Today we are focusing on Mark 6:45-56, here are a few links to an article and some books to help you when you pray. 


Link 
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/simple-acrostic-prayer


Books, Evangelical book shop
https://evangelicalbookshop.co.uk/product/the-prayer-of-the-lord

https://evangelicalbookshop.co.uk/product/the-valley-of-vision/ - when you don’t know what to say

Tonight we meet for evening worship at 6:30pm, I would encourage you to come as we think of what God requires of us. 

On Tuesday night there is a refresher Child protection training on zoom at 7:30, this has to be done by all leaders of children's and youth organisations once every three years, if you need the information on how to join the meeting give me a call, text or email or speak to the GB or BB captains. 

For the following announcements, some of you may wonder why they are coming as they are and in the way that they are but in short we have a window of opportunity and at subsequent meetings more information will be given. 

Please listen to next bit carefully, I know it’s very formal but it is the language that I have to use as per the code. 

Tomorrow night the congregational committee meet at 8pm in the hall as previously announced last Sunday 12th September. The Reverent Scott Woodburn will chair the opening section of the meeting as it pertains to a report from the Property Sub Committee in relation to Manse development.

Due to the timeframe that we have at this stage, and subject to the decision of the congregational committee, the following may or may not take place but has to be announced and presumed by all that it indeed will take place. 

Under paragraph 45 of the code, subject to rules, meetings of the congregation shall be called from the pulpit at a public service of the congregation; 

Therefore by the authority of the Kirk Session of Lissara Presbyterian church, due notice is given that a congregational meeting will take place on Monday 27th of September 2021 at 8pm as the Session has determined. 

Under paragraph 46 of the code, notice specifying the business to be transacted if agreed by the meeting of the congregational committee, is to decide whether or not;

‘To purchase a property to be used as a new Manse’ 

And if agreed to purchase a property to be used as a new Manse, to decide whether or not; 

‘To dispose of the then redundant Manse and adjoining site’ 

No other business except that specified shall be brought before the meeting. 

Both Communicant Members and Adherents have the right to attend and speak at meetings of the congregation but only Communicant Members who are Voting Members may propose or second any resolution and vote thereon. 

The Rev Hiram Higgins as our convenor will chair said meeting.

Now while your all reeling from that, and you try to take it in, you’ll likely not remember what I’m going to say now, but as you know the Kirk Session met on Monday night, we had a marathon of an agenda and I want to thank you on our behalf for your prayers before and during that meeting. 

There are a few decisions that we have come to that we want to keep you abreast of today. 

From today we will once more stand to sing, it’s something that many of you have wanted but we wanted to wait until such times as restrictions were begin eased before we did so. We will also remain standing after we sing but don’t worry too much as I’ll announce it. 

We have also decided to incorporate more singing once more, one item in the morning and two in the evening, although since the announcement have taken a bit of time already today we are going to stick with three for this morning and up to five for this evening. 

In relation to face coverings, some of you will be aware that as of Wednesday past the requirement in PCI congregations to wear face coverings for the duration of the service is no longer required but remains a requirement for singing. This being said, as a Kirk Session we have a pastoral responsibility to you all, aware that there are many of you who are anxious with the changes in social distancing from 2m to 1m and our decision to incorporate more singing in the service of worship we at present are asking you to continue to wear face coverings for the duration of the service. Each one of us expressed our frustration at face coverings but if their continued use were to help those around us feel safe in coming to worship we believe it is a small price to pay. 

There were other decisions that were made and our hope is to write to all of you at the beginning of October to keep you informed. 

Finally it is with regret that I announce to the congregation the death of Mrs May Newell. We will be remembering Lesley and those who 
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Before the call to worship we have been thinking of why we do what we do in the service or worship. 

So far we have though why we are called, what the call is, and how as we are called we respond in praise. Then about prayer, how we pray, ie standing, what we pray in our two blocks of prayer and today we thought what we are to say in response. Now we’re Presbyterians and there’s one thing we don’t do and that’s get too excited about anything but especially in worship. 

Yet in all that we do in worship it should be founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God. Therefore in keeping with Scripture (Ps. 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48, 1 Chr. 16:36; Neh. 8:6; Rev. 5:14; 19:4, 1Cor. 14:16,  and, therefore we should say Amen, as we respond together, as the word is read, sung, preached, prayed as we do it together, and we seek to be obedient to God’s word and God’s Word directs us to say “Amen!” So let us try, to take a baby step, and after the prayers, if we agree with what is being prayed, Say AMEN! 

If you would like to read a bit more on this check out the following link

​Amen — ‘A Sound Like Thunder’​
​
Blessings 

​Alan 

If you or someone you know is planning on coming, print of the consent and simply bring it on the night. 

Monday - Climbing Wall and Games
Tuesday - Team building
Wednesday - Mountain biking 
Thursday - Games night 
Friday - BBQ

To download the consent form right click and save as.

Children at the Manse 
Who's it for: Mums Grannies and Carers along with Children 
Time: 10-12

Join us for a cuppa and chat in the manse garden if you are free and want to come along the following dates have been arranged Fri 9th & Wed 21st July, Thurs 5th & Fri 20th August. 

