Worship on Trinity Sunday / Fathers Day
10:00 am June 15, 2025
Minister: Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Lynn Vaughan Reader: Felix Joy
Welcoming Elder: Heather Tansem 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
Consideration of Initial Certification as a Candidate for the Ministry of Word and Sacrament
Moved by Kenneth McRae, seconded by Randy Osgood, that the Presbytery of the Northwest endorse Mr. Romulus Rhoad for certification as a candidate for the ministry of Word and Sacrament within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Carried.
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
P: Praise and glory to you, Spirit of God, our comfort and strength.
L: Let us sing praises to God as long as we live;
P: Praise and glory to you, Spirit of God, our comfort and strength.
L: May our worship be pleasing to God, ever Three and ever One.
P: Let us praise the LORD!
Opening praise: Open the eyes of my heart
Prayers of approach and confession
Heavenly Father,
We come before You with grateful hearts, ready to worship and glorify Your holy name. As we gather in Your presence, we ask for Your divine guidance and inspiration. Open our hearts and minds, so we may fully receive Your word and feel Your love.
Fill us with Your Spirit, that we may sing and pray with sincere devotion. May our worship be a true reflection of our love for You. Unite us as a community of believers, uplifting one another in faith and purpose.
We thank You for the opportunity to gather here, and we offer this worship to You with joy and humility.
In Your sacred name, we pray, Amen.
Holy God, who is One in Three and Three in One, we praise you this day as the Source of all life, Maker of Heaven and Earth.
You created us and called us good, shepherding us with your steadfast love.
Jesus Christ, we praise you this day, born into our midst to show us the way of goodness, mercy and grace.
Holy Spirit, we praise you this day for the energy you bring us to greet each day as a gift and serve in the world with gladness.
Holy God, Three in One and One in Three, reveal to us this day what it means to live as your people so that we may honour your holy name, now and forever.
God of mercy and majesty, you are slow to anger and swift to forgive.
You have shown us the depth of your love, yet we are reluctant to love others who differ from us.
You have shown us compassion and forgiveness, yet we walk away from one another without concern.
You have offered us hope in Christ Jesus, yet we lose that hope when life is challenging.
Forgive us, O Lord.
Create in us the endurance and character which help us trust in the power of your forgiving love. Amen.
Response: I will trust in the Lord
Assurance of God’s forgiveness
God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Be at peace with God, with one another, and with yourself, through the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Musical Offering (Dayspring Singers)
We listen for the voice of God
Song: Open our eyes, Lord (445)
Children’s time
You have probably heard people talk about God being Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But you’ve probably also heard us talk about how we worship One God. It’s called the Trinity. In truth it’s a little difficult to explain because it’s like saying 1+1+1=1. And that is what we’re saying. And really there is nothing else like it so anything I use to try and explain it is going to fall short in some way. But I do want to try.
Have you ever seen a really hot drink like tea or coffee?
I like coffee. Lately it seems to be making me feel a little jittery and that’s odd because that’s never been an issue for me before.
But I like Ice Coffee (not that stuff from fast food places that’s 90% sugar but easier than that. All I do to make it is: I brew a steaming hot cup of coffee and then I drop in a few pieces of ice. (Chef’s kiss!)
That’s it. Ice Coffee.
But what is it exactly.
Sure there is coffee bean in it but what else.
Really just one other ingredient – Water.
When I pour the coffee into the cup there is the water.
When I look at it, I see more water in the form of steam floating off the top. But steam is water.
And when I drop the ice into it, I’m putting in more water, just frozen.
All three parts of it are water but each one is also different. One is liquid, one is solid and one is vapour. It’s sort like 1+1+1=3 but it’s also sort of like 1+1+1=1.
When we say that God is One in three persons that’s kind of what we are talking about. God in the Father, God in the Son (Jesus) and God in the Spirit.
Does that make sense? Sure!
Here’s a simple, short “Repeat After Me” prayer for Trinity Sunday
Prayer
Thank you, God!
Thank you for the Father.
