Jesus is the gardener of our lives (Raymond Baker)

Posted on June 30, 2024June 30, 2024 by John

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am 30 June 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Minister: The Rev Brad Childs Led by: Raymond Baker
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Rom Rhoad
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: Out of the depths, we cry to the Lord.
P: We will wait upon the Lord.
L: Hope in the Lord!
P: For with God, there is steadfast love;
L: With God, there is great power to redeem.
P: So we offer prayers and praise to God in whom we trust.

Opening praise: Forever God is faithful

Prayers of approach and confession

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.

In Jesus’ Powerful name we pray. Amen.

Response: We come to ask you forgiveness, O Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon

Scripture teaches that there is a time for every matter under heaven.

A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance.

In confessing our sins to God, we have offered God our tears of regret.

Now is the time to rejoice in God’s mercy:

In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

In Jesus Christ, we can make a new start. Thanks be to God.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Open our eyes, Lord (445)

Story

Story: The Apple Tree

How many of you like apples?
Apples not only taste good, they are good for you. Apples are fat-free, salt-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free, and a good source of vitamins to help you grow.

There are a lot of different ways to enjoy apples. Can you give me some examples?
* apple juice or apple cider
* applesauce, maybe in your school lunches
* have you ever had some tasty apple butter on your toast in the morning?
* apple slices dipped in caramel are a delicious treat
* my all-time favourite, of course, is apple pie. So yummy!

I am sure that all of you know where we get apples: they come from apple trees. Well, what would you do if you planted an apple tree in your garden, watered it, and took care of it and it never produced any apples? It wouldn’t be much good as an apple tree, would it?

I planted an apple tree in my yard about 10 years ago, and I was looking forward to harvesting bushels of delicious apples each summer. It started out as a bit of a twig, of course, but I had high hopes that it would grow strong and healthy in no time. Unfortunately, the ground where it sits is pretty tough AND my dogs decided to use it as a bit of a chew toy. In the first few years, it mostly just sat there looking like a bare post in the ground. Maybe it had a few leaves on it, but definitely no apples. I debated whether or not to just take it out and try again.

I decided to just keep watering it often and see what happened. After about five years, I noticed a new shoot was growing out of the part of the wee trunk that was closest to the ground. Still, there has never been any hint of an apple on this tree … and it’s ten years later!

Last week, I was walking around the yard and decided to take another peek at my sad, little tree, and this is what I saw – a bunch of small buds that are showing to be the beginnings of what will become full-fledged apples at the end of the summer!! This will be the very first time a piece of fruit has grown on this tree – as long as the dogs don’t decide to have a feast, of course!?! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to taste the apples this fall; I can’t even remember what brand they are, at this point.

This reminds me of a story that Jesus told about a man who had a fig tree in his yard that didn’t produce any figs. For many years, he waited for the tree to produce fruit — but it didn’t. He was going to have it cut down, but the gardener convinced the man to wait one more year and, in the meantime, he offered to give it some extra care and attention. The owner agreed to give the tree another chance. And guess what? The tree started producing fruit.

Jesus was really talking about us – and about God. God has “planted” us on this earth, and he expects us to produce good fruit in our life. What kind of fruit does God expect? Things like loving one another, living peacefully with our neighbours, having patience, and showing kindness. When God doesn’t see us doing these things in our life, He is very disappointed — but He is willing to give us another chance. He’s not going to give up on us. Just like the trees we talked about: they were not cut down, and they were given another chance.

Jesus is like the gardener. He wants to care for us and help us to be the kind of fruit-bearing children that God wants us to be. If we will trust in him, read the bible, and pray — Jesus will help us to produce a lot of good fruit.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, thank you for giving us another chance, help us to have the kind of fruit in our lives that would be pleasing to our Heavenly Father. And now, together, we will say the prayer that you taught us.

Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: Lord Jesus, think on me (207)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Luke 13: 6 – 9

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: Jesus is the gardener of our lives

Today I want to begin with a story.

