cannot assemble together in our place of worship! I do miss our meetings at Boscombe. I long to sing songs of praise and worship and to hear the musical sections and the word of God preached. I am however grateful to all who have prepared the YouTube meetings. Do pray for the ongoing work and ministry of our corps. The supply of meals within the community. The work of the BH1 project and many other services rendered on behalf of those in need. (We will miss our annual Harvest Sunday so let us sing this song today song 57 ‘Sing to the Lord of harvest’)
Film and Television Quiz
1. Who directed the film The Passion of Christ? 2. What was the name of the character played by Dawn French in the
TV programme The Vicar of Dibley? 3. Which actor gave his voice to the part of Moses in The Prince of
Egypt? 4. What was the title of the winning song by St Francis School in the film
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit? 5. What was the name of the angel in the film It’s a Wonderful Life? 6. What was the title of the TV programme starring Thora Hird as
Captain Emily Ridley? 7. What was the name of the TV programme which starred Tom
Hollander as Reverend Adam Smallbone? 8. Which actress played Sister Sarah Brown in the film Guys and Dolls?
9. Who presented the programme Marching as to War: The Story and Music of The Salvation Army?
10. Can you name all seven Von Trapp children from the film The Sound of Music?
11. What is the name of the donkey in the film The Star? 12. What was the name of the TV programme which featured Paul
O’Grady banging the drum and marching with the Salvation Army Band?
13. In what year was the film The Bishop’s Wife released? 14. Which actress/singer played the preachers wife in the film of the
same name? 15. What is the name of the fictional Cotswold village where the TV
programme Father Brown is based?
Answers 1 Mel Gibson. 2 Geraldine Granger. 3 Val Kilmer. 4 Joyful Joyful. 5 Clarence.
6 Hallelujah! 7 Rev. 8 Jean Simmons. 9 Roy Castle. 10 Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta and Gretl. 11 Bo. 12 Paul O’Grady: The Sally Army and Me.
13 1947. 14 Whitney Houston. 15 Kembleford.
Worship and Word
Sunday 23 August 2020
This act of worship has been prepared for use at home and
follows the service posted on the Boscombe Salvation Army YouTube channel
and corps website. Spend a few moments with God, knowing that other
people are sharing this act of worship with you.
Givt Video
Welcome Major Jane Alton
Song 52: O Worship the King
O WORSHIP the king, all glorious above; O gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days, Pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise.
O tell of His might, O sing of His grace, Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is His path on the wings of the storm.
The earth with its store of wonders untold, Almighty, Thy power hath founded of old,
Hath 'stablished it fast by a changeless decree, And round it hath cast, like a mantle, the sea.
Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite? It breathes in the air, it shines in the light,
It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain, And sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust and feeble as frail, In Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end, Our maker, defender, redeemer and friend.
O measureless might! Ineffable love! While angels delight to hymn Thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays, With true adoration shall sing to Thy praise.
Robert Grant
Music to lead us into prayer: As we are gathered Howard Evans
As we are gathered, Jesus is here, One with each other, Jesus is here.
Joined by the Spirit, washed in the blood, Part of the Body, the Church of God. As we are gathered, Jesus is here, One with each other, Jesus is here.
Prayers Major Jane Alton Vocal Item: Somewhere over the rainbow Ella Wright Bible reading: Acts 17:16-34 Eileen Goldsworthy Song 578: Christ of Glory, Prince of peace
CHRIST of Glory, Prince of Peace, Let Thy life in mine increase; Though I live may it be shown 'Tis Thy life and not my own.
Dwell within, that men may see Christ in me,
Christ, the living Christ, in me.
Answer now my soul's desire, Purge my heart with holy fire,
Soothe the hurt with gentle balm, Breathe within my life Thy charm,
Fill me now, so shall there be Christ in me,
Christ, the holy Christ, in me.
Gracious Lord, Thy grace apply, Both to save and sanctify;
All my life wilt Thou control, Calmly ordering the whole,
That the world may ever see Christ in me,
Christ, and only Christ, in me. Christ, and only Christ, in me.
Colin Fairclough
Message from Indonesia by Lieut-Colonel Cedric Hills (Chief Secretary) and Lieut-Colonel Lyn Hills (Secretary for Women’s Ministries)
Musical item from Indonesia Opportunity to give in the Offering Vocal solo: Give Thanks Susan Turner Accompanied by Howard Evans Music from Boscombe Band: They shall come from the East Bible Message Major David Alton
In the 1960s the American ‘pop artist’ made Campbell’s soup tins very famous
and highly lucrative through his art. Then again, tinned soup is highly
profitable anyway. If you stand in the aisle in Tesco’s, you can have Heinz,
Baxter’s, Cross and Blackwell, Campbells, Tesco’s own brand or many more,
the list is seemingly endless. Then there are all the flavours.
In Athens Paul observed countless brands & flavours, not soup, but religion.
Every creed, cult and consumable spirituality was on offer in this very religious
city.
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see
that the city was full of idols.
All this religious choice upset Paul because he knew the truth centred on the
life, death and resurrection of Christ and wanted others to know this too. But
all that religion didn’t faze Paul, he could debate with all comers. He’s like
Ronnie O’Sullivan who recently won the world Snooker championship, a feat
made possible with ability, experience and the gift of being ambidextrous. Paul
had experience and skill, not with a cue, but with the gospel. He too was
ambidextrous in that he could turn to Greek and Jew, intellectual or average
person, willing hearer or critic and present the truth about Jesus.
V17 tells us Paul “reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there”
He encountered Epicurean and Stoic philosophers whose viewpoints sound
familiar to us today. Epicureans said everything happens by chance, death is
the end. Stoics said that God was in everything and everything was God.
