Worship on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
10:00 am June 28, 2026
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Vivian Houg Elder: Heather Tansem
Children’s time: Brad Reader: Fionna McCrostie
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: Offer yourselves to God as instruments of righteousness.
P: We present our lives as living sacrifices.
L: Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, says the Lord.
P: We welcome Christ in one another with open hearts.
L: Let us worship the God who provides and receives us!
Opening praise: Holy is the Lord
Prayers of approach and confession
Living God, we gather this morning to offer you our thanks and praise. We experience your loving presence in the beauty of Creation, in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, and in the Christian Community to which we belong. Thank you for revealing yourself to us and giving us an experience of your love, especially in the seemingly small yet lovely moments. As we reflect on your word and sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, teach us your wisdom and equip us to share your love with all people in word and in deed.
Merciful God, we have experienced your presence in the wonder of Creation, and yet we fail to protect the environment and continue to pollute the earth, soil and waters you have made.
We have experienced your presence in the person of Jesus Christ, yet we ignore his most difficult demands on our lives and follow our own ways rather than his sacrificial way. We have experienced your presence in the Christian Community, yet we look to our own needs rather than to the needs of others and hoard our resources rather than share them freely with those in need.
We are not bad. We are generally well-meaning. But we do err. Often, we take the easy way or don’t think hard enough about the things we do or don’t do or might do tomorrow.
Forgive us, loving God, when we go the wrong way, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Response: We come to ask your forgiveness
Assurance of God’s grace
We listen for the voice of God.
Song: Jesus loves me (373)
Children’s time
A man came home to discover that his wife had bought a monkey.
“You bought a monkey? Where in the world is this thing going to sleep?”
“In the bed, with us.“ “But what about the terrible smell?” “Well,” said the wife, “I got used to it, so can the monkey.”
Before we criticize others we need to be sure we aren’t the problem. Jesus says that a lot of people walk around with a stick in their eye telling people about the dust they have in theirs.
One of the most important things to learn in life is that we can’t and shouldn’t really judge other people because, if we do, they get to judge us right back.
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Song: Open my eyes, that I may see (500)
Scripture: Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; and Matthew 10:40-42
Response: Glory to the Father
Message: Tested Servants
Prayer and Complaint are two things that often go hand in hand and yet we often feel guilt for doing jut that. But Christians should be honest with God even when we are angry. God answers all prayers but it just isn’t always the way we want.
There’s an old song by Ira Stanphill that sums it up this way: “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”
Strong faith in God does not come all at once, and it is not without its times of doubt, its struggle or pain. In fact, Strong Faith is often gained through willing submission to God’s love and goodness while one is right in the midst of trial.
Our text for this morning, Psalm 13, is a psalm of lament. It’s a song, it’s a prayer. And it’s a complaint. To modern ears, especially with the popularity today of “prosperity gospel” (preachers telling people how God wants to give them wealth and status), the idea of complaining to God seems somehow out of place. Psalms of lament make people uncomfortable. They say things we aren’t sure should even be said aloud. They get in touch with the pain inside of us that we’re not always eager to engage. And they are everywhere in scripture. Almost half the Psalms are laments; most books of the Bible contain at least one prayer of lament, and there’s even an entire book of the Bible called Lamentations that, sadly enough, rarely gets read. Still, the truth is pretty plain, complaint to and even about our God, is actually a big part of our Bible, and a big part of our faith.
I know, complaining to God is sort of like an ant complaining to a person about its problems. It just seems arrogant and wrong. But once we get over that and realize that lament is a part of the inspired word of God, we quickly realize that not only are we allowed to complain, but we’re actually encouraged to complain. And I find that amazing. I find the level of honesty God wants from us comforting. Psalm 10 begins by saying, “WHY, O LORD, DO YOU STAND FAR OFF? WHY DO YOU HIDE YOURSELF IN MY TIMES OF TROUBLE?” It sounds harsh, but really, what’s wrong with that? Who hasn’t felt that way?
In Psalm 22, David cried out saying, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME? WHY ARE YOU SO FAR FROM THE WORDS OF MY GROANING? O MY GOD, I CRY OUT BY DAY, BUT YOU DO NOT ANSWER ME-”
David feels unheard and unattended. He wants a miracle and God is distant and silent in his time of need. And who hasn’t asked God for a miracle
But as an old professor of mine used to say, “If miracles happened every day they’d be called normals”. The fact is, many of our prayers should sound like David’s. A lot of our prayers seem to go unanswered. And I think admitting that to God in prayer is extremely healthy.