Let’s go way back in time to when I was nine years old. My father had a special box on his dresser and told me not to touch anything in this special box. One day, however, I looked in that box and found a pocket watch that was once owned by my Grandad. Carefully, I opened this special watch and found it very interesting. While I was examining it, Dad came home, and I did not have time to put it away. I rushed out of my parent’s bedroom, leaving the watch open and lying on the ensuite floor. Trying to pretend nothing was going on I quietly walked to my bedroom.

Minutes later, I heard my Dad’s footsteps entering my room and he looked me straight in the eye, and asked, “Raymond, did you disobey me by taking Grandad’s pocket watch out of my special box?”

I was guilty and immediately confessed. I asked my father to please forgive me and I promised never to go into his things again.

Years ago, when I was nine, I was remorseful about not respecting my father’s possessions and learned from my mistakes. Now, years later, my father sees me as a responsible and mature son. In light of this story, I find it interesting that just recently, he gifted me with his entire watch collection. It actually includes a 1950’s Rolex and other important watches to our family. As I reflect, the watch collection resembles the fruit that God bestows on us when we humbly repent.

The story I just told reminds me of today’s parable.

Let us read Luke 13:6-9,

Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So, he said to the gardener who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the gardener*9 replied, ‘Please leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Most mornings I listen to the news while I am getting ready, so I know what is happening in the world. Did you know that some local news was reported to Jesus in the Bible? This is found just before today’s scripture.

Jesus reflects on the news with a question for the people in Luke 13:1-3. Let me read it–

“At that time some people were there who told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices to God. 2 Jesus answered them, “Because those Galileans were killed in that way, do you think it proves that they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then Jesus tells about a tower that collapsed in Luke 13:4-5.

4 “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’”

Jesus’ news update, as I am calling it, tells about two incidents where people were killed. Jesus then asked his listeners if they think these people died because they were more sinful than others. He answers his question with a resounding, “No!” Jesus then goes on to say that unless people repent of their sinfulness they will die spiritually or physically without everlasting life.

It is important to note here, that Jesus told the parable of the barren fruit tree right after emphasizing the need for repentance when the upset Galileans came to him with the sad news update.

The first point of my sermon is: we should repent and then we will be fruitful.

Before we repent, we have to humble ourselves and believe we have sinned. The word for ‘sin’ in koine Greek is HAMARTIA. The definition of HAMARTIA is to miss the mark. In the Bible the mark is the Will of God.

One summer I was a camp Pastor at Brightwood Youth Ranch just west of Edmonton. I remember telling the camp children that sin was doing something bad. Through my studies, I have learned that this explanation may have been too simplistic. In fact, everything we do that is not in God’s will, is sinning.

According to the Bible, the result of sin without repentance is death.

In Luke 13:5, Jesus says, “if one does not repent, one will surely perish,” and Romans 6:23 states, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Repentance is key!

The word for repent is the koine Greek word METANOIA.

Thayer’s lexicon defines METANOIA as: “To change one’s mind.” In other words, to repent, is to change one’s mind to the Will of God. Some pastors have used the word turn for METANOIA. In other words, we turn from sin to God’s Will in our minds.

Luke 3:8 states that we are to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Repentance is key!

Another important place repentance is found is in Matthew 3 where John the Baptist is baptizing people around him. John the Baptist states in Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

These people were repenting and confessing their sins and John baptized them in the Jordan River. John noticed that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to where he was baptizing. John said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance…”

In other words, the Pharisees and Sadducees were not saved because they were descendants of Abraham, just like we are not saved because our parents were saved, and we go to church.

Did you notice John described the Pharisees and Sadducees who knew the scriptures as Vipers? They did not produce fruit in keeping with repentance and they must flee from the coming wrath. This parallels the parable of the barren fruit tree in today’s reading. God, being depicted as the owner of the vineyard, wants to cut down the tree that is not producing fruit and put it in the burn pile. Wow! This is serious.

