Worship on the Lord’s Day
Youth led Service 10:00 am May 15, 2022
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by Fionna McCrostie Children’s time: Courtney Vaughan
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Lynn Vaughan
Elder: Gina Kottke
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
Silent preparation for worship
Opening words
L: From you, Lord, and through You, and to You, are all things
P: To Christ be the glory forever
L: Lift up your hearts!
P: We lift them up to the Lord!
Opening praise: Great are You, Lord.
Call to worship:
L: Search me, God, and understand my heart
P: Comfort me and know the anxiety that steals my peace
L: Find what is keeping me from you
P: Guide me to your kindness and grace
Prayers of approach and lament
Loving God, we come before you today in awe and wonder at your majesty and mystery.
You have looked deep into our hearts, Lord, and you know all about us. You love and protect us. Such wonderful knowledge is far above us. We praise you because of the wonderful way you created us. Everything you do is marvelous!
Help us open our hearts to your loving presence.
We find healing and meaning in your light.
Dear God, we bring before you the pain that we feel and the pain we see all around us.
As young people, we also face many unique challenges.
We feel lost trying to find our own identity. We are surrounded by voices that pull us in so many directions. The cacophony of voices we hear is challenging to navigate.
We get hurt with unrealistic expectations of our body, and our social life, and it leaves us feeling inadequate.
We fear that we can’t be ourselves and we have to always follow the crowd, even if we don’t agree with them.
We fear that no matter what we do we will be judged and criticized.
People don’t understand that we still haven’t found ourselves completely.
Look deep into our hearts, God, and find out everything we are thinking. Don’t let us follow evil ways but lead us in the way that time has proven true.
Oh God, hear our prayer – have mercy on us.
Let us take a silent moment of individual lament as we think of pain that the world brings to us.
Amen
Response: I waited , I waited on you, Lord
Assurance of God’s forgiveness
The amazing news of the Gospel is not that we can receive Jesus into our lives
but that He’s already received us into His.
God’s steadfast love endures forever. We know that God will always be with us,
reminding us of who we are, and we find comfort in that thought.
We are released from the burdens holding us down.
It is not we who live in Christ but Christ who lives in us.
Amen
We listen for the voice of God
Children’s time
Gradual: Open our eyes, Lord (445)
Story
Good morning, everyone: I have a few signs here with me today, and I am hoping that you can help me with them.
(As you read what each of these signs says, have a child come up and stand beside you to hold the sign for you.)
The five signs say:
- Sign One: “You are Beautiful”
- Sign Two: “You are Wonderfully Made”
- Sign Three: “You are created by God”
- Sign Four: “You are Known by God”
- Sign Five: “You were created to be YOU!”
Who created you? (give them time to answer). Who gave you your hair color, your height, and your personality? (give them time to answer). Are you beautiful? (give them time to answer).
You ARE beautiful! You are beautiful because God created you. He chose your hair color, your height, your personality, and everything about you!
In the Bible in Psalm 139, it says:
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
You are wonderfully made; do you know what that means? (give them time to answer). Wonderful means extremely good or delightful. Do you feel delightful? (give them time to answer). God delights in you because He loves you and He created you wonderfully! You, EACH one of you is created by God! You were not an accident, He designed you to be you and He knows you. Did you know that God knows you? (give them time to answer). He knows exactly who you are because He created you to be YOU! He loves you!
Prayer
Dear LORD, thank you that we are not too small to know you as our God. You have created us and made each of us who we are. Thank you for making us each special. Teach us about your love today. We love you, Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Transition music
Song: Father we love you (300)
Today’s Message
Scripture readings: Psalm 139: 1-18;23-24 & Matthew 16:13-17
Response: Glory to the Father
Homily: “Who am I?”
Why don’t we begin by introducing ourselves? I’ll go first. My name is Fionna McCrostie, and I am 20 years old. I go to university, and I work two jobs. I love music and my family, animals – especially dogs, shopping, and cooking. On the Myers-Briggs personality test, I am an ‘ENFJ’ – ‘Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging’. On the Enneagram personality test, I am type 2w3 – ‘The Helper’. My zodiac sign is Aquarius and my Harry Potter ‘Hogwart’s house’ is Hufflepuff – ‘The Egalitarians’. How would you describe yourself to me?
As a culture, we are obsessed with identity. Yet there is so much anxiety and insecurity around the thought of “Who Am I”? And instead of turning to God and Scripture to help define who we are, we often base our identity on who others say we are.
Struggling to find yourself is nothing new in the human condition, especially for young people. Every generation has had its own challenges in terms of identity, but I want to talk about some that are unique to my generation. We are a generation that has never known life without the internet and social media. Social media are applications that enable users to create, share and engage with content. I use social media, and I think that it has done great things in helping connect people, but I also see a huge negative side to social media.
Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok are the three social media platforms most used by youth. The average age that kids sign up for their own personal social media account is 12 years old. On average, young people spend upwards of 3 hours daily on social media.
