Sunday 13 May 2012 (am)
Women in Ministry Conference Weekend.
TIME ITEM KEY INTRO NOTES
11.15 Welcome & Introduction
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine (Fanny J.Crosby) D Jen
Reading (Matthew 6:19-21) – where is our heart? Dave play thru
Prayer to “All I have”
Offering intro
All I have and All I am (Lou Fellingham) D Dave
11.30 Notices
11.33 Introductions
Dr Olive Winchester Biography (Rebecca Laird)
11.40 Choir - Be Thou my Vision (written 8th Century)
Mary Byrne (tr. from Irish) and Eleanor Hull (put into verse)
11.45 Testimonies – the legacy of inspiring women, inspiring faith (write a name and a sentence to share)
Bring forward to altar basket and pray.
11.55 Like a River Glorious (Frances Ridley Havergal) F Jen
12.00 Sermon (Carla Sunberg)
12.30 Closing Worship options: (kids in) – Prayer/Commissioning?
Beautiful Lord Wonderful Saviour (Darlene Zschech) G Dave choice as approp
Take my life and let it be (Frances Ridley Havergal) – Tomlin D Dave
To God be the Glory (Fanny J Crosby/sung Lou Fellingham) C Dave conclude with this
All the way my Saviour Leads me (Fanny J. Crosby) F Jen
12.45 Approximate close/prayer ministry/commissioning
Frances Jane Crosby:
Was born in 1820 in New York. Doctors confirmed that she was blind at 6 weeks old. Father died before reach first birthday and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. She was brought up in a Christian home, and her mother and grandmother would help her learn scripture from heart. They made sure she received a good education and In 1835, just before her 15th birthday, Crosby enrolled at theNew York Institution for the Blind(NYIB),[46]a state-financed school. She remained there for eight years as a student, and another two years as a graduate pupil,[47]during which she learned to play the piano, organ, harp, and guitar, and became a good soprano singer.
From May to November 1849, there was acholeraepidemic in New York City. Crosby remained at the NYIB to nurse the sick, rather than leaving the city.The experience left her exhausted and with a realisation that something was lacking in her spiritual life. She knew that she had gotten wrapped up in social, political, and educational reform, and did not have a true love for God in her heart.
In November 1850, Crosby was invited to attend the annual series of revival meetings at the newly constructed Thirtieth Street Methodist Episcopal Church (later renamed the Chelsea Methodist Episcopal Church).[67]Despite attending each evening service during the fall campaign, and after two previous unsuccessful attempts to pray through to spiritual victory during those meetings, on November 20, 1850, Crosby left herpewagain and knelt at the "anxious seat" at the front of the church sanctuary, and sought an assurance of her salvation.[72]
Crosby later testified: "My very soul was flooded with celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting 'Hallelujah'".[72]She described this "November Experience" as "a watershed of sorts in her life"
In 1880, at the age of sixty, Crosby "made a new commitment to Christ to serve the poor",[269]and to devote the rest of her life to home missionary work.[250]Crosby continued to live in a dismal flat at 9 Frankfort Street, near one of the worst slums in Manhattan, until about 1884.[270]From this time Crosby increased her involvement in various missions and homes. During the next three decades, Crosby would dedicate her time to work at various city rescue missions, including the McAuleyWater Street Mission, theBowery Mission, the Howard Mission, the Cremore Mission, the Door of Hope, and otherskid rowmissions. Additionally, Crosby spoke atYMCAs, churches, and prisons about the needs of the urban poor.
Crosby had an ecumenical spirit and many of the 8000 songs she wrote have found their way into hymn books across the church. She was afellow travelerof the Wesleyan holiness movement and a friend of Walter and Phoebe Palmer, "the mother of the holiness movement",[81]and "arguably the most influential female theologian in- Christian history".[82]And it was with their daughterPhoebe Knapp, that she wrote the hymn we are about to sing: "Blessed Assurance"
Of course, we know her better as Fanny J Crosby, and on this weekend of celebrating women in ministry, we recognise her life that gave so much to others and left a legacy beyond herself.
Be Thou My Vision:
The originalOld Irishtext had been a part of Irishmonastictradition for centuries before its setting to the tune, therefore, before it became an actual hymn[2]. It was translated fromOld Irishinto English byMary Elizabeth Byrne,M.A., inthe journal of theSchool of Irish Learning, in 1905. The English text was first put in verse byEleanor Hull, in 1912, and is now the most common text used.[3]
Frances Ridley Havergal was born in Astley, England in 1836. Her father was the hymnist William Havergal. She grew up in a literary and musical environment that encouraged her as a Christian singer and hymn writer. She showed she was gifted at an early age; she read at the age of 3, at the age of 4 she began reading and memorizing the Bible. By 7 she began to write poems.
She was proficient in several modern languages, along with Latin, Greek and Hebrew. A dedicated Biblical scholar, Miss Havergal memorized the New Testament, Psalms, Isaiah and the Minor Prophets.
Although she was highly educated and cultured, she lived a life of simple faith and confidence in her Lord. She never wrote a line without first praying over it. She said,
"I believe my King suggests a thought, and whispers me a musical line or two, and then I look up and thank Him delightedly and go on with it. That is how my hymns come."
"Writing is praying with me. You know a child would look up at every sentence and say, 'And what shall I say next?' That is just what I do; I ask Him at every line He would give me not merely thoughts and power, but also everyword, even the veryrhymes."
Sadly, her life was plagued by ill health and she died in 1870, age 42. In all of this, and in the hymn we are about to sing, she reflected a simple trust in the presence and peace of God – simple but valuable – and s we sing together, Like a River Glorious is God’s Perfect Peace.
Betty Sneddon – a women of prayer, discernment and influence in the heavenly realms.