Worship on the Lord’s Day
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
10:00 am November 03, 2024
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalist: Rom Rhoad
Welcoming Elder: Sam Malayang

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: Bless the Lord at all times;
P: God’s praise will always be on our lips.
L: Make great the name of God;
P: We will lift up God’s holy name together.
L: For the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
P: We will love the Lord with heart, mind, strength, and soul, and praise God now and always.

Opening praise: Praise the Lord

Prayers of approach and confession

Creator, Christ, and Spirit: God of life and of blessing, you created all that exists,

In Christ, you redeem all situations and heal each soul, and so it is our greatest joy in life to be united by your Spirit in community to give you thanks and praise.

And so we join our voices with the angels and archangels, with the saints and disciples of every time and place in worshipping you as Creator, as healer, and as the source of all joy and goodness, now and forever the world without end.

Eternal God, we confess that we have been indifferent to your will and silent when we should have spoken for justice.

We have heard your call to faithful living, but fear holds us back.

There is work to be done, but we have been idle.

Forgive us, O God, and give us courage that we may be your saints in our own time.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s grace

The day is coming when the home of God will be among mortals. God will dwell with us, and we are God’s people.  God will wipe every tear from our eyes, death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things will have passed away.  Accept the newness you are offered in Christ and share that promise with others.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: Lift up the gates eternal (12: vss1-5)

Scripture readings: Nebat Marilyn
Psalm 24; Revelation 21:1-6a; and John 11:32-44

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet           

Message: ‘Normal’ People

“If we join together, just imagine what we can do”.

Luke is a companion of Paul’s. He is a physician and historian by trade and is generally thought to be the only non-Jewish author in the New Testament. His book, which does not actually bear his name makes up what we call both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles (a history of the early church). While the stories in Matthew show Jesus as a new Moses, and Mark shows a miraculous healer, Luke’s vision of Jesus is of a man desperately calling the people into the service of others. Luke’s Jesus is constantly focused on the sick, the uplifting of women, the oppressed and the poor.

Early on in Luke’s gospel Jesus returns home to preach in the synagogues of Nazareth (his hometown) and Capernaum (the city to which Nazareth is a bedroom community). Neither instance goes very well.

In both places Jesus says essentially the same thing. He says (though in somewhat cryptic language) that he is the Messiah and that he has been sent to declare good news to the poor, freedom to captives, sight to the blind and the Year of the Lord’s favor.

Arminta Ross was born into slavery. Because records were few and far between and because her age was seen to be unimportant, we’re still not sure whether it was 1819 or 1820 when she first came into this world. Arminta Ross was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was the first person in her family not to be born on African soil – though this was not exactly a choice made voluntarily by her parents.

Arminta Ross was raised under harsh conditions and subjected to whippings even as a small child. Contrary to popular belief the severity of such instances has been exaggerated over the years though not because of the masters’ good nature. Rather the true reason is that if a slave is injured too badly the master loses a worker and so also losses money. In general slaves were very rarely beaten severely: but not because it would be immoral – rather because it wouldn’t be economical.

In any case Arminta did suffer quite horribly on occasion and had no real quarters to speak of. She slept as close to the fire as possible on cold nights and later reported that she sometimes would place her toes into the smoldering ashes to avoid the threat of frostbite. Cornmeal was her main source of nutrition and occasionally meat could be added to the mixture when her father later gained the rare privilege to hunt and fish (though this came with fairly extreme restrictions).

At age six (do you know any six-year-olds?), Arminta was considered by her owners to be an able worker. She was quite luckily loaned out to some neighbors for a short time and this more relaxed family did not demand Arminta to perform the rather harsh labor of the fields but instead sent to produce weaving work.

But Arminta was found to be a “day dreamer” and so was reassigned to the duty of checking muskrat traps. She didn’t do so for long though. Arminta caught the measles while performing this regular task and was quickly returned home to her owners as “damaged goods”. After recovering, Arminta would fill the role of both housekeeper and babysitter. The woman of the house though did not care much for Arminta Ross and did in fact have her whipped quite severely one night when it was believed that she had taken a single sugar cube from the pantry. She was 10 when the incident took place. At the age of 12 she lost her “basket name” and started going by the name Harriet. But Harriet’s life got worst.

When a young boy and fellow slave she knew had been caught running way, Harriet refused to take part in tying him to the large cotton wood tree in the front yard for a whipping. The boy was later killed and for her concern, Harriet suffered a severe head injury from the wrong side of a wooden club.

Just a few years later, Harriet would marry. His name was John. But they were not in love. Fearing that she might gain her freedom, John, her own husband (a freed slave) threatened to inform her master of any plans to escape and as a way of keeping control of her.

Courageously Harriet left her husband and made her escape at the same time. In the end Arminta Ross became one of the most successful and certainly one of the most famous Stationmaster of the Underground Railroad. Now going by her chosen first name and married last name, Harriet Tubman, (Arminta Ross), led over seventy slaves to Freedom.

It is an amazing story and certainly one that bears repeating. And at this point in my life, I have to ask… is this what Jesus meant when he said he came to free the oppressed?

I think sometimes when we read our bibles it’s easy to bring things down to a level we can handle. “It’s too much for God to ask us to really free the oppressed”, we reason with ourselves. And so, we say, “he must have meant that figuratively”. But did God mean that figuratively? Truth be told, if this story came from Matthew than I might be inclined to agree with that. But Luke doesn’t think that way. When Matthew’s Jesus stands on the hill and says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, Luke’s just says “Blessed are the poor”. His memories of Jesus are packed to the brim with in the present actionable things.

Luke’s Jesus, not to put it to plainly… is very practical. When he says he brings freedom to the oppressed, I think he means me literally. When he says, “take care of widows and orphans” or “feed the poor and give clothes to the naked”, I think he actually means, go care for a child, share with a widow, consider adoption, make a meal for the hungry and give clothes from your closet to someone in need. When he says, bring sight to the blind. I think he means that too, study, become a doctor – Jesus said together we could do far more miraculous things than he did. Well yes, Jesus made the blond to see but perhaps more importantly he inspired countless physicians and scientists to work throughout the entire world to provide sight to those who cannot see.

Anne was born on April 14^th, 1866, in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. According to her baptismal certificate, her name at birth was Johanna Mansfield Sullivan however she was always called Anne or Annie. She was the oldest child of her parents Thomas and Alice Sullivan. When she was only five years old, she contracted a bacterial eye disease, which created painful infections and over time made it’s victim blind. When Annie was 8, her mother died, and her father subsequently deserted her and her little brother Jimmie. And so little Annie and Jim were sent to live at the Almshouse in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. Two months later Anne’s brother Jimmy died as well.

Annie was hard to control, and she became harder. She was such a troubled child that at times she had to be tied down. But there was another girl named Maggie who cared for Annie at the Almshouse. Maggie talked to her and fed her, even though Annie would throw her food on the floor, cursing and screaming with every ounce of her being. But Maggie would just say, “I am a Christian and it’s my Christian duty to care.” Maggie was determined to love this dirty, unkempt, spiteful, unloving little girl. It wasn’t easy, but slowly it got through to Annie that she was not the only who was suffering. Maggie also had been abandoned. That’s why they were both there together. They were the same.

Gradually Annie began to respond. And that’s when Maggie told Anne about a school for the blind and Annie began to beg to be sent there. Finally, consent was given, and Annie went to the Perkins Institute and School for the Blind. After a series of small operations Annie’s sight was partially restored. For the first time since she was 5 years old, she saw, light and dark, shadows and figures. Later she saw colors, shapes, faces and eventually almost anything anyone else could see as well. The doctors literally gave sight to the blind.

Annie was able to finish her schooling and graduate at the age of twenty. And yet, Anne remembered what it was like to have no one. But more than anything she remembered what Maggie had done for her, and she wanted to do the same thing for someone else. Having been blind so long she told the director of Perkins that she wanted to work with the blind too and particularly she said, she wanted to work with the most “difficult children”. After much contemplation and searching… Annie was hired. And that is when Anne was sent to meet a little seven-year-old girl in Alabama who had been blind and deaf from the age of two. So, Annie Sullivan went to Alabama and unlocked the door of Helen Keller’s dark prison and to set her free because that is what Maggie had done for her.

Jesus said that he came to set the captives free and to give sight to the blind. And we are told in his world that we are called to be imitators of Christ. In other words, we are told to set the captives free and give sight to the blind. And honestly, I think he really did mean those things literally. So now what? I don’t know about you but I can’t do what Harriet Tubman did. I can’t do what Maggie did for Annie or what Annie did for Helen Keller. I mean, we can’t all be heroes, can we?

In the late seventies, Firefighters in London, England went on strike. Thus, the British army was required to take over emergency firefighting for a time. As the story goes, one day, a squad of soldiers received a call from an elderly woman in London to come and rescue her cat, Bittsy. Poor Bittsy had gotten stuck in a tree. They arrived quickly and without much trouble saved Bittsy from her high perch. As they were getting ready to leave, the woman invited her heroes in for a victory spot of tea. Very British of her. After the tea break, and many fond farewells and waving of hands, the soldiers hopped on the fire truck and drove away. Thud! Only to find that they’d just run over sweet little Bittsy and killed her.

Okay so it’s a goofy story and it may or may not be fun, but, we can all relate. We all have those moments when we fail. Despite our best efforts, things come crashing down on us. We’re left holding the bag, or in this instance, the cat.

We all make mistakes and maybe in our attempts to make the world a better place we might just run over a cat or two. But that shouldn’t stop us from trying anyway.

When, in 1 Thessalonians, Paul tells us to be imitators of Christ, He uses the word “you.” As in, whoever is reading the text. It’s Me and You! And I think Jesus literally does mean that we are called to literally give sight to the blind, visit those in prison, set the captives free and on and on.

But the thing is, in Greek that word he uses (for you) … It’s plural. It’s not just the reader. It’s the reader and every other reader. It’s all of us. We are together called to do this work. We aren’t alone. We’re a team.

We are called to do all those things because we are many, because we all have tons of different talents, because we can gather together to do amazing things.

And no it’s not always easy, it will be scary, it will be difficult. When Jesus tried to do it they try to throw him off a cliff.

And yeah, perhaps I can’t heal blind eyes, but some of us can. And perhaps I can’t argue the cases of people unjustly persecuted or placed in prisons but some of us can. And perhaps I can’t do a whole lot, but together WE can!

At the very least, we can try. And we can start right here on 40^th Ave.

I bet everyone here in this room can bring good news to the poor in some way…

I bet everyone here knows someone oppressed by illness or sadness, or loneliness or suffering that they can call…

I bet everyone here can proclaim the year of the Lord

You know in the first chapters of Genesis how God calls everything good.

In Gen. 1:4 it says, God saw that the light was “good”

In 1:10 he divides the sea and land and then calls it “good”

In 1:12 he calls the fruits and vegetation “good”

In 1:14 he divined of light and dark by luminaries and calls it “good”

In 1:21 he creates everything that fly’s or swims and calls it “good”

In 1:25 God makes the beasts of the land and calls them “good”

And then, in verse 31, it says “And then when God saw all that he had made he called it טוֹב מְאֹד (towb m’od) “Very Good.”

And then in Chapter 2 God created the man and the man looks at all creation and see’s its goodness. And the bible says that the Adam saw the food was good and the trees were good and the gold was good and the onyx was good and the stones were good and then God (it says) looked at the man and said “It is NOT good”

In 2:18 God looks at the man that he has made and for the first time he is not pleased. Because the man is alone. And so God says, “It is NOT good for him to be alone.”

Human beings are finally called “good”, when we are brought together. He calls them “good” when he has made two of them.

We are good when we are a community.  We are good when we are together, because we are meant to have relationships, meant to have an effect on each other’s lives.

Hellen Keller wrote, “Alone we can do so little, but together we can do so much.” This week I challenge all of us to serve others fearlessly. “If we join together, just imagine what we can do”. Amen.

*Song: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (229)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

God of all things, source of all blessings; accept the gifts of our hands, the thankfulness of our hearts, the praise of our worship and the bounty of our lives. We pray that this offering will be used for the building up of your kingdom of justice, peace, love and reconciliation and that you bless us and our offerings to be a blessing. Amen.

Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession

God of blessing and loving-kindness; hear our prayers for those things your world and in our lives that cause us to rejoice and those things that cause us deep sorrow.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for the people in our lives who have shown us a reflection of your love and kindness; those who live with us now and those who now live in the peace of your eternal rest.  Keep our relationships with one another healthy and life giving.

Loving God, we praise you for you have been a refuge to the poor and to those in need; protect those whose comforts are few and wants are many.  Open our hearts and eyes so that we can see how we might extend comfort and actively pursue your justice.

Living God, you are new life for those turn towards you, a resting place for those who are tired, and joy to those who know you.

God of order and strength, bless those who lead this country and all the countries of the world; give judges and politicians hearts of service and the courage to do what is right.

God of creation, we praise you for the beauty of this world.  Awaken our sense of responsibility towards the earth and strengthen our resolve to protect and care for it.

God of all wisdom, hear us now as we pray for the needs and desires that are close to our hearts in the silence of this moment.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

Come, not because you are strong but because you are weak.

Come, not because of any goodness of your own but because you need mercy and help.

Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love him more.

Come, because he loves you and gave himself for you.

At Dayspring any baptized person from any Christian tradition is offered Holy Communion. This is a gift of God for the people of God and for all those who love and serve the Lord.

Song: Worship the Lord (555)

The Lord’s Prayer

The Communion Prayer

Gracious God, we praise your holy name, giving thanks to you with our lips and our lives.

For the power and mystery of your Word by which you created us and called us to yourself, we give you thanks.

For the power and mystery of your Word by which you took flesh and lived among us

through your Son, Jesus Christ, we give you thanks.

For the power and mystery of your Word by which you choose common people,

forming the church to be the body of Christ in the world, we give you thanks.

Faithful God, we offer you our praise and thanks as we return to you these holy gifts of bread and wine.

Remembering our Lord’s command to take and eat we ponder the mystery of his promise that in this meal we are joined to him and to one another as a holy people uniting heaven and earth.

We offer you our praise and thanks for Jesus Christ, who took flesh and lived among us, was baptized for our sins, taught us your way of truth, loved us in our lovelessness and died that we may have life.

And now O God, we celebrate with great joy the resurrection of our Lord, his presence with us in this feast, and his promise of a new creation.

God of grace and power, you invite us to share in mysteries that are beyond our understanding. In straightforward trust we seek the transforming power of your Spirit

on this assembly of your people,

on these words and actions,

on this bread and wine,

in order that, by the miracle of your grace, we may be united to Christ and to one another– one in body, one in spirit, one in faith. Amen

Sharing of Bread and Wine

The Lord Jesus, on the night before he died, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it and said, “This is my body, that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

The minister may pour wine into the cup, then lifts it, saying:

In the same way, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do it in remembrance of me.”

Every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Song: Eat this bread (527)

Prayer after Communion

Loving God, we thank you that you have fed us in this sacrament, united us with Christ, and given us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in your eternal realm.

Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work to your praise and glory, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Song: He’s got the whole world in His hands

Sending out with God’s blessing

The God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in every good gift so that you may do God’s will. May God work among us all that which is pleasing in God’s sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.     Amen.

Response: The blessing

Music postlude

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The Communion liturgy is based on the liturgies of the PCC’s 1991 Book of Common Worship. 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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
23^rd Sunday after Pentecost     Reformation Sunday
10:00 am October 27, 2024
Minister: Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalists: Peter and Cheryl Sheridan
Welcoming Elder: Renita MacCallum      Children’s time presenter: Vivian Houg

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: Praise the Lord, in every time and place.
P: We will tell of God’s goodness each day.
L: Boast only in the Lord.
P: We will praise God’s wonderful deeds.
L: Spread the news of God’s greatness.
P: We will give God glory everywhere we go. So, let us worship God together here and now, now and always!

Opening praise: Forever God is faithful

Prayers of adoration and confession

Great and holy and sovereign God, your glory is beyond imagination, your majesty infinite, and your power incomparable.

Your grace is strong enough to resurrect all that seems deadly; your love is wider than all the universe, your mercy greater than the heights of heaven, with our lips we sing your praises, with our work we give you our days and with our lives we offer you our worship and our adoration, Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three, yesterday, today and always.

We confess the evil we did and the good we let go undone, the right words not spoken, and the wrong ones too quickly said: the hatred and pain we have nursed and the callousness with which we have acted.

Forgive us, renew us, and make a fresh start in us; help us avoid the snares and pitfalls along the way.
Restore the joy and assurance of a right relationship with you and our brothers and sisters.

Free us from any guilt and make us free to do better today than we did yesterday and better tomorrow still.

Response: I waited, I waited on you, Lord

Assurance of God’s grace

Our God breaks the chains and sets the captives free. God’s grace is new every morning; unending is God’s kindness.  Know that you are forgiven, forgive each other and live at peace.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: Jesus loves me (373)

Children’s time

Story

If you were on a big ship in the middle of the ocean, and you fell overboard, what might the captain of that ship do when he saw that you had fallen into the sea? What would the captain do?

* Would he tell you to start swimming and point in the direction of land? (Let children consider this and answer.)

* Do you think the captain, seeing that you were drowning in the ocean, might say something to you like: “I’ll throw you the life ring but only if you can prove to me that you’re really worth saving. What have you done with your life so far? Have you created any useful inventions? Have you won the Nobel Peace Prize or any other important awards?” Would the captain ask that of you while you were drowning?

* Do you think that the captain would say, “If you can climb halfway up the side of the ship, then I’ll pull you the rest of the way up.” Would the captain make you try to work your way up the side of the ship when she can see that you’re almost drowning?

