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ST COLUMBA’S, PONT STREET
MORNING WORSHIP
SUNDAY 26TH APRIL 2026, 11AM
Welcome
Call to Worship
Hymn 213 Every new morning God gives us freely (Bunessan)
Every new morning
God gives us freely
hearts that are thankful,
strength for the task,
people who love us,
joy in our service,
all we have need of
if we but ask.
God will be with us
in all our thinking,
in all our speaking,
in all we do;
and as we praise him
by all our actions,
he will be with us,
seeing us through.
God in the morning,
God in the noontide,
God in the evening,
all through the day;
God is within us,
and all around us,
God goes before us,
all of the way.
Call to Prayer
Prayers of Approach & Lords Prayer
Theme for the day
Hymn 462 The King of Love my Shepherd is (Dominus Regit me)
The King of Love my Shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
and he is mine for ever.
Where streams of living water flow
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow
with food celestial feedeth.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed;
but yet in love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home rejoicing brought me.
In death’s dark vale I fear no ill,
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.
Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and oh, what wonder and delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!
And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever!
New Testament Reading: Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds* to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home* and ate their food with glad and generous* hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Epistle Testament Reading: 1 Peter 2:19-25
For it is to your credit if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, where is the credit in that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
‘He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.’
When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds* you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Anthem: Like as the hart Howells (1892-1983)
Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks: so longeth my soul after thee,
O God.
My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God: when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
My tears have been my meat day and night: while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God?
Gospel Reading: John 10:1-10
‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly
Hymn 430 Christ has risen while earth slumbers (Transformation)
Christ has risen while earth slumbers,
Christ has risen where hope died,
as he said and as he promised,
as we doubted and denied.
Let the moon embrace the blessing;
let the sun sustain the cheer;
let the world confirm the rumour.
Christ is risen, God is here!
Christ has risen for the people
whom he loved and died to save;
Christ has risen for the women
bringing flowers to grace his grave.
Christ has risen for disciples
huddled in an upstairs room.
He whose word inspired creation
is not silenced by the tomb.
Christ has risen, and for ever
lives to challenge, and to change
all whose lives are messed or mangled,
all who find religion strange.
Christ is risen. Christ is present,
making us what he has been —
evidence of transformation
in which God is known and seen.
Sermon
Anthem: Blessed be the God and Father S.S.Wesley (1810-1876)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again
Unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
That fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
Ready to be revealed in the last time.
But as he which hath called you is holy,
So be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
Love one another with a pure heart fervently:
See that ye love one another.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away;
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. Amen.
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 363 We have a gospel to proclaim (Walton, Fulda)
We have a gospel to proclaim,
good news for all throughout the earth;
the gospel of a Saviour’s name:
we sing his glory, tell his worth.
Tell of his birth at Bethlehem
not in a royal house or hall
but in a stable dark and dim,
the Word made flesh, a light for all.
Tell of his death at Calvary,
hated by those he came to save,
in lonely suff’ring on the cross;
for all he loved his life he gave.
Tell of that glorious Easter morn —
empty the tomb, for he was free.
He broke the power of death and hell
that we might share his victory.
Tell of his reign at God’s right hand,
by all creation glorified.
He sends his Spirit on his Church
to live for him, the Lamb who died.
Now we rejoice to name him King:
Jesus is Lord of all the earth.
This gospel-message we proclaim:
we sing his glory, tell his worth.
Benediction
Postlude: G Minor by Charles Stanford
Retiring Offering
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