The Big Idea
God wants you to know how much he loves you. Come to God and He will give you comfort and safety.
Call To Worship
The call to worship is based on Luke 13:34. You do not need to use the whole verse. Instead, introduce the theme of the service, then explain that Jesus said “I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”
Music
Songs at the start:
- Cornerstone – Hillsong
- Oceans (Chorus only – ‘I will call upon your name…’) – Hillsong
Song in the middle:
- The Rock – Nick and Becky Drake
Song at the end:
- Blessed Assurance – Fanny Crosby
Other songs you could consider:
- As the deer pants for the water
- 10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman
- Faithful One – Brian Doerksen
- My Lighthouse – Rend Collective
- Our God is a great big God – Nigel Hemming
- Indescribable – Chris Tomlin
- Still (hide me now) – Ruben Morgan
Activity
Ahead of time, ask 4 or 5 people to bring a “comfort item” to the service with them. For example, this could be a teddy bear, a blanket, or an item of clothing that has sentimental meaning. Ask them to provide a short history of the item and why it is important to them.
In the service, line up your volunteers behind a table and place the items, mixed up, in front of them. The leader should read the story and invite the congregation to guess who the item belongs to.
Reading
Isaiah 66:10-14a (ending with “you will flourish like grass”)
This is a challenging passage. We used the NIV translation, but both New Living Translation and The Message are also quite accessible.
Talk
In the talk, we consider how all people were made by God to be loved by him. Because of our actions, this relationship was damaged. The Old Testament tells the story of God’s people coming close to him then pulling away, again and again. Because of Jesus, this relationship can be mended.
In Isaiah, God describes himself as being like a mother nursing her children; this is an intimate relation. Jesus describes himself as wanting to be like a mother hen, which will shelter her chicks and fight to defend them.
We are invited to reach out to God and turn to him for comfort.
A full talk is available to download. There are also two images of hens which can be displayed during the talk – this is noted in the script.
Response
- In a prayer space, provide blankets or scarves and invite people to wrap themselves up, like they are being hugged or swaddled. As they spend time like this, they can pray or be prayed with, to receive God’s comfort.
- Use a parachute for people to go underneath. Liken this to being like chucks under the wings of a mother hen, like Jesus described himself.
- Ahead of time, print and cut out sets of Bible verses related to comfort. These can be downloaded in both text-only and text-and-symbol versions. Fold them and place them into jars. Print out the file “Comfort jar instructions” and print it onto coloured paper. People can then assemble their “comfort jars” and take them home; at a time when they feel they need comfort they can pull a verse from the jar to be reminded how God loves and comfort them.