Charles Spurgeon, a prominent pastor in England during the 1800s wrote a book called, “Turn or Burn.” In the book he said, “Trees that bring not forth fruit must be cut down; and sinners who bring not forth repentance, faith, and holiness, must die.

OK, now, I feel like I am preaching a fire and brimstone sermon that announces if we don’t repent of our sins, we will be put into an eternal fire.

Let’s slow down here. There is a solution to all of this: it is to repent, not out of fear, but out of understanding the transformation that takes place when we are repentant to God.

Repentance is key!

If we are to look for fruit, what is the fruit?

In Genesis and Leviticus, we find the phrase ‘be fruitful and multiply’. Fruitful here, means to have children. In the New Testament the meaning of ‘fruitful’ seems different.

An example of being fruitful is given in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Fruit is evidence of genuine repentance. In Acts 26:20, Paul preaches that people should repent and turn to God. They demonstrate their repentance by their deeds or /fruitfulness.

Fruit also is an indication of the expanding of the Kingdom of God.

Repentance is key!

The next point of this sermon is: through Jesus we are given another chance.

The fig tree in our reading today is given another chance, but it is not just left to produce fruit on its own. No, the gardener fertilizes it, and digs a ditch for good irrigation. In other words, it is the hard work of the gardener or Jesus/and the Holy Spirit who makes the most of the second chance given to the tree or to us, the sinners. All we have to do is humble ourselves, repent and accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and to commit to live Godly lives.

Peter states in 2 Peter 1:5-9

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

When we focus on Christ and read our Bibles, we slowly show Godly characteristics or fruit.

The third point of this sermon is: Jesus and the Father can be the Gardener of our lives.

Jesus actually describes the Father as the gardener of our lives in John 15:1-4.

Let me read it. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean, because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

In today’s parable found in Luke 23 the orchard owner is the Father and the gardener is Christ or the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Both Luke 13 and John 15 focus on Christ being the source of transformation in our lives.

Continuing with the gardening idea, let’s think about what Jesus was getting at in this story as he describes the gardener watering and fertilizing the tree for one more year to produce fruit. The writer of Hebrews writes in chapter 12 how God disciplines us. It draws out the similarity we have with our human fathers. The intent of our human father’s discipline is to teach their children to make good decisions, but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in God’s holiness or sanctify us and make us more Christ-like, exhibiting the fruit in our lives.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. God does not discipline us because he is being mean, rather he is pruning us to be more fruitful. One might naturally think when we repent, we stop sinful actions. That is true, but with repentance to God, we not only stop our sinful actions, we also develop fruit in our daily lives.

This brings me back to the story I told at the beginning of this sermon about my dad’s prized pocket watch and my disobedience to him. At the time, my father told me how disappointed he was in me, relating this to Scripture, I was being pruned. Later, after many mistakes, my continued repentance and years of maturity, my father has finally gifted me his prized watches.

The focus for repentance should not be that we will be blessed with fruit. Rather, we should understand that, because Christ forgives us, we can have a relationship with God, our Father. If we humble ourselves and repent of our sins we become new creatures and are slowly sanctified and show fruit in our lives. Let me read what Jesus tells his disciples that are being persecuted in John 15:1-27

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned… 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus is saying that with Christ, we can bear much fruit, because He is our source, like a vine is to the branches.

To be fruitful means to live a life that produces good works and reflects the character of Christ. It means remaining connected to Him in relationship and allowing Him to work through us to accomplish His purposes.

The final point of this sermon is: the patience of God is limited.

