Worship on the Third Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday School presentations
10:00 am June 14, 2026
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Linda Farrah-Basford Elder: Lynn Vaughan Reader: Iris Routledge
Children’s time presenter: Brad/Darlene
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: Do not fear those who can harm the body.
P: We fear the Lord who holds our souls.
L: We have died with Christ and now live for God.
P: New life is ours—free from sin’s power!
L: Let us worship the God of courage and resurrection!
Opening praise: Love the Lord your God
Prayers of approach and confession
Holy Creator, you are holy and infinitely mysterious, the One who was before time began, who rises above all things and moves within the heart of everything that exists. By your Word, the universe burst into life; by your relentless, pursuing love, you redeem and restore all things.
Holy Christ, you stepped into our broken world so we could have real, abundant life, and in you we see the full, breathtaking extent of God’s love. Day after day, your grace holds us together, your mercy meets us in our weakness, and your presence gives us hope when everything else feels heavy.
Holy Spirit, you are always pouring out fresh wisdom, vision, and direction into our lives. You dwell with us in intimate friendship, our constant Companion, Comforter, and Guide, now and forever.
In the light of your grace and wonder, we come with confidence to confess our sins:
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep for us to fix on our own. Forgive what our lips are afraid to name, the regrets our hearts can no longer bear, and the patterns we keep repeating even when we know better.
Set us free from the past we cannot change. Open us to a future in which you can change us. Heal the places in us that are still broken, awaken the parts of us that have grown numb, and give us the courage to let go of what no longer serves your kingdom.
Fill us again with your Spirit. Shape us more and more into your likeness, people who love like you, forgive like you, and reflect your goodness in a world that desperately needs it.
We ask all this in the strong name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
Response: We come to ask your forgiveness
Assurance of God’s grace
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Through the grace and mercy of God revealed in Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
We listen for the voice of God
Song: Jesus loves me (373)
Presentation of Bibles and Faith books to grade 12 grads
Brad: Keys come in all different shapes and sizes.
I have a lot of keys on my key ring. There is a key to my house and to the lock on the gate to my back yard. I have a key to my car, to my office at work, and another to unlock the file cabinet where I keep my important papers. There is a key to my post office box, and a key to my safe deposit box at the bank.
Most of us use keys every day, but today we are going to talk about a key that we may never even think about. It is a key called FAITH. Now faith isn’t a key that is made of metal like these keys on my key ring, but it may be the most important key, because it is the key that unlocks the power of God.
One day Jesus was in a town called Capernaum. There was a centurion, a Roman army officer, who had a servant who was very sick and about to die. The centurion heard about Jesus and sent some men to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. The men came to Jesus and begged with him to heal the centurion’s servant, so Jesus went with them.
Before Jesus even arrived at the house, the officer sent some men to say to him, “Don’t even go to the trouble to come to my house, because I am not worthy of such an honor. Just say the word and my servant will be healed.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He turned to the crowd of people that was following him and said, “I haven’t seen faith like this in all of Israel!” The officer’s friends turned and went back to the centurion’s house. When they arrived, they found the servant completely healed.
Just like the faith of the centurion in this story, our faith can unlock the power of God in our lives.
Congratulations, graduates, on reaching this important milestone! As you step into a new chapter, we are pleased to present you, Annika, Sara and Pippen, with a new Bible. May it be a constant source of wisdom, comfort, strength, and guidance as you pursue your dreams and navigate life’s journey.
We are proud of you and pray God’s richest blessings over your future.
Let’s pray: Lord be with our graduates and for those who receive Your Word today, we ask that You fill their hearts with wisdom, courage, and faith. Guide their steps into the future, protect them in every season, and help them walk closely with You all the days of their lives. Lord be with all our graduates. May Your Word be a lamp to their feet and a light to their path. And now we pray the prayer Christ taught us to pray, saying,
Lord’s Prayer (535)
Song: In Christ there is no east or west (480)
Scripture readings: Psalm 100 & Matthew 9:35-10:8
Response: Glory to the Father
Message: A few Good Workers
A look at the shift between the “disciples” and “apostles” and our role since.
“The unoccupied fields of the world await those who are willing to be lonely for the sake of Christ.” The Church is not called to survive humanity, but rather to serve it.
