OBAN FM

THE 10-MINUTE SERVICE FOR SUNDAY 17 July 2011

for the bicentenary of oban

MURDOCH MACKENZIE

We begin with Psalm 118 and verse 24. “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Oban the Gateway to the Isles celebrating our 200th Anniversary, with Princess Anne being given a right royal welcome. 200 years of love and laughter, of joys and sorrows, of war and of peace, of poverty and prosperity of faith and of doubt. And so we sing the hymn – ‘Lord for the years your love has kept and guided’.   

Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
Urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
Sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:
Lord for the years, we bring our thanks today.

Lord, for that word, the word of life which fires us,
Speaks to our hearts and sets our souls ablaze,
Teaches and trains, rebukes us and inspires us:
Lord of the word, receive your people's praise.

Lord, for our land in this our generation,
Spirits oppressed by pleasure, wealth and care:
For young and old, for commonwealth and nation,
Lord of our land, be pleased to hear our prayer.

Lord, for our world where men disown and doubt you,
Loveless in strength, and comfortless in pain,
Hungry and helpless, lost indeed without you:
Lord of the world, we pray that Christ may reign.

Lord for ourselves; in living power remake us-
self on the cross, and Christ upon the throne,
past put behind us, for the future take us:
Lord of our lives, to live for Christ alone.

We listen for God’s word in the Bible in Psalm 107 beginning at verse23 “ Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;  they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.  For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.  They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;  they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wits' end.  Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;  he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.  Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.  Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to all the people!  Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

Oban – the Gateway to the Isles. A place from which people go down to the sea in ships. A place where we remember that the world belongs unto the Lord and all that it contains. Except, of course, the western isles, for they are all MacBraynes! And yet in the midst of the storms at sea or the storms of life, we do well to put our hands in the hands of the man who stilled the water, in the hands of the man who stilled the sea. We do well to cry to the Lord in our trouble knowing that he will deliver us from our distress.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. God is our help in ages past our hope for years to come. And whether we’re quite young and just setting out on life, or whether we’re very old and preparing to die, as we think about Oban and look out across the bay, let us look beyond the horizon, let us think about eternity, eternal things, the things that really matter in our lives, those values which last for ever, truth, loyalty, love, and let us look to God, Eternal Father, strong to save whose arm doth bind the restless wave. Two hundred years, even a thousand years, in God’s sight are like an evening gone and so we sing a famous hymn of Isaac Watts: ‘Our God our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come’. 

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.

And we end with a Celtic blessing:

Deep peace of the running wave to you

Deep peace of the flowing air to you

Deep peace of the shining stars to you

Deep peace of the silent earth to you

Deep peace of the Son of peace to you.

Amen