It is imperative that we understand God to be a merciful God who is full of grace, but we have to repent of our sinfulness. Peter 3:9, it says that the Lord is not slow about His promise. He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

In the parable of the barren fig tree, the owner of the vineyard allows one more year for the gardener to nurture the tree in hopes that it will produce fruit. It is interesting that the vineyard owner noticed the tree was barren for three years. Some scholars think this number is significant, because Jesus’ earthly ministry was three years. The hearers of this message may have listened to Jesus preach many times during the three years, but some still did not repent. Just like us, we have the Bible in our own language, but we still do not repent. It has been made clear that we either repent of our sins or find ourselves at odds with God. Time is of the essence; we do not want to find ourselves barren like the fig tree, wasting soil. Instead, starting today, let us repent regularly, admitting that we need God every moment of our lives. Use the gifts he has given us to be fruitful in the kingdom of God.

Throughout the New Testament, the illustration of being pruned, so we can grow into God’s will is repeated.

Like me, you probably say, “I have already repented, so this sermon is not relevant to me.” The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do; for I don’t do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate.” Later in Romans 7:24-25 Paul writes “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul kept sinning even while trying his best to do God’s will. I can truly relate to him in this regard. Every day, we can repent of our sins and through Christ, the gardener of our lives, we will be transformed into new creatures and will bear godly fruit.

Also, we do not know when our lives will end. Matthew 25:13 states, ““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” We do not know the timing of Christ’s return, nor do we know when our lives will come to an end. So, repentance and making Christ Lord of our lives is critical.

To conclude

Repentance is the key. As we repent, God will bless us with fruit in our lives. We should not repent to be blessed, rather we should repent, because we believe that Christ will redeem us and transform us to be fruitful in the Kingdom of God.
Every day, through Christ we are given another chance. Everyday becoming more mature in Christ. We may have repented of our sins and accepted Christ as saviour, but like Paul in Romans 7 We may find ourselves sinning many days but like Paul says through Jesus Christ who delivers him over and over again; all one has to do is repent.
Jesus and the Father are the Gardeners of our lives. If we have repented and accepted Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, He will feed, water and prune us, so we become fruitful and the person He created us to be. The father also prunes us so that we can be more fruitful. We can get to know God better by reading His Word and praying. Jesus and the Holy Spirit will do a good work in us, to help us mature in Christ and be fruitful!
God is waiting.

The owner of the vineyard allowed one more year for the gardener to work with the fig tree. Our Lord patiently waits for us to repent, but we do not know when our lives will end. The time to repent is every day.

The barren fig tree parable does not have an ending. I believe the reason Jesus does not tell us what happened with the fig tree after the year of grace is that the hearers need to decide how the story ends in their own personal lives.

So, will you repent and focus your life on Christ and use the gifts he has given you to be fruitful in the kingdom of God? Even though Jesus is your Saviour, continue to focus on him every day. If you are here today and you do not know Christ as the Saviour of your life, I would be happy to talk with you about that after the service.

Brothers and sisters of Dayspring, let us go forth and be fruitful.

Song: When we are living (630)

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

Lord, we come before you today to say thank you. Thank you for all you have given us–for all the blessings that we can and cannot see. With a grateful heart we thank you Lord for saving us from darkness and delivering us from evil. We accept what you did on the cross as you took our sin and shame. You can take away our sickness and can heal our pain. We thank you for all you have done and are about to do in our lives. Thank you, Lord.

Song: Go ye, go ye unto the world (755)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Repent and focus your life on Christ everyday resulting in being more fruitful for the Kingdom of God. Let us go forth and be fruitful.

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).

Raymond Baker retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as Raymond Baker 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.

Demons in the sea

Posted on June 23, 2024June 23, 2024 by John

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am 23 June 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Lind F-B
Elder: Renita MacCallum

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: Give thanks to the LORD, for God is good.
P: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
L: We see God’s wondrous works all around us,
P: so, we come to praise God’s holy name.
L: Open wide your hearts in this time of worship!
P: We lift our hearts to God with thanks and praise.

