[Did you miss last Sunday’s services? They can still be found at Worship Archive – January 9th 2022.
Sunday Service from Connexion for January 16th 2022:
Sunday Services from Hillside Circuit for January 16th 2022:
Theme: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Occasion: 2nd after Epiphany
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 36: 5-10
Isaiah 62: 1-5
1 Corinthians 12: 1-11
John 2: 1-11
Readings for Hillside 9.30am service:
Psalm 116: 1-2, 12-13
Proverbs 3: 1-18
1 John 4: 7-11, 19-21
Matthew 5: 13-16
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to listen and/or read it for yourself and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]
Songs:
Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube, or go to the Songs for worship webpage to find them embedded.
O Jesus I have promised.
O Master let me walk With Thee.
I want to walk with Jesus Christ.
God bless Africa.
Prayers:
You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.
Children’s Address:
Sermons:
Bible readings:
Psalm 36
5 Your love is faithful, LORD,
and even the clouds in the sky can depend on you.
6 Your decisions are always fair.
They are firm like mountains, deep like the sea,
and all people and animals are under your care.
7 Your love is a treasure, and everyone finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
8 You give your guests a feast in your house,
and you serve a tasty drink that flows like a river.
9 The life-giving fountain belongs to you,
and your light gives light to each of us.
10 Our LORD, keep showing love
to everyone who knows you,
and use your power to save
all whose thoughts please you.
Isaiah 62
1 Jerusalem, I will speak up for your good.
I will never be silent till you are safe and secure,
sparkling like a flame.
2 Your great victory will be seen
by every nation and king;
the LORD will even give you a new name.
3 You will be a glorious crown, a royal headband,
for the LORD your God.
4 Your name will no longer be “Deserted and Childless,”
but “Happily Married.”
You will please the LORD;
your country will be his bride.
5 Your people will take the land,
just as a young man takes a bride.
The LORD will be pleased because of you,
just as a husband is pleased with his bride.
1 Corinthians 12
1 My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2 I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3 Now I want you to know that if you are led by God’s Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.
4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they all come from the same Spirit. 5 There are different ways to serve the same Lord, 6 and we can each do different things. Yet the same God works in all of us and helps us in everything we do.
7 The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. 8 Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. 9 To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick 10 or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God’s Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. 11 But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.
John 2
1 Three days later Mary, the mother of Jesus, was at a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been invited and were there.
3 When the wine was all gone, Mary said to Jesus, “They don’t have any more wine.”
4 Jesus replied, “Mother, my time hasn’t yet come! You must not tell me what to do.”
5 Mary then said to the servants, “Do whatever Jesus tells you to do.”
6 At the feast there were six stone water jars that were used by the people for washing themselves in the way that their religion said they must. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus told the servants to fill them to the top with water. Then after the jars had been filled, 8 he said, “Now take some water and give it to the man in charge of the feast.”
The servants did as Jesus told them, 9 and the man in charge drank some of the water that had now turned into wine. He did not know where the wine had come from, but the servants did. He called the bridegroom over 10 and said, “The best wine is always served first. Then after the guests have had plenty, the other wine is served. But you have kept the best until last!”
11 This was Jesus’ first miracle, and he did it in the village of Cana in Galilee. There Jesus showed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Psalm 116
1 I love you, LORD! You answered my prayers.
2 You paid attention to me,
and so I will pray to you as long as I live.
12 What must I give you, LORD, for being so good to me?
13 I will pour out an offering of wine to you,
and I will pray in your name because you have saved me.
Proverbs 3
1 My child, remember my teachings and instructions
and obey them completely.
2 They will help you live a long and prosperous life.
3 Let love and loyalty always show like a necklace,
and write them in your mind.
4 God and people will like you and consider you a success.
5 With all your heart you must trust the LORD
and not your own judgment.
6 Always let him lead you,
and he will clear the road for you to follow.
7 Don’t ever think that you are wise enough,
but respect the LORD and stay away from evil.
8 This will make you healthy, and you will feel strong.
9 Honour the LORD by giving him your money
and the first part of all your crops.
10 Then you will have more grain and grapes
than you will ever need.
11 My child, don’t turn away or become bitter
when the LORD corrects you.
12 The LORD corrects everyone he loves,
just as parents correct their favourite child.
13 God blesses everyone who has wisdom and common sense.
14 Wisdom is worth more than silver;
it makes you much richer than gold.
15 Wisdom is more valuable than precious jewels;
nothing you want compares with her.
16 In her right hand Wisdom holds a long life,
and in her left hand are wealth and honour.
17 Wisdom makes life pleasant and leads us safely along.
18 Wisdom is a life-giving tree,
the source of happiness for all who hold on to her.
1 John 4
7 My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him. 8 God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. 9 God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. 10 Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.
19 We love because God loved us first. 20 But if we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars. We cannot see God. So how can we love God, if we don’t love the people we can see? 21 The commandment that God has given us is: “Love God and love each other!”
Matthew 5
13 You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.
14 You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, 15 and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. 16 Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.
Text version of Children’s Address for Hillside Circuit on January 16th 2022, with Rev Bekithemba Phiri:
Unity is Strength
Once upon a time, there was a flock of doves that flew in search of food led by their king. One day, they had flown a long distance and were very tired. The dove king encouraged them to fly a little further. The smallest dove picked up speed and found some rice scattered beneath a banyan tree. So all the doves landed and began to eat.
Suddenly a net fell over them and they were all trapped. They saw a hunter approaching carrying a huge club. The doves desperately fluttered their wings trying to get out, but to no avail. The king had an idea. He advised all the doves to fly up together carrying the net with them. He said that there was strength in unity.
Each dove picked up a portion of the net and together they flew off carrying the net with them. The hunter looked up in astonishment. He tried to follow them, but they were flying high over hills and valleys. They flew to a hill near a city of temples where there lived a mouse who could help them. He was a faithful friend of the dove king.
When the mouse heard the loud noise of their approach, he went into hiding. The dove king gently called out to him and then the mouse was happy to see him. The dove king explained that they had been caught in a trap and needed the mouse’s help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.
The mouse agreed saying that he would set the king free first. The king insisted that he first free his subjects and the king last. The mouse understood the king’s feelings and complied with his wishes. He began to cut the net and one by one all the doves were freed including the dove king.
They all thanked the mouse and flew away together, united in their strength.
Moral: When you work together, you are stronger.
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
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