Worship on Reformation Sunday
10:00 am October 26, 2025
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Vivian Houg Reader: Leah Eisen
Welcoming Elder: Darlene Eerkes Children’s time: Brad
We gather to worship God
Music prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: From the routines of work and school, home and play,
P: we have come to worship God.
L: With the weight of the world heavy on our hearts,
P: we have come to worship God.
L: In the midst of our fears and our hopes,
P: we offer our prayer and praise in Jesus’ name.
L: For we trust in God’s power and presence,
P: so let us worship God with heart, mind, soul and strength.
Opening praise: Here I am to worship
Prayers of approach and confession
Creating God, the mountains you raised reflect your strength and majesty.
Sunrise and sunset frame the day with your light and joy.
Fields bursting with grain and trees coloured with autumn glory ing of your steadfast love.
Pictures from the depth of space give a glimpse of your infinity, yet in Christ you have walked the humble earth.
You alone are worthy of our praise.
You alone give us hope.
Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of Life, we praise you, and join our voices to those of every precious thing to wonder at your mystery and majesty.
Merciful God, You created human beings with gifts of intelligence and imagination.
Yet we confess we often use these gifts to exploit your creation and put others in their place.
So often we think that we are great when we are small. Or we claim smallness when you set a challenge before us. We convince ourselves that our sin is not nearly as great as others, yet, every sin offends your purpose for us.
Forgive us, we pray, and grant us a truer picture of ourselves. Amen.
Response: I will trust in the Lord
Assurance of God’s peace
Friends in Christ, God is gracious. Christ has promised that those who humble themselves will be exalted. Having confessed our sin, let us trust the good news of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God.
We listen for the voice of God
Response: Jesus we are gathered (514)
Children’s time
|
|||||||
Have you ever known someone who thought they were much better than everyone else and deserved special treatment? Dr. Seuss wrote a story about a turtle who was like that. Perhaps you have read the story. The title of the story is “Yertle the Turtle.”Yertle was the ruler of a little pond on the island of Sala-ma-Sond. All of the turtles at the pond had everything they needed and were quite happy. They were happy, that is, until Yertle decided that his kingdom was too small. “I am ruler of all that I see, but I don’t see enough. My throne is too low down,” complained Yertle. So Yertle lifted his hand and gave a command. He ordered nine turtles in the pond to stand on each other’s backs so that they could become his new and higher throne. He climbed up onto the backs of the turtles, and he had a fantastic view. But Yertle still wasn’t satisfied. “Turtles! More turtles!” he called from his lofty throne. Yertle swelled with pride and a sense of importance as turtles from all over the pond came to climb on the stack of turtles that made up Yertle’s throne. At the very bottom of the stack was a plain and ordinary turtle named Mack. He struggled under the weight of all the turtles until finally, he decided that he had taken enough. That plain little turtle named Mack did a very plain little thing. He burped! His burp shook the throne, and Yertle fell right into the mud! And now the great Yertle is King of the MUD. When you think too highly of yourself, you often wind up taking a big fall, don’t you? In our Bible lesson today, Jesus tells a story about a man who thought he was better than everyone else. In the story that Jesus told, two men went to the temple to pray. One of the men was a Pharisee, a religious group that was very strict in obeying the law of Moses. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I’m certainly not like that tax collector over there! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of all my income.” The tax collector stood at a distance and would not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he bowed his head in sorrow, saying, “Oh God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.” Now, which of these two prayers do you think was pleasing to God? You are right—the prayer of the tax collector. Jesus said, “The tax collector, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.” When we are tempted to brag about ourselves, we need to remember that other people are not impressed… and neither is God! Prayer Dear Father, we pray that you would help us to remain humble so that we would not think more highly of ourselves than we ought. So now we pray the prayer Jesus’ gave his first disciples to pray.Our Father… The Lord’s Prayer (535 )
|
Song: Spirit of the living God (400)
Scripture readings: Joel 2:23-32; Luke 18:9-14; and 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Response: Glory to the Father
Message: Wolves: Imagined and Real
There is a massive rivalry in college basketball between the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky.