Thank you for the Son, Jesus.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit.
We believe in one God, in three persons.
1+1+1=1
Cautionary Note for Adults
Describing the Trinity as three different forms of water is actually heretical. Sometimes with a children’s message you have to say something that isn’t exactly right because the concept is just beyond what they can hold on to. And to be fair the trinity is one of those for most people. In actuality, however, Ice, Water and Steam as an analogy is something called modalism, and it suggests that God is one person manifest in modes or roles rather than one God in three persons eternally co-existing.
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Song: The clay-stained hands of love (296)
Scripture: Romans 5:1-5
Response: Glory to the Father
Message: Walking our Seasons of Grace
Billy Graham once famously said, “Mountain tops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys.”
Just as a mountain offers breathtaking views, our faith in Christ brings us hope and inspiration. Yet, just like fruit grows best in valleys, our true transformation happens through the daily journey of faith and perseverance in life’s lower points. The world can be a hard place, and life isn’t always easy. When things get hard, it’s challenging to take the right path. Sometimes, we want to feel like we earned a reward. And that applies to a good life, too. If we keep the straight and narrow, we feel like we earn a place in heaven. When Warren Buffett decided to donate most of his fortune to the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation, he said, “There’s more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.” And many people feel that way… do enough good and get into a good place. But that’s not what the bible teaches at all.
The ancient Egyptian religion featured a concept of judgment after death involving a scale. In the Hall of Ma’at, the heart of the deceased was weighed against the feather of Ma’at (representing truth and cosmic balance). If the heart was lighter (thus purer) than the feather, the person was deemed worthy to pass into the afterlife for a reward. If the heart was heavier (or filled with error), it was devoured by the monster Ammit, resulting in the soul’s destruction. Sometimes Christians can get caught up in this kind of thinking, believing that at the end God will weigh our good and bad deeds to see if we get into heaven. To some extent, Catholicism also
dabbled in this when it taught in the Middle Ages and, to some degree, still does, that there are categories of Venial and so-called Mortal sins and dying with one kind without confession leads to doom. But that’s not how Christianity works at all. And it’s essentially the reason why we Protestants (or protesters of this idea) exist.
Paul writes to the Romans, specifically to address this type of thinking, and tells them to discard that idea altogether. Romans 5:1 tells us, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God because of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And think about it. Really think about it. If Jesus paid the price and forgave us all our sins, there is no bad left to weigh at the end. There’s nothing left to put on the scale. That’s what forgiveness means. You can’t forgive someone and continue to hold a grudge. If you do, then you didn’t really forgive them.
Imagine you are struggling with debt you can’t pay off. You are being crushed by payments you can’t make and will never be able to catch up. Imagine that you can’t even afford to pay the interest, let alone the debt itself. But then one day, the bank tells you that somebody else has already come in and agreed to pay off all your debts. You now owe nothing. Your entire debt is forgiven, not because you earned it, but because someone decided to wipe it clean. You walk out feeling free, no longer burdened by guilt. Would you go back the next day and try to make a payment anyway? And just to be clear, even if you did, you would still not be paying off a debt. It’s already been paid. So even if you did, you would simply be expressing gratitude or demonstrating goodwill. You don’t earn salvation, you are gifted it. And you can’t earn a gift. For the forgiven, our good deeds are just an expression of our gratitude.
This is what justification by faith means—God forgives our sins not because of our efforts, but because of His grace. It removes the barrier of sin that separates us from God, restoring our relationship and giving us inner peace. We can experience peace with God because we no longer have to worry about being good enough or wonder if just one more little mistake will tip the scales. Whether we are or not, God declares us good enough anyway.
