Click play below to join in our our live stream...
If you experience any issue with livestream on the day, please email livestream@stcolumbas.org.uk (please note that this address will only be monitored on Sundays).
Our live streaming system is designed to be as reliable as possible and work across a wide range of devices. However, live streaming relies on a lot of things outside of our control. Although we’ll do our best to help you get this working, we cannot accept liability if this service is unavailable.
ST COLUMBA’S, PONT STREET
MORNING SERVICE
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, SUNDAY 21ST JUNE 2026, 11AM
Welcome
Call to Worship
Hymn 34 O send thy light forth and thy truth (Psalm 43) (Martyrs)
1 O send thy light forth and thy truth;
let them be guides to me,
and bring me to thine holy hill,
even where thy dwellings be.
2 Then will I to God’s altar go,
to God my chiefest joy:
yea, God, my God, thy name to praise
my harp I will employ.
3 Why art thou then cast down, my soul?
what should discourage thee?
Any why with vexing thoughts art thou
disquieted in me?
4 Still trust in God; for him to praise
good cause I yet shall have:
he of my countenance is the health,
my God that doth me save.
Call to Prayer
Prayers of Approach & Lord’s Prayer
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.
Call to Prayer
Prayer of Approach & Lord’s Prayer
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 198 Let us build a house where love can dwell (Two Oaks)
1 Let us build a house where love can dwell
And all can safely live
A place where saints and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive
Built of hopes and dreams and visions
Rock of faith and vault of grace
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions
All are welcome, all are welcome
All are welcome in this place
2 Let us build a house where prophets speak,
and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek
to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness
and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus.
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
3 Let us build a house where love is found
in water, wine and wheat:
a banquet hall on holy ground
where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus,
is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us.
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
4 Let us build a house where hands will reach
beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach,
and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger
bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger.
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
5 Let us build a house where all are named,
their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed
as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
prayers of faith and songs of grace,
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter.
All are welcome, all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 21: 8-21
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.[a] 10 So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Epistle Reading: Romans 6: 1b-11
Dying and Rising with Christ
6 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Anthem: O taste and see, Ralph Vaughan Williams
O taste and see how gracious the Lord is: blest is the man that trusteth in Him.
Gospel Reading Matthew 10: 24-39
24 ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
Whom to Fear
26 ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32 ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
Not Peace, but a Sword
34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Hymn 606 Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders (Stuttgart)
1 Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders,
unmistakable and clear,
mighty signs that show your presence,
overcoming doubt and fear.
2 Lord, you sometimes speak in whispers,
still and small and scarcely heard;
only those who want to listen
catch the all-important word.
3 Lord, you sometimes speak in silence,
through our loud and noisy day;
we can know and trust you better
when we quietly wait and pray.
4 Lord, you love to speak in Scripture,
words that summon from the page,
shown and taught us by your Spirit
with fresh light for every age.
5 Lord, you always speak in Jesus,
always new yet still the same:
teach us now more of our Saviour,
make our lives display his Name.
Sermon
Anthem: Ave verum corpus, Mozart (1756-91)
Ave, verum corpus natum,
Ex Maria Virgine,
Vere passum, immolatum
In cruce pro homine:
Cuius latus perforatum
Unda fluxit sanguine:
Esto nobis praegustatum
In mortis examine.
Hail, true body, born of Mary,
Promised Saviour, God’s own Son;
You suffered willingly, were offered up,
On the cross for all mankind.
From your wounded side there flowed
A cleansing stream of blood and water.
Be for us a sign of grace
When we come to life’s last hour.
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 710 “I have a dream”, a man once said (Repton)
1 “I have a dream”, a man once said,
“where all is perfect peace;
where men and women, black and white,
stand hand in hand, and all unite
*in freedom and in love.”
2 But in this world of bitter strife
the dream can often fade;
reality seems dark as night,
we catch but glimpses of the light
Christ sheds on humankind.
3 Fierce persecution, war, and hate
are raging everywhere;
God calls us now to pay the price
through struggles and through sacrifice
of standing for the right.
4 So dream the dreams and sing the songs,
but never be content:
for thoughts and words don’t ease the pain:
unless there’s action, all is vain;
faith proves itself in deeds.
5 Lord, give us vision, make us strong,
help us to do your will;
don’t let us rest until we see
your love throughout humanity
uniting us in peace.
*the last line of each verse is repeated
Benediction & Choral Amen
Organ Postlude: Fugue in C, Buxtehude
Retiring Offering
(It is possible to donate via the website. All offerings towards the ongoing life of St Columba’s are very gratefully received. Thank you.