Opening praise: Graves into gardens

Prayers of approach and confession

Gracious Father in heaven, we come into your presence with adoration this morning in the name our risen Savior Jesus Christ through whom we have eternal access to you. We make a joyful noise to you, O Lord, and we bring our songs of praise because you are a great God and a great King above all gods. In your hand are the depths of the earth, and the heights of the mountains belong to you. Even the sea is yours, for you made it and prescribed limits for it and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed.”

We also praise you because you graciously sustain the world you have created by the word of your power. In your tender care, you provide for the needs of your creatures and us, your people. Lord, to man, the pinnacle of your creative works, you have given your law which is perfect because you are perfect. Your law can make the foolish wise. It is able to make the one who walks according to it like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season. It is a lamp unto our feet and light for our path.

Yet the light of your law, O Lord, also reveals the darkness in our hearts. We confess that the guilt we incurred through Adam’s first sin as well as the guilt we have earned through our own trespasses make us liable to your judgment. We confess that we have sinned against you even this week and even this morning. We have said words that are hurtful to others. We have been sinfully lazy and left undone the things to which you have called us. We have had selfish, hypocritical, and insincere motives even in our deeds which appear outwardly righteous. We have gossiped, lied, and broken promises; all the while excusing our sin or attempting to cover it by our means.

Yet, Father, we bring you praise this morning not only as our Maker and Sustainer, but also as our Savior, who has given us the free gift of righteousness, the forgiveness of our sins, and the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We know we can confess our sins to you without fear because you have set aside the record of debt that stood against us by nailing it to the cross of Jesus. Thus, we may approach you boldly and with confidence. For it’s in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

Response: Glory, Glory, Hallelujah

Assurance of God’s love
In the words of Christ our Lord, “I come to seek and save the lost”. It is not the righteous that need salvation but the sinners. To all of us who approach the throne with boldness… We are forgiven.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s Time & Presentation of Bibles

Response: Open our eyes, Lord

Story and Presentation: Darlene Eerkes

Prayer: Brad

Transition music

Song: Saviour, like a shepherd lead us (485)

Today’s Message

Scripture: Psalm 107: 23-29; II Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

Response: Behold the lamb of God

Message: Demons in the sea

The Sea of Galilee is Israel’s largest freshwater lake, approximately 110 square miles. It is situated deep in the Jordan surrounded by hills and right between the African and Arabian tectonic plates. As such, the area is subject to earthquakes and, in the past, volcanic activity. Although it is referred to as a “Sea”, it is just a little bit smaller than Calling Lake. The Sea of Galilee is also pretty deep with a depth of approximately 150ft. That’s enough to bury a thirteen-story building.) At about 600 feet below sea level, it is the lowest in Israel and the lowest freshwater lake on planet Earth. And it is the second-lowest lake of any kind in the world.

At the time of Jesus, the Sea of Galilee was the location of one of the world’s busiest fish markets. Even today the waters are known for their fish and the lake holds a variety of over 20 common species. When the disciples travelled the Ancient Near East, boats were the most common way to fish and nets were the most profitable by far. The boat that Jesus and the disciples went out onto the Sea of Galilee with was probably typical of the time: about 25 feet long 8 feet wide and 4.5 feet deep. These boats would usually hold 5 people with four in control of the one large sail as well as the four oars and with one person sitting on the cushion (the place of honour) steering the ruder at the stern (back of the boat).

(*Based on the Kibbutz Ginosar discovery). In 1986 a very well-preserved (typical of its time) 2000-year-old Lake Galilee fishing boat was uncovered. This is what it looks like.

According to first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, it is reported that the activity of the lake usually included around 230 fishing vessels on an average day. Most of these would tread only so far. It was few and far between that fishermen would cross the lake, with most boats straying only just a short distance from shore; staying far away from the deepest portions of the sea. They were afraid of it.