Paul writes that we can stand firm in this knowledge. Romans 5:1-2 tells us, “Therefore, since we have been justified… through faith…, we have peace with God because of our Lord Jesus Christ… through HIM we have gained access… by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” To put it more clearly, it’s our faith in the power of Jesus to save that saves us. This is also the main difference between Christian Faith and every other religion. Every other religion on earth has some measure of a weight scale. Buddhism and Hinduism emphasize the balance of good and bad karma as a means to achieve enlightenment or reincarnation. Islam emphasizes adherence to the Five Pillars of Islam and striving to live a righteous life as essential for attaining paradise. Zoroastrianism states that we are judged after death based on the balance of good and bad actions, which determines our fate in the afterlife. And Judaism emphasizes the importance of following God’s commandments (mitzvot) as a way to earn God’s favour and blessings. To be clear, very good things come from all of these intentions, and good words, good thoughts, and good actions matter. However, Christianity is not about our works, but about God’s mercy through Christ. We can’t save ourselves; God saves us. And that is a big difference.
This access to grace means we can stand confidently, because God does the work. So, regardless of circumstances, our hope is rooted in God’s unmerited love and not whether we said too many bad words to tip the scale. Just like fruit grows in valleys where the conditions are right, our faith keeps us rooted and firm in the grace that sustains us, no matter what challenges we face. That is why Paul ends this sentence by saying, “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Because we don’t have to worry about our failings, just his grace, in other words, we don’t brag about our good deeds. We brag about how good our God is and how loved we are. And this is true even at our lowest points when we might fail and take the easy way out.
The Apostle Paul faced beatings, imprisonment, and shipwrecks, yet rejoiced because his eyes were fixed on what is unseen—the eternal glory awaiting him; something he didn’t earn but received anyway. His life demonstrates that anchoring our hope in God’s glory rather than our achievements gives us the strength to endure, regardless of the struggles and no matter what we’ve done in the past. When we fix our gaze on the promise of eternity, we can even find joy in suffering, knowing that God’s glory will outweigh all hardships and that an eternal reward awaits us.
If we brag about our Good God, we do so even when things are hard and when we have failed. Verse 3-4 says, “- we also glory because we know that suffering and trials (that challenge us as to whether we will stay faithful or take another path), produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, more hope.” Suffering is not pointless – it is productive. It isn’t fun, but it’s essential. It is sometimes the process through which God shapes us into the people He desires us to be.
A sprawling shade-bearing 80-year-old American Elm tree in Oklahoma City, OK, is a huge tourist attraction. People pose for pictures beneath her. Arborists carefully protect her. She adorns posters and letterhead. The city treasures the tree not because of its appearance, but for its endurance. She made it through the Oklahoma City bombing. Timothy McVeigh parked his truck, named “Death Legend,” just yards away. His malice killed 168 people, wounded 850, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, and buried the tree in rubble. No one expected it to survive. No one gave any thought to the dusty, branch-stripped tree at all at the time. But then she began to bud again. Sprouts pressed through the damaged bark, green leaves pushed away the grey soot. Life rose from an acorn of death. And people noticed. The tree modelled the resilience the victims desired, so they named her the Survivor’s Tree. Walking our seasons of Grace means trusting that God is working through every challenge we face, and for our growth. (Max Lucado, Facing Your Giants.) Suffering produces perseverance.
My dad enjoyed John Grisham. John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, eventually became a bestseller and a film, but it was rejected by 28 different agents and publishers before being published. When an agent finally took him as a client, the book’s first press run was 5,000 copies. Grisham himself purchased a thousand copies and loaded his car to take them to bookstores one at a time, convincing them to carry just a handful of books. Only after his second novel, The Firm, hit the bestseller list did Grisham get his big break. Six of his books have now been made into movies, and the press run of his most recent volume sold 2.8 million copies. Grisham now has more than 300 million copies sold in at least 34 different languages. Paul notes that “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, in turn, produces character.” God is working on us in hard times to make us better. But our salvation isn’t based on it. And yet, “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character”.
