We are working to make this service as accessible as possible to those who would like to worship together particularly during this period of lockdown.

For this reason you can be part of this service either: 
  • By watching on our Facebook page like usual at 9am on Sunday Morning
  • By joining on Zoom by using this link to register and receive the log-in details
 
 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEuceCgqT4jHNTLqWqo135UPDI9VaB9V7K7

By joining on Zoom on the telephone by calling: 0131 460 1196 and then following the automated  instructions to enter Meeting ID: 853 6987 5960 and Passcode: 781469 when requested.

The Zoom Room will be open from 8.50am and you will be asked to remain muted through the service. Those on Zoom will be able to remain in the Zoom Room for coffee and conversation after the service if they would like.

An Order Morning Prayer for Mothering Sunday
 
Preparation
O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love,
according to your judgement give us life.
 
Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
In the darkness of our sin,
your light breaks forth like the dawn
and your healing springs up for deliverance.
As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,
sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
and open our lips to sing your praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
 
 
Hymn
 
1          For the beauty of the earth,
            for the beauty of the skies,
            for the love which from our birth
            over and around us lies:
            Lord of all, to thee we raise 
            this our sacrifice of praise. 
 
2          For the beauty of each hour
            of the day and of the night,
            hill and vale, and tree and flower,
            sun and moon and stars of light:
            Chorus 
  
3          For the joy of human love,
            brother, sister, parent, child,
            friends on earth, and friends above,
            for all gentle thoughts and mild:
            Chorus 
 
4          For each perfect gift of thine
            to our race so freely given,
            graces human and divine,
            flowers of earth and buds of heaven:
            Chorus 
 Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917).
 
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
Amen.
 
Confession and self-reflection
 
Let us call to mind our sin, our failure to value the love of others and our failure to love as Christ has loved us.
 
Your love gives us life from the moment of conception.
We fail to live as your children.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
 
You call us to do good. We seek our own good.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
 
You hear us when we cry for help. We ignore the cries of others.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
 
May the Father of all mercies
cleanse us from our sins,
and restore us in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
The Word of God
 
1 Samuel 1.20–28
 
In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.’
 
The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, ‘As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there for ever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.’ Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.’ So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, ‘Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.’
 
She left him there for the Lord.
 
 Psalm 127.1–4
1  Unless the Lord builds the house,  
   those who build it labour in vain.
2  Unless the Lord keeps the city,  
   the guard keeps watch in vain.
3  It is in vain that you hasten to rise up early
      and go so late to rest, eating the bread of toil,  
   for he gives his beloved sleep.
4  Children are a heritage from the Lord  
   and the fruit of the womb is his gift.
 
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. 
Amen.
 
John 19.25–27
 
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
 
The Magnificat
 
1          Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
            Unnumbered blessings, give my spirit voice;
            tender to me the promise of his word;
            in God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice.
 
2          Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his Name!
            Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
            his mercy sure, from age to age the same;
            his holy Name, the Lord, the Mighty One.
 
3          Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
            Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
            Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
            the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.
 
4          Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
            Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure.
            Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
            to children's children and for evermore!
Timothy Dudley-Smith (born 1926) from Luke 1 vs46-55 
© administered by Oxford University Press in Europe (including UK and Ireland) and Africa, and by Hope Publishing Company in all other territories (including USA)
 
Reflection
 
Anthem
For Mary, Mother of our Lord
sung by St Martin’s Voices
 
For Mary, Mother of our Lord
God’s holy name be praised,
who first the Son of God adored,
as on her child she gazed.
 
Brave, holy Virgin, she believe,
though hard the task assigned,
and by the Holy Ghost conceived
the Saviour of mankind.
 
She gave her body as God’s shrine,
her heart to piercing pain;
she knew the cost of love divine,
when Jesus Christ was slain.
 
Dear Mary, from your lowliness
and home in Galilee 
there comes a joy and holiness
to every family. 
Hail, Mary, you are full of grace,
above all women blest;
and blest your Son, whom your embrace
in birth and death confessed.
 
John Raphael Peacey (1896-1971)
© Revd Mary J Hancock
 
Prayers
 
Which conclude with... 

Collect for Mothering Sunday
God of love,
passionate and strong,
tender and careful:
watch over us and hold us
all the days of our life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
 
The Lord’s Prayer
 
Trusting in the compassion of God,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
 
 
Hymn
 
1          Now thank we all our God,
            with hearts and hands and voices,
            who wondrous things hath done,
            in whom his world rejoices;
            who from our mothers' arms
            hath blessed us on our way
            with countless gifts of love,
            and still is ours today.
 
2          O may this bounteous God
            through all our life be near us,
            with ever joyful hearts
            and blessèd peace to cheer us;
            and keep us in his grace,
            and guide us when perplexed,
            and free us from all ills
            in this world and the next.
 
3          All praise and thanks to God
            the Father now be given,
            the Son, and him who reigns
            with them in highest heaven,
            the one eternal God,
            whom earth and heaven adore,
            for thus it was, is now,
            and shall be evermore.
Nun danket alle Gott Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) 
translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) .
 
The Conclusion
May God, who gave birth to all creation, bless us:
may God, who became incarnate by an earthly mother, bless us:
may God, who broods as a mother over her children, bless us.
May almighty God bless us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
Amen.
 
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
 
 Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included here,
is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000 and published by Church House Publishing.
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. 
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

 
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