The story is told that at one of the games between the two schools, an elderly woman was sitting alone with an empty seat next to her. Soon, someone approached her and said, “Ma’am, I have rarely seen an empty seat in this Arena, let alone at a game between these two teams. Can I please ask… Whose seat is this?” Immediately (and with pride) the woman responded that she and her late husband had been season-ticket holders for 28 years, and that the seat had belonged to him. “Well,” said the man, “Couldn’t you find a friend or relative to come to the game with you? It’s not good to be alone, and I’m sure someone would love to be here with you tonight.”. “Are you kidding me?” the elderly woman replied. “I’m not alone. God’s here in this seat with me. Besides, my friends and family are too busy for me. They’re all at my husband’s funeral.”
Everyone has felt abandoned at some point. Sometimes we do it to ourselves. Sometimes it’s just the rotten way the world seems to have turned out. But it’s never really, actually true. You can’t be alone.
The year was 67 A.D., and the Apostle Paul was virtually alone. Today, when someone goes to prison, it’s because they’ve been found guilty of a crime and sentenced to a set period of incarceration to “pay their debt to society,” but in First Century Roman culture, imprisonment was really just the a place you went while awaiting your trial. Prison wasn’t punished. It’s just where you went before they decided how best to punish you. For the most part, once your trial was over, your time in prison would be pretty short. After a trial came to completion, you would be either set free, released into slavery to pay off debts, forced into maritime service, beaten, have a body part chopped off or be executed. The different lengths of time Paul spends in prison throughout his life reflect how geographically far Paul (a Roman citizen) was from the legal Roman judges. Other long imprisonments were likely the result of executive decisions to delay sentencing to avoid backlash from followers of popular figures. In other words, they might let Paul rot in prison because giving him a sentencing could mean his followers would start a revolt.
By the end of 2 Timothy, we know that Paul has finally had his trial. Though 1, 2 Timothy and Titus were all written at essentially the same time, we also understand that this was the last trial Paul faced. And while he never explicitly states the punishment he will soon face, we do know the general tone of his trial. It’s all just a matter of time, really. His fate was sealed, and Paul knew it. He writes, “6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” In short, Paul sees his life like the drink offering the fathers of his faith used to splash on the side of the altar after the animal sacrifice had been killed in dedication to the Lord, just before it was cut to pieces and burned.
Sometimes the wolves we fear are very real.
Paul’s death was already decided and already underway. Paul knew death was coming. And he felt alone.
One odd thing about life, however, is that just how alone we feel is often a matter of our own attitudes.
As the story goes, an organization in conjunction with the state of Montana offered a bounty of five thousand dollars for every wolf captured alive. The year was 1976, and two hunters named Sam and Jed decided to head for the hills and make some quick money capturing wolves. Day and night, they scoured the mountains and forests searching for their valuable prey. But it always seemed like the wolves were just out of reach. Then, in the evening, exhausted after three days of hunting without any success, they both fell asleep with the flap open in a small tent near an even smaller fire.
During the night, Sam suddenly woke up to find that he and Jed were surrounded by a pack of 30 or so wolves, with flaming red eyes and bared teeth, snarling at the two hunters and preparing to pounce. Sam nudged Jed, who woke up with an immediate look of terror on his face. “Jed… get up.” Sam said, “We’re gonna be rich!” And today we know this story – because Sam was right.
The fact is, sometimes in life, when we are surrounded by what appears to be many difficulties, as if it’s just us against the world, facing impossible odds, we may in fact be surrounded by opportunities and blessings (without even realizing it). Sometimes, when we think of something as a crisis, we can choose to be frightened and run—or to stand firm and be courageous. Sometimes it’s just a matter of perspective.