In the verses read from here today, Jesus is out in the boat with his disciples. What is important to note is that at least 4 of these men were fishermen by trade. They had worked at the Sea of Galilee, and they knew it very well. Although the sea was known for its cruel winds, high waves and quick drops in temperature at least 4 of the disciples would have had an intimate knowledge of this. But that is one of the things that makes this story a bit odd. You see, in verse 41 it says that the disciples were “terrified”. In verse 38 they say to Jesus, “Don’t you know that we are perishing?”

“Terrified”, Perishing” … really?

Why…They’re on a lake.

The Sea of Galilee is dangerous. It is almost completely surrounded by hills with deep ravines and gorges. When the wind hits the natural rock formations, they essentially act just like massive funnels that rush cold winds downwards onto the surface of the water causing strange shifts in wind direction. Small, ancient boats that dared to roam too far from shore could easily be overturned or flooded. But as dangerous as this all is, there’s something more to this story than just that.

See, the strangest thing about this story is that the sea and storm are not treated like your average force of nature. The lake is not talked about as if it’s just a mass of water or if the waves are normal. And why would it be? The story wasn’t written in 2024. These people were people of their time. And the way they understood the world was different from us.

To them, the Sea of Galilee wasn’t just a lake. A lot of people today wrongly sometimes assume that everyone in biblical times thought that the world was flat, but that simply was not the case. In fact, for most people at the time (and particularly the Hebrews), the world was thought to be a kind of bowl shape (the sides of which were called the pillars of the earth). These “pillars” then held up the land that kind of floated in the ocean. And more importantly, they held back the waters on the other side of the pillars. Space as we know it was thought of very differently. It was not an empty mass or vacuum. They believed that it was filled with water just waiting to smash through the pillars and destroy everything. Here is a well-known Hebrew Cosmological drawing.

This is what is described in the opening chapter of Genesis for example.

In creation, God brought order to the chaos of water and separated the water from the dry land. You may recall that God separates the “water from above from the water from below”. This is why the waters in the Noah’s Ark story are told to come from both above and from the ground.

Now, over the top of the bowl-shaped world is this kind of pasta strainer (called the firmament). It was thought to be rock-hard. But it was also thought to have these holes called “doors” and “windows” and so when God wanted it to rain it was said that He would just open and close them up to let rain in or to stop it.

And although there are seas both salt water and fresh water out there, for the Jews, the only safe water comes from wells or streams. Everything else (every large body of water) at some point connects to the “waters of the deep” underground (to the waters of evil or chaos just begging to break through). Interestingly, they were very scientifically correct in this regard. Lake Galilee is fed from several underground springs in addition to the Jordan.

Now, in the deep, under the land was Sheol (the place of the dead). The monsters of the deep that guard Sheol were a common part of popular understanding for both Jews and Gentiles. For the Greeks, it was the stories of Baal vs. Yam (the monster of chaos) for others Marduk and the demon serpent Tiamat. For the Jews, it was Rehab and Leviathan (great sea monsters said to stir up the water and sink ships).

Though these monsters were usually said to confine themselves to the Red and Dead Seas you have to remember that all of the waters were thought to have connected to each other under the ground by “the waters of the deep” and so these great beasts were thought to move from sea to sea by travelling under the land. And this meant that they could pop up at any time in any large body of water.

The monsters can appear from lake to lake and when they come, they are thought to bring with them massive storms and waves.

For Mark’s original audience, this story was not just about a simple natural occurrence. It wasn’t just a storm on a lake. It wasn’t only the worry of mortality. It was about the demons in the sea.

In the book of Mark, in the very next paragraph after what we have read today, we find another interesting story that makes most modern readers quite nervous. The story takes place just after Jesus and the disciples arrive safely on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. It is the story of a man possessed by evil spirits and in this story, a large number of demons begs not to be cast out into the countryside (away from home). Instead, they plead with Jesus that they might be sent into a herd of pigs instead. This crazy story from Mark 5:13 records this wild detail. It says, “Then the unclean spirits went out of the man and entered the swine (there were about two thousand), and then the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea…”.

