Celebration service -21st January 2024
We celebrated the official formation of Petrockstowe Community Church and the 90th anniversary of the first service in the Methodist Chapel in 1934 with a lovely service. The following prayers were said.
Prayers of Thanksgiving
For the life of this chapel over 90 years. For the vision of those who brought worship from the edge of the village into its heart.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
For those who have served in this place through the years, bearing faithful witness to the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. For those who have been baptised here, married and commended to God’s eternal mercy. For those we can remember and those we can’t.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
For the witness of Christian worship through the
centuries of which this chapel is but the latest chapter. For the witness of
unity in Christ, with this chapel being the first to be founded in the newly
formed United Methodist Church, and now bringing together Anglicans and
Methodists.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
For the dedication of those who in these last few years have given of themselves to bring about Petrockstowe Community Church; for the guidance of God and the strength of his Spirit; for the hope and life and love that God has poured upon us.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
For the community in which we live; for the sharing of
joys and sorrows; for those carrying the heritage of the place and those
bringing fresh insights and energy; for farms and homes and businesses and
community groups; for the riches of our life together.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
For the riches of our different church traditions and
insights: of Anglican liturgy and Methodist spontaneity; of traditional hymns
and fresh worship songs; of pastoral care and mission outreach; of episcopal
oversight and every member ministry.
O Lord our God, We give you thanks.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants do give you most humble and hearty thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all people.
We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the hope of glory.
And we beseech you, give us that due sense of all your mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and we show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