There is a sentiment today that holds that crying and complaining to God are signs of weak faith. As if truly religious people never waver or get shaken. But that’s ridiculous. I am shaken right now. And if you or if someone you love gets cancer and you don’t have at least a couple chinks in your faith armour, then I think there’s something seriously wrong with you. How could you not be shaken? In a world full of hurt and pain, we need to express our feelings and be honest, and if we can’t be honest with our own God, then there is a problem there.
The Psalmist writes, “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.” “How long, Lord?”
How Long???
Who here hasn’t felt that way? And when we feel beaten down and ignored, what better solution is there than prayer? That’s why Paul tells the Philippians, “but in everything, by prayer and petition… present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
That’s what God’s there for, right… to listen.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying that God answers every prayer. It’s just that he doesn’t always give you the answer you want. Sometimes it’s Yes, but sometimes it’s Later, and sometimes it’s just “No”.
Sometimes it’s yes.
Many years ago, when we were living in Regina, my brother was driving his kids to Nebraska to stay with my mom. A large farm vehicle pulled onto the highway and covered all the lanes while turning left to go south. Chad, my less attractive but annoyingly much smarter than me, older brother slammed on the brakes and did what almost never happens in a car accident. He turned the car as much as possible so that the impact would hit the front driver’s side (human instinct usually forces people to do just the opposite). Because of this, all three kids were fine. But he suffered significant brain damage.
My parents and sisters started a prayer chain for him. My old friend from Sunday School when I was 6 (Aaron), who lives in China, joined in. Just from Aaron’s friends, over 1,200 people joined in prayer for Chad’s recovery. The total number of prayer warriors was probably into the 2 or 3 thousand range.
He would never walk or talk or feed himself again.
And three days later, he awoke and became stable. And was found wandering the halls looking for a bathroom.
But on the fourth day, he talked and walked and ate by himself.
In those first days he was very confused. Often, he acted much like a young boy. Today, he still has issues, and he is a changed person (how could he not be), but he is a living, breathing, walking, talking, eating miracle.
Sometimes when we pray… God says yes.
Sometimes God says later.
In our inability to understand the unsearchable ways of God, we tend to reach wrong conclusions, assuming God is ignoring us. There are times when God is silent, and we erroneously interpret his silence as inactivity. There are times in our lives when our hearts are breaking, and God seems to do nothing to restore them. Often, when God doesn’t work in our particularly prescribed way or within our exact time frame, we feel, like the Psalmist, that He has forgotten us. But the truth is, the infinite Creator of the universe often works in mysterious ways that are flat out unfathomable to us. Ambivalent and confusing feelings often arise. Hence, we can erroneously feel that He doesn’t care about us. But the truth is, He is there for us, and no matter how we might feel at the time, he has promised us in His Word that “HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US” (Hebrews 13:5).
There is a story about a man who was shipwrecked; perhaps you’ve heard it before.
Clinging to a broken piece of the ship, he washed ashore on a small island. With nothing more than a knapsack of possessions, he built a little hut and, using his small supply of matches, he was able to cook and keep warm. Every day, he prayed to the Lord for deliverance, but God seemed silent. One day, while out foraging for food, he returned to his small camp only to find his hut engulfed in flames. Naturally, he lashed out at God, screaming up at the sky, “Why won’t you help me?” Angry at God and totally dejected, he sat down by the seashore contemplating his next desperate move. Then, off in the distance, he saw a small ship headed his way. When it reached the shore, the captain called out, “You’re one Lucky Duck. We’re the only ship that comes by here, and we only come by here once a month… but we saw your smoke signal.”
We don’t always understand why but… Sometimes, God, in His wisdom, says, “later.”
Now this is the painful one!!!
Sometimes God answers “no”.
And we don’t understand why, and perhaps we never will. CS Lewis once said, “I don’t pray to change the mind of a perfect and all-knowing God. I pray because when I do, a perfect and all-knowing God changes me.” Or as Dr. David Osborn puts it, “Too often we try to use God to change our circumstances, while God is using our circumstances to change us.”
Sometimes it’s “no,” and it hurts.
Dr. Mark Rutland, president of Southeastern College, in his book “God of the Valleys,” put it very well. He writes, “From the mountaintops we view life; in the valleys we live it.”
While we are living life in the valleys, we’re learning great lessons (sometimes very hard ones). The Bible tells us that these times allow us to stretch and grow our faith and to develop our maturity. Waiting on the Lord is not a time of inaction; rather, it is perhaps the time of our deepest spiritual development (when we get broken down and remoulded). In fact, in Psalm 51:17, it says that A true sacrifice to God is not an animal or money, but “a broken and contrite heart.