Many years ago American President John F Kennedy famously and incorrectly popularized the idea that the Chinese word for Crisis also means Opportunity. It’s a good sentiment, but it’s not quite correct. The word Kennedy referred to actually means “a dangerous point of change”.
Sometimes are worries (our wolves) are very real and very dangerous. Sometimes. Not all the time. Sometimes, a pack of wolves is really just a pack of wolves.
As Paul writes to his trusted protégé Timothy, he recalls a list of friends who left him with no one to speak on his behalf. Prisons didn’t feed people. These were the people who previously cared for Paul and who were meant to speak at his trial. But they had almost all abandoned him. Demas had previously been a co-worker with Paul in the Church, but, fearing he might also be sentenced to death, he left Paul just before the trial began, rather than standing up for him. Luke, who would later write this gospel, had previously gone on a mission, but the trail was called before he returned, and now there was no point in coming back. In case you didn’t know, the gospels were actually written after Paul’s books. They come first in the order of the New Testament, but were the last part written down.
Crescens and Titus had left Paul, too, for continued ministry in the months before. They didn’t know the trial would come so suddenly. Their friend Tychicus was in Ephesus doing the good work Paul called him to, as was Timothy. They didn’t exactly abandon him, but it still wasn’t the same as having them with him. Mark had split from Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey (something that at first made Paul very angry), but later Paul came to terms with it. Interestingly, though, had Paul known that Mark was in the process of writing the first gospel at the time of Paul’s trial, Paul no doubt would have felt differently about Mark’s absence. But that’s just it… he didn’t know. All Paul knew was that Mark wasn’t there when Paul felt like he needed him the most.
As Paul sat in the damp, foul, and cold cell, with no personal possessions, he wrote to Timothy asking him to bring a coat and his favourite books (especially parchments—most likely portions of the Hebrew Bible). In essence, like a person in the hospital getting a day pass to go home for a holiday, Paul just wanted a visit—to see a friendly face, to feel, and to have just one last day when things could feel normal again and like being home with his loved ones. And then Paul recalls to his beloved friend the name of the only person who stayed with him during his trial. He says that a man called Alexander was there. But there was a problem. Alexander was a wolf. Alexander, who had at one time been a student of Paul’s, did come to the trial. But instead of speaking out for the defence, he spoke on behalf of the prosecution. And in the end, not a single voice stood up for Paul at his trial.
With no one to speak in his defence, one witness running for his life and a final one turning on him, Paul was doomed before the trial even began. He was, in fact, precisely what he said he was: “already being poured out”. His last offering before his God would be his very lifeblood. And like Jesus, he would die deserted by his friends.
But in his loneliness, there was also a feeling of completion and support and providence, as if Paul saw the “footprints in the sand,” so to speak, carrying him along the way.
There is an old story from the Swahili-Arab and Congo Free State War. It’s probably not historical so much as it is a parable, but it’s not without grounding. In any case, the story goes like this: There was an African King who grew up with a close friend. The friend had a rather annoying habit (or a rather lovely habit, depending on your view) of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and always remarking in the same way. As the story goes, good or bad news, this man would always say, “This is good!”
One day, the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. Because the King was the King and the friend was just a friend, the friend would load and prepare the guns for the King. However, on this particular occasion, it seems either a mechanical error occurred or the friend actually did something wrong when preparing one of the guns. Either way, after taking the gun from his friend, the King fired to see a puff of smoke, a splash of blood, and to smell the smell of burnt skin. When the King looked down, he saw the mess left behind by the gun. Where his thumb once was, now nothing remained but air. His thumb was blown clean off in a backfire
After examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!” To which the King replied, “No, No, No! No, this is not good!” and immediately called for the guards to take his longtime friend away and put him in jail.
As it happens, about a year later, the King was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. During the short two-year war, this particular region became known for cannibalism (usually having to do with the Congolese taking Swahili-Arab war prisoners for food or at least pretending to do so to instill fear in their enemy). The King was captured and taken to their village. There, they tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. But as they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious about such things, they never ate anyone less than whole. So, untying the King, they took his clothes and sent him on his way.