Richard Whately, Archbishop of Dublin, once wrote: “If my faith be false, I ought to change it; whereas if it be true, I am bound to propagate it.” If the gospel is true, and brothers and sisters, it is, then we cannot keep it to ourselves.
We live in a world that seems to multiply crises all around us: political division, personal brokenness, violence, and deep despair. Yet for those who carry the good news of Jesus Christ, every crisis is an opportunity. The harvest is still plentiful.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we come to a powerful turning point. Up until this moment, it has been the ministry by Jesus, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the kingdom, healing every disease. But now it becomes the ministry of Jesus through His people. The learners become the sent ones.
Matthew arranges his Gospel like the five books of Moses, presenting Jesus as the new Moses who calls and commissions a new community. His gospel is split into five major parts and themes, just as the first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) do. This is why Matthew makes such a big deal about all male boys being targeted by Herod, why he and the family escape to Egypt, why He quotes the Law more than the prophets in just this one book, and much more. What he wants to say is that Jesus is the new Moses, but also better because in Him all that Moses spoke of is found.
In this second major discourse, Jesus looks upon the crowds with deep compassion. He sees them “harassed and helpless”, “like sheep without a shepherd”… lost, burdened, directionless. His heart is moved with pity. Then He turns to His disciples and says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” In essence, Jesus is saying clearly, ‘there are so many hurting people in the world; how can we care for so many people?’
So what is the first response? Not frantic activity, but prayer: “Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”
And notice what happens next: Jesus immediately calls His twelve disciples, gives them authority, and sends them out.
Have you ever wondered about the difference between the 12 disciples and the 12 apostles. It has some complications but is generally a fairly simple distinction. Here the students become apostles. See, “Disciple” means learner or student. “Apostle” means “sent one.” In this chapter, the learners are commissioned and sent. So the students become the teachers.
Now, this is important for us today. In the broader story of the New Testament, the title “apostle” sometimes carries a special, foundational meaning. The Twelve (and later Matthias, who was selected to replace Judas the betrayer so there would always be 12 (like the 12 tribes of Israel)) were eyewitnesses of the risen Christ. They walked with Jesus from the beginning, saw the resurrection, and became the authoritative witnesses whose testimony undergirds the Church.
Of course, Paul, too, claimed apostleship because of his encounter with the risen Lord. But he didn’t actually see the risen body the way the others did. For Paul, it wasn’t actually the physical body he saw. The Bible tells us that the Apostle Paul had a “Vision” of Jesus, which is why Paul often referred to his own “apostleship” as an “abnormal birth,” or “abortion” technically, because it was for him, like being reborn, but from a very terrible space unlike the original group Jesus chose, who didn’t kill other Christians as Paul likely did.
But the heart of the word remains: “to be one sent”. Every apostle was first a disciple and a learner. And every disciple is called to become, in some way, a sent one or Apostolos (Apostle).
And that, dear friends, brings us to us.
We are the new disciples. We are the new apostles. We are the learners who are being sent.
The same Jesus who looked with compassion on the crowds of Galilee looks with that same compassion upon our neighbourhoods, our city, our workplaces, and our families today. He sees people harassed and helpless—addicted, anxious, grieving, spiritually adrift. And He is still saying to His Church, to you and to me… “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Too often we stand back and say, “Somebody should do something,” only to discover that we are the somebodies. God answers the prayer for workers by calling ordinary people like fishermen, tax collectors, and zealots, and by calling ordinary people like us.
I think of Dr. Scott Katzman, chief of surgery at Waterbury Hospital. Driving to deliver an 8:00 a.m. lecture, he came upon a terrible multi-vehicle accident. Without hesitation he stopped, worked through the wreckage for ninety minutes triaging survivors, and only then continued on to give his lecture, two hours late. Over the years he has stopped at multiple crashes. He refuses to simply drive by when he has the skills to help. “I refuse to live my life that way,” he says.
Neither can we.
There is also the well-known story of the starfish. A young girl walks a beach covered with thousands of starfish washed ashore by a storm. One by one she picks them up and throws them back into the sea. A man challenges her: “You can’t save them all. You can’t make a difference!”
