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ST COLUMBA’S, PONT STREET,
SUNDAY 8TH FEBRUARY 2026 11.00 A.M.,
MORNING SERVICE
Welcome
Call to Worship
Hymn 103 Fill your hearts with joy and gladness (Psalm 147) (Rhuddlan)
1 Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,
sing and praise your God and mine!
Great the Lord in love and wisdom,
might and majesty divine!
He who framed the starry heavens
knows and names them as they shine.
2 Praise the Lord, his people, praise him!
Wounded souls his comfort know;
those who fear him find his mercies,
peace for pain and joy for woe;
humble hearts are high exalted,
human pride and power laid low.
3 Praise the Lord for times and seasons,
cloud and sunshine, wind and rain;
spring to melt the snows of winter
till the waters flow again;
grass upon the mountain pastures,
golden valleys thick with grain.
4 Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,
peace and plenty crown your days;
love his laws, declare his judgements,
walk in all his words and ways;
he the Lord and we his children —
praise the Lord, all people, praise!
Prayers of Approach and Confession
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 debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power and the glory for ever, Amen.
Theme for the day
Hymn 147 All creatures of our God and King (Lasst Uns Erfreuen)
1 All creatures of our God and King,
lift up your voice and with us sing
alleluia, alleluia!
Bright brother sun with golden beam,
clear sister moon with softer gleam:
O praise him, O praise him,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
2 Swift rushing wind, so wild and strong,
high clouds that sail in heaven along,
O praise him, alleluia!
New-breaking dawn, in praise rejoice,
and lights of evening, find a voice:
3 Cool flowing water, pure and clear,
make music for your Lord to hear,
alleluia, alleluia!
Fire, with your flames so fierce and bright,
giving to all both warmth and light:
4 Dear mother earth, who day by day
unfolds God’s blessings on our way,
O praise him, alleluia!
All flowers and fruits that in you grow,
let them his glory also show:
5 And all who are of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O praise him, alleluia!
All who long pain and sorrow bear,
praise God and cast on him your care:
6 And you, most kind and gentle death,
waiting to hush our fading breath,
O praise him, alleluia!
You homeward lead the child of God,
and Christ our Lord the way has trod:
7 Let all things their Creator bless,
and worship God in humbleness,
O praise him, alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
and praise the Spirit, Three in One:
Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 58: 1-12
Shout out; do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
they want God on their side.[a]
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day
and oppress all your workers.
4 You fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator[b] shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your needs in parched places
and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
New Testament Reading: I Corinthians 2: 1-16
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the testimony of God to you with superior speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were made not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are being destroyed. 7 But we speak God’s wisdom, a hidden mystery, which God decreed before the ages for our glory 8 and which none of the rulers of this age understood, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For what human knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny.
16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”
But we have the mind of Christ.
Anthem: Behold, the tabernacle of God (WH Harris 1883-1973)
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and the Spirit of God dwelleth within you:
For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are:
For the love of whom ye do this day celebrate the joys of the temple
With a season of festivity. Alleluia.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5: 13-20
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Hymn 535 Who would true valour see (Monks Gate)
1 Who would true valour see,
let him come hither;
one here will constant be,
come wind, come weather;
there’s no discouragement
shall make him once relent
his first avowed intent
to be a pilgrim.
2 Whoso beset him round
with dismal stories,
do but themselves confound;
his strength the more is.
No lion can him fright;
he’ll with a giant fight,
but he will have a right
to be a pilgrim.
3 Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
can daunt his spirit;
he knows he at the end
shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away;
he’ll fear not what men say;
he’ll labour night and day
to be a pilgrim.
Sermon
Anthem: View me, Lord (Richard Lloyd 1933-2021)
View me, Lord, a work of Thine:
Shall I then lie drown’d in night?
Might Thy grace in me but shine,
I should seem made all of light.
Cleanse me, Lord, that I may kneel
At Thine altar pure and white:
They that once Thy mercies feel,
Gaze no more on earth’s delight.
Worldly joys, like shadows, fade
When the heav’nly light appears,
But the cov’nants Thou hast made,
Endless, know nor days nor years.
In Thy Word, Lord, is my trust,
To Thy mercies fast I fly;
Though I am but clay and dust,
Yet Thy grace can lift me high.
Dedication of our Offerings
{If able, please stand as the offering is brought forward and the congregation sings}
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (CH4 807, Old 100th)
Prayer of Dedication:
Minister: Father, Son, and Spirit Holy,
we give you thanks and praise:
Congregation: We dedicate to you
our thoughts, our words,
our gifts, our deeds,
the working of our hands,
the thinking of our minds,
the loving of our hearts. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving & Intercession
Intimations
Hymn 458 At the name of Jesus (Cuddesdon)
1 At the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow,
every tongue confess him
King of glory now;
’tis the Father’s pleasure
we should call him Lord,
who from the beginning
was the mighty Word.
2 Brothers, sisters, name him
with love strong as death,
but with awe and wonder
and with bated breath!
He is God the Saviour,
he is Christ the Lord,
ever to be worshipped,
trusted, and adored.
3 In your hearts enthrone him;
there let him subdue
all that is not holy,
all that is not true:
let his grace support you
in temptation’s hour;
and his will enfold you
in its light and power.
4 In his Father’s glory
Christ shall come again,
angel hosts proclaiming
his return to reign.
For all wreaths of empire
meet upon his brow,
and our hearts confess him
King of glory now.
Benediction & Choral Amen sung by the congregation
Organ Postlude: Prelude in C minor BWV 546’ by J.S. Bach
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