Of course not! He would rescue you, right? The captain, or one of the crew, would probably throw you a life preserver or something that you could hang onto to keep you afloat. (You could show your prop at this point or even act out a rescue with one of the children.) Once you had a good hold on that flotation device, they would pull you back onto the ship and thus save you from drowning.

There’s a verse in the bible in the book of Ephesians that says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God– not because of works, lest any man should boast.”

We are like that person drowning in the ocean and God rescues us, not because of anything that WE do, but simply because he loves us.

Today is Reformation Sunday. On this day, we remember how Martin Luther and other Christians of his time, long long ago, wanted to change the way the church taught people about God’s love. At that time, the church was telling people that they had to work their way into heaven. Some people even thought they could pay their way into heaven! Luther knew that this was not what the Bible said. He knew that all of us are sinners and we need to be saved by Jesus. So, Luther reformed, or changed the church for the better, by telling people what the Bible said. The printing press was invented around the same time, so lots of Bibles could be printed and people could read for themselves what the Bible said.

We are saved by grace, just because God loves us. It’s nothing that we can brag about. It is simply a wonderful gift.

Let’s bow our heads and thank God for this gift.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for sending Jesus to save us from our sins. Thank you for throwing us the life preserver and saving our eternal lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music            

Song: Open my eyes, that I may see (500)

Scripture reading: James 3:14-4:6            (Corrie Magdalene)

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: Cleanliness is next to what?

There are a lot of sayings that people commonly attribute to the Bible that aren’t actually in it.

Sometimes, like “spare the rod, spoil the child” they are sort of paraphrases of verses, but other times they just have nothing really to do with the scriptures.

Still, many will attribute them to the “good book” nonetheless.

We’ve all heard them before.

As it says in the Bible, “God helps those who help themselves.” Nope, not in there.

“Well When God closes a door he opens a window.” Nah. Not a verse.

“God helps those who help themselves” is from a Greek play called The Parisians and is nowhere found in the Bible.

Another one is “to thine own self-be true,” but this is actually from Shakespeare.

There are more of course.

“Love the sinner / Hate the sin” (a favorite recently) is not to be discovered in our sacred text. But it is from St. Augustine.

“The Lord moves in mysterious ways” is from a hymn which itself was based upon a poem by William Cowper but it’s not from the Bible.

“This too shall pass” is an Arabic proverb.

“God will never give you more than you can handle” is a mistake. It’s actually “you will not be tempted with more than you can handle” which is a very different thing.

In the same way, “Money is the root of all evil” is an omission. The verse actually reads, “The LOVE of [or the Obsession with] money is the root of all evil.”

But I think the one imaginary verse I hear the most is “cleanliness is next to Godliness” (which if you stop to think about it), doesn’t even sound like something you might find in the Bible.

Still, that odd little phrase does beg an interesting and a very important question… What (if anything) is close to Godliness?

In a sense, the answer is really… Nothing.

After all, what are earth could bring creature in the realm of the creator?

But… if you could ask James (the brother of Jesus and the author of our epistle reading from today) what he thinks is close to Godliness… I bet I know what he would say.

I bet James would say, “peacemaking is next to godliness.”

Or at the very least, “peacemaking is what brings us closer to God.”

This section of the book of James that we just heard from is about drawing closer to God. In it, James writes that “true wisdom is pure” and then he defines what he means by true wisdom and being close to Godliness. He says to be close to God, first, you need to “love peace.” And then he adds to that saying that after you “love peace” then you need to act on it… by being “gentle” with people. And next it gets a little harder because next James says, you need to “yield to others,” and then harder still, to be “full of mercy… for people you feel have wronged you,” and then by all this, you will “plant seeds of peace wherever you go.” That James said, is what true “righteousness” and “godliness” looks like. Godliness has nothing to do with being clean and everything to do with loving peace.

Being at peace with self and others is the key to being close to godliness.

Are you at peace or are you all mixed up inside?

Do you love peace? Are you gentle with people, “full of mercy for those who have harmed you?”

Mother Theresa once wrote, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” I like that.

I think we live in a very individualistic, anthropocentric and self-centred world.

And then we wonder why we’re lonely and bitter.

Well… it’s because we pit ourself against others, divide into Us/Them categories at the drop of a hat.

We live in contrast to the basic biblical understandings of community expressed throughout the Bible which holds to collective identity, focuses on collective joy and reminds the people that they live collectively in sin and later forgiveness.

But what if we got back into that kind of a mindset? What if we considered the possibility that “we belong to each other.”

Of course, that’s easier said than done.

From the time of Cain and Able, it’s been ingrained in us to do otherwise.

The United States declared its independence in 1776, making it 242 years old. But it’s been embroiled in some form of war for 215 of those 242 years.

The Kingdom of Great Britain is far worse. It dates officially from 1707, (so the time frame is fairly similar to that of the US). However, Britain fought far more wars than the US in this time period. It engaged in some form of military conflict in every year of Queen Victoria’s reign, fighting an incredible 230 wars in just this 64-year period alone.

Battles rage the world over.
Not to mention personal issues.
The wars we wage within us.
The wars about – the slow car in front of us or the ones we wage – with family members or with – our own minds.

Peace with self and certainly peace with others isn’t just something that happens on its own. It takes work. We have to do it. James writes that the first thing we need to do in order to know peace “is to be gentle.”

I Love this story: Jake Kessler writes –

“I once questioned a state trooper who was presented with an Outstanding Trooper Award about what the Governor said when presenting the award to him. He replied The Governor asked, ‘You haven’t once roughed up a drunk or used excessive force on anyone? How can you be a state trooper for 15 years; dealing with the kind of things you deal with and never have anyone write a single complaint about you? It’s unheard of.’

So I answered him. ‘Two things: I said, First, if I am called to break up a fight at a bar, I never say to myself ‘there’s a drunk’; I always pause for just a second say to myself, ‘there’s a man, someone’s husband, someone’s son, someone’s brother, someone’s neighbour, someone’s grandchild… who got drunk. I try to think of him as a man involved in a crime and not a criminal who is someone defined by crime’. ‘Secondly,’ I said, ‘The Bible says that “a soft answer turns away wrath.” And so whenever I walk up to the window of an automobile or speak to someone in any fashion, I always and very intentionally speak just a little bit softer than the person I’m speaking to. Being gentle with people creates a ripple effect where people respond in kind’.” (228)

You don’t find peace by being aggressive or impulsive. To find peace, we have to be peaceful. We have to be gentle, and not just when it suits us. But as the Bible says, “at all times.”

And you know what, that is not fun.

We have this 15-year-old kid living two doors down from us. And he twice now has sat in the alley cleaning a car with the doors all wide open while we sit waiting for him to let us go by and on both occasions, he looks at us until we back all the way out of the alley the other way, because he’s too rude or too lazy to close the door for the 10 seconds, it might take for us to pass. And there is no reason for this. He is obviously just trying to be a little jerk. AND you know what… I don’t want to be gentle.

The other night I looked up the kid’s address, and for more than a moment, I seriously contemplated going to the Mormons website to tell them that I was him and that I really, really wanted a team of missionaries to come to the house to speak with me about the time Joseph Smith met the moon angels.

(I was this close)

But I didn’t.

But I bet you can relate!

James adds, be gentle and “willing to yield to others.”

Castle Ward, a stately home, was built in the 1760’s in Northern Ireland. The original owners of the home standing today were Lord Bangor and Lady Anne Bligh.

One of the most striking features of this now famous house is its two very distinct styles of architecture. See the rear of the house is built in an obvious dark Gothic style, while the front is a neoclassical form; complete with large, white, Roman columns. This pattern continues throughout the inside. Down the center of the house one half is dark and gothic with gargoyles and the other side sort of resembles a clean white bank.

So why?

It’s built that way because Bernard Bangor and his wife Lady Ann could never agree on one style of home; so they built one half of the home her way and the other half in a completely different way. Not only did they differ on their architectural preferences; they apparently had other differences as well, because eventually, (as you might have guessed) Lady Ann walked out on the marriage leaving Lord Bangor with this strange home as a constant reminder of a real life “house divided amongst itself.”

Depending on your point of view, some see the house as a celebration of diversity and defiance, most, however, see it as a huge monument to two peoples stubbornness and an unwillingness to yield even at the cost of a marriage.

In contrast, we are called to something very different… to something radical… to something unnatural to us, something that gives more than it takes and hurts and has a cost. We are called to peace even if it means yielding to someone else when we would really rather not.

It’s a tall order to be sure. But it gets worse. James goes on to describe what being next to Godliness looks like by telling us that we not only must seek peace through gentleness and being willing to yield but we need to do so for the very people we don’t believe deserve it.

Real godliness is to be “full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds”; not showing favouritism to some but by granting mercy to all.

But here is the crazy thing. The thing about mercy… is that always you give to people that don’t deserve it. That’s the whole point. That’s what makes it mercy. They don’t deserve it.

That’s why it’s not easy. That’s why it is noble.

If your best friend steals a dime from you and has never done anything remotely wrong to you before, forgiving them means nothing.

Forgiving those that have actually done you real harm on the other hand – that does something grand. That is what takes pain in life away and brings real peace.

Now I don’t want you to get me wrong here, because I am not saying that we have to let everyone just walk all over us all the time. But what I am saying is that we need to be honest and upfront when we are hurt and willing to move on.

Garry Sinclair tells this amazing story. He writes, “When my mother-in-law was first married, she was in a serious car accident that threw her into the windshield of her car. It was in the days long before the mandatory seat belt, and it was a nasty crash. Still, long after the glass had been removed from her face and the scars had healed, she would still periodically find small pieces of glass rising to the surface of her skin.

Although the shards of glass didn’t hurt her while they lay beneath the surface of the skin, it became very painful as it moved towards the surface.

In a similar way, we all have tragedies, accidents and times when we “hit the windshield” in life. We have all loved people that hurt us. We go through the healing process and fight through the pain that accompanies it. We think all the pieces of glass are gone, only to have some new event, person, holiday, or something else simply bring another piece of glass to the surface and then we suffer all over again because we never really dealt with it.

Complete healing often takes longer than we think. And we need to be honest with the people that hurt us, or we’re really just burying it down just below the surface where it will certainly just rise again.

During World War II Zenaida Botswana of Ukraine was sitting by the window sewing. Suddenly she heard a whistling noise. Then she was struck by a blast of wind. When she came to, her sewing machine was gone, and there was a hole in the floor of her bedroom.

She told the authorities there was a bomb on the floor, but she couldn’t get any officials to check it out. So she simply moved her bed over the hole and lived with it for the next 43 years.

But one day a phone line was being laid in the area, and demolition experts were called in to probe for buried explosives. Batswana waned the men she had a bomb in her house.  “Where’s the bomb grandma,” asked the smiling army lieutenant. “No doubt it’s under your bed,” he said. “Yes, it is” Botswana responded, “it’s under the bed.”

And sure enough, the military found a 500-pound bomb under the bed. After evacuating over 2000 people from the surrounding buildings, the bomb squad detonated the bomb on site. Only then were people safe.

Sometimes I feel like I live with a bomb under the bed.

I think lots of people do.

They cover up some terrible little secret, anger, a great hurt, some righteous indignation, while everyone just goes on about their business; never told and not realizing it. But no one is truly safe. No one, not the person or the neighbours are safe until the bomb is uncovered and revealed for what it is.

When you are hurt, you have to make sure you are honest about it with the people you feel hurt you.

But what you can’t do is hold on to it.

I am very fond of the old saying I was reminded of from one of our Alpha videos. It says, “Bitterness is like drinking poison and then waiting for the other person to die.” (504)

You have to be honest, but you also have to let it go. And you have to forgive the very people that deserve it the least. That is what mercy is all about.

Victoria Ruvolo age 45 of Brooklyn, New York, was driving to her niece’s voice recital when she passed by a car driven by Ryan Cushing, age 19. Cushing was with 5 other teens at the time and had just used a stolen credit card to go on a spending spree in a stolen car. One of his purchases was a frozen turkey, which Cushing had decided to toss out the window into oncoming traffic. The 20-pound bird smashed through Ruvolo’s windshield, crushing her face on impact and sending her car flying sideways onto a restaurant patio that was luckily vacant at the time and into the brick wall.

Ruvolo survived. Though it took 10 hours of initial surgery to repair the damage to her face, and months of painful rehabilitation, on October 17th, 2005, Ruvolo was attending Cushing’s sentencing hearing and was asked to speak. In return, Victoria Ruvolo asked for leniency for Cushing whom she referred to quietly as a “lost boy.” Part of her statement reads “Despite all of the fear and pain, I have learned from this horrific experience that I have very much to be thankful for. Each day when I wake up, I thank God simply for being alive. I sincerely hope you have also learned from this awful experience Ryan. There is no room for vengeance in my life, and I do not believe a long, hard prison term would do you, me, or society any good in any way.”

Cushing who wept almost uncontrollably expressed his remorse, mumbling “I’m so sorry” through gasps of air and falling tears. For his actions, he was sentenced to six months in prison. He was expected to receive 25 years before Victoria Ruvolo intervened. (88)

James says that true peace comes from gentleness, from yielding, from showing mercy to all. And then he reminds us of this great truth: “Those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”

My prayer for you all this week is this,

May you find peace with God, peace within yourselves through forgiveness and mercy and peace with all those around you – for if anything is next to Godliness, it is a peacemaker.  Amen

Song: Sometimes a healing word is comfort (768: vss 1, 2, 3, 5)                                          

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

The offering is not for the lights to be on. It’s so that our children come to know Jesus. It’s so young people have a safe place to come to learn and share. It’s so we can introduce people to Jesus. It’s so we can reach out. That is why I (we) give to God. So let us worship our Lord and be a light to the world. Let us Worship our God by making an offering to Him and to his Church in order to do his work.

Prayers of thanksgiving and intercession

Song: We are one in the Spirit (471)

Sending out with God’s blessing

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” Amen.

Response: Go forth into the world

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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
22^nd Sunday after Pentecost  Students & Colleges Sunday
10:00 am October 20, 2024
Minister: Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalist: Vivian Houg
Welcoming Elder: Gina Kottke     Children’s time: Lynn Vaughan
Reader: Judy Smith

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: Bless the LORD, O my soul, for the Lord our God is very great.
P: God is clothed with honour and majesty, wrapped in brightness
like a garment.
L: God stretches out the heavens like a tent, riding on wings of the wind.
P: O Lord, in wisdom you have made each unique creature. With all of them, we come to praise you.
L: Let us praise God’s holy name together!

Opening praise: O come to the altar

Prayers of approach and confession
God of all time and of all creation,
you are eternal and unchanging,
you are the same yesterday today, and tomorrow
and yet you are new each day.

You are the source of all things:
you are radiant in splendor,
you are filled with honour and majesty,
you laid the foundations of the earth and set the limits.

Your love cannot be measured, and so we offer you our worship and our adoration.
You have called us to discipleship and to follow you, but we often stray from you and your path.

Hear us as we confess our sins to you and one another.
God of mercy, your loving kindness endures forever: we confess that too often our love has been fleeting, our devotion shallow, and our pride without limits.
We have nursed anger, nurtured suspicion, and failed to forgive and to accept forgiveness.
Hear us, O God, as in silence, we make our private confession to you.

Response: We come to ask your forgiveness

Assurance of God’s grace: God is kind, patient, and gentle with us when we stray. Know that your sins are forgiven, forgive those who have sinned against you, and work for peace in this world. Amen.

Musical Offering: How deep the Father’s love for us
(Sam and Ann May Malayang)

We listen for the voice of God

Response: Open our eyes, Lord (445)

Children’s Time

Story
Last weekend, we celebrated Thanksgiving and many of you might have enjoyed turkey during your special dinners. One of the best things about that is the “wishbone”. Do you know what that is? After you finish eating, two people each hold one side of the wishbone, close their eyes and make a wish. Then, you pull on the wishbone until it breaks apart. The one who gets the biggest piece is supposed to have his or her wish come true. What kind of things would you wish for?

Do you ever make a wish to be more like Jesus?

One of the most popular wishes, I think, at least when I was a kid, would be to wish about what your life might be like if you were a king or a queen. Let’s talk about that.

A king or queen is the head or leader of a country. We think of them as being rich, perhaps living in a grand palace. They have all the clothes they need and more. They may wear a crown and own many jewels. We think of them sitting at a long, beautiful table enjoying a feast. There are servants who wait on them and bring them what they need or what they want.

What kind of king or queen would you be? What would you ask for? What would you do? How would you treat people? Would you be a kind leader or a difficult one?

Here is what Jesus says about being a leader: “…whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.” (Mark 10:43) This sounds kind of upside down, doesn’t it? A king or queen needs to be a servant. Sounds a bit backwards, right?

Jesus teaches us that the very best leader is the one who cares about all people and wants to do what is best for them. Even though a king or queen may be very powerful, they are most powerful when they serve the people of their country and make sure those people have what they need to be happy and successful. That makes the kingdom better!

Jesus has been called the King of Kings – powerful above all, and he tells us, “The Son of Man (Jesus) came not to be served, but to serve.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus comes to each one of us as a servant, offering his gift of God’s love.

So, when we make a wish to become more like Jesus in our lives, we need to think about what HE considers most important as a leader and how he lived his life for others.

Prayer
Dear God,
Help us to mean it when we say, “I wish I could be more like Jesus.”
Please show us, each day how to become better leaders by being a greater servant to those around us.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music                                

Song: Brother, sister, let me serve you (635: vss 1,2,4,5

Scripture readings: Judy Smith   Job 38:1-7, 34-41 & Mark 10:35-45

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: “But to Serve”
Gregory Tolle has a great story about complaints; I’d like to read a little of it now.

