Sunday Worship 27 July 2025
Today’s service is led by the Revd Jessica Ashcroft-Townsley
Introduction
Grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ and welcome to worship on this Seventh Sunday After Pentecost. I am the Revd Jessica Ashcroft-Townsley, minister to Kingsteignton URC and companion minister to the Somerset Group of churches of the South Western Synod of the United Reformed Church. I am delighted to be with you all this morning as we gather to worship God and journey together in our life of faith, knowing that no matter who we are or where we are on life’s journey, the church is the one place we should all be welcome. Let us prepare our hearts and minds for worship.
Call to Worship
Let us gather in peaceful embrace of God’s love. We are free to bring our longing and our love, our words and our silence, our certainty and our wonder, our joy and our questions. For the Spirit meets us in our highs and lows, Christ shows us the way of prayer, and the love of God is always within reach.
So let us bring open hearts and lifted voices,
trusting in the presence that welcomes us here.
Let us worship God!
Hymn Come Holy Spirit, Descend on Us
John Bell © 1994, WGRG c/o Iona Community admin by GIA Publications, Inc. OneLicence # A-734713 Sung by members of St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Santa Monica
Come Holy Spirit descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come Breath of Heaven descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come Word of Mercy descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come Fire of Judgement descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come Great Creator descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come to unite us descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come to disturb us descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come to inspire us descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Come Holy Spirit descend on us, descend on us.
We gather here in Jesus’ name.
Prayer of Confession and Transformation
Loving God, You call us to pray – to bring our whole selves before you –
yet we confess that we often hold back.
We are too distracted to pause, too proud to ask,
too discouraged to hope, too uncertain to trust.
But you are always near, ready to listen and eager to forgive,
Waiting to form us in the shape of your love.
So meet us here in this moment of stillness.
Give us your peace. Breathe new life into weary hearts.
Teach us again to pray with boldness and trust,
as we seek the path of your steadfast love. Amen.
(A moment of silence is kept)
Assurance of New Life
Friends, hear the good news:
God’s love is unfailing, God’s mercy is unshakable.
When we turn to God, we are met with kindness and grace.
Know that you are forgiven, renewed, and held in love.
Thanks be to God!
Prayer for Illumination
Holy One, who meets us each where we are:
Open our minds and spirits to the words we are about to hear.
Shape our hearts in the way of your love. Amen.
Reading Psalm 85
LORD, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin.
You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him and will make a path for his steps.
Hymn Pray, Without Ceasing, Pray
Charles Wesley, Public Domain, Sung by Gareth Moore of the Isle of Man Methodist Church
Pray, without ceasing, pray, your Captain gives the word;
His summons cheerfully obey, and call upon the Lord.
To God your every want in instant prayer display;
pray always; pray, and never faint; pray, without ceasing pray!
In fellowship, alone, to God with faith draw near,
approach His courts, besiege His throne with all the powers of prayer.
Go to His temple, go, nor from His altar move;
let every house His worship know, and every heart His love.
Pour out your souls to God, and bow them with your knees,
and spread your hearts and hands abroad, and pray for Zion’s peace.
Your guides and brethren bear for ever on your mind:
extend the arms of mighty prayer, and grasp all humankind.
Reading Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” So he said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Sermon Lord, Teach Us to Pray
If you are anything like me, you have asked a parent, mentor, or minister at some point in your life, “How do I pray?” Or maybe even, “What is the right way to pray?” I remember asking that question as a child, wanting to get it just right, as if there were a magic formula that could guarantee a response from God. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience – wondering if you’re using the right words, if you’re praying often enough, if you’re doing it correctly.
The disciples had the same question. They saw Jesus praying—regularly, intimately, as though he were speaking to someone he deeply trusted. They must have sensed that his prayer life was different, more alive than the formal prayers they were used to in the synagogue. So, one day, after watching him pray, they asked, “Teach us to pray.”
By this point in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples are on a journey. Luke 9:51 tells us that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He is heading toward confrontation, toward the cross, and along the way, he has been teaching, healing, and sending his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God. In the previous chapter, he sent out seventy followers to share the good news, told the parable of the Good Samaritan, and visited Mary and Martha. Now, he pauses once again to pray.
The disciples have likely seen him withdraw for prayer before—Luke often describes Jesus going off alone to pray. But this time, they don’t just observe. They want to learn. They want to pray like he does, with that same sense of nearness to God. “Teach us to pray,” they ask, “as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus’ response wasn’t a lecture or a theological discourse. Instead, he gave them a simple yet profound prayer—what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It is a prayer of trust, asking for daily provision, forgiveness, and guidance. It is a prayer that reminds us that God is close, not distant.
But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to tell a story about a friend knocking on a neighbour’s door at midnight, asking for bread. It’s an odd little parable—because, let’s be honest, who wants to be woken up at midnight for a loaf of bread? And yet, Jesus says, even a reluctant neighbour will respond if someone keeps knocking. How much more, then, will God respond to those who seek, ask, and knock?
This passage isn’t about badgering God until we get our way. It’s about trusting in God’s generosity. It’s about persistence—not because God is reluctant, but because prayer changes us. It keeps us connected, keeps us engaged, keeps us aware of God’s presence in our lives.
And yet, prayer is not just asking for things. The Lord’s Prayer gives us one model, but scripture is full of many others. Psalm 85, which we read earlier, is a different kind of prayer—a prayer of longing, a plea for restoration. “Show us your steadfast love, O God, and grant us your salvation.” It’s a prayer that arises out of struggle, a reminder that prayer is not always neat and tidy. Sometimes, it is lament. Sometimes, it is gratitude. Sometimes, it is silence.