We follow social media ‘influencers’. These are people who have a large online following, and who stylishly promote products, lifestyles, and opinions. There is a lot of pressure to conform – to look the same, to think the same, to act the same. Not only is there deep envy created in these constant comparisons, but there is a belief that these unrealistic expectations of people and their lives is normal. Feelings of inadequacy are rampant.
This incessant question of “Who am I?” has led to massive anxiety, confusion, insecurity, and depression in young people. The issue is that social media amplifies everything – opinions, comments, critiques – everything that has been said is now being shouted – and it is constant.
While children and younger teens are affected, all users experience the effects of these platforms. Social media creates elements of falseness in our daily lives – we’re always performing, we’re always filtering. We are worried about how many ‘likes’ our pictures get, how many likes our friends get, how to get more likes. As humans, we want to be loved, but we settle for being liked through social media which leaves us feeling empty.
It is popular now to take personality tests like Myers Briggs or the enneagram to tell us about who we are. This has taken the place of studying the Word of God. We’re trying to take all these personality tests to lead us and guide us through our lives instead of leaning on the Holy Spirit. We’re scrolling through social media trying to figure out answers to these massive questions about who we are. Young people are desperately trying to figure out “Who am I?”
We want to the world to tell us who we are. As Christians, we’re all trying to establish our own individual identity while also trying to have purpose and go live with intentionality for the Gospel of Jesus – and those two things often contradict each other. Who God says you are and who the world says you are often not the same thing.
If social media unhinges you, then what is it that grounds you? I find security in my family and my spiritual relationships. It is crucial that young people know that they are loved by their family, and that they are loved by God. Spirituality helps ground us from the non-reality of the social media world.
Psalm 139 talks about God’s presence in the world and in our individual lives. Each one of us is intimately known by God, our Father and Creator, who crafted us personally and purposefully. We are all deeply loved by God. We trust that God is in control, both in our lives and the world around us. Though we are surrounded by injustice, unfairness, tragedy, and heartbreak, we can trust that God has a divine purpose. We remember that we are never alone, even in a world that is isolating, God is with us always.
Let us remember that judgement belongs to God alone, not to the people around us. Though God is the Creator of the universe, He has a devoted relationship to all of us. He cares deeply and compassionately for us. I am grounded by God’s deep knowledge of who I am. In our Matthew reading, Jesus tells his disciples that we don’t discover God’s love by ourselves – God reveals this to us through our devotion to him.
In the Disney movie ‘The Lion King’, there’s a scene when sometime after Simba has left his home at Pride Rock to live his “hakuna matata” life, he goes to wash his face in the watering hole. And what he sees reflected back at him is not his own reflection, but the reflection of his father, Mufasa. He was lost and felt alone – he didn’t know who he was anymore, but when he saw his father reflected in him he was reminded of who he was and where he came from. Simba then returns to Pride Rock, where the villain Scar has taken over. When he arrives, Simba lets out a huge roar and Scar turns around and says “Mufasa!?”, because Scar recognizes Simba’s father in him.
Who is God to you? How does God influence your life? If He is not sitting on the throne of your life, then what He says about you is not going to change anything about who you are. Whoever is on the throne of your life is going to be the one telling you who you are. Who is God to you? You are an original creation. God didn’t make us all the same and that is an amazing thing. We can’t go find out more about our originality and identity only by who the world says we are. We need to find who God created us to be. We must find God within ourselves.
I know who I am because God created me. You are an unrepeatable miracle. It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives within me. Psalm 139 helps us to understand God’s heart for us. Who are you? I am who He says I am. Amen
Song: You are before me, Lord (101)
We respond to serve God
Prayer of gratitude
Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for all the things you are to us – Lord, Savior, Redeemer. God, you are our Father, and we belong to you. And belonging to You helps us to know who we truly are. God, thank you for revealing yourself in us and to us. We find that our anxieties, our confusions, our insecurities, and depression are quieted, Lord, because You know everything about who we were, who we are and who we will be. Thank you for being the rock in our lives. We are overwhelmed by the love and goodness you have for us. Help us to remember that you are our Creator, who molded us in the womb, and breathed life into our lungs. We thank you for making us in your image and likeness, designed by your loving heart. We are deeply grateful that we are grounded in the knowledge that you know us. Thank you for showing us who we can be and how we can live in your name.
Amen
Response: In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful
Reflection on giving: We have been giving faithfully since the beginning of the pandemic and we are committed to continuing the ministry and mission that define Dayspring – using the various ways described on the screen and in Dayspring Weekly News. Thank you all for your support of our shared vision and mission. For those in the sanctuary, if you have offering envelopes with you, simply put them in the offering plate at the back of the sanctuary as you leave the service today.