As he returned home, the King was reminded of the events that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went right away to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right,” he said, “I’m sorry.” “It actually was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just transpired.”
“And so,” the King said, “I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.” “No,” his friend replied, “This is good!” Again, the King in anger yelled out, “What do you mean, ‘This is good’? “How could it be good that I sent my best friend to jail for a year?”
“If I had not been in jail,” said the friend, “I would have been with you, and I’d be dead instead of here with you right now. This is good.”
In a very unusual way, the message here unfolds… You can choose to see life as a seemingly random grouping of events, or you can choose to see a purpose behind what seems like adversity at the time.
I’m sure that if any of us care to reflect on the tragedies, the heartaches, the ‘bad times’ in our lives, that we, too, will discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time, even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way. Even terrible tragedies can grant us strength.
It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, at least in some small way, “This is good”.
For Paul, his last offering was already being poured out. He was about to die. There was, of course, no way that “this” could be “good” in any way. It was the end, and he was alone.
Or was he?
Paul writes, “At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. But may it not be held against them. 17 For the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength”.
For the Apostle Paul, the world was full of wolves. At times, those wolves turned out to be opportunities, and at other times, obstacles to overcome and learn from. At other times, at this time, those wolves turned out to be real. But in all things, Paul never lost sight of the providence of God. Through the good times and the bad, the seat next to him was never truly empty. And neither is the one next to you. We can never be alone. Amen
Song: Those who wait on the Lord (662: vss 1-4)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving
Prayers of the people
Good and generous God, receive our humble gifts, offered in hope and gratitude. Make something of them, and of us, so that the world will be surprised by your love and what we can offer them in Jesus’ name.
Just and merciful God, we lift our eyes to you in hope and gratitude. When the world around us seems troubling, we are grateful for your steadfast love.
Thank you for your Spirit at work in all times and places, calling out the best in your people, showing us when we must repent, opening paths to reconciliation where we have offended.
With the humility of the tax collector in Jesus’ story, may we seek your justice and know your mercy.
We pray for justice for the earth:
Protect those creatures and habitats that our way of life is threatening.
Protect those communities and island nations most at risk from climate change.
Open our eyes to see how we can live more responsibly and change our hearts to know we must.
Hold a few seconds of silence.
We pray for justice among the nations:
Create more generous sharing of resources between countries with good harvests and those depleted by famine.
Where resources are extracted for export, protect brave advocates for fair wages and environmental protection.
And where there is aggression and intimidation between nations, raise up the willingness to make peace and settle differences fairly.
Hold a few seconds of silence.
We pray for justice in our court systems:
Guide those who judge and defend to serve with integrity, that those who are accused may receive fair trials, and that those who have been wronged or harmed are restored to fullness of life.
Grant those who are convicted humane treatment so that your Spirit may lead them to rehabilitated potential.
Hold a few seconds of silence.
We pray for justice in the work place:
May those who work for others be treated with dignity and earn a fair wage.
May all who create that work earn a fair return.
Create equity and respect between those of different backgrounds and identities and guide young people to opportunities to develop their gifts.
Hold a few seconds of silence.
God, we all need some kinds of healing in our lives:
We remember before you those struggling with illness of body, mind or spirit, those waiting for diagnosis or treatment, and all whose health challenges are invisible to others.
(Keep silence for 15 – 20 seconds)
Your Spirit prays within us, O God, even when we cannot find the right words, so hear us this day, and answer us in ways that encourage our faith and change the world for the good, for the sake of Jesus Christ
Song: I, the Lord of sea and sky (592)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Go in humble confidence, trusting in God’s love for you, yet sure you have still more to learn and to give. And may grace, mercy and peace from God who creates, redeems and saves us be with you all, now and always. Amen.
Response: God to enfold you
Music postlude
————————————————————————-
Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2025) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.
Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.