Often, when we think about prayer, we picture someone sitting quietly with their hands folded and eyes closed. And that is prayer. But it’s not the only way. It’s true that some of us pray with words—spoken or written.
Some people pray best while moving—walking a labyrinth or taking a prayer walk through their neighbourhood or a local park, using each step as an opportunity to connect with God. Others find that singing or playing an instrument becomes their prayer, offering up melodies as a way of drawing close to the divine.
For some, prayer is visual—a sacred act of colouring, painting, or journaling, letting creativity open a conversation with God. Others find prayer in stillness, in lighting a candle, or in simply breathing deeply and resting in God’s presence.
And then there is a form of prayer we don’t always name as such—prayer through action. St. Teresa of Avila once wrote, “Christ has no body now but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.” When we serve others—when we offer kindness, work for justice, feed the hungry, or care for the lonely—our lives become a prayer. As theologian Frederick Buechner put it, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” At its best, this is the place where prayer takes us.
One of my favourite writers, Anne Lamott, famously wrote that at its core, prayer often comes down to one of three simple words: Help, thanks, and wow.
Help—when we cry out in need, when we knock on God’s door at midnight, trusting that we will be heard. Thanks—when we recognize that all we have is a gift, when we offer gratitude for daily “bread” and answered prayers. Wow—when we stand in awe of the beauty of creation, of grace, of love that reaches beyond what we can imagine.
Jesus’ prayer in Luke 11 holds all these elements. It asks for help—”Give us each day our daily bread.” It expresses thanks and trust in God’s care. And it carries that wow—the longing for God’s kingdom to come, for the world to be made whole.
What if our lives became a kind of prayer, shaped by these three words? What if we lived in a way that wasn’t afraid to ask for help, that overflowed with thanks, and that never lost sight of the wow of God’s presence?
I wonder—what does prayer look like in your life? Is it something you turn to daily, or something you struggle with? Have you ever found prayer in unexpected places—perhaps in music, in art, in nature, or in movement?
Perhaps one of the most freeing things we can learn is that prayer is not about getting it right. It is about showing up. It is about making space for God, however we are able, trusting that God meets us there.
However you pray, and wherever you find yourself on the journey of faith, know this: God hears. God responds. And above all, God remains with us, steadfast and faithful. Amen.
Hymn The Love of God Comes Close
John L Bell & Graham Maule (c) 1988, 1997 Iona Community, GIA Publications, OneLicence A-734713 Sung by the Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir
The love of God comes close, where stands an open door,
to let the stranger in, to mingle rich and poor:
the love of God is here to stay embracing those who
walk his way.
The peace of God comes close to those caught in the storm;
forgoing lives of ease to ease the lives forlorn:
the peace of God is here to stay embracing those
who walk his way.
The joy of God comes close where faith encounters fears,
where heights and depths of life are found through smiles and tears:
the joy of God is here to stay embracing those
who walk his way.
The grace of God comes close to those whose grace is spent,
when hearts are tired or sore and hope is bruised or bent:
the grace of God is here to stay embracing those who
walk his way.
The Son of God comes close where people praise his name,
where bread and wine are blest and shared, as when he came:
the Son of God is here to stay embracing those who
walk his way.
Affirmation of Faith
We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God: who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Let us bring our prayers before God, who hears us with love and responds with grace.
There will be pauses in this prayer for your own reflections or spoken prayers.
Loving and ever-present God,
You invite us to seek, to ask, and to knock,
trusting that you listen and respond in love.
So we bring before you the needs of the world,
our communities, and our own hearts:
God of peace,
where there is conflict – between nations, within communities,
or even in our own families – bring your healing.
Guide leaders in wisdom, soften hearts,
and show us how to be peacemakers in our daily lives.
(Pause for silent or spoken prayers for peace.)
God of justice,
where there is oppression, inequality, or cruelty,
where people are denied dignity or safety, stir us to action.
Give courage to those who stand for truth
and strength to those who long for justice.
(Pause for silent or spoken prayers for justice.)
God of compassion,
we lift to you those who are struggling today –
the sick, the grieving, the lonely, the weary.
Bring comfort to those who mourn,
healing to those in pain, and hope to those who feel lost.
(Pause for silent or spoken prayers for those in need.)
God of abundance,
we pray for those who are hungry,
homeless, lonely, or despairing.
Help us to be part of your answer,
sharing what we have for the good of all.
(Pause for silent or spoken prayers for those in need of provision.)
God of the Church in this place and far beyond it,
as we seek to follow you, renew our faith, deepen our love,
and help us to be a community of grace,
welcoming, serving, and growing together.
(Pause for silent or spoken prayers for the church.)
Holy One,
we humbly ask you to answer these prayers in your mercy,
and guide us in your way of love.
We draw our prayers together in the words Jesus taught us saying…Our Father…
Offertory Prayer
Loving God who has given so much to us all. We know that even our giving is a kind of prayer – a prayer of gratitude, trust, and love. Bless these gifts, that they may bring hope, justice, and kindness in your name. Amen.
Hymn Come and Find the Quiet Centre
Shirley Erena Murray © 1992 Hope Publishing Company OneLicence # A-734713. Performed by the 70x&’s Band and B.J. Collins
Come and find the quiet centre in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking, finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel, open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel, celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming, there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming there is always room to spare!
Blessing
Go now in the peace of God, whose love surrounds you,
whose grace sustains you, whose Spirit moves through you.
May your life be a prayer – in word and in silence,
in action and in rest, in giving and in receiving.
And may you go in the confidence that the One who teaches us to pray
goes with you, always. Amen.