She picks up another starfish, hurls it into the ocean, and replies, “I made a difference for that one.”
The man joins her. Soon others do too. And together they save them all.
We may not reach every person in need, but we can reach the one in front of us. We can make a difference for that one. And when we join hands as sent ones, more are reached than we could ever manage alone.
God teaches us to step out in faith the same way a mother eagle teaches her young to fly. She makes the nest uncomfortable so they will leave it and commit themselves to the unknown air outside. And just so does our God to us. Comfortable Christianity is not the call. Jesus sends us out of the nest and into the harvest fields. It may feel risky. It may involve loneliness or opposition. But we do not go alone. We go with His authority and in His power.
The same instructions given to the twelve are instructive for us. Proclaim the kingdom. Heal the sick. Drive out what is evil. Give freely as you have freely received. We may not perform the exact same miraculous signs, but the mission remains: proclaim that the kingdom of heaven has come near, and demonstrate it through love, mercy, healing, and service in Jesus’ name.
The Lord of the harvest is still calling. Will you pray the prayer? “Lord of the harvest, send out workers, including me.” And then listen, because He may be sending you.
Some of you are already faithfully serving in the fields… in your workplace, your neighbourhood, your family, your school. Keep going. Don’t grow weary in doing good.
Others of you feel the nest becoming uncomfortable. God is stirring you right now. Maybe it’s sharing your faith with a coworker. Maybe it’s volunteering. Maybe it’s noticing the harassed and helpless around you and responding with compassion. Maybe it’s stepping into a new area of service.
You and I are the new disciples: lifelong learners sitting at the feet of Jesus. And we are the new sent ones, apostles in our own time and place: commissioned to carry the good news into the unoccupied fields that still await willing hearts.
Today I leave you with two simple, practical challenges:
- Pray daily: “Lord of the harvest, send out workers, including me.”
- Look for your starfish. Who is the one person God has placed in your path today? Throw that one back into life and hope by sharing the love of Christ.
The fields are ripe. The workers are still too few. But with God’s help, we, His disciples and sent ones, can make a difference, one life, one act of obedience, one faithful proclamation of the kingdom at a time.
May the compassion of Jesus fill our hearts. May the power of Jesus strengthen our hands. And may the mission of Jesus become our mission too.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Song: Called as partners in Christ’s service (587)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving
Prayers of the people
God of the earth and all its peoples, in Jesus Christ, you proclaimed the good news that true life and peace are found in you.
Guide your church to proclaim this good news, not in ways that merely please people or don’t ruffle feathers, but in ways that bring Christ’s reconciling love to divided communities and lives out of joint with each other.
Shine your light into the world’s hidden corners, exposing violence, exploitation, and bigotry.
Reveal what dehumanizes the vulnerable and degrades your creation.
God of the earth and all its peoples,
Let your light shine!
God of healing and hope, thank you for your faithfulness to us in all situations
We pray for all those who are ill or in pain, for the anxious and discouraged, for those experiencing violence, for those facing death or the loss of someone dearly beloved, and for those struggling to make ends meet in these uncertain times.
We pray for Presbyterian World Service & Development and its partners as they work to bring healing and hope to places of strife and deprivation. May the mission we share in Jesus’ name shine the light of your love into desperate lives.
God of the earth and all its peoples,
Let your light shine!
God of the faithful future, bless this community of faith and guide us as we plan for the future in changing times.
Bless students and teachers as the school year ends and restore them for learning with summer enjoyment.
Grant us all times to rest and to enjoy this summer and replenish our hope and energy to serve in your world.
God of the earth and all its peoples,
Let your light shine!
We pray for your creation and for the places in this world that are scarred by degradation and pollution; let a spirit of care make us faithful stewards and caretakers of the world you love.
And we pray for those places around the world that are marked by war, violence and poverty; let a spirit of generosity and care make us advocates for justice and peace who speak the Good News of God’s reconciling love.
God of the earth and all its peoples,
Let your light shine!
We offer all our prayers, spoken and unspoken. Amen.
Song: I, the Lord of sea and sky 592
Sending out with God’s blessing
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Response: The blessing
Music postlude
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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 (© 2026) 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.