Everything that happens in life must be accepted without resentment. There
you go –chance, hardship, finality of death, vagueness, and fatalism. Sounds
like stuff we hear in our increasingly cynical and secular society. Like
Ecclesiastes 1:9 says:
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is
nothing new under the sun”.
Given all that fatalism and nihilism, no wonder Paul is keen to share the
gospel of hope, life, light, love and redemption.
Paul gets a gig at the Areopagus - Greek for Mars' Hill –He gets to speak in the most learned city in the world at this very select court that had oversight of public morals. It might have daunted anyone else; but Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. To him this was another God-given opportunity to witness for Christ. Paul’s in there like a shot, taking the opportunity that the situation presents. Today the church is doing the same, presenting the good news of Jesus using on line services, You-tube, Facebook, Zoom and all other means possible.
Six hundred years before Paul was speaking, Athens had its own Covid. A
Cretan poet, Epi-men-ides, came forward with a cunning plan to beat it, just
like Baldrick from Blackadder. A flock of sheep were let loose in the city from
the Areopagus. Wherever each lay down it was sacrificed to the nearest god;
and if a sheep lay down near the shrine of no known god it was sacrificed to
"The Unknown God." A weird ‘eeny, meeny, miny, mo’ plan that was a
religious equivalent of the old spot the ball competition.
That religious smorgasbord, do it yourself, pick and mix, choose what works
approach was 600 years before Paul. It was the approach at the time of Paul
and its an approach that is still around and thriving today. We have all seen
the car window that covers all the bases - lucky rabbits foot, rosary and fish
symbol. I’ve never understood the luck rabbits foot, it wasn’t very lucky for the
rabbit.
The Athenians were vaguely religious and seeking to cover all bases too. ‘If
you don’t believe me its because you are a Sagittarius. You should have your
fortune told, aura read to help you see I’m right. At least I hope I am, cross
fingers, touch wood. Its bad Karma if you don’t believe me, ask your spirit
guide’. You can actually hear people say these things, occasionally even
some believers may even say some of those things.
It was the author and Christian apologist G K Chesterton who allegedly said –
‘The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything’. In Athens Paul
encountered the reality of this, that we today understand as never before. He
speaks into their vague religiosity, their pick and mix spirituality, picking up on
their search for meaning & seeking after God. There is a searching and an
openness to spirituality that the church can engage with today that’s great
In verses 24 to 33 Paul addresses the Athenians, using their consumer
spirituality, their religiosity as a starting point. Today there is also a searching
and an openness to spirituality that the church can engage with, that’s great.
But when I say the church can engage, remember that in the Bible the
word church is a translation of the Greek word ecclesia, meaning “a calling
out.” It never refers to a denomination or institution.
In verse 24 Paul issues a timely reminder about seeing church as a building or
meeting place too.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven
and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
In scripture the church is always the people, the ones “called out” of the world
by God calling them into His service. The Church of the Bible is not a cold,
stone building, or distant bureaucracy, but a group of warm and loving local
people specially chosen by God. This is the church that must be ready, willing
and equipped to meet contemporary spiritual interest and searching.
While we are the topic of ‘consumer religion’, it doesn’t just exist outside the
church, it occurs inside too. Could it be that the very thing that is a blessing
can also be a prospective curse? It is marvellous that we can tune into
Salvation Army meetings and church services from across the world.
But might there be an ever present danger that we are sucked into religious
consumerism, seeing our tuning into corps You-tube, Fortress Radio and the
rest like our tuning into BBC, ITV or making a Netflix or Sky selection. We
tune in to worship, to incline our hearts and minds to God, to seek his
presence, not to passively view, critically assess the production quality, the
musical content or the effectiveness of the presenter as we might a
programme or drama.
The Greek word for “worship” is translated as “to fall or bow down before.”
Worship is a state, an attitude of spirit. It’s an internal, individual action that
should be done all the time in our lives, regardless of place or situation. When
Christians gather formally together in worship, still the emphasis should be on
individually worshiping the Lord.
Even in a congregation, we need to be aware that they are worshiping God
first and foremost on an individual basis.
Although we aren’t where we would want to be, or with the people we want to
be with, worshipping in the way we would want, let’s remember that we are
still in the presence of God, worshipping him, raising praise, making prayers,
seeking his heart whilst giving of ours.
I know that you know this, but we just need to be alert to our forgetting this
and be aware of the dangers of our becoming like the Athenians.
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine.
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number
of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3
Paul refers to the danger of consumer preaching and consumer listening, but it
can so easily apply to our perspectives on our online worship too as lockdown
continues or unfolds. Let’s be alert to the need for us to be Christ centred,
Christ following people, attentive to those seeking and searching whilst
avoiding the religious pick and mix or consumer orientated worship. Now
where’s the tin opener, I fancy some soup, but what to choose?
Time of Reflection by Boscombe Band and Songsters: ‘Mid all the traffic
Song 982: Stand up, stand up for Jesus
STAND up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross!
Lift high His royal banner, It must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army He shall lead
Till every foe is vanquished, And Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus! The trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict In this His glorious day.
Ye that are men now serve Him Against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger And strength to strength oppose.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus! Stand in His strength alone; The arm of flesh will fail you, Ye dare not trust your own.
Put on salvation armour, And watching unto prayer,
Where duty calls or danger, Be never wanting there.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus! The strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle, The next the victor's song.
To him that overcometh A crown of life shall be,
He with the king of Glory Shall reign eternally.
George Duffield Benediction Major David Alton Exit Music from the Band: New Commission by Martin Cordner