Listen to our online prayer and worship at our Soundcloud page.

Click on the orange button above to listen to an edited version of our service from 8 March 2020  from St Stephen’s Church.

The preacher is our Minister, the Rev Peter W Nimmo. The prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession are led by David Sim, our Student Assistant. The reader is Ruth Martin, the Organist is Ron Stevenson, and the Choir Director is Pam McCulloch. For copyright reasons, some hymns are omitted.

ORDER OF SERVICE

Approach to God

Welcome and Announcements

Call to Prayer

Prayers of Approach and Confession

including the Prayer of Confession (said together):

God of all mercy,

give us grace to make a fresh start today.

We know we have not loved you with our whole heart,

nor have we loved our neighbour as ourselves.

As we hope to be forgiven, teach us also to forgive;

and lead us forward in a new life

where neither grudges nor resentment have a part;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Word of God

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:15-17 and 2.25-3.15

God has formed the first human from the dust of the ground and has breathed life into him. God has placed him in his own domain, a land of delight, the Garden of Eden. To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to attempt to gain total knowledge of creation, something God does not intend humans to do.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

Every Israelite was expected to live by the great commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”. Jesus shows himself to be the ideal Israelite, as he refuses to use his power in self-gratifying ways.

Sermon                      More than just bread

Response to the Word of God

Hymn 482 Come, let us to the Lord our God (Tune 1 Kilmarnock)

Prayers of Thanksgiving, Intercession and Dedication: David Sim, student assistant

The Lord’s Prayer (said together)

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.

Dismissal and Blessing and Threefold Amen