In 1995, when my wife Jenny and I moved from Fort Worth, Texas, to a small town in rural southwest Oklahoma, we discovered the cable service had inadvertently been disconnected before we moved in, even though we had pre-arranged for it to be set up the previous owner we still had no cable. After moving in on Thursday, we called the first thing Friday morning to get the cable all set up (which, at the time, seemed a terrible nuisance). We were told, however, that the worker responsible for servicing our particular area only came to town on Thursdays. We had just missed him. We would have to wait a week to get our cable hooked up.

Coming from Fort Worth, we were used to outstanding service, and more than that, we were used to instant gratification. The competition was so fierce in the Dallas/FortWorth Metroplex (with 7 million people) that businesses went to ensure the customer’s happiness. At the time, the thought of another week seemed like a very long time to us. We decided to “make do” with an old 12-inch black and white television and its old TV antenna. Thinking back now, I’m unsure why that thing made it through the Keep it Or Toss it packing we had just done. But it did. We had to place that little thing in just the right spot in the house to get a fuzzy picture and one available ABC affiliate channel streaming in from 40 miles away. We decided we could tough it out and “rough it” for a while.

So then, Thursday rolled around, and Jenny waited at home patiently for the cable guy to come and flip the switch that would connect us to the outside world again. But he hadn’t arrived by 4:30, so I called the cable company. Bad news. They didn’t show a work order for the job. They also asked with whom we had spoken because whoever it was didn’t seem to know what they were talking about. The guy scheduled to come out to our little area of the sticks didn’t come in on Thursdays; he came on Wednesdays. Once again, we missed him by one day. We would have to wait another six days for the service person to arrive.

The next Wednesday, my wife waited again for the now very much anticipated visit by the cable guy. But then came a phone call from the cable company at 3 o’clock… the end of their workday in the office. More bad news. They were calling to tell us that they had forgotten the man responsible for service in our area, who worked on Wednesdays but was also on vacation. He will be back the following week to hook up our cable. 7… more… days!

Knowing it would be another seven days, Jenny called me at the office, and I stormed home as quickly as possible. I was very much displeased. I was tired of that fuzzy little television and miserable about one more week with it. I found the cable company number, and I called. The office was closed, and one more day was lost. So I called first thing in the morning (now very angry) and asked for the “person in charge.” I told that person exactly what I thought about their terrible customer service.

Truth be told, it didn’t do any good at all. Nothing could be changed.

Just under a week later, the cable guy showed up to hook the cable. However, when we discovered the quality or lack of quality the cable system gave us, it was clear that the cable matched the customer service very well.

Later, we learned the reason for this poor-quality cable. The cable company was pirating the signal from a satellite and charging us for a bad signal that they had been stealing all along. The whole thing was a scam.

Have you ever had a situation like that?

Gregory Tolle doesn’t have a monopoly on receiving lousy service. He’s certainly not the only dissatisfied customer in the world. I think we have all received bad service at one time or another. It may not have been the cable company. Maybe it was a restaurant, a grocery store, or an auto repair shop.

The bottom line is that we generally expect quick and decent service.

I believe that good service happens when management sets the tone.

Jesus was talking about that in our story this morning from Mark 10:35-45. In the scripture, James and John are concerned about a promotion (for lack of a better word). They asked to rule beside Jesus and His Kingdom, which they still mistakenly believe to be an earthly kingdom, thinking that Christ would sit up on some big silly throne somewhere in Jerusalem or Rome. To put it bluntly, they were looking for power, perks, priority, privilege, and position. They were trying to get their piece of the pie, calling for their just desserts. But they never would have asked who could take this seat if they only knew what the just desserts would be like. If they only knew what it meant to be on the right hand and the left hand of Jesus, the day he came into his kingdom. If they knew that on that day, the one at Jesus’ right and left hands were also hanging on crosses…  they wouldn’t have been so eager.

So, Jesus used this moment to discuss leadership. He told them that leadership in his kingdom requires suffering and service. He told them that to be great, they must first become servants. Jesus reminded them that discipleship is not a direct ticket to some eternal easy street.

Instead of ruling over people, authentic leadership means giving good service.

Our goal as Christians is not to gain a good seat of power in the kingdom but to provide good service to those in need so that the Kingdom is built here on earth.

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done – what? On Earth… as it is in Heaven.

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, we should ask not what our church can do for us but rather… what we can do for our church. Or, to put it more broadly, we should ask not what the kingdom can do for us but what we can do for the Kingdom of God in this world.

What a different world this would be if that were most often the case.

I love the way that NT Wright put this. He said, “We have seen in our century what happens when people dream wild dreams of world domination and use the normal methods of force and power to implement them. What we have not seen… is what might happen if those who worship the Lord and Servant-King were to take up his image seriously and follow in the servant’s footsteps.”

What a world it would be if we gave the world the service it needs. If, like the unknown author, we could say, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I will hope that I will not have a single bit of talent left within me, and I can say with all certainty, ‘I used everything you gave me, Lord.’

Bishop Bruce Blake offers a different analogy in his book Power, Partnership and Passion: The Marks of a Faithful Congregation. Blake says, “We should spur a bib-mentality in which we wait to be served, and instead, we should embrace an apron-mentality in which we do the serving.” There is a discernible pattern in moving from serving – to serving others. It’s called growing up. When we are young, we must be served. We demand it. However, as we mature, we tend to become servants somewhat naturally. Children, of course, don’t start out feeding and clothing themselves. Only in those short-tempered moments of anger with the person on the other end of the customer service line do we regrettably revert back to whinny babies with nothing but the thoughts “fed me” on our minds.

But genuine faith demands adulthood – faithful ministry and discipleship – demands servanthood.

This takes place in more ways than one in our lives. It has implications for everything from how we live to what we do with our money, to our politics, to what our church services look like, to how we act towards others the world might perceive as somehow “less than.”

When we serve, people see the God we serve within us.

So, do people see the God that I serve? Do they see that God when I call customer service, when I go to a restaurant, when I pick my car up from the shop, or when the grocery store line is long?

For me, the answer is, “I bet a lot less often than I would hope.”

Likewise, the world is crying out for good service. It is crying for good service from the disciples of Jesus Christ, who were told to provide just that.

The only questions left are: For whom… and how will you provide a good service today? Amen.

Song: Called as partners in Christ’s service (587)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves
Gracious God, we offer you these gifts, small tokens of our love for you. Bless them with the power of your Holy Spirit so they may accomplish more than we can even imagine, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Friend. Amen.

God of each and every life, you open our eyes on the world you love to show us your presence and purpose in all creation.

We thank you for the wonders of the seasons as they change, and for gifts of love and compassion you offer us through friend and stranger.

We pray for the earth as it struggles to support your many creatures.

Make us better stewards in creation, and kinder neighbours to both friend and stranger.

God, in your deep mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of justice, you open our eyes on the world to show us its struggles and conflicts.

We see the burdens many are carrying, and the way differences create division.

We pray for all those struggling with daily expenses these days and for those feeling stress over hard choices.

Show us how to support those in difficulty and mend relationships in our community.

God, in your deep mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of compassion, you open our eyes on the world to show us suffering and despair.

We see challenges for health care all around us, and share the impatience to improve access to needed treatments in so many communities.

We pray for those who are suffering in so many places in the world you love.

(Keep silence for 15 seconds)

Give strength and compassion to all who provide life-giving care, and courage and hope to all who wait for healing.

God, in your deep mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of wisdom,

You open our eyes on the world to show us its complexities.

We see countries locked in old animosities and communities overwhelmed by fresh upheaval.

We pray for the millions displaced in current conflicts and by natural disasters.

Open the eyes of leaders here and around the world to the suffering of the earth and those in their jurisdictions.

And open all our eyes to ways we can participate in solutions to situations which break your heart and ours.

God, in your deep mercy,
Hear our prayer.

(For Students and Colleges Sunday)

God of the generations, you open our hearts to receive your calling to serve in an ever-changing world.

We give you thanks for the students and teachers in our Theological Colleges as they study together and explore new ways of serving the church and the world you love.

This morning, we pray specifically for our own Rom, who will be beginning a candidacy process this very week.

Provide confidence in you, calm, wisdom and understanding. Bless Rom and the many others with deep faith and hope as you lead them to take up the callings you prepare for them in the name of Christ, our teacher and your servant. Amen.

Song: Help us accept each other (632)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Remember – God is your refuge, watching over you to guide you on your way.
So may the God who made you,
The Christ who mends you,
And the Spirit who brings you life
Bless and keep you now and always. Amen.

Response: Go forth into the world

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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
21^st Sunday after Pentecost  Thanksgiving/Harvest Sunday
10:00 am   October 13, 2024
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs                Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Lynn Vaughan        Welcoming Elder: Darlene Eerkes
Children’s time presenter: 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: God blesses us with gifts of love,
P: In relationships that bring joy and gratitude.
L: God blesses us with talents and opportunities to serve,
P: All we need for faithful living.
L: God protects us in times of danger,
P: And guards us from the time of trial.
L: So, we gather to offer thanksgiving to the Lord our God.
P: Praise be to God for all good things, now and always!

Opening praise: Bless the Lord, oh my soul

Prayers of Adoration and Confession

God of mercy and grace,
In this time we pray.
We are good people.
We try to do the right thing.
However, if we think deeply on our lives and connections, ee see that we fall short of being the best that we can be a lot of the time.
We seek to love others, but really just can’t seem to help it and we get caught up in our own problems and issues so much that we forget about others.
We seek to love ourselves as we should, but at times get too caught up in other’s problems and issues and we don’t take care of ourselves.

God, we get off balance. Because it’s a hard job you have given us.

Lord, help up to find balance. Help us to care for self and others. Help us to know how far to go and push us just a step further than we think we can go.

Also grant us forgiveness.

Grant us forgiveness for things that we have done that need forgiveness.

And grant us forgiveness for the things we didn’t do but must do next time we get a change.

But also, Lord, help us to find forgiveness for things that others have done or failed to do for us, and for which we have been left wounded or disappointed. Help us find forgiveness so that we can give it away to them.

May each of us be transformed so that the whole world might be transformed with us and through us as we live your love.

Response: Glory, glory Hallelujah

Assurance of God’s Pardon

God has opened our ears and our hearts to know God’s love and forgiveness. Go forth knowing You have been forgiven and You always will be. Be at peace and please now also pass the peace to your neighbours. Amen.

Musical offering: The Dayspring Singers

We listen for the voice of God

Response: Jesus we are gathered (514)

Children’s time

Back in 1860, there was a boat on Lake Michigan that ran into a freighter. It was a big giant boat carrying all kinds of stuff, boxes and things and it crashed into it, ripped a hole right through the middle. Both ships started to sink.

There were hundreds and hundreds of passengers. People were screaming. They were excited. They were scared. And then people were jumping into the water, and it was very cold.

Edward Spencer was a seminary student. He lived just across the water from the collision, and he saw the accident happen.

He was a strong swimmer. In fact, he was the top guy for the swim team that they had. So, as a very strong swimmer Spencer swam out and then back in again for six and a half hours – every time pulling people ashore- battling the strong waves. He took fifteen trips out collecting people and bringing them back.

Spencer swam out again and again, then came back to shore and collapsed, when somebody screamed, “There’s a couple out there.” So he got up again. jumped into the water, swam almost a quarter mile out, and grabbed a husband and wife off a piece of the boat that they were holding onto, pulled them into shore and collapsed again.

Now, 480 people went into the water that day. 50 people were saved or rescued overall, and Spencer pulled 17 of them into shore.

Later, Spencer developed a serious health problem. It became chronic and he couldn’t return to school. Instead, he went into nursing care.

About 20 years after the event, a newspaper reporter went to talk to Spencer about what had happened.

Spencer’s comment was this. He said, “What I remember most is that, of the 17 people I rescued, not one said thanks.”

It’s a pretty powerful thing to not hear thanks.

I would say, though, that it’s equally powerful to hear thanks.

When somebody does something for you, even if it’s little, to say thank you is a big, big thing.

And it changes people.

I wonder if Spencer would be a gung-ho to go out and rescue people again, knowing that It wasn’t appreciated so much, or at least he didn’t hear of it.

I’m going to encourage you this week to be as thankful as you can for everything that you can.

And Thanksgiving is a good time for that. We’re going to say a little prayer, and then I’m going to ask you guys to collect some things. Anything that you have we’re going to give to the food bank saying thanks for all that we have. We can bring it up front and put it here.

Prayer

My Lord, I thank you for all that you have done for me and for these, the little ones that you call your children.

We pray that we would be a people of thanks to take nothing for granted

And to let no one go unanswered with their greatness. We need to say thank you, Lord.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Congregation gifts/offerings

Song: Now thank we all our God (457)

Scripture readings: Godfrey Esoh
Joel 2:21-27; Matthew 6:25-33; Luke 11:1-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet            

Message: A Re-Run – Stop giving me snakes!

We have been through a lot when it comes to our house in Regina. It was brand new along with every appliance in it when we moved in. I remember the first night we stayed there. It felt so odd, like I was living in a beautiful new hotel or something. It took a few weeks actually to get used to it.

When we moved out it was a pretty sad thing (for me at least) but things quickly went from bad to worse. Trouble with the original real estate agent, a rental that went bad, raised taxes and a market crash… and things went from worse to heart-breaking. Two years later, and we had lost the entire down payment, everything we put into building the basement out, some of the money it cost in repairs after the renters punched holes in the walls and ripped the center island out of the floor, every penny we’ve paid on the mortgage – gone too.

Additionally, I was no help at all. I could barely talk about it, so my poor wife had to be the one doing everything on her own. I was in a bit of a mental breakdown.

By the time the sale went through, we were still paying thousands of dollars every couple of months because we owed the bank for than the home sold for. All that money and hard work just for someone else to live in the place that made me feel like I was finally an adult rather than merely pretending to be one.

I know… it’s just a house… but it’s a devastating thing for me. And I have never in my life felt more like a failure as a spouse and more like a failure as a father. To go back to not just nothing but less than nothing sure hurt.

Driving to work and back I generally pray. This is especially true on the motorcycle. And I can remember one morning heading into the church. This particular morning, I’d had that verse on my mind where Jesus asks the disciples, “What kind of a father, when asked for bread, would give his child a snake instead?”. Is a story we probably don’t hear too often in worship services but it sticks out for me.

And I don’t know what happened, but that parable really started to hit home with me. And I don’t know when it happened exactly, but one day I got this really-honest David-like Psalm-writer-like spirit in me. You know – Passion. Anger. Honesty.

It was the kind of backbone it took for David to cry out to God saying, “My God. How long will you make me suffer? My heart is like wax melted within my chest”.

And I just started praying over and over again. “God, please. God just please. Stop giving me snakes. I am Your child. I’m not even asking for bread. I’m just asking, please, stop giving me snakes.

After a while this became my only prayer on my drive there and back. An hour a day just begging God for something better. An hour a day – Stop giving me snakes. Don’t you love me???

I remember the day extremely well. I went to pick up a woman named Marion from her home. Marion is one of those kind-hearted people who visit anyone and everyone. On the way to her place I remember praying, God please stop giving me snakes. I was self-absorbed a bit.

And folks, here’s the thing… I know God doesn’t give you snakes. God is the one who helps when the world gives you snakes. But it doesn’t always feel like that does it? Sometimes, maybe right now, the world just dumps them on you.

On this particular day, Marion and I were going over to a certain young woman’s home. The young woman had terminal cancer. She had just celebrated being called cancer-free when the mass returned with a vengeance and entered into practically every part of the torso. There would be no miracles this time. Her husband and little 7-year-old girl were going to have to go all the way with her this time.

Marion and I would go once a week for an hour or so to visit the family along with a few close friends. We would sing a praise song together in the living room and talk and pray with her and several others.

This particular day, I’d taken the guitar to play a song for her that Marion and I had practiced. And when I got up off the floor, I made a seemingly innocent comment. I stood up, and my back hurt, and my leg had fallen asleep, and I just said, “Oh, I’m getting so old.”

And that is when this young lady said the words that I will never forget. She said “How old are you” [with a smile]?

Now I don’t know about you, but I can never remember my age and so it took a minute. Finally, I said, 40 or whatever I thought was probably right.

And then out of nowhere she started to bawl. Really bawl. It was an explosive moment. And the tension and sadness in the room hit everyone like the walls had just come collapsing down. And through her tears she cried, “I’m 35. And I’ll only ever be 35.” Her parents, daughter and husband sat in the front row about a month later. She missed her 36^th birthday by a couple of months.

Paul writes, ^“16 Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I love this verse.

Rejoice (always)

One translation renders this “rejoice in the Lord at all times.” But it can just as easily be rendered “Rejoice in all kinds of times” or “all kinds of circumstances”. That’s a pretty big statement. “Rejoice always”; “in all kinds of circumstances?”. Truth be told it’s not that hard to rejoice when things are good but… rejoice when your car is stolen? “Rejoice” when you’re in the hospital? Rejoice when your parent is sick? That’s not quite as easy a pill to swallow, is it?

But then again it wasn’t easy for the church in Thessalonica either. This isn’t just some haphazard statement made off the cuff. When this was first read in the church around the year 51AD it was read by people who were being murdered… just for attending church services. But see, for Paul, rejoicing isn’t just about being happy. It’s about choosing to praise God even when you’re unhappy. For Paul, Christian life is to be lived in an atmosphere of continuous joy, prayer and thanksgiving. And the early church took this seriously just as we should.