Crossgar History Walk and Pudding Night 
Wednesday 7 July from 7-9pm. Join us for a history walk round Crossgar with puddings at the Manse garden. Booking essential. 

Church Picnic at Delamont 
Dates; 
11 July
1 August 
22 August 

Bring a picnic and join us after the service for a picnic in Delamont. 

Trip to the Zoo 
On 17 July, we are going to take a trip to the zoo, everyone welcome. You will need to book your own tickets, but if you can inform us if you are coming, as we plan to meet there at 10am and meet again at the cafe at the top. 

Outdoor Lissara 
​For our teenagers, Outdoor Lissara will run from the 26-30th July, we have planned, climbing wall, mountain biking, group games, team building exercises etc and runs from 7:30-9pm and more details will follow. 

Recently I was sent a book and asked to do a book review, I thought I'd share it with you.

The book is 'Something Worth Living For, God, the World, Yourself and the Shorter Catechism' and there are more details at the bottom.

“You love Jesus, but who is Jesus and why do you love him? Maybe you would struggle to answer such a question, or maybe you grew up learning the shorter catechism and without a second thought could rhyme those truths that you learnt, of how Jesus is our Redeemer, Prophet, Priest and King. In his book ‘Something Worth Living For’, Randall Greenwald takes the Westminster Shorter Catechism, itself a helpful summary of what the scriptures teach, and explores the riches it contains. His hope is that through this book, we as the reader, might be moved to find what it means to enjoy a living and vital relationship with the living, gracious, and holy God of our salvation, knowing the beauty that is Reformed theology (p19).

In hoping to achieve this, Randal, rather than trying to update the language of the Shorter Catechism, instead makes helpful changes that keep the precision of the original by removing the archaic spellings; for example ‘hath’ becomes ‘has’, ‘continueth’ becomes ‘continues’ etc.. In addition, when the King James Version is used in the Ten Commandments he replaces it with the English Standard Version. The book itself is split into two sections ‘Something Worth Believing’ and ‘Life Worth Living’ that divide the sections of the catechism into chapters that examine the scriptural teaching contained within the catechism. Each question of the catechism is grouped and handled with remarkable clarity, spending no more than a few pages on each, in a way that warms the heart and leaves the reader wanting more. The pastoral way in which Randal writes along with the use of thoughtful and grounded illustrations help connect the deep truths of what is being taught to our experience, so that in each section the redemptive purposes of God are made clear.

Overall this is an accessible book that will help you to come to a greater understanding of those foundational biblical truths that it deals with. It will help you to understand more of who is Jesus and why you love him, it will help you understand the summary of scriptural teaching given in the Shorter Catechism and will help you to grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus. I only wish that this book was given to me when I was fifteen. If you are going to read one book this year make it this one, if you want to know what to get that friend who has questions about what you believe then this is the book, give this to the new convert and read it with them, if you are a parent wanting teach your child the beauty of what the scriptures teach then get this. No matter what stage you are at in life, how many books or how few you have read this book is for you. This will be used in my teaching ministry, and my hope is that I will get to use this before too long, sitting alongside someone over a coffee discussing the great truths that are contained in the Scriptures.

Five stars does not do this book justice, I would highly commend it to you, readable throughout, challenging, encouraging, and a great resource to have today.“

Alan Burke
Lissara Presbyterian Church ​

Title: Something Worth Living For
Author: Randall Greenwald
Publisher: Christian Focus Publications 
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
RRP: £8.99
Evangelical Bookshop: £6.75

You click on the cover it will take you to where you can buy it...

For those of you who want to think more about worship and what it means that God was saving his people for worship in Exodus 3. 

Does it matter how we Worship?
Listen 
https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/8/6/b/86b0a5fab1720459/biese_worship_1.mp3?c_id=92923538&cs_id=92923538&expiration=1612014931&hwt=b99456ebdcd705c9c30bbf501973ceb6

Watch 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-EZOiRB6aw

Read
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/ordinary-means-of-grace/

Children in Worship (READ)
https://www.opc.org/OS/html/V8/4b.html

Worship (BUY AND READ)

Children 
Let the Children Worship 
https://www.evangelicalbookshop.co.uk/products/let-the-children-worship?_pos=1&_sid=bd0b56c47&_ss=r

What we do
With Reverence and Awe 
https://www.evangelicalbookshop.co.uk/products/with-reverence-and-awe?_pos=1&_sid=e71adb8d0&_ss=r

God’s unfaithful wife 
https://www.evangelicalbookshop.co.uk/products/gods-unfaithful-wife?_pos=1&_sid=ed61e8023&_ss=r

I hope these are useful to you. 
Yours in the Lord’s service 

Alan

It is regrettable that I announce;

In light of our ongoing consultations and of the current serious and worsening situation, and in line with unequivocal public health guidance that people should stay at home, the General Council, acting with the delegated authority of the General Assembly, has directed that, for a limited period (from Friday 8th January until Saturday 6th February 2021 inclusive, subject to review in late January) all in-person Sunday gatherings for worship, along with all other in person church gatherings, should cease in all PCI congregations in Northern Ireland.

The service will continue to be available online this Sunday via Zoom and Facebook live. Later in the day the telephone service will be updated and link to service put on church website.

Yours in the Lord's service

Alan ​