17 | 18
May 2025
Traditional Services
WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH
TRADITIONAL SERVICES
Wesley Sanctuary 7.30am | 9.30am (Live-streamed) | 11.30am | 5.00pm
18 May 2025 | Fifth Sunday of Easter
Liturgical Colour: White
Lectionary Readings: Ps 148, Acts 11:1–18, Rev 21:1–6, John 13:31–35
Hymns: Let All Creation’s Wonders; When Memory Fades;
We Cannot Measure How You Heal; Be My Hands and Feet
Sermon: Divine Treatment for Depression (1 Kings 19:1–18)
I. GATHERING
We gather in the Lord’s name weekly to be renewed in our hearts and minds. Our worship of God is a response to his revelation as he reveals his truth to us through Scripture, sermon, prayers and songs
MEDITATION VERSES
“I am making everything new! . . .
To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
Revelation 21:5–6 34
“A new command I give you: Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love
one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34–35
PREPARATION PRAYER
Fill our worship with grace, Lord Jesus Christ,
that every thought, word, and deed may be acceptable to you,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
PRELUDE
GREETING
| Leader: | May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. |
| People: | And also with you. |
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
All: Lord, bring new life where we are worn and tired;
new love where we have turned hard-hearted;
forgiveness where we feel hurt and where we have wounded;
and the joy and freedom of your Holy Spirit where
we are prisoners of ourselves.
[Silence]
L: To all and to each,
on his community and on his friends,
where regret is real,
Jesus pronounces his pardon
and grants us the right to begin again.
Thanks be to God!
All: Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP *Psalm 148
1 Praise the LORD.
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
2 Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
5 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for at his command they were created,
6 and he established them for ever and ever—
he issued a decree that will never pass away.
7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
9 you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,
11 kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,
12 young men and women,
old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
14 And he has raised up for his people a horn,
the praise of all his faithful servants,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
All: Praise the LORD!
OPENING HYMN *
Let All Creation’s Wonders
Words: Martin Leckebusch (2001) Kevin Mayhew Ltd
Music (THAXTED): Gustav Holst, 1921, P.D.
SCRIPTURE READINGActs 11:1–18
PRAYER HYMN
When Memory Fades
Text: Mary Louise Bringle © 2002 GIA Publications, Inc.
Music: FINLANDIA (UMH 534 “Be Still, My Soul”)
1 When memory fades, and recognition falters,
when eyes we love grow dim, and minds, confused,
speak to our souls of love that never alters;
speak to our hearts by pain and fear abused.
O God of life and healing peace, empower us
with patient courage, by your grace infused.
2 As frailness grows, and youthful strengths diminish,
in weary arms, which worked their earnest fill,
your aging servants labor now to finish
their earthly tasks, as fits your mystery’s will.
We grieve their waning, yet rejoice, believing,
your arms, unwearied, shall uphold us still.
3 Within your Spirit, goodness lives unfading.
The past and future mingle into one.
All joys remain, unshadowed light pervading.
No valued deed will ever be undone.
Your mind enfolds all finite acts and offerings.
Held in your heart, our deathless life is won!
SILENT PRAYER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
A Prayer on Mental and Emotional Healing (for the Community)
Dear Heavenly Father, today we remember those who are in need of mental and emotional healing.
Lord, grant them your comforting presence, love and divine peace.
For those who are aging, let us experience your empowering grace. In your mercy, may you grant health to our bodies and emotions, and clarity to our minds. But if this is not so, may we continue to trust in your goodness and your steadfast love. Help us to persevere and run the race well.
For those of us who are taking care of loved ones who are suffering mentally and emotionally, grant us your love and daily strength, that we may have grace to
understand more and journey with them with patience, gentleness, and kindness.
Forgive us for the times we dismiss their suffering and pain with impatience, expecting them to snap out of it according to our timelines.
Forgive us for thinking that we know better, for one can only truly know what they are going through when we ourselves have walked that path.
Forgive us for linking what they are suffering with a lack of faith in you.
Help us unlearn and dispel myths and biases. Open our minds and hearts to learn how we can better support them. You have commanded us to carry each other’s burdens, and in this way fulfil the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2). In our caring for one another, may we be your hands and feet, bringing comfort and healing to those who need them.
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Wonderful Counsellor, Healer and Prince of Peace. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (ASAS)
MUSICAL INTERLUDE
II. SERMON
| Sermon Title | Divine Treatment for Depression |
| Scripture Text | 1 Kings 19:1–18 |
| Speaker | Rev Dr Tan Soo-Inn |
Soo-Inn is a director of Graceworks, a ministry committed to promoting spiritual friendship in church and society.
Since 1985, he has been journeying with people through his ministry of preaching/teaching, writing and mentoring. Originally trained as a dentist at the University of Singapore, he answered God’s call to go into full-time church-related ministry in 1981 ad obtained his Master of Theology from Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, in 1984. In 2006, he obtained his Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary, California. His primary passions include connecting the Word of God to the struggles of daily life, and the promotion of the discipline of spiritual friendship. He has been a supporter of Arsenal Football Club since 1971 and his favourite movie is Star Wars 4.
Song of Response
We Cannot Measure How You Heal
Text: John L. Bell and Graham Maule, 1989
Music: Scottish melody (UMH 386 “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”)
1 We cannot measure how you heal or answer every sufferer’s prayer;
yet we believe your grace responds where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross, survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life and cradle children yet unborn.
2 The pain that will not go away, the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds, are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love, which tends the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside, the memories that haunt the mind.
3 So some have come who need your help and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let your Spirit meet us here to mend the body, mind, and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain, and make your broken people whole.
III. WE RESPOND IN SHARING AND GIVING
We respond to God’s Word through the sharing of peace, participating in and praying for the programs and initiatives of the church, as we seek to grow in our discipleship journey, offering time, money, and gifts where help is needed as God’s stewards.
Welcome
Sharing of God's Peace *
Shalom to You UMH 666
Family News
Offertory Prayer
Tithes and Gifts to God
| 7.30am |
A Thousand Hallelujahs |
Dawnbreakers |
| 9.30am |
At His Name |
John Wesley Choir |
| 11.30am |
Jesus Is the Living Stone |
Wesley Chorale |
| 5.00pm |
Glorious Savior |
Wesley Heralds |
Doxology *
Easter Doxology
Praise Him who rose with life and light,
Who conquered death with holy might.
His vic-to-ry we ever sing:
All glory to the risen King! Amen.
IV. SENDING FORTH
Having been renewed in our hearts and minds, we are to go forth into the world as Christ’s ambassadors in the ministry of reconciliation.
CLOSING HYMN *
Be My Hands and Feet
Text: Mary Louise Bringle © 2002, GIA Publications, Inc.
Tune: Tony E. Alonso © 2015, GIA Publications, Inc
BENEDICTION *
POSTLUDE
Prayer Ministry at the Altar
If you need someone to pray with you, please proceed to the inner rails of the altar area. If you wish to pray alone, please use the outer rails.
* Congregation may stand.
| Visit https://wesleymc.org/wm/resources for the newer songs covered this year. |