In Acts 5:41 there is a great example of this. After being arrested for being Christians the Jerusalem apostles were flogged with a whip that had 9 tails. Bloodied and abused they were released and as they left the council chambers, we’re told they went “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ.” Now I don’t know about you but that wouldn’t be my first reaction.

In his book Forged by Fire Bob Record writes of something perhaps a bit more applicable to our times. He writes, “I had a severe cervical spinal injury. The pain was so excruciating that the hospital staff couldn’t do an MRI until I was quite deeply sedated. The MRI showed significant damage at three major points. Because of the swelling, the only way I could relieve the pain was to use a strong, prescribed narcotic and to lie on flattened-out bags of ice. Sleep (what little there was) came only by sitting in a reclining chair.

Approximately 48 hours from the onset of the injury, doctors estimated I had already lost about 80% of the strength in my left arm and three fingers on my left hand totally lost feeling. The slightest movements would send pain waves hurling down my left side and shoulder. I had to step away completely from my work and wear a neck brace 24 hours a day for 6 weeks. About halfway through the experience I was sitting on the screed-in porch behind our home. The day was cold and damp, but I needed a change of scenery. Suddenly a bird landed on the railing and began to sing.

On that cold, rainy day I couldn’t believe any creature had a reason to sing. “I wanted to shoot it” he writes. But he continued to sing his little song. And I had no choice but to listen. The next day I was on the porch again, but this time it was bright and warm. I was tempted to feel sorry for myself when suddenly the bird (at least it looked like the same bird to me) came down from the fence and started singing again. “Where’s my shotgun”, I thought! But then it hit me. The bird sang in the cold rain just as it did on the warm sunny day. His song was the same, not altered at all. I felt like God just quietly said to me ‘You can let your condition determine your attitude or you can let your attitude determine your condition. So, you choose’.” (1001 Illustrations, Number 200)

Rejoice Always. Pray Continually. Pray (continually)

Paul, like any good, converted Pharisee, pictures the Christian life as a journey. He knows full well that life itself is like a conversation with God and that we have prayer Not because God is some cosmic Genie ready to grant all our wishes if we pray hard enough, but because it’s hard to claim you love someone if you never talk and never listen to them. You have to talk to God like you do a spouse or a best friend. And you have to listen too.

There’s this rather ridiculous story. “An atheist was walking through the woods. ‘What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!’” He said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. With the bawl of his foot crumpling the leaves, he turned to see the origin of the sound. That’s when he saw it… he saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder once more and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He ran harder.

He looked over his shoulder again, and this time the bear was even closer. But one should never look back when running from a bear. With his eyes turned the wrong way the man tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up just in time to see that the bear was right on top of him, raising his right paw to strike. At that instant the Atheist cried out, “My God!”

Time Stopped. The bear froze. The water stopped flowing. The forest was still. It was as if the whole world was a movie and somewhere, someone… hit the pause button.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. “You deny my existence for all these years. Do you expect me to help you now? Am I to count you now as a believer”?

The Atheist looked directly into the light, “It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps You could make the BEAR a Christian”?

[I told you it was ridiculous.]

“Very Well,” said the Voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest slowly resumed. And at the moment, the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head and spoke: “Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive.” (1001 Illustrations, number 477)

As God’s children, we are called to a life of prayer… not just prayer when we get caught in the thick of things… not just prayer when we’re in trouble – but called to pray continuously.

That means when things are bad we say “God help me” but when things are good we say “God thank you”. And all the time we say, “I know you’re with me. And I know you love me”.

In a collection of rabbinic wisdom there is this great teaching moment about prayer.

Leaning back in his chair the Rabbi looks at his many students. “Experiences of God cannot be planned or achieved. They are spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental,” the Rabbi said. (X2)

His (talmudim) student bothered by the words of a rabbi whom had demanded so much time in prayer from them understandably asked, “Rabbi, if experiences of God are just accidental, why do we spend so much time in prayer?”

“Ah” said the Rabbi “Ah”… “to be as accident-prone as possible”.

We experience God in prayer. And we experience God more and more the more and more we pray. Rejoice Always. Pray Continuously.

Give Thanks (… in all circumstances)

Thanksgiving is closely associated with prayer. In Philippians 4:6 Paul (the same author) writes, “in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” As it says in Col. 2:7 the children of God are expected to “abound in thanks”. Giving thanks and praise to God is basic to who we are.

… “I’m 35. And I’ll only ever be 35.” Those words hit me with such an amazing force.

“Snakes?” I thought.

“What snakes exactly has God really given me?”

I’m still sleeping indoors.

And… I’m not worried about making my next birthday.

What a whining baby I was.

I live in one of the greatest places in the world to live. I have access to some of the finest medical care in the world. I have a family to love and that loves me. I am surrounded by people that care about me. I am generally healthy. And yet, with all that, I had been so focused on this house that I was about to lose that it consumed one of the most important parts of my every day (prayer time).

What foolishness, I realized, had befallen me that I should ever say “Woe is me”?

And all of a sudden, my worries meant nothing.

Back at the house with Marion and the young woman, pale and worn. Tears gave way to embrace. Hugs filled the room. And we sat down again to end our time with a short prayer.

And that’s when this young woman, (with probably less than two weeks left to live) started praying prayers of thanksgiving for us. She thanked God for the husband she’d been given and the daughter she’d had 7 years with. She thanked God for her close friends and the time they shared and for Marion and I for being a part of those last few months. She thanked God for the joke she heard the day before and the family she got to have stay with her for support, and for the love she felt from Jesus, and for the hope of seeing all of us together again someday.

I have no idea what is happening in your life. Maybe you also just have two weeks to live. Maybe you’re gonna lose a house. Maybe there is something seriously wrong in life and health. The truth is, this world is full of snakes. But our Father isn’t the one handing them out. He’s the one helping us deal with them. And with a little perspective, Paul’s words make perfect sense. We should be thankful in all things.

May you always find time for Joy, for Prayer, and for giving thanks for all you have. “Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Amen.

Song: For the fruits of all creation (802)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves

God of inspiration and imagination, you are the artist of our lives.

You have filled your world with gifts, expressed through the creativity and dedication of so many.

We give you thanks for a new season of opportunity to gather in worship and witness, learning from you and from each other.

Artist of our lives.

Awaken our gifts to serve you. …

Today we give you thanks for the artists among us, offering their inspiring gifts.

Thank you for painters and poets, for lines on a canvas and lines on a page, which inspire us and leave us wondering.

Thank you for sculptors and storytellers who fashion faces in stone and scenes in words to outline the profile of your truth for us.

And thank you for the art on our fridge doors.

Artist of our lives,

Awaken our gifts to serve you.

God of grace and goodness,

We know your creativity in the arts of fabric and foodstuff, in hands that work with wood and keep machinery humming.

We give you thanks for those who stitch patterns with thread, and those who set patterns on our plates, mixing colours and flavours.

Thank you for those who build and repair, refinish and restore the things we need and the things we cherish.

Artist of our lives,

Awaken our gifts to serve you.

God of music and movement,

We know your beauty in the gifts of keyboard and composer, in the blending of voices and the bending of dancers.

We thank you for these sounds and sights that can touch our hearts once more and open our souls to praise you.

We pray for artists of every kind, that their work will find appreciation and support throughout our community.

Artist of our lives,

Awaken our gifts to serve you.

God of hope and healing, we thank you, too, for the healing arts,  for the care and relief offered by professionals in our health care system and for support given by friends and volunteers.

We pray for all who seek healing – for body, mind or spirit.

Give each one your presence and peace through our prayer and friendship.

Awaken us to all to our creative potential to serve you in serving each other.

Song: For the beauty of the earth (434)

Sending out with God’s blessing

As we leave the church today, we go with the assurance that God is with us in every possible situation. May our hearts and minds be open to his presence. And my God’s grace, the love of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen

Response: Amen, we praise you 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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
20^th Sunday after Pentecost     World Communion Sunday
10:00 am Oct 06, 2024
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalists: Cheryl and Peter Sheridan     Welcoming Elder: Jane de Caen

Music Prelude

We gather to worship God.

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: The banqueting table is prepared: God calls us to feast together.
P: We have come from east and west, from north and south, to sit together at the Lord’s table.
L: Compassion, love, and grace pour out like fine wine.
P: God’s Word is bread for our journey.
L: Let us join Christians around the world to share in God’s gifts.
P: Let us taste and see that the Lord is good!

Opening praise: Forever God is faithful

Prayers of adoration and confession

Gracious and Generous God, you spread a banquet table and make room for all to come: friend and foe, healed and sick, hopeful and hopeless.

You feed our desires with goodness and fill our longing with steadfast love.

We worship you with grateful praise, together with all your people, here and everywhere, who break bread at your table and who share the cup.

We celebrate our life together in Christ and offer our love and loyalty to you, O God,

Source of all goodness, through Jesus Christ, who shares our flesh, and your Holy Spirit who prays within us.

God of mercy and mystery, When you invite us to your table, you ask us to come with clean hands and open hearts.

You ask us to come in peace, seeking reconciliation with you and with each other.

In this silence, we hand over to you the broken relationships, disagreements and disappointments that keep us from living in your peace.

Free us from the burdens we carry which we share in this silence. so that we may be a source of peace in this troubled world:

Hold silence for 20 seconds.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon

Hear and believe this good news! Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life has gone, and a new life has begun. Know that you are forgiven. Have the courage to forgive one another, and be at peace—with God, with your neighbor, and with yourself.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: Amazing Grace, my chains are gone

Scripture readings:

Genesis 2:18-24; Mark 10:2-16; Matthew 5:17-37; and Matthew 19:1-10

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: The great divorce debate

Unique to Matthew, this large section from Chapter 5-7:29 is probably a composite collection of linked teachings rather than a record of one single discourse. Luke has much of the same material but a lot of it is spread out in Luke (who intended to keep an “orderly” and more chronological accounting of Jesus’ time. Mark’s version is typically shorter. In this section, Jesus speaks in ideals. In fact, many have found the standards set up in this section (in particular) to be utterly unrealistic, but there is no indication here that Jesus is speaking hypothetically. In short, Jesus is speaking about a target or an ideal standard for human behaviour that we are meant to shoot for.

Like with many of his saying Jesus here too, appears to criticize the leaders of his time as being too harsh, while at the same time, asking his followers to do even better than the leaders did. It’s odd but it’s very typical of him. Basically he calls for such a conservative view that it shows the weakness of both liberals and conservatives and exposes everyone’s imperfections.

For example: “You’ve heard ‘don’t commit adultery.’ But I tell you that if you have ever lusted after someone, then you have committed adultery in your heart.”

In other words, he does what he always does, he takes the rules and then he bends them back against themselves so that nobody is left to judge but God. He doesn’t alleviate responsibility. He just exposes the true heart of the matter. As Dan Kimble says, “He turns the whole world upside down.”

And this can be confusing at times. For example, whereas Moses allowed for a divorce, Jesus says (though he provides room for exceptions) that he doesn’t… and even goes so far as to say that a man who divorces his wife makes himself an adulater. It’s a harsh statement (especially for a first-century Jew deathly afraid to break one of the Ten Commandments).

But at the same time, if you understand that when Jesus said this, a woman had no power to divorce her husband… that only a man could divorce his wife. If you understand that at this time, serious debates raged under the rabbi’s about how many times a wife had to burn the food before you could divorce her… the common answer being three times, by the way. If you were divorced, a woman would lose her status and no longer be considered a part of the “chosen people.” If you understand that she would likely only find work as a prostitute and couldn’t own land in Judea and thus couldn’t earn a living and may well starve to death… If you understand the context… then you see that Jesus’ command not allowing for divorce (which at first seems very harsh) was actually meant to protect women from abuse. Then things change a bit.

Sadly, today, this very same verse is used by people who don’t understand its context to keep women in abusive relationships (the very opposite intent from which it was originally given). Sometimes, the plain and simple – isn’t so plain and simple.

Other times… it sort of – is simple. Case in point: Jesus moves quickly from divorce into oath-taking. Matthew writes 33, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”

Donald Hagner is one of the world’s top scholars on the book of Matthew. He’s the author of the magnificent two-part volume in the Word Biblical Commentaries series. In his engagement with this section of oaths, he writes, “[Jesus] lifts the entire matter to a new level by denying the necessity of oaths altogether. The ethics to which Jesus calls his disciples are those of the kingdom and its perfection. Here, a person’s word can be relied upon without qualification and without the need for a further guarantee that an oath might afford.

Oaths are thereby rendered superfluous. With the dawn of the new era comes a wholly new standard of righteousness, one in which a yes is really a yes and a no is a no. It is a mistake, however, to take a biblicist approach to this passage that would disallow Christians from taking an oath, say, in a court of justice. [That is not the issue.] The issue is nothing less than and nothing more than truthfulness.^[1]

The point is clear: In Jesus’ mind, we are called to be a totally honest people. As my Grandpa Wes would say, “Kid, if a man hasn’t got his word, what has he got?”  And that’s pretty much what Jesus is talking about here.

He’s talking about integrity.

Here’s a little story for you.

A little boy had to write a report for school, so he went to his mother and asked, “Mom, where did I come from?”
Surprised at hearing such a question from her child, his mother discreetly answered, “Um, the stork brought you.”
“And where did YOU come from?” the boy continued.
“Well, the stork brought me, just like he brought you. Now go to your room. No more questions, please.”
But the boy stood strong with his pad and paper in hand, quickly scribbling down, as best he could, his mother’s responses. “Wait! What about Grandma? Where did Grandma come from?”

“Look,” said Mom, “the stork brought Grandma, the stork brought me, and the stork brought you! Now go to your room. I do not want to talk about this anymore!”
So the little boy went to his room, set his notes to one side and began writing his report. “Our family hasn’t had a normal birth in at least three generations.” he began. (1001 ill, 46)

As a parent, I suppose I understand the “little white lie”. But I have to admit, I don’t like it, and I try hard – VERY HARD, not to give my kids a reason to doubt anything I say. With some things, I may not do well. I am far from perfect. But I want to be trustworthy (especially to them). Even if what I have to say is hard or awkward. I want them to believe that they can accept me for my word… see me as someone with integrity (even if they disagree with my views).

In their book A Chorus of Witnesses, Thomas Long and Cornelius Plantinga wrote, “Some people ask, ‘Who am I’ and expect the answer to come from their accomplishments. Other people ask, ‘Who am I’ and expect the answer to come from what other people think about them. A person who dares to make and keep promises discovers who she is by the promises she has kept to other people.” (1001 Ill, 499) That’s the ideal we’re meant to strive for.

But… as if integrity isn’t enough reason on its own to “let your yes mean yes and your no mean no,” you can always just add to that the fact that if you don’t “say what you mean and mean what you say” you’re likely to get caught anyway. After all, as every little kid eventually learns, it’s easier to keep the truth straight.

As the story goes, well before the internet and cell phones came along, there were two sophomores at Duke University who were taking Organic Chemistry and who did well enough on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs that they had solid ‘A’s going into the final exam. These two friends were so confident going into the final that they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends on the weekend before finals, even though the Chem final was on Monday.

However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and they didn’t make it back to Duke until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, they went to Professor Aldric after the final and explained to him why they missed the final… Sort of…

They told him that they went up to the University of Virginia for the weekend, and they had planned to come back in time to study, but they had a flat tire on the way back and didn’t have a spare and couldn’t get help for a long time and so were late getting back to campus.

Aldric (a very well-respected Presbyterian professor) thought this matter over and then agreed that they could make up the final on the following day. The two boys were elated and relieved.

They studied that night and went in the next day at the time that Aldric had told them. He placed them in separate rooms, handed each of them a test booklet, and told them to begin. They looked at the first problem. It said (5 points) and was a question about free radical formation, but it was fairly simple. “Cool,” they thought, “this is going to be easy.” They solved that problem in their own time, and then each one turned the page. Yet, they were unprepared for what they saw next.

At the top of the next page, it simply said, “(95 points) Which tire?” (1001 Ill, 63)

In the past few years, I have not been able to escape the reality that something has been lost. When I was a kid, a “handshake” really did mean something. When my dad said, “Tomorrow we are going to… (whatever)”, he really meant it. The old “a man is only as good as his word” was something people believed in.

Maybe it’s more nostalgic than reality – but my perception is that when I was younger… for the most part, when a woman spoke, she truly honestly believed in what she said. Integrity meant something.

Today (especially if you are a news junkie like me)… If you watch more than 5 minutes of TV, you will quickly start to believe that the age of honesty is dead.

The words of Mark Twain ring true, “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”

It’s hard, it’s very hard today… hard to believe that simple honesty has a place in our world. And I think it’s getting harder to find good examples to follow.

But there are some.

Officials in Philadelphia were astonished to receive a letter and payment from a motorist who had been given a speeding ticket. John Gedge, an English tourist, had been visiting the City of Brotherly Love when he was cited for speeding. The penalty was only $15, but Gedge forgot about the ticket until he discovered it in an old coat. As soon as John Gedge found it, he felt terrible. “I thought, I’ve got to pay it,” said the 84-year-old nursing home resident from East Sussex. “Englishmen pay their debts,” he said. Of course, he wrote the check for considerably more than $15 since he got the ticket in 1954, almost fifty-two years before he found it.

That’s integrity. That’s an ideal to shoot for.

That’s what it means to let your yes be yes and your no be no.

So, will I leave this pulpit and never tell a lie again in my life?

I’d like to say yes, But I don’t want to lie to you.

So let me just say. I’ve got something to shoot for.

How about you?  Amen.

Song: Jesus calls us here to meet him (528)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Around this table we celebrate God’s generosity to us in Christ and in creation. We present our offerings in gratitude for all God has given.

God, you are the giver of every good and perfect gift. Our gifts may not be perfect but bless them with your Holy Spirit to spread your goodness in the world, for the sake of Christ, our living Lord.

Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves

Let’s just take a moment in a time of gratitude for our offering and to pray for our world.

Around this table. We celebrate God’s generosity to us in Christ our Lord, your Son, and we present our offerings and gratitude for all that you have given. The offerings received, we asked that they be blessed and that hands of the givers be blessed.

God, you are the Giver of every good and perfect gift. May we continue your blessings, and may we continue to bless others through you.

And now, our Lord, we pray for the other churches in our community:

For the other Christian people who are struggling.

For the neighbors, for the folks who are seeking.

For those who are spiritual, but not religious, but looking.

For those who are thoughtful.

For those with questions.

Lord, we pray that you would be with those who suffer most.

With those who have lost a loved one.

Where those who in this moment are grieving.

Lord. We know that there is a great cloud of witnesses by whom we are surrounded: by the faithful, loved, and lost.

We thank you that they are here with us, celebrating in this holy day. And we imagine this room completely filled to the brim with those we know are here In the great cloud of us.

Bless us, Lord, as you always have, and help us to bless this world.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

This is the joyful feast of the people of God!

They will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God.

This is the table not of one denomination, but of our one Lord Jesus Christ.

It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time.

Our Saviour invites all those who trust him to share the feast which he has prepared.

Song: All who hunger, gather gladly (534)

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you;

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts;

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God;

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

Holy God, Holy One, Holy Three,

You are source of all that exists.

You are beyond the galaxies, deeper than the oceans;

You pour down rain and bring forth the fruit of the earth.

You carry us through deep waters and hold us in the darkest night.

So with all your creatures, great and small, with angels and archangels, with saints and servants in every generation we join in the rejoicing of your creation:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

Holy is your Son Jesus, O God,

Walking this earth, feeding the hungry, calling the lost, noticing the forgotten, healing those who reached out, teaching those who sought wisdom, he revealed your kingdom in our midst.

Today we thank you for all Jesus shared with usto show us that you are always with us in times of plenty and times of pain.

And so we celebrate the mystery of our faith in him:

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.       

Holy God, when the sounds of our rejoicing fall silent, we remember those who cannot rejoice today, who face times of pain or fear or upheaval.

We think especially of those whose countries have been overwhelmed by earthquake, flood and storm, by conflict, drought or famine.

(Keep silence for 5-10 seconds.)

Draw near to them in the power of the Spirit to strengthen and sustain them through Christ’s compassion and ours.

Holy Spirit, come now and settle on us and on these gifts of bread and wine.

May they become for us Christ’s body and life blood, healing, forgiving and making us whole.

So may we become Christ’s body, the Church, loving and caring throughout the whole world until that day when all creation feasts with you. Amen

The Story of the Last Supper

The Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks for it, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

As the bread is broken and cup lifted:

This is the body of Christ broken for you.

This cup is the blood of Christ shed for you.

The elements are shared

Song:  One bread, one body  (refrain) (540)

Prayer after Communion

Loving God, Christ our Lord, Holy Spirit, you have nourished us, body and soul, in this meal.

We have heard your love, so send us out to speak it.

We have seen your love, so send us out to show it.

We have been fed by your love, so send us out to share it.

And let all things be done for your glory. Amen.

Song: In Christ there is no east or west (480}

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go from here to serve God, your strength renewed and your faith reassured, for you are part of Christ’s body embracing the world in his name.

And may that God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Response: The blessing

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

The Communion liturgy is based on the liturgies of the PCC’s 1991 Book of Common Worship. 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 (© 2024) 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.

^[1] Hagner, D. A. (1998). Matthew 1–13 (Vol. 33A, pp. 128–129). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am       2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalists: Ann May & Sam Malayang
Elder: Lynn Vaughan     Reader: Wesly Childs     Children’s Time: Darlene Eerkes

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

Call to Worship
L: We are called together
P: To worship God as the people of God.
L: God calls us by name and knows what rests in our minds and our hearts, and calls us:
P: To worship God as the people of God.
L: We come yearning to be transformed and redirected to paths of justice and in ways of love so that, in truth, we can turn to God:
P: To worship God as the people of God.
L: God invites us to worship as beloved and loving people and together:
P: To worship God as the people of God.

Opening praise: Great are You, Lord

Prayers of approach and confession

Lord, you are faithful, and our message of salvation in you will be equally unchanging.

Father, this morning, we come before You as people devoted to You, Your Word and Your World. But God, we also come as people who slip into old ways, get lost in our little worlds, and even do terrible things with the best intentions.

God, we give too much power to the whims of our hearts. We think way too selfishly and way too much about ourselves. We turn prayer and fellowship into gossip and divisiveness. Rather than concern ourselves with our neighbours, we put all our energy into ourselves. We have untrue things on our lips and anger in our hearts. We stray from your path and seek out ways to glorify our own.

We have ignored people in need, alienated others, been divisive and selective in our love, and made barriers between us where none existed.

As such, we have pretended to love our neighbour and have thought we loved you, but we have done wrong.

Please help us to help those most in need, to think of and put others before ourselves, to see where we have fallen short, to admit when we are wrong, and to align ourselves with your will rather than try to bend you to ours.

Father, lead us to genuine and honest repentance and forgive us for everything wrong. In the mighty name of Christ, we pray, Amen.

Response: We come to ask Your forgiveness, O God

Assurance of God’s Grace

The good news is that the pain we feel and share because of our sins need not control us. We are forever being conformed to the image of Christ, who saved us by repenting of sin and washing us in his sacrificial blood.

We are a forgiven people, so in thanksgiving to Him, let us go and sin no more. Amen.

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Musical meditation and prayer

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus, we are gathered (514)

Story: On saying “I’m Sorry”

Darlene initiated a conversation about whether the children had ever had to say “I’m sorry” to anyone. She emphasized that it’s important to apologize and say, I’m sorry when we hurt someone. But she pointed out that it’s not enough to just say, “I’m sorry.” And then walk away.

I would wonder if you’re really sorry.

You know there are other things we need to do if we’re sorry.

What would you need to do if you’re sorry?

If you pushed someone down, you might say: “I’m sorry I pushed you down. Next time I will not push you. I will change my actions. I will do something different.

There are 3 things we need to do when we hurt someone.

• The first thing is, we need to listen to see how they’ve been hurt. And sometimes it’s hard to listen. If somebody’s crying, you need to ask … What happened? Why did you get hurt? How did I hurt you?
• The second thing we need to do, after we say I’m sorry, is I have to change my actions right now. I have to do something different – like one of you said during our conversation.
• And the third thing is – I have to work really hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again because I don’t want to continue to hurt somebody. And that can be really hard.

You know some of you are in school right now, and I am sure that, in schools like all across Canada, during this week, have been talking about Truth and Reconciliation, and Orange Shirt day.

So, I’m wearing an orange shirt today. And I see some of you are. And I see other people wearing orange shirts and ribbons.

Across Canada, people are thinking about how indigenous people in our country were harmed and continue to be hurt.

And one symbol of that is the orange shirt because, for those of you who might not know, a little girl had an orange shirt that was really special to her taken away from her, and she never got it back.

I’m sorry that happened to her. I’m sorry it happened, and I don’t want anything like that to happen to anybody else.  So. I can apologize for that and say, I don’t want that to happen ever again. And I change my actions.

I need to fix the harm.

One possible thing we can do is support an organization called Coyote Kids. It’s just one program they offer indigenous children, age 6 to 12 – a weekly program to help them understand their culture, and how to live, feeling good about their life.

Then Darlene shared a story from a book by Phyllis Webstad, the lady who talked about the Orange Shirt day, and a friend of hers, Natasha.

We all matter. God cares about every person. Every person is a child of God. Every child matters.

Prayer

God forgive us for hurting others and help us to apologize and be truly sorry. Give us the courage to listen and change our actions. Give us love in our hearts to show that every child matters.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: We cannot own the sunlit sky (717)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Zechariah 8:16-17; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 5:1-11, 17-18

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: Debt and Good Clothes

Thomas á Kempis wrote, “Whoever loves much, does much.” That is undoubtedly true. Of course, it’s also true the other way around. “Whoever does much, loves much.”

Romans was probably penned by a secretary of Paul’s called Tertius while he was staying at his friend Gaius’ house in Corinth sometime in the mid to late 50s. Theologians like to debate the genre of Romans, with some saying it should be classified as a letter (which is personal and intended for a small audience) and others arguing it to be an epistle (which is meant to be shared and has a more particular style. I prefer to think of Romans the way Phillip Melanchthon (a contemporary of Martin Luther) described it. He called it “a complete summary of the Christian Doctrine.” At its center is the relationship between law and grace. In short, Romans is Paul’s Magnum Opus.

In it, the Apostle sends his typical greetings and writes about God’s perfect and loving judgments, the hypocrisy and weakness of human judgments, Justification by grace through faith, the assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ, and the transforming nature of God’s love.

In chapter 13, right before the verses, we find ourselves in this morning, Paul takes a rather unexpected detour in his point to remind the people of their civic duty to respect political authorities and remind them that they should continue to pay their taxes. And then, in our verses, Paul quickly shifts from having no governmental debts (taxes) to a call for believers to live in loving partnership with others. It’s a bit of an odd transition, but he does it because he has an important point to make.

Paul writes, ^“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another.”

The continuing debt to love? What a weird thing to say, right? Is love an obligation we owe each other, like debts to a bank or taxes? Well, according to Paul – Yes.

But really, is that how you think of love?

When a couple stands at the front of a church and says their marriage vows, I doubt they would think of love that way. An old saying goes like this: “Love is Grand, but divorce is 40 Grand”. Love isn’t a debt; divorce is a debt. I mean, people don’t get married or spend 50 years in a loving partnership because we owe each other a debt, do we?

Well, in a way, we do. Paul says that Love is owed.

And this understanding of love is very prevalent throughout scripture. It’s not just Paul. It’s a pretty big theme.

This was picked up upon by some of the earliest Church Fathers like Origin, for example, who wrote in the last 100’s saying of this exact verse, “Let your only debt that is unpaid be that of love, a debt which you should always be attempting to discharge in full but will never fully succeed in paying.”

Similarly, famed homiletics professor Fred Craddock states, “There is an ‘ought-ness to love,’” further citing as evidenced by 1 John 4:11, which states, “Since God loved us so much, (Since) we also ought to love one another.” In other words, love isn’t just something nice or even something we are encouraged to do but fundamental to our response to God’s grace. As such, Love is something we are obligated to do. In short, for the Christ follower, love is compulsory. We don’t get a choice.

Next, Paul describes love as humanity’s ultimate goal, “for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”

Now, think about that for a second. The Law? The law was handed down directly by God to God’s people. It required a lifetime of sacrifice (actual sacrifices taken to an altar). To keep it was righteousness; to break it was to make someone unclean. To not have it was to make someone a barbarian, but to have it, made someone Chosen by God to be Holy. But Paul writes further, ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” (And I love this, by the way, because Paul adds it all up… and he says”, “and whatever other command there may be” (he through the whole of the Bible in there)…, “and whatever other command there may be” are all summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Now, a lot is going on here. There are three unique things I want to draw attention to, however.

1. It is interesting to note here that Paul’s order of the commandments does not match the complete list of the ten commandments in scripture. Precisely, Paul has reversed “Do not Murder” and “Do not commit adultery” to put “Do not commit adultery” before “Do not murder.” Some have suggested that this may have been common in lists during exile in Babylon. Others have suggested the more likely possibility that perhaps adultery happened to be a more common issue in Rome, and Paul put it first to make a point.
2. The Jews generally considered the command to love their neighbour (from the Book of Leviticus) to refer only to fellow Jews. Jesus famously suggested that non-Jews, specifically Samaritans, should also be considered neighbours (Luke 10).
3. This idea is common to Paul, of course. Likewise, Jesus said that the law and the prophets rest on two commandments: loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself. What is worth noting, however, is that Paul, like Jesus, quotes the commandments in the Second Table of the law here. When thinking about the two tablets, most Hebrews pictured the commands as being divided into two lists (one for each tablet). Scholars have long noted a particular kind of division apparent in their presentation. For example, the first half of the Ten Commandments relates directly to How we love God (acknowledge the Lord, have no God before him, make no idol, don’t take God’s name in vain, Keep His day holy). The second half has to do with loving neighbours (honouring parents, not murdering other people, not committing adultery, not coveting a person or property or stealing or lying about people). All of the laws then could be understood to be based on two categories (One tablet with laws about loving God and another tablet with laws about loving neighbours).

Next, the apostle feels the need to clarify. He continues, “because Love does not harm a neighbour. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

But can it be that simple? All we have to do is love. Well, yes, and no.

Some have used this idea so that they essentially make the law nonexistent. These people will argue that the only law is Love. And that’s not true. It’s the same mistake people often make when discussing God being love. Yes, “God is love” (in the scriptures), but the two are NOT equative. Yes, God is love! But NO! Love is not God. The two are not the same thing.

The same is valid here. Love fulfills the law, but love cannot… Love cannot break it.

As theologian and Greek scholar Douglas Moo writes, “the feeling of love is not always a guarantee of right behaviour, let alone a right heart.”

See, we are human, and we are corrupted by sin, and sometimes what we think is love isn’t. You cannot, for example, commit adultery and then blame your actions on love as if that feeling fixes all your other wrongs. Love does not break the law. Remember, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will” What? “Keep… my… commands…”. Real love can never break the law. Rather, real love is the spirit in which we are required to keep the law.

That is why Paul immediately describes love as a verb (something that does, something that acts, something that ought, something that owes).

“Whoever loves much does much.” And simultaneously, “Whoever does much, loves much.”

Paul writes, “So let us put aside the deeds of darkness (Love is an action) and put on the amour of light (that takes work). ¹³ Let us behave decently (love is an action), as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy (love has laws to follow and limits). ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify your desires.” (Love is about others because Love is a debt we must always strive to pay for someone else).

Newspaper columnist and Divorce Lawyer George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office early in his career with absolute hatred toward her husband. “Not only do I want to get rid of him,” she said, “but I want to get even more. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me.”

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan of revenge: “Go home and act as if you love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every halfway decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no effort to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. And then, after you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him… then drop the bomb. With a huge smile, she knew it would be delicious revenge.  “Beautiful, beautiful,” she said; he will never see it coming.”

And then she did it. She went home and went to work.

For two months, she acted like she loved him. But when she didn’t return, Crane called and asked, “How’s the plan going? Are you ready to drop the divorce bomb on him yet?”

“Divorce?” she exclaimed. “Never! I love him.”

See, it turns out her actions changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion.

The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often as repeated deeds.

Love does not make the law irrelevant; Love is what lies behind the law that gives it relevance. Love is not the reason to disobey the law, which can never be, but it is instead the only natural way to obey it.

Those great prophets of old, Paul…John, George and Ringo… told us, “Love is all you need”. And they were right. But the question then becomes… What kind of love is all we need?

And the answer is A love that acts. A love that owes. A love the “ought.” A love that works. A love that strives constantly.

Thomas á Kempis wrote, “Whoever loves much, does much.” And he was right. But this is also true: Whoever does much, loves much.” – Amen.

Song: Spirit of Gentleness (399: vss.1, 2, 4)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves: Text not available

Song: O for a world where everyone (730)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go into God’s good creation praying that the Spirit will open our minds to receive new truth. Open our hearts to seek peace and strengthen out bodies to work for justice. Let the Spirit guide you in ways of love – to walk lightly and humbly, to seek truth, reconciliation, healing, and wholeness for all. And may the blessings of Creator, Christ, and Spirit rest and abide with you today. Amen.

Response: Benediction (as you go)

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 (© 2024) 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.

 

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am       22 September 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalist: Fionna McCrostiie
Elder: Heather Tansem

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

Call to Worship
L: From sunrise to sunset,
P: Let us praise God’s holy name.
L: With the wisdom of the aged and the energy of the young,
P: Let us praise God’s holy name.
L: In our work, in our homes, and in all we do,
P: Let us praise God’s holy name.
L: Let us praise the Lord with all our hearts!
P: We will worship God now and always.

Opening praise: Praise the Lord

Prayers of approach and confession

God of all creation, you have opened the world around us and filled it with beauty and purpose.

Each creature declares your praise –

• the mountain states your majesty;
• the ripened field, your generosity.
• Birds flying aloft sing of your freedom;
• the tiny ant works with your persistence.

We pray that all our work will honour your justice and mercy.

May all our relationships speak of your compassion.

So may we praise you, O God, not just in this hour of worship but in all the hours you grant us, as we follow Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Friend.

God of all creation, you opened the world around us and filled it with wonder, yet we confess we look away from its harsher realities.

Our ears can be deaf to cries of need.

Our minds ignore opinions which differ from our own.

Forgive us when we seek greatness instead of goodness, and miss the wisdom you intend us to embrace.

Response: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me

Assurance of God’s love

The prophet Micah reminds us that God requires of us three things:

• to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.
• to all who truly repent and seek reconciliation with God and neighbour
• in kindness and humility, God offers forgiveness and peace.

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus, we are gathered

Story: Symbols

Vivian talked with the children about “symbols” and about how there are several of these in the sanctuary.

She showed the children 3 symbols …

and asked the children, as she showed them one of the following symbols, to go and stand beside that symbol – which they did.

Then she asked the children the meaning of the symbols and they knew that the dove is a symbol for God’s Goly Spirit and of peace; the cross is a symbol of Jesus dying (on a cross) for our sins; and the bread and wine cup are symbols of Jesus’ body and blood.

After each symbol discussion with the children, Vivian facilitated a response to the children from the adult congregation.

Transition music

Song: For the beauty of the earth (434: vss 1-4)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 54; and Mark 9:30-37

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: Brake Tappers

This week I found myself watching a car in front of me swerve back and forth, in and out of every lane just hoping to inch his way one more car length ahead. He swerves right, he ducks in behind a big truck on the left, he’s back right again. And now 10 seconds later his turn signal light goes on again. He wants me to let him in front of me

Convicted by my own sermon from a few weeks ago (Pete letting people in traffic),

I tapped on the brake and waved him in.

For the most part – The race is on.

In nearly every situation that I find myself in, there is a rush, a press, a blitz.

Let’s face it; we’re an agenda-driven and schedule-controlled people. Ask a friend how they’re doing, and most will respond with some variation of “busy”. Busyness… has become the Canadian Badge of Honor as if having too much to do, is a sign of one’s importance.

We live in a world where we sprint from one congested location to the next. Traffic lanes, checkout lines, security screenings… Even in the privacy of our own homes, our own internet connections, things just aren’t quite fast enough, are they? The three seconds it takes – that one particular page takes to load – feels like an annoying eternity.

That’s exactly why when somebody – a perfect stranger or close friend – taps their brakes on our behalf, we notice, perhaps even marvel.

I’ve come to believe that “yielding” is a lost art, and so we squeeze as close as we can to the car in front of us so that merging traffic has to find another option.

Get in that elevator… but don’t look at each other,

don’t talk,

don’t waste time.

What cashier moves the fastest? What grocery bagger looks like the new guy?

What line has fewer “nice old ladies with coupons” and more signal guys with frozen pizzas and two litres of store-brand pop?

Next, it’s a hurry to get home – and flip through channels for the next three hours?

And then there’s the airport.

Don’t even think about other people in the airport.

No eye contact, that’s the first part of the strategy.

Step up. Step in. It’s all about bin space, making connections -No,

Retrieving luggage… That’s it. Count those people, remember where your bag is. Don’t let the guy behind you stand up first.

It’s all about me… Me… Me first!

But… Jesus treasured … the brake tappers.

He was one himself and he tried to get his talmidim (disciples) –  (his students who claimed that they wanted to follow in his footsteps and be like him) to do the same.

He tried to get his disciples (us) to understand that when somebody was prepared to interrupt their own agenda (or traffic pattern) for the sake of someone else… then they were getting closer to understanding the heart of sacrifice and the heart of God that he was all about.

“You first.” “You Go ahead.” “After you.” “I’ll wait.” “You take it.”

A true the transformation of the heart changes our place in line. Calling ourselves Christian changes:

What we believe;

How we live;

How we act;

How we drive even.

The doors we hold or don’t for someone else!

Followers of Jesus, well… they follow.

They embrace, and they are the brake tappers.

We follow “the last will be first” and “the leader as the one who serves” way of life.

Mark writes, “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

And then too often…

We like to take this next part (Jesus takes the little one on his knee) as if it’s an entirely new periscope (a whole new section) – but it’s not.

The little one and “the last” are one and the same.

It’s not a separate story at all, it’s all connected.

It’s all one story.

Mark continues on saying, “He (Jesus) took a little child whom he placed among them. And then taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not just welcome me but also the one who sent me.”

Now today this is (or at least it appears) easy to swallow.

Of course, Jesus would do this.

In fact, we love this Jesus.

We love the Jesus meek and mild – that welcomes children.

This fits in nicely with everything contemporary culture pretends to know of Jesus.

But the problem is simple: For the original audience this was shocking.

See – questions of rank and priority were not uncommon in the Mediterranean world, including within ancient Judea.

The idea that the disciples would debate their own rank and wonder who would be “first” would have been seen as completely normal.

Why wouldn’t they?

One’s rank determined what order in line people followed their teachers,

• Who sat were for meals,
• Who ate when,
• Who cleaned up,
• Who had the right to respond to questions in the Master’s name,
• What level of authority someone had.

It was everything.

And although the disciples don’t want to admit to Jesus that they had been debating their rank – the fact that they talked about it wasn’t rude, it would have been common.

But then Jesus shocks them. And he tells them that if they want to be first then they need to be last.

But more than that, they need to be a (quote) “servant” “to all” someone not just with a low rank but “to all” meaning no rank at all. LAST PLACE.

Now on top of this the, this text is written in Greek, and what it says in its original text is the word doulos.

Doulos is a word sometimes softened by the English biblical translators to use the word “servant” but which really means “slave”. He says, if you want to be first, be a slave.

And then to make matters worse yet Jesus takes a little child in his arms (something Jewish men did not do in public) and says that the First should be like one of these.

ow, what you’ve got to understand here is that Greek children had even less rank in the ancient word that we could ever understand.

Greek Children didn’t even speak to adults in public or in front of visitors. Listening to “children’s talk” was thought to be a waste of time.

But I’d just like to point out that Jesus wouldn’t have been speaking Greek with the disciples – or to a Greek audience.

Mark has Jesus speaking in Greek because he wrote this book a decade after he had died and resurrected. Mark’s audience was written to some 40 years later. And they speak Greek.

But originally… Jesus would have been speaking Aramaic to the Aramaic speaking disciples. If that is true (and it almost certainly is) then the word Jesus would have used for this child is different from Mark’s translation. Jesus would have used the word Talya which holds a whole different connotation to it. See Talya does mean child, so Mark fairly records this but most accurately (when looking at the Hebrew background and Aramaic regularly spoken, this word meant… slave… “salve child”.

That is who Jesus sets before the disciples – not just a servant, not just a slave, not just a child, but all of the above – a slave child.

He props before them, the person, the only person, probably in the room to pick up the scraps from the table (scraps that would have been the child’s payment for service – that and a space on the floor to sleep on).

Think for a second about how offensive this would have been at the time. I wonder if the master of the house would have been around to hear this?

What would this look like today?

If you’ll indulge me for a moment: Please close your eyes. Now I want you to picture in your head the kind of person you think of as being the lowest rank on the totem pole in society today?

• Maybe it’s someone confined to a bed,
• Maybe someone with a contagious disease,
• Maybe a person or a particular ethic background whose looked down on,
• Maybe it is someone whose life depends wholly on others,
• Maybe someone that is a refugee,
• Maybe a baby
• Someone who is a sex worker,
• … an unhoused, drug addicted person; using the change you gave her for what’s in that needle that sticking out of her arm right now,
• Maybe a person with a severe deformity,
• Or a prisoner in for violent offences

Who is the lowest of the low?

Picture that face, those clothes. … Can you see that person.

Now imagine Jesus takes that person in his arms and looks directly at you and says, “Whoever welcomes one of these in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not just welcome me but also the Father who sent me.”

Treat this person like you would treat the creator of the universe.

(Feel free to open your eyes).

Imagine what would happen if the people of God became known as the “brake tappers”, the gift givers, the gracious ones, the servants of the lowly. Project what the world would think if we were the ones that truly made room for others.

Just think what it would mean if we intentionally made eye contact with people outside our churches, outside our social circles, outside the social norms… so that we could deliver mercy and grace.

Imagine… if we… slowed down… took our busy lives less seriously… and gave our precious time… to others… and became the slaves of the people we just pictured… for the sake of the gospel.

Jesus says that… that is what being in “first place” looks like. That is the true badge of honor, the servant role, the brake tapper.

Jesus had a description for this kind of selfless, sacrificial and generous living – He called it (in Mark 14:6) “a very beautiful thing”.

Even Jesus, especially Jesus, made room for line cutting, me first, don’t cut me off kinds of people (jerks even). He did it all the time.

He let the second-class citizens in line before him,

… he tapped the brakes for the different and the rejected,

and he let people in line that didn’t deserve to be

for the simple reason that – they didn’t belong.

The perfect God of the universe and creator of all things came down to earth and instead of praise he served.

He did it for me… and for all of us.

Wouldn’t He love it,

• if I…
• if we…
• tried to do the same?

So why don’t we try this week. Let’s tap the brakes. Let’s serve. Amen.

Song: The clay-stained hands of love (296)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves
The Letter of James invites us to show gentleness born of God’s wisdom through our good works. The gifts we offer to God support many good works through our congregation and the work Presbyterians undertake together around the world. May they bear much fruit in Jesus’ name.

Wise and faithful God, we offer our gifts to you in thanksgiving for your gifts to us in Christ and in creation. Bless these gifts and the good works they will support, so that the world may know your wisdom and faithfulness through Christ, our Lord.

God of all people and places, we come to you in prayer, giving thanks that you are with us in all situations.

You bring us strength and courage when we are anxious or afraid.
You provide wisdom and direction when we face choices and challenges.
Thank you for your faithfulness to us.

In our prayers, enlarge our love and sharpen our vision so that we may serve the world you love more faithfully.

We pray for those who dwell on the margins of the economy, facing the challenges of unemployment, financial insecurity and rising costs.

Give leaders in government, business and labour a mutual vision that reflects the values of your kingdom, so that everyone has enough resources and respect to live well and wisely.

Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for all those facing famine and drought this year, and for those who have lost everything through fire, storm or conflict.

Bring support to those people and agencies who work to alleviate suffering and help them rebuild lives and communities.

Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We give you thanks for those who work for peace and mercy in a world divided by bitter conflicts, and for those who keep peace and lead negotiations in international disputes. Give them wisdom and perseverance.

We remember those who face violence, persecution, or discrimination daily. Send your Spirit to protect the vulnerable and shame the vicious so that justice and wellbeing will prevail.

Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for teachers, students, educational administrators and support staff as another school year begins.

Thank you for the gifts of education, for deepening insight into this ever-changing world and the ability to distinguish truth from error.

Grant all those in education this year mutual respect and commitment to the shared venture of learning.

Help each of us bring the benefits of our education to our life of faith and give us all a teachable spirit.

Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for all those struggling with pain or illness, disability or daunting diagnosis.

Stay by their side.
Be with those who face death this day, and those who weep for loved ones who have died.
Unite us in love, whatever we are facing, and grant us the peace and hope you have promised us in Christ Jesus.

Song: Christ, you call us all to service (585)

Sending out with God’s blessing

The Book of James instructs God’s beloved: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.”

Go with these words on your hearts.

And may the God of wisdom guide you;
The Christ of mercy walk beside you;
And the Spirit of hope inspire you each and every day,
Now and always. Amen.

Response: The Blessing

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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am       15 September 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalist: Rom Rhoad
Elder: Shirley Simpson

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
A Time of Sharing Gratitude by Peter and Darlene
Silent preparation for worship

Call to Worship
L: Come, people of God, worship the One who listens to our prayers.
P: We will worship the One who hears us.
L: Come, people of God, worship the One who watches over us.
P: We will worship the One who cares deeply for us all.
L: Come, people of God, worship the One who offered his life for us.
P: We will offer thanks and praise to the One who gives us life.

Opening praise: Come, now is the time to worship

Prayers of approach and confession

God ever creating, God ever leading, God ever wise: We come seeking to connect with something beyond ourselves. We come from north, south, east, and west and come to you in various stages of life.

But we come believing that we can hear Your word and that Your word is truth when circumstances are twisted.

Your way is freedom when we are lost.

Your calling gives us direction and provides us with a way of life.

We come to say that Your cross shows us the limitlessness of your grace and the span of your love.

And so, for you have been for us in the past and who you will be for us in the days ahead and for the callings you have placed on our lives, we worship you this day.

But we don’t worship with all we do, Lord.

We have sinned with our thoughts, In our words, with our actions by what we need to say or do.

We have not loved you with our whole hearts; we have not fulfilled all of our responsibilities; we have spoken harshly and unkindly.

We have been too quick to judge, angry, and impatient.

We have rejected your ways and calling because we don’t want to give up control.

We want to control every aspect of our lives and bow to no one. In short, we want to be our gods.

But it cannot be. We make too many mistakes to be gods.

And so we bow a knee, call you Lord of our lives, and say we will follow your paths for us.

For mistakes, errors, and sins of the past, God, Have mercy upon us and forgive us so that we may begin again to walk in your ways, free from any guilt and ready to do better. Amen

Response: Glory, glory, Hallelujah

Assurance of God’s love
God’s grace is without end or limit;
Know that you are forgiven and loved by God;
love and forgive one another and rise up now to follow Christ. Amen

Music Offering: O God of love (Singers)

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Open our eyes, Lord (445)

Story

Children’s time started with an object lesson. Brad had two of the children empty a can of shaving soap into a box – then had two other children try to put the shaving cream back in the bottle. Of course they couldn’t.

Then Brad told the following story: “When I was 16 years old my older brother was maybe not the nicest older brother. He did pick on me a lot, but one day, in particular, I told him: ‘I can’t wait until you graduate and move away, because I won’t have to see you anymore.’

“And I would say, 25 years later, that is still remembered. Something that I couldn’t put back.

“Some things you say are just too strong and too powerful to go back in the bottle where they came from.

“I’m gonna tell you this verse from the Book of James that we’ve been reading here on Sunday mornings lately.

“This verse says how a great forest can be set afire by a small spark, and the tongue is just like fire.

“The tongue is placed among the members of the world, but it strains the whole body and sets the whole thing on fire.

“Every species of beast and bird and reptile and sea creature can be tamed in some way, but not the human tongue – which is ‘restless and deadly.’

“With it we bless the Lord and our Father, and with it we curse the people made in His likeness.

“James is pretty powerful on the fact that your tongue sets a fire, and you say things you can’t take back.

“So the lesson today is: Just remember: Some things said are pretty much permanent.

“Let’s take a moment and let’s pray.

“This is a repeat after me, prayer…”

Prayer

“Our God, “Help us, in the coming weeks” to control our tongue.

“To use it “For kindness.”

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: I sing the almighty power of God (333)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Psalm 115:1-9; James 3:1-12;; Mark 8:27-38

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: A bird in the hand

An ancient story from India says a young man once wanted to challenge the most respected wise man in his village. The older man was said to be exceedingly wise. But the young man was confident his wisdom exceeded that of this frail older adult. And so the boy devised a scheme. He went out looking for a bird’s nest, and when he found it, he took it home and nurtured the eggs until they hatched. He fed the three tiny birds and cared for them for a few days. Then he went to the town market and announced that he was, in fact, the wisest man in town. Then he asked everyone to follow him to the older man’s home. Carrying the smallest of the three birds, hidden and cupped between his hands, the young man went to the wise man’s house with a crowd of followers to prove the Wiseman a fool.

As he approached the older gentleman with his hands behind his back, he said, “Here is a riddle for you, old man,” “I have in my hands a bird. Is it alive? Or is it dead?” Of course, the boy thought there was no way the old man could win. And there wasn’t. If the older man said no bird, he would reveal it. If the old man guessed “dead,” the boy would open his hands and reveal the living bird. And if the old man guessed “alive,” the young man would crush the bird in his hands with the tiniest amount of pressure. When he opened them … there would be a dead bird inside. The older adult would lose no matter what he said, and the boy would prove that Wiseman was not wise.

With that, the Wiseman looked the young man over; he tilted his head, shuffled his feet in the dust and looked lovingly into the boy’s eyes with a face of sadness. And then he responded, “The answer, my child, is in your hands.”

Caesarea Philippi, situated 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and at the base of Mt. Hermon, is the largest spring feeding the Jordan River. It was and is lush with greenery.  This location, rich in history and religious significance, provided the perfect backdrop for the unfolding events.

Jesus, walking ahead of His disciples, was silhouetted against the city of Caesarea Philippi in all its Roman glory. Rising out of its center was a translucent temple of white marble built by Herod the Great in honour of the Caesars (a man known by the title Lord and Savior). This city, with its grandeur and history of worship, provided a significant backdrop for what was about to unfold.

The power of Rome was in the air, but so were the hauntingly vivid memories of ancient worship. The area and the road we are told that Jesus travelled north along was cluttered with the shines of Baal used for orgy worship. They were everywhere. And, of course, the half-goat/half-man god Pan of the Greeks (for which the city had previously been named Pania) also had his temple there. On the slope of Hermon, a cliff filled with ancient inscriptions and niches containing statues of countless pagan gods sat, and the famous’ Gates of Hades’, a site associated with pagan worship and sacrifice, at the beautiful grotto mouth sat there as well. It was a city littered with saviours.

And this is where it all happened.

Mark 8:27–33 serves as the turning point in the Markan Gospel. Mark designed his book with an obvious point built right into the center. His entire letter is built upon a chiastic poem structure that puts mirroring stories at opposite ends of the book, with each tale slowly moving towards the central point of the whole work. The second section says that the heavens split and words were proclaimed, and in the second story to the end, it says that the excellent temple veil was split and words are proclaimed. Do any of you keeners out there happen to know the opening line of Mark’s Gospel from Mark 1:1? It says, “This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God.” Near the end, when Jesus dies, a man proclaims, “Truly this was God’s son.” Right smack at the center of Mark’s book, it has Jesus standing at the pagan center with alters, shrines, and temples to various gods and kings -asking a fascinating question… who do the people say I am? Followed by Peter’s confession in chapter 8:29 that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God.

At this point, Jesus had just left Bethsaida, and probably a few hundred to a thousand people were following along the way, especially as caravans were making their way to the festival in Jerusalem. The broader group of 77 disciples is undoubtedly there, but Jesus’s teaching is generally reserved for the inner 12 in Mark’s memory. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus does something odd, though much of what he does is weird. But here, instead of letting the Talmadim (the students) beg questions from the master as was the custom, Jesus sits down as teachers did to teach and asks them a question instead, “Who do the people say I am?” he says, inviting them to reflect on their understanding of his identity.