Transition Music: Be still and know that I am God
Prayer for others and ourselves
God, we humbly turn to you for help and guidance. In a world where finding yourself can be so hard, help us find truth and meaning in who we are. You are a light that guides us away from a confusing and harmful non-reality to your abundant love and goodness. God, I pray for those battling the battle of identity, questioning who they are in this world. I pray that these confusing voices are silenced so we may hear yours. Help us resist seeking an answer to the questions “Who Am I?” in anything but You and what your Word says. It is you who truly knows us. Help us to not look for ourselves in what this world has to offer and what the world tells us, but to listen to God and his word, which will allow us to be called to our purpose. Friends, God will never leave you, never forsake you, never mislead you, never forget you, never overlook you because He is always there for us. We have to put down our phones and lift up our hearts to Him. For when we do this, we will see him in us, and we will know who we are. If you know who God is to you than you will know who you are. We are who God says we are.
God, You are the light of the world and you call us to share your light, so may we hear you and step boldly into this world spreading your message and love to others.
Amen
Song: What a friend we have (746)
Sending out with God’s blessing
May Christ be in your hearts through faith. Being rooted and grounded in love, may you have strength and confidence in the knowledge of who you are. May you be filled with the fullness of God and know that the love of Christ is abundant. Amen.
Response: God to enfold you
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 specified licenses with One Licence and CLC.
Fionna McCrostie retains the copyright (© 2022) on all original material presented by her. As far as Fionnna McCrostie is aware, all of the material presented that has not been attributed to others is her own creation or is in the public domain.
Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.
Song Sheet for worship on 220515
Great are you, Lord
You give life, You are love You bring light to the darkness, You give hope, You restore every heart that is broken, great are You, Lord
It’s Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise, it’s Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to You only great are You, Lord
Songwriters: Jason David Ingram, David Leonard, Leslie Jordan. Great Are You Lord lyrics © Integrity’s Praise Music, Integrity S Alleluia Music. Reprinted with permission and permission to stream under CCLI, License #3095377. All rights reserved.
I waited on you, Lord
I waited, I waited on you, Lord, I waited, I waited on you, Lord, You bent down low and remembered me. (x2) When you heard my prayer
Words: Psalm 40; Music: J. Bell; © WGRG 1987 Iona Community, GIA Publications Inc Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE, License #A735555. All rights reserved. Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE
Open our eyes, Lord
Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch him and say that we love him, Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen. Open our eyes, Lord We want to see Jesus
Words and music: Bob Cull; © Maranatha! Music 1976; The Copyright Company Reprinted with permission under CCLI, License #3095377. All rights reserved. Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from CCLI
Father, we love you,
Father, we love you, we worship and adore You, Glorify your name in all the earth. Glorify your name, glorify your name, Glorify your name in all the earth.
Jesus, we love you, we worship and adore you, Glorify your name in all the earth. Glorify your name, glorify your name, Glorify your name in all the earth
Spirit, we love you, we worship and adore You, Glorify your name in all the earth. Glorify your name, glorify your name, Glorify your name in all the earth
Words: Donna Adkins © Marantha! Music, 1976; Music: Donna Adkins © Marantha! Music, 1976,1981. Harmony © Marantha! Music, 1985
Glory to the Father
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit As it was in the beginning is now, and will be forever Amen, amen, amen
Words: traditional, public domain music: J. Weaver © J. Weaver 1978
You are before me, Lord
You are before me, Lord, you are behind. And over me you have spread out your hand; Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, Too high to grasp, too great to understand.
Then from your Spirit where, Lord, shall I go;. And from your presence where, Lord, shall I fly? If I ascend to heaven you are there, and still are with me if in hell I lie.
If I should take my flight into the dawn, If I should dwell on ocean’s farthest shore, your mighty hand will rest upon me still, and your right hand will guard me evermore.
If I should say, “Let darkness cover me, and I shall hide within the veil of night,” Surely the darkness is not dark to you; The night is as the day, the darkness light.
Search me, O God, search me and know my heart; Try me, O God, my mind and spirit try; Keep me from any path that gives you pain,aAnd lead me in the everlasting way.
Words: Psalm 139; paraphrase, Ian Pitt-Watson © the estate of Ian Pitt-Watson 1973. Music: Alfred Smith © the estate of Doris Wright Smith
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful. In the Lord I will rejoice Look to God, do not be afraid Lift up your voices, the Lord is near, Lift up your voices, the Lord is near
Words: Jacques Berthier; 1991 © Taize Community, GIA Publications Inc. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE, License #A735555. All rights reserved. Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE
What a friend we have in Jesus
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear; what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged: take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness: take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Saviour, still our refuge: take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer; in his arms he’ll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.
Words Joseph Scriven; Music: Charles Convers, both Public domain
God to enfold you
God to enfold you, Christ to uphold you, Spirit to keep you in heaven’s sight So may God grace you, heal and embrace you Lead you through darkness into the light
Words: J. Bell, G. Maule; © WGRG Iona Community, GIA Publications Inc. Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE, License #A735555. All rights reserved. Permission to stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE