Wellspring@Home         

JANUARY 17th ​2021 

A b i d i n g   i n   C h r i s t
 
‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.’  (John 1:14 – NRSV)


Song:   See his glory  [MP 925]


Prayer
World-entering God
In you we live and move and have our being
Self-emptying God
In you we live and move and have our being
Jesus-raising God
In you we live and move and have our being
Spirit-breathing God
In you we live and move and have our being.
[from Order for Baptist Ministry]
 

Praying Together this week
January 2021                                                                                                  
​Bob Fyffe  
General Secretary, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland)

Our spiritual well-being is as important as our physical well-being. In the past year both of these have been seriously challenged: the COVID-19 pandemic has
caused us to be careful about our own health, taking precautions such as washing hands and wearing face-masks and maintaining social distance. Some of us
have been ill or have lost someone close to us. Meanwhile the working lives of many have been disrupted and families kept apart, often at huge personal cost. Perhaps it has made us all more anxious about our health and more aware of our vulnerability.
​
At the same time church buildings have been closed
and worship has been taking place online.
Opportunities to worship and pray together have been seriously curtailed. We may well be feeling a sense of isolation from God as well as our neighbour. The period of lockdown that we have lived through has caused us
to take a step back to think again about our priorities and the things and people that we value, that make
our lives whole. The long periods of absence from extended family and friends, and the inability to share a meal together or celebrate a birthday or a wedding, are examples of this.

When it comes to our spiritual life, what is it that is most important for our well-being? As Church life was
to a large extent paused for the first time for most people, what does it mean to be part of the one
Church, the Body of Christ when all we see of our
sisters and brothers are on the screen of a laptop?

When the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity invited the sisters of the Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland to produce
the material for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
for 2021 they could not have foreseen the pandemic
and its impact. Yet the Sisters of Grandchamp have offered us something uniquely precious: an opportunity to engage with a form of prayer that is both very ancient and yet at the same time so apposite for our times. The ancient rhythm of prayer found in many religious orders and their traditions teach us that when we pray, we pray not just on our own or with those who share the same physical space, but with the whole Church, the Body of Christ of Christians in other places and in different times.
​
This rhythm of prayer, with its traditional forms of structure, hymns and psalms and perhaps most importantly, silence, might well be an important
gift from the ancient Church to the Church of today struggling with pandemics and lockdowns and more widely with some of the serious challenges that our world faces, most particularly climate change, racism and poverty.

This tradition of prayer and spirituality, despite the
things that hurt and separate us, invites us into shared prayer and silence together. Surely a most precious gift
in troubled times. Come with us this Week of Prayer
for Christian Unity and enter into a place of community and blessing. Simply “be” in this place and be carried
by the prayer and the reality that it is God, in Christ
​and through the Holy Spirit, who carries us and accompanies us.
Always.

​Reading:            John 15:1-17
 

Reflection:       Abiding in Christ

Song:  Will you come and follow me? 
                                                     [StF 673]

Praying for our world
​
As we pray together please use this framework for
your own prayers for the Church and the world:

God of life in all its fullness, in Jesus you come to give life and not to destroy it.
You call us to be part of your healing:to make peace, pursue justice, and love mercy; to bear witness to
Christ anticipating the day when tears are wiped away, death, mourning, crying and pain are no more, and you are at home among all people.
​
God who dwells within us, move afresh in our lives and neighbourhood…
God among the nations, move afresh in our lives and neighbourhood…
God whose prophetic presence is at hand, move afresh in our lives and neighbourhood…
Through your Spirit, may broken lives be made whole
and flickering spirits fanned into flame.
And so may justice be brought to victory.
In your name we pray and put our hope.
Amen.
[from Order for Baptist Ministry]

The Lord’s Prayer
 
Song:   Abide with me      [MP 4]
​Watch on YouTube​ - full screen
(be prepared in case there is an advert at the start).

​Blessing

So may we see Christ in others,
be Christ to others;
that we may live in him,
and he in us.
​Amen


Acknowledgements
Gathering Prayer and Prayers of Intercession
 © Order for Baptist Ministry
Used with permission
See his glory
Words & Music: Chris Bowater
© 1986 Sovereign Lifestyle Music
Will you come and follow me?
Words: John Bell & Graham Maule
© 1987, WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow
Music: Kelvingrove - Traditional Scottish folk melody
Abide with me
Words: Henry Francis Lyte
Music: Eventide
Public domain




​'We shall meet'-  a 'song for Covid'.
​
We shall have this link every week for the next
few weeks at least.
Original words and music Hans Olav Mørk (Norway)
© Words: 2020 WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland
© Music: John Bell, WGRG, c/o Iona Community, Glasgow, Scotland
CCLI Song Number: 7153725  Wellspring CCLI licence no. 571370

​
                     
S O N G S​  &  S T O R I E S 

There are no lyrics available on this website. It may be that a song booklet will be produced sometime. There were no SONGS for December, because we are all familiar with the carols of the season.

STORIES  will, by the end of January, have migrated to another page; meanwhile choose whichever you'd like to listen to - and it needn't even be on a Sunday.

​
Songs for August

​Additional songs for September


​Additional songs for October


​Additional songs for November

                     
S T O R I E S
​
You can find a brief description of what our stories are about by clicking here.
​
Stories for August

​Additional stories for September

Additional stories and readings for October

​Additional stories and readings for November

Additional stories for December
Christmas Card Star (14 mins.)
A story from Hoy about a Christmas stranger
A story by Harry Berry
Miss Tait and the carol singers... (5 mins)
The power of Christmas transformation in Rousay
​A story by George Mackay Brown
The box of fish (6 mins)
Orkney December priorities for four old men and a boy...
A story by George Mackay Brown
The Christmas horse (9 mins)
One Peedie boy's Christmas - long ago
A story by George Mackay Brown
The Fourth Wise Man (3 mins)
An imaginary reminiscence from a Welsh writer
Christmas Children
Christmas priorities of Children and adults - a true story from near Glasgow.