“John the Baptist,” one says. Others no doubt rummage around for what they have heard – “Elijah” is another example. “One of the prophets” comes up from another disciple. They pull the names out of the air like interesting little stones they have found on the beach and hand them over to Jesus for appraisal. However, no excellent skill is involved in repeating what you have heard when reporting what others have said they believe. But in the end, they are all just other people’s answers. This is just a consultation among friends, a staff meeting to decide how Jesus’ ministry was going, right?

The answers are not very surprising. Even Herod Antipas, when he first heard reports about this Jesus of Nazareth, speculated with fear, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” Interestingly, Josephus, the 1st-century historian (and decidedly non-Jesus follower), also records these exact words of Herod’s. Elijah’s not a bad guess either, as by this time, most of the Jewish tradition taught that a messiah would be preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah or at least an Elijah-like figure. In popular lore, Elijah was considered a part of a tremendous eschatological drama in the “last days.”

The famous Dead Sea Scrolls are packed with these speculations about Elijah and other prophets and predecessors.

No doubt, Jesus is not surprised by these answers. But it’s not exactly what he was looking for, either.

You can almost see the expectation on the disciples’ faces as they turn over the tidbits they have heard. So which is it, Lord? What is the correct answer? A? B? C? Who’s right? But Jesus does not give them his answer. He wants their answers; again, you can almost see their faces when he turns the question back on them. “But who do you say that I am? Here, he asks them, his nearest and dearest, the ones who have received the best he has to offer, the ones who spend time with him, those who know him, who are his own. But who do you say I am? What is it that you believe?

As I’ve often said, it’s too bad that the Bible hasn’t come down to us like a musical score with all the pauses written in or the script of a play that tells us what happens while something is being said. It would be helpful to have the stage directions, like Center stage; as soon as Jesus asks the question, the disciples all look away from him while some of them study the backs of their hands and others move little piles of dirt around with their feet. The original Koine Greek gospels don’t even have punctuation to help us.

When I picture this scene, I see them all so proud as they offer up what the crowd thinks. But when they have to answer for themselves, I see their eyes widen like deer in the headlights. And I don’t picture a Jesus meek and mild, either. I hear: (with force) But who do you say I am? Or perhaps disappointment: (sad) But who do you think I am?

Do you think they answered right away? In Mark’s writing, there is no way to tell. But I feel like a great black cloud of awkward silence fell over them.

Who knows how long that odd cricket-chirping moment would have lasted? That is before Peter breaks in with his answer?… “You are the Messiah” (which I would bet he shouted). [1]

Thank goodness for Peter, right? Right or wrong, that guy is always the first one out of the gate. [2] He was the first to drop his net, the first out of the boat at sea, the first one inside the tomb, and the first to give his answer. Always first. Always. Sometimes, it is hard to say whether he is courageous or just plain reckless, but in any case, his answer is the one Jesus sought.

When Clive Lewis was lecturing at Oxford University, he noted this story and addressed it in a way that has since become quite famous and is generally called the Trilema.

 He said, “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God, messiah or Savoir. That is the one thing people must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. It would be best if you made your choice. This man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems apparent that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend, and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have come to accept the view that He was and is God.

Like Peter on the road before Jesus, Lewis asked himself if the Jesus he knew was just a prophet teaching good things and pointing to someone else. Like Peter Lewis, he came to the personal conclusion that it was not an option for him.

Now, if I’m being intellectually honest, I’d have to say that Lewis’ Trilima is not without its holes. Still, his central point holds. Jesus asked the disciples who other people thought he was and asked them the same question. And through Mark, he asks us.

And just like the pivotal movement in the Book of Mark on which all the rest sit, the same questions sit at pivotal movements in history and our lives. It is that same question that, too, to a large degree, defines who we are and what path of faith we will follow.

You may conclude that he is a Great moral teacher or a prophet. You may conclude any manner of things. That is the freedom we have. After all, in the end, this one thing is very true – Like with the disciples, it is simply not enough to know what others think or how they feel; you must know, understand, and accept for yourself what you believe.

The question is: Who do you say Jesus is?

But for my part, I’ll leave this with you. We all have to answer that question for ourselves. The answer to that question… is in your hands.

Song: Teach me, God to wonder (704)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!

Prayers of the People

God of life and freedom.

When Abraham’s family wandered, when Moses took refuge in the desert, when the Hebrew people fled into the wilderness, when the Israelites lived in exile, you called them, and gave them words of comfort and promises of hope.

In Christ, you crossed the border.

You put on frail flesh, were born and lived your life constantly on the move in a dangerous world.

From your first night, you slept in a bed; it was in a place that was not your own.

You and your family fled terror and found refuge in foreign lands.

You were always the guest in the homes and tables of strangers.

You were not always sure of your next meal.

This day we remember before you those whose lives are more like yours than we can imagine or care to acknowledge: those who are without homes,who have been uprooted from their communities and countries, who have had to flee for their lives, who have left families and friends behind, who live precarious lives.

We pray for your protection and care for those who suffer and must take refuge because of war, politics, natural disaster, status, race, gender, faith and all manner of alienation.

We mourn, we are moved, and we are angered by the loss that marks the lives of so many: the loss of dignity, respect, security, community, family, and simple stability.

You have called us to be citizens of your kingdom – a land with no borders.

We pray also for the people of this country and of the church, that we may not be indifferent or naïve, afraid or overwhelmed, discouraged or blind to hope and options to help, or silent in the call for justice.

God open our hearts and our doors to the stranger, to the widow and the orphan and all that are dear to you, to your presence that we may encounter in the foreigner and strengthen us to witness the love of God for all people.

Lord, where you lead – we will follow. Amen

Song: Be thou my vision (461:vss 1,2,4,5)

Sending out with God’s blessing

“Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.”

Go with these words in your hearts,

and may the God of wisdom guide you;

the Christ of mercy walk beside you;

and the Spirit of hope inspire you each day,

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 (© 2024) 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.

---

[1] He responds in Aramaic you are the “Messiah” – chosen one which is the same as the Greek word Christos (Christ). Christos in Greek took on a more political slant and it’s worthy of note that Jesus himself generally does not use the term outside of Matthew’s memory.

[2] Peter of course is not really his name. His name is actually Simon Bar-Jona. Here Jesus especially nicknames him Peter (see Matthew’s version); the word for Rock or more accurately the word for a small rock or a piece of rock broken off of a large rock.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am      08 September 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalist: Linda F-B
Elder: Iris Routledge

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

Call to Worship
L: Put your confidence in God.
P: We have God as our helper and so we rejoice.
L: God gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry.
P: God frees the prisoners and opens the eyes of the blind.
L: So put your trust in God’s goodness.
P:  May God’s goodness endure forever! Let us worship God.

Opening praise: Everlasting God

Prayers of approach and confession

Eternal God, You are our beginning and our end.

You gave breath to all living things.

By your Spirit, you come among us this day, breathing new life into our familiar patterns, as the gift you offer us through Christ Jesus.

By your grace, you open new possibilities for the world you love.

So we offer you our lives in worship and in service, joining our voices with all your creatures, to offer you honour and blessing, glory and gratitude, now and always.

God of mercy, you keep an eye out for those who dwell on the margins of life.

We confess we fail to keep our eyes open for those on the margins.

We have been silent when we should have spoken up in the face of injustice.

Our generosity to others does not match what you offer us.

Forgive us for thinking of ourselves first.

Renew our commitment to show others the kindness we meet in Jesus Christ.

Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O Lord

Assurance of God’s love

Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn us? Only Christ – and Christ died for us; Christ rose for us; Christ reigns in power for us; Christ prays for us. Believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. So be renewed to live according to God’s generous grace.

Musical offering: Sung in Persian by Arghavan Ebrahimi, John and Sam Nejabatian, and accompanied by Binu
Beloved (translation)
Let me enter the holy court,
Through the blood of Jesus
Only for your worship, for the
Honor and praise of God
O my God, my beloved
Your name is holy, holy

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus, we are gathered (514)

Story

Theme: Showing partiality is a sin. – Proper 18 (23) Yr.B 15th Sunday after Pentecost Object: A large box of crayons (a shoe box, for example) Scripture: My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism…. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. James 2:1, 8-9 (NIV)

It’s back to school time again. It is such an exciting time of year. You will be meeting new kids and learning a lot of new things. Are you ready? Do you have all of the school supplies you need? One thing that many of you will need is a box of crayons. I brought my big box of crayons with me this morning. Look at all of my crayons. I have a lot of them, and they are all different sizes and colors. Some are sharp and some of them are a little dull. Some have strange-sounding names. Some of my crayons are brand new and some have been around for quite a while. The wrappers on some of them are fresh and clean while some of the wrappers are torn and dirty. You and I could learn a lot from these crayons. Even though they have a lot of differences, they all fit very nicely in the same box. That is a good picture of the way the church should be. The people that make up the church come in all sizes and colours, and some may have strange-sounding names. Some are old and some are young. Some are pretty sharp, some very kind, some fun some clever. Some are dressed in very nice clothes while others may wear clothing that is a little old or soiled and worn. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in the Bible that the followers of Jesus should not show favoritism. He said, “My friends, if you have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others. Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. That is the same as saying that some people are better than others. If you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.” We must be careful not to show favouritism in our church. We are all God’s children whether we are comfortable, rich, poor, white, brown, whatever. As James said, “You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves.”

Prayer: Father, help us to love one another as you have loved us — regardless of the color of our skin or whether we are rich or poor. In Jesus’ name we pray, as Jesus taught us to pray saying, Our Father…

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (321)

Today’s Message

Scripture readings: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2:1-10, 14-17;

and Mark 7:24-37

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: Nobody owns him

The story is about an old shopkeeper who opened a small candy store in a small town. In truth, spending time with his grandchildren was as much a gimmick as it was a monetary enterprise. But the store needed to be completed. The shopkeeper was Iranian and was afraid that the people in his new small-town community would make inaccurate assumptions about his religious faith. He wanted the community to know that a Christian man owned the shop. So he went to a Christian bookstore and bought just the right decoration. With great pride, on his first day open, the man placed a small wooden statue of Jesus on the counter next to the till. The man went about his day making children from all over the community happy and sticky with sugar and temporary energy. But at the end of the day, the man noticed his statue was missing. It must have fallen somewhere, he told himself. After closing, he returned to the Christian bookstore and bought a second and much more giant Jesus statue this time. Again, his store was filled with family, friends, and neighbourhood kids; at the end of the day, his statue was missing. So the man returned to the Christian bookstore again and bought a three-foot-tall Jesus statue made of pure concrete.

In today’s reading, Mark writes, ³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.^[c] Now,  everything else we read in this story is predicated on that strange sentence filled with near-eastern geography that means little to nothing for most present-day Christians. Since we live 2000 years later in the Canadian prairies, it is hard to know why Mark thought that little detail even mattered. But the truth is, Mark’s whole story is based on this odd little geography lesson. But… we’ll get back to that.

In verse 32, Mark continues, “There some people brought to him [Jesus] a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.”

It’s an interesting verse. Some translators have rendered the word mo-ga-la-los as “dumb” and others more sensitively as “mute.” But the word mo-ga-la-los only appears once in the entire New Testament. And here, it probably doesn’t mean “mute.” See, they had a word for “mute”. It was Ko-phos (which appears 14 times in the New Testament), meaning that a person is entirely unable to speak. But here, the word is mo-ga-la-los. It means mumbly. In other words, the man is not totally mute. Instead, the man most likely had a severe speech impediment because he had learned to speak by mimicking people’s mouths without actually hearing others’ words. It’s not that he’s incapable of saying it; it’s just that he doesn’t know how to make the sounds.

There’s something else that’s a little odd here. Notice that no names are given. The man brought for healing has no name, and Mark doesn’t even say who brought him (they don’t have names either. Mark says, “Some people” brought the man to Jesus. It sort of like – he’s saying – this could be anybody.

Next, he writes, “³³After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh (or groan), said to him, “Eph-pha-tha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.”

It’s interesting. Most of the healing narratives emphasize Jesus’ words. In some cases, Jesus heals people who aren’t even present. He just declares them healed. Even here, though Jesus touches the man twice, the actual healing takes place not because of his actions but when Jesus speaks, “Be opened.” For me, that begs a lot of questions. Did Jesus really need to do any of this other stuff, and if not… why did he do it?

Think about that for a second. It’s a bizarre scene! Jesus takes this guy aside and sticks his fingers in the guy’s ears. Then he spits on his fingers, puts his hands in the man’s mouth, and touches the guy’s tongue. I don’t know about you, but… Yuk! Do you have any idea how dirty people’s hands were back then? Let’s face it: this is just gross.

Now it begs, saying that this isn’t the only time Jesus does something like this. In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud paste out of it, and then puts it on a blind man’s eyes to heal him. So it’s not the only time he does this… But it’s still really odd.

Next, Jesus looks up to the sky and groans. And then there is this strange word he speaks. There is no question for a Greek-speaking deaf man that the Aramaic command Eph-pha-tha would be unintelligible. And for a man who had probably survived by learning words by reading lips, this would look like crazy babble.

Can you imagine taking your friend to the doctor and having the doctor do this? He takes your friend aside, gives him a wet-willy, spits on his tongue depressor before checking his tonsils, looks up, makes a weird groaning noise, and then babbles some words in another language.

It’s just so foreign to what we might expect. And, why spit? I don’t care how many ways you slice it; today, spitting on someone is always an insult. And it was in Jesus’ day, too. Anyone under the law who was spit upon was considered unclean. Leviticus 15:8 says, “If the man spits on you, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and yet you will remain unclean until the evening.” Other scriptures deal with the insult of being spit upon as well. Numbers 12:14 says that if your father spits in your face as punishment, you must live outside the community for seven days.  Even Jesus was spit upon as a great insult before He was crucified (Matthew 27:30). So the question must be asked: why would Jesus use spit if it was considered insulting?

Some say that Jesus may have done this to show the crowd around that being deaf doesn’t make someone “unclean,” and so he touched him. But the truth is Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd. Plus, that doesn’t explain away the insult of using spit.

But notice where the spit lands. Depending on how the verse is translated, the spit touches only the man’s tongue or the insides of his ears and tongue. It’s almost like Jesus is using the spit specifically because it is insulting, not because it’s insulting to the man, but because it’s insulting to the disease itself. It’s like he’s spitting on the illness.

In any case, “His ears,” literally, his “hearings” (ἀκοαί; cf. τὰ ὡτα, 7:33) were “opened” (ἡνοίγησαν) and “he began speaking properly.” (ἐλάλειὀρθῶς ).

He’s healed. And that’s the point of the story. Jesus is the of God, so he can do extraordinary things. That’s what this story is about… Right? Mark tells this story as we heard it today. But Matthew tells the same story.

Well, maybe. When Matthew tells this story, he proclaims Christ the Messiah of the Jews. He says, “Wow, this is proof!” This Joshua guy (YeShuAh or Iousus/Jesus in Greek) does everything we expected, just differently. BUT Mark doesn’t do that. In fact, Mark isn’t explaining how Jesus fits any particular picture, Hebrew or otherwise. Still, why does Mark even need to explain what Eph-pha-tha means anyway? The text reads with a deep sigh [Jesus] said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) And this isn’t something the translators did for us. This is something Mark did for Mark’s first-century audience. Why???

Why does Mark refuse to translate certain words?

… It’s simple.

Mark has to translate this word because Mark’s readers don’t understand the Aramaic language Jesus was speaking. Because – Mark’s readers aren’t Jewish, and so, like 90% of the known world at the time, they also won’t understand. But there is something to this word that doesn’t quite fit right in Greek.

See, in Mark, there are all these stories about Jesus’ healing people. He gives sight to blind people and makes people who are deaf (or, more likely, as this is the case, hard of hearing) hear over and over again. And for four chapters, Jesus keeps doing these types of miracles (sight to the bind, people who are deaf, hear). Finally, the story of the fish and loaves and the disciples still don’t understand who Jesus is. – Just after Jesus has given eyes that see and ears that hear to outsider after stranger after stranger after non-Jew after marginalized person…  Jesus says this to his followers, the people who have been with him day in and day out… “¹⁸ YOU have eyes but fail to see, and you have ears but fail to hear?” (Mark 8:18). They’ve been around the blind and deaf every day and now Jesus says, “You are the real blind people”. Ouch. It isn’t very kind. It’s ironic. And it’s intentionally so.

A little boy was taken by his father to an evening church service where the film Martyrs of the Faith was showing. It was a graphic presentation of Christian persecution where Christians were being thrown to the lions. At the same time, the gleeful Romans cheered, and the helpless believers were torn apart one after the other. What made this scene particularly moving was that, instead of fighting off the lions or running from them, the Christians knelt in prayer and lifted their hands to heaven as they submitted to the terrible deaths.

The little boy, seated next to his father, began to cry uncontrollably. The father was very moved by this, believing in the willingness of the Christians Martyrs to suffer just as Christ. “Why are you crying? The father asked in anticipation of the boy’s faithful response. “Because,” said the boy, “that little baby lion didn’t get anything to eat!”  (Stories That Feed the Soul pg. 197)

Sometimes, it’s easy to miss the point. Now, I don’t want anyone to assume that you need some exceptional degree to understand the Bible; that’s simply not true. And you are not likely to hear very much from me, that you couldn’t eventually discover from the liner notes and a few old dusty commentaries. For 95% of the bible, I say, “If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” Don’t overcomplicate it unless something is very odd!

That said, certain things often confuse modern readers. They are not on every page, but yes, they exist.