Obviously, David was going through something here Psalm 13, when he wrote this lament. We don’t know exactly what it was, but David’s history was filled not only with fame and glory but also with sorrow and anguish. He wasn’t especially close to his father and brothers. Nothing is ever mentioned about his mother. King Saul tried to hunt him down to kill him. His home life as king was torturous. Three wives and multiple concubines, and an affair that included the murder of the woman’s husband, made a bit of a mess of things. His children were at constant war with each other, and one son murdered another after the first son sexually assaulted his half-sister. Then his own child tried to kill him. The idea that Strong people of faith don’t go through trials or waver in their faith should be put to rest. The truth is, we all have difficult times. And sometimes the ant really does need to scream up into the sky, “Why?” God wants that honesty.
Psalm 13 is just 6 verses long. But it comes with a little twist. David spends the first 4 lines complaining and crying that God isn’t answering him. And then all of the sudden he pulls a 180. He says, “5 But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
If you are here today and you have been crushed by something at some point, you are Kind David in this circumstance.
What’s most interesting to me about this is that David is still upset, and God hasn’t answered his prayers yet. He’s still in pain. And yet he says, “I will sing to the Lord, because He Has Been good to me.” Not “He gave me what I want” or “He will answer me”. BUT because “He Has Been” good to me. With all things considered, David is blessed. David’s experiences of God in the past reveal a loving God despite the way things appear at his present time.
Being a person of faith doesn’t mean living in the Rose Garden with kitty cats and rainbows. Jesus Himself said in John 16:33, “…IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION…” In this sin-marred world, we should expect troubles and heartaches. And ultimately, God has promised to make all things right, not in this life, but in the life to come. Here we get miracles, but we also get to wait for the “laters,” and we get the hard-to-hear “no’s” too. “We have not been promised a life free from pain and sorrow, but rather one in which joy will have the last word.” Until then, know that shaking a fist at God from time to time doesn’t make you a weak Christian. It makes you an honest one.
Until the time comes when Miracles are Normals, we will just have to keep strong.
There’s an old song by Ira Stanphill that perhaps sums it up best: “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.”
The word Amen is never translated from Aramaic. But it means something akin to “let it be as we have said together” or perhaps “we agree”. So I wonder if you might indulge me for a second in saying amen. If you “agree”?
Whether the answer to your laments comes back Yes, Later or even No… May you know that He holds you in His Hands in times of joy and times of sorrow alike. We don’t always understand, but we know who holds us. Amen.
Song: Great is thy faithfulness (324)
We respond to serve God.
Our time of giving
Prayers of the people
God, you are in our midst, renew us in your love. Living God, you have made your presence evident to us in Creation, in Christ, and in Christian Community. Be with us now, as we bring to you our prayers and concerns, and guide our thoughts and our desires, that they may conform to your will and your way. We pray for the church, that life among believers today may become more and more like the descriptions of the early church, with many opportunities to spend time together, to praise God, and to provide for the needs of everyone.
We pray for the earth from which we draw our health, strength and inspiration, and for all the living creatures in whose community we live. We pray for the wisdom and the will to care for and preserve the natural environment, and for the opportunity for many people to experience your presence through the wonder of your creation.
We pray for Camp Kannawin and the devoted staff and volunteers. We thank the camp committee, the Synod, and each church for the funds they bring to help children and young people experience Christian camping. And we pray for the programs and kids as they come together to worship, learn, challenge one another and grow. And we pray that young people meet you, your presence in nature, quite times, devotion and spiritual growth.
We pray, too, for Christian camps across the country (Presbyterian and otherwise) that they may be equipped for good ministry this summer. We pray that God’s presence will be experienced by many children, youth and adults at camp this summer, and that many people will turn their hearts and their lives toward God in Jesus Christ.
We pray for all those who will be a part of Christian camping this summer, that they may be filled with the energy, enthusiasm, courage and boldness to proclaim your love in word and deed.
Today, we also pray for places facing unique and dangerous issues of Christians and Christian persecution: North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan(s), Syria, Libia, Iran and anywhere faith is attacked.
We pray for many and for many things, and while we do not know how you will answer, we have confidence that you are with us and we are all in your hands, Lord.
God, you are clearly in our midst and obvious in our pasts: renew us in your love. Amen.
Song: I’m gonna live so God can use me (648)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Grace and peace to all of you, wherever and however you find yourself, whatever size, shape, colour, perspective, history, and background you bring to this gathering. Cry out, be honest, be open, be held. You are in the very hands of God, and who could possibly escape from that hold. Grace and peace to all of you on this day and every day on and on and on forever. Amen.
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.