In an interview with Lee Strobel, Peter Kreft concludes that the answer to suffering is not an abstract idea or philosophical argument—it is Jesus himself. He states, “It’s not a bunch of words, it’s the Word. It’s not a tightly woven philosophical argument. It’s a person. The person.” The answer to suffering cannot just be abstract because this isn’t an abstract issue; it’s a personal issue. It requires an individual response. The answer must be someone, not just something, because the issue involves someone. (God, where are You? Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, p. 191.) No matter what happens in life, whether it’s highs or lows, taking the right path or the easy way out, our eternal destination is not based on our deeds. Our response to low moments exemplifies our gratitude. “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, more hope”.
Romans 5:5 says, “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” We don’t need to hold onto old mistakes. And our hope is not in vain. We know that even though we are not good enough to save ourselves, Jesus is. It is secure because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Because even if we mess things up and we don’t sell millions of copies of our books or we take the easy road, our hope was never found in our response. Our hope has always been, and will continue to be, that no matter how we deal with life, it is grace through faith that saves. It is Jesus, not us. How we do along the way is our gratitude in response to the grace we have been given, not how we earn heaven.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to confirm God’s love for us. It is the Holy Spirit who pours God’s love into us, strengthening our hope and enabling us to face any circumstance, knowing that even if we do mess things up, our destiny is not determined by our failures. Our failures will never be as powerful as God’s forgiveness. Our hope does not disappoint and never can because it is anchored in His unchanging love, a love given freely by God’s grace, confirmed and sealed by the Spirit, and “not by works,” no matter how important they are or how much they prove our faith.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace, hope, and assurance that God’s love will never fail us. No matter what challenges we face, the Spirit testifies in our hearts that we are loved and that our hope is sure. When suffering comes, know that it is a path that can lead to deeper growth, strengthened by the Spirit’s work within us. And if we fail, well, we were just trying to express our gratitude to the bank that had already forgiven our debt. Let us embrace this hope, fortified by God’s love, trusting that with His Spirit, we will stand firm and move forward in faith. Good works don’t save. They say thank you to the one who does. Amen.
Song: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine (687)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving
Prayer of the people
Generous God, thank you for all your gifts which bring us hope and joy. Bless the gifts we bring and work with them to establish your reign in the world you love. In the name of your greatest gift, Jesus Christ, we pray.
Holy God, Holy One and Holy Three, we bless you for bringing us into communion with you, offering us the same unity in love you share as the blessed Trinity.
Help your church in all its branches discover the unity for which Christ prayed.
May our unity in Christ show the world how to overcome divisions and enjoy the diverse gifts you have created in us.
By your Spirit, equip us to explore unity in diversity through local mission and ministry.
God, the Three in One,
Hear our prayer.
God of one loving heart, draw the human family together in the love that unites us with you.
We pray for our nation and our local communities in this time when different experiences and opinions so easily divide us.
Where we have acted without regard for the needs of others, inspire us to work for justice and fairness.
Where we have been blind to the pain of the oppressed, open our eyes to opportunities for reconciliation and caring.
On this National Indigenous Peoples Sunday, we pray for Indigenous communities across this land.
Grant them wisdom as they address the needs of their people.
Bring healing to those who remember painful experiences.
Guide the peoples of Canada to establish relationships of mutual respect and honour with Indigenous communities, and celebrate our diverse gifts together.
God, the Three in One,
Hear our prayer.
God who wears the many faces of hope, we pray for all who feel despair or anxiety.
Lift up in love those who find their illness unrelieved.
Comfort those who grieve the loss of someone dear or some important opportunity.
Support those who are denied dignity by the attitudes or actions of others and sustain those who long for healing of some kind.
Hear us in this time of silence as we name before those on our hearts this day:
A moment of silence
May they know your loving care upholding their lives.
God, the Three in One,
Hear our prayer.
God in community, thank you for the fellowship we share in our congregation.
Strengthen us in faithful worship and equip us for service in changing times and challenging days.
We offer our prayers, spoken and unspoken, as the Spirit prays within us, Amen.
Song: Father, I adore you (292)
Sending out with God’s blessing
Paul writes: “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” And may that grace, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with each one of us today and every day. Amen.
Response: Amen, we praise your name
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 (© 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.