At the beginning of this message, I said that this whole story is predicated on Mark’s odd geography lesson. This entire section of scripture in Mark, all the way up until the feeding of the 5000, is based on the idea that Jesus is heading for Decapolis.

Although this is one of those things that are lost in translation, the locations Mark lists in the first verse are wild. The route is crazy. He goes on a huge detour. He starts in Tyre, then goes north through Sidon, then south down to the Decapolis, and then East over to the Sea of Galilee. He goes north, then South so that he can get East.

It’s a little like Mark is saying, “Then Jesus left Saskatoon on his way to Edmonton, so he went over to Winnipeg and down to Regina, and to Slave Lake to get there.”

It’s nuts. Who was organizing Jesus’ travel plans – West Jet?

Let’s not forget, he’s walking… walking nearly 60 kilometers… out of his way.  This first sentence tells us all we need to know about the point Mark is making when he tells us this miracle story. Mark makes a huge point of Jesus walking through specifically gentile (non-Jewish) lands. All over the place… healing the blind and healing the deaf… and then at the end, Jesus looks at the Jews (his people, and not just any Jews – his 12 chosen Jews and says, “You have eyes but can’t see, and you have ears but don’t hear.”

Why does he say that? – Because of you… non-Jews. Mark wrote this book just for you. When Matthew tells this story to his Jewish audience, they find the whole idea insulting. They owned Jesus! Jesus was the Jewish Messiah who came to the Jews. But when Mark tells it… Jesus is just the Messiah. And that’s it. He came as Savoir for Jews and non-Jews alike. He came travelling through foreign lands of gentile people, crowds followed him, and he couldn’t escape them. Their faith was everywhere. For Mark, the whole point of this miracle story is that everything about it is odd and foreign. And he pounds that point home.

The shopkeeper had just purchased a three-foot concrete statue of Jesus at the Candy shop. The next day, to his surprise, the man discovered his four-year-old granddaughter Genevieve pulling with all of her might, trying unsuccessfully to carry the statue out the front door. “What are you doing, honey?” he said. “I want a Mr. Jesus in my brother’s room, too,” the litter girl said. Happy to have solved the mystery, the shopkeeper sat little Genevieve down for an important lesson. “Honey,” he said, “you took my Jesus?”. “Yes, papa,” she said as if it were nothing at all. “Honey, I bought that. You stole Jesus from me. Do you know what stealing means? See, I own that Jesus and”. Just then, the tiny girl interrupted with perhaps the wisest words ever spoken… “Papa, you’re silly,” she said, “Nobody owns Jesus.”

Mark uses this miracle because he wants us to know that Jesus came for us (the people who expected him) and for us, the people out there who didn’t and have no idea who he is. That no matter how much we want him to, God doesn’t fit into our boxes. For Mark, Jesus isn’t just the Jewish Messiah or the Christian Christ, but the savior of the world. He travels where he wants to travel, and he blesses whoever he wants to bless. He goes to where the infidels and enemies live. He comes to you.

When Mark writes that Jesus “left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and then into the region of the Decapolis,” What he means is that nobody owns Jesus.

May we know the healing touch of eyes that see and ears that hear.

May we carry countless unnamed and unknown people to Christ for healing.

May we know Christ, the savior of the world.

May we know that God does not fit into the boxes we try to place him in?

And so may we share the Love of Christ with all we meet, knowing that Nobody owns Jesus. -Amen

Song: Blest are they (624: vss 1-4)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves

O God in whom we live and move and have our being:

We come to you in prayer as the summer season draws nearer to its close:

We give you thanks for the occasions we have enjoyed to catch up with family and friends; to travel for recreation and restoration and let our worries go.

We are grateful for each moment to savour the beauty of creation.

Refresh us for the season ahead we pray, and renew our commitment to serve you.

O God, Jesus faced many demands wherever he went, and pressure from critics, whatever he did.

We pray for all those who have not found rest this summer: for those whose work is stressful, exhausting or unappreciated; and for those whose livelihoods remain uncertain because of circumstances beyond their control.

We pray for those with hard choices to make, about work or school or what comes next, about relationships and priorities, or about social policy and community leadership.

Silence for 20 seconds.

May each one know your strength and guidance day by day.

Today we remember those for whom this summer has been touched by suffering:

We pray for those who have lost loved ones, and those facing an uncertain future or a difficult diagnosis.

We pray for those who have lost their homes, for whatever reason, and for those who despair about the climate crisis and what can be done to repair the suffering earth.

Silence for 20 seconds

We pray for all those who join efforts to relieve suffering of any kind.

May each one find courage to face tomorrow in your company.

O God, we need the embrace of your presence, each in our own way.

As we prepare to leave this service, walk with us, and show us how to live each day as those who follow Jesus. Amen.

Song: When the poor ones (762)

Sending out with God’s blessing

The Book of James challenges God’s beloved: “You do well if you really fulfil God’s royal law: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ For faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Go with these words on your hearts,
And may the God of wisdom guide you;
The Christ of mercy walk beside you;
And the Spirit of hope inspire you each and every day, now and always. Amen.

Response: Benediction (as you go)

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 (© 2024) 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.

Worship on the Lord’s Day
01 September 2024    10:00 am
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia           Vocalist: Lynn Vaughan
Elder: Rom Rhoad

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

Call to Worship
L: Holy God, you call us to worship.
P: In your presence, we seek truth and forgiveness.
L: Holy God, you call us to worship you.
P: In your presence, we seek the grace to forgive one another. 
L: Holy God, you call us to worship you, heart, body, mind and soul.
P: So we gather to offer you our prayer and praise with joyful thanks.

Opening praise: This is amazing grace

Prayers of approach and confession

O holy and merciful God, You are God and we are not.
Your ways are higher than our ways.

Help us to know you.
Lord we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will.
We have been unwilling to listen, eager to speak, and easily angered,
We have broken your law.
We have rebelled against your love.
We have not loved our neighbours and we have the most vulnerable people in this world in their distress.
Thus, we have been stained by the world, and we find ourselves distant from you.
Forgive us we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Response: I waited, I waited on you, Lord

Assurance of God’s forgiveness

We know there is no limit to God’s love and grace and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. The challenge is not for us to find forgiveness. The challenge is for us to live as the forgiven people we are, to claim this truth and live it out in the world. Let us go forth, sharing the spirit of forgiveness and embracing the outcast, knowing that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: To show by touch and word (763)

Scripture readings (NRSV): James 1: 17-27 and Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, & 21-23

Response: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God

Message: Tongues afire
The two thousand-member Baptist church was filled to overflowing capacity one Sunday morning. The pastor was ready to start the sermon when two men, dressed in long black coats and black hats entered thru the rear of the church.

One of the two men walked to the middle of the church while the other stayed at the back. Everyone knew that something wasn’t quite right. Then both men reached under their coats and withdrew large automatic weapons.

The one in the middle announced, “Everyone willing to take a bullet for Jesus just stay in your seats!”

Naturally, chaos ensued. The pews emptied. The people feared for their lives. The congregation, the choir and 7 all 7 assistant pastors went running. After a few moments the gunmen looked around and found about twenty people left sitting in the church. The lead pastor was still holding steady in the pulpit.

Then the men put their weapons down. “All right” one said, “Now that it’s just us Christians here Padre, feel free to start the service.”

James is the brother of Jesus. In the book of Acts James is called James the Just. He was the head of the council in Rome and had the final say on matters when the disciples disagreed with one another. In Galatians 2 Paul and Peter have an argument and as a result go to James to decide between them. So, not to put too fine a point on it, but if there were a Pope in the first generation, Peter wouldn’t be it. James would be.

James has always been a controversial letter in our Bibles. Martin Luther found apocryphal catholic books like Bel and the Dragon to be historically important enough to keep in the back of his Bible as reference material But James, Luther hated. He called it the “epistle made of straw” because he thought it talked to much about works and not enough about grace… so he tore it from his Bible and he burned it.

James wrote at an early time when Christian persecution was on the rise. When he wrote, to proclaim one’s self to be a Christian, could mean a death sentence. Still, contrary to what Martin Luther thought, James isn’t about works righteousness or earning favor with God. It’s about making your faith come alive. That’s why James said, “Faith without works is like a lifeless body” Yeah, it may be there but it’s just not doing anything. Yeah you may be a Christian but more like a lifeless one that never moves. Faith without works is dead.

James wanted people to put their money where their mouth is… so to speak. To say what they mean and mean what they say. James wanted people to claim Christ and then act like it.

James writes, “Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.”

As it’s often been said, “God gave us two ears and one mouth so that we would listen twice as much as we speak.” Or as Proverbs 17:28 puts it, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Or if this were written today it would probably read, “Better to save a draft of your email, then to send one you’ll later regret.”

Unfortunately, we tend to speak (or type) much more than we care to listen. Consequently, we often fail to hear what others are saying.

In one of his books, long before Dr. Stephen Hawking died, the Rev. Dr. Ben Edgington wrote about meeting together, “I’ve occasionally been to lectures given by Professor Stephen Hawking. Even if you’ve never heard him speak, you are bound to have heard of him: he’s a scientist who suffers from motor neuron disease and is almost entirely paralyzed. The way he communicates is truly extraordinary. With just about the only muscle function he has, he uses a single button to laboriously select words from a computer screen on his wheelchair, and when he’s finished, a speech synthesizer delivers his words in a Robot-like voice.

Doing a question-and-answer session with him is an amazing experience: it can take him five or ten minutes or even longer to compose a reply to a single question. But during that time there is not a whisper in the audience. Everyone is eager to hear what Dr. Hawking has to say. No-one jumps in with their own answer to the questions because they know they’d look a fool. And if he says something controversial people don’t get up and rant at him: they weigh what he says because each sentence he speaks takes time. Hawking is very careful with his responses. He listens carefully and responds just as carefully. Only that we might all have to compose ourselves thusly.”

James continues on. He writes, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

Now, this verse is not quite what it first appears. At first glance it seems to be about purifying the community from sin and it is to an extent. But it’s really more about listening for God. See, the word for filthiness that’s used here is actually a medical term from the time. The word was used very specifically to describe two distinct things. The first use of the word was a way to refer to soiled clothing. But the second way the word was used was to refer to the removal of earwax (put aside all filthiness). For most of the commentaries I checked it seems that Earwax is probably the case here. If that’s true, then it’s sort of like a little note that James drops on his listeners… “Listen up, people. Get the wax out of your ears! God’s word is within you. Listen to it.”

“Therefore, get the wax out of your ears and do away with all wickedness, and in humility, receive the word implanted which is able to save your souls.”

James wants us to be slow to speak, eager to listen, to get the wax out of our ears and truly hear the Word God has already implanted within us.

He continues on: “Now prove yourselves doers of [that] word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, it is like a person who looks into a mirror and as soon as they step away from it, forgets what they look like.” 

In The Message it’s paraphrased like this: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.”

James understands that God wants us to have a living faith. That’s why, later in his book James gets more aggressive. He says, “what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you have faith?” (James 2:14)

I have this friend in Omaha, Nebraska from my young adults group. His name is Peter. He’s a really wonderful guy. A while back we had this talk about seeing a car with a big Jesus fish on the back I saw speeding and cutting people off in traffic. Pete quoted me this verse. We both agreed that it would be better for some people not to put the Jesus fish on their cars in the first place. But “there’s really no way to fix this” I said. “Yeah, there is…” Pete said. It turns out this had been bothering Pete so much and for so long, that he had begun going out for a drive once a week with a big Jesus Saves bumper sticker on the back of his little smart car. {This is absolutely true.) Once a week Pete goes out for a drive with one purpose. He lets people in the lanes they want in. That’s it. His goal is not to get to the store or pick up some milk. It’s just to be a polite driver. Letting people merge into his lane is his sole purpose. Now, it sounds crazy… but when Pete steps away from the mirror, he still knows exactly what he looks like. He puts his money where his mouth is. He does just what James says: he proves himself a doer of the word, and not merely a hearer. And I like that.

Bad, rude drivers proclaiming their faith in Jesus bothered Pete, so he decided to be a good driver and proclaim his faith in Jesus.

I wonder what other things in life we might deal with in this same way???

In verse 26 James goes back to the thrust of his argument. Here he says, “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.”

James says, if you’re going to drive a car covered in Christian bumper stickers, you better watch your mouth. All eyes are on you to see if you’re merely a hearer or if you’re a doer. You better learn to listen carefully, and when you’re mad, you had better learn to hold your tongue.

I read this story recently: A man working in the produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, “Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads, and that’s how we sell them!”

“You mean,” she persisted, “that after all the years I’ve shopped here, you won’t sell me half a head of lettuce?” “Look,” he said, “If you like I’ll ask the manager.” She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store to see the manager. “You won’t believe this, but there’s a lame-brained idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce.”

Then the kid suddenly noticed the manager gesturing with his eyes, and quickly turned around to see the “lame-brained idiot of a lady” standing right behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. “… Thinking quickly the boy added… “And this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half.”

Later in the day the manager cornered the young man and said, “That was the finest example of thinking on your feet I’ve ever seen! Where did you learn that?” He said, “I grew up in Grand Rapids, and if you know anything about Grand Rapids, you know that it’s known for only two things: great hockey and hideously ugly women.”

The manager’s face flushed, and he interrupted, “My wife is from Grand Rapids!” To which the boy replied “Oh, and which hockey team did she play for?”

James says, bridle your tongue. Good advice.

Our God wants Christians to say what we mean and mean what we say. He wants Christians that are quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to anger; Christians that know what we look like in the mirror; ones that reflect his image. He wants Christians that bridle our tongues. He wants Christians that define True religion not just as something we talk about, but something we do for others.

May we all be the kind of Christians God has called us to be. Amen

Song: Great is Thy faithfulness (324)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Jesus our Friend and Redeemer, we come to You this morning ready for a new day. As we begin to turn this season from summer to school, as things begin to become busy and our daily schedules fill, remind us to pause and give thanks to You. Remind us to take in the beauty of the world around us and to give thanks for the people You have brought into our lives. Call upon us to call upon others, to not forget our friendships and family and to cherish our time together. Guide us away from the busy-ness of the outside world and into the peaceful rhythms of daily life. Renew in us Your guiding Wisdom. Keep us to the promises of new life here and now on earth and help us to share this gift of life with others.

We pray for the church, that we might show forth our faith in action, regard all with impartiality, and be quick to listen and slow to anger.

We pray for our nation, that whenever trials may befall us, that You may grant us endurance and wisdom.

We pray for the world, that the lowly may be raised up, and that mercy may fall on us all.

We pray for the sick, the injured, the vulnerable, and those undergoing all forms of adversity, that they might all be found in Your presence. Especially this morning we pray for new and expectant mothers in our community.

Gracious God, let our prayers be offered to you with the gentleness that is born from your wisdom from above, that is pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, and full of mercy.

Hear our Prayers and help use us to answer them. Amen.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

Those who belong to Christ gather gladly to his table to make a memorial of his life and death to celebrate his presence and together as his Church offer Him thanks. For this reason we take this bread and this wine and set them aside from all common use.

The celebration is for us but it is not ours. It is God’s alone. Now, together as one body made up of people from all around the world, of all ages, we pass on what was passed to us.

Welcome to the Lord’s Supper.

Song: Lift up your hearts (526: vss. 1-4)

We affirm our faith: The Apostles Creed (539)
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Communion Prayer

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy Supper which we are about to celebrate is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope.

We come in remembrance that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent of the Father into the world to assume our flesh and blood and to fulfill for us all obedience to the divine law, even to the bitter and shameful death of the cross. By his death, resurrection, and ascension he established a new and eternal covenant of grace and reconciliation that we might be accepted of God and never be forsaken by him.

We come to have communion with this same Christ who has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world. In the breaking of the bread he makes himself known to us as the true heavenly Bread that strengthens us unto life eternal. In the cup of blessing he comes to us as the Vine in whom we must abide if we are to bear fruit.

We come in hope, believing that this bread and this cup are a pledge and foretaste of the feast of love of which we shall partake when his kingdom has fully come, when with unveiled face we shall behold him, made like unto him in this glory.

Since by his death, resurrection, and ascension he has obtained for us the life-giving Spirit who unites us all in one body, so are we to receive this Supper in true brotherly love, mindful of the communion of saints.

Holy and right it is and our joyful duty to give thanks to you at all times and in all places, O Lord, our Creator, almighty and everlasting God! You created the heaven with all its hosts and the earth with all its plenty. You have given us life and being and preserve us by your providence. But you have shown us the fullness of your love in sending into the world your Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, made flesh for us men and for our salvation. For the precious gift of this mighty Savior who has reconciled us to you we praise and bless you, O God.

With your whole Church on earth and with all the company of heaven we worship and adore your glorious name.

Most righteous God, we remember in this Supper the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the world.

In the joy of his resurrection and in expectation of his coming again, we offer ourselves to you as holy and living sacrifices.

Sharing of the bread and wine

Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread which we break may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ. Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into him Christ our Lord.

And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf and these grapes from many hills into one cup, grant, O Lord, that thy whole Church may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into thy kingdom. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,

“Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me.”

After the same manner also, he took the cup when they had supped, saying, “this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ.

The cup of blessing which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ.

Song: Behold the Lamb

The prayer after Communion

Heavenly Father, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food
of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal Kingdom.

And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.

To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Hymn: I’m gonna live so God can use me (648)

Sending out with God’s blessing

The Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you His peace. Amen, and Amen, and Amen.

Response: The Blessing

Music postlude

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The Communion liturgy is based on the liturgies of the PCC’s 1991 Book of Common Worship. 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 (© 2024) 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.