For modern readers, this seems a strange tale. Why don’t the demons want to go out into the countryside? And when they find themselves inhabiting the bodies of the pigs why do they immediately run for the water?

But see, for Mark’s audience, the answer was simple… the evil spirits didn’t want to go out into no man’s land (back out into the country). They wanted to go home. They wanted to go back to the Sea of Galilee because that’s where they came from. The demons came from the sea.

In our story at Sea, Jesus doesn’t just calm the storm. That’s certainly not how Mark tells it. He’s not talking to an inanimate object.

In verse 39 it says that Jesus “stood and rebuked the wind and the waves”. (the word used for “Rebuked” here literally means “gagged”). It is the same word, by the way, that was used to describe the muzzling of an animal. And it is the same word used in Mark 1:25 when Jesus “rebuked” the evil spirit. Here out at sea, Jesus “rebuked” the wind and the waves as if the storm were itself a living thing.

Out on the water in that boat, they were afraid. They were afraid of dying because of the true storm… but more than that… when the waves spilled over the boat and the wind slapped them in the face, they were absolutely terrified of falling (not just into the water) but into the hands of evil and chaos itself.

In the middle of the storm, far from the safety of the shore, right in the middle of evil’s territory, where the Leviathan might lurk, and the underwater channels lead straight down to Sheol (the place of the dead), Jesus brings peace back to the water and the waves… And the people cry out, “Who is this man, that even the wind and waves obey him”.

It’s at this point that most sermons on this topic begin to ask, “What are the demons in the sea in our lives”. They might speak of troubles with marriage or addictions, poor health or just about anything to make this story relate better to today. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But this story is not just about the demons in the sea. Its main topic is not about fear or the amount of faith we have. It’s bigger than that. This story is about the question Mark asks throughout his gospel. It’s not about what Jesus does so much as who he is. Is this guy the Psalmist said would come?

This story is about that question that the disciples ask out on that boat. This story is about who is really in control of things, “who can conquer evil” and “who can hold back the chaos”. It’s about that question the disciples ask, “Who is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?”

And now for my little twist: This sermon is not about the calming of the sea in the book of Mark. This sermon is actually about our reading from the book of Psalms (107:23-20 ) and its depiction of God. Because it’s the answer to the question the disciples ask: “Who is this?”

Song: We cannot own the sunlit sky (717)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer for our world

From hunger and unemployment, and forced eviction:
Good Lord, deliver us.

People in our city need help. People in our congregation need help.
From unjust sentences and unjust wars:
Good Lord, deliver us.

For the innocent caught between waring forces, the children, infants, the infirmed and aged. For those forced to fight, without choice or deluded to believe violence rules. From neglect by parents, neglect by children, and neglect by callous
institutions:
Good Lord, deliver us.

Many of us are confined, some have children who do not call or visit. Our programs come with strings and are difficult to navigate.

From cancer and stroke, falls and fractures
Good Lord, deliver us.

From stubbed toes to Parkinsons disease, to hospital beds, blessed physicians hands, and long term care;
From famine and epidemic, from pollution of the soil, the air, and the waters:
Good Lord, deliver us.

Corporations have shifted blame from long damaging practices of their own to the average person. For honesty, fair application and a better understanding of our world we pray.
Free us Lord,

From segregation and prejudice, from harassment, discrimination and brutality:
Good Lord, deliver us.

We need not all be the same, think or act the same, but there is no place in our faith for hate. And for those working for peace.

From time eaters and family distracters and idols
Good Lord, deliver us.

Do not let us be led into foolishness by every shinny object we see. Make us humble and thoughtful and agents of healing in our homes.
From the concentration of power in the hands of ignorant, threatened or hasty leaders:
Good Lord, deliver us.

For Prime Ministers and Presidents and local peoples. Bring wisdom and judgement to voters and better character to our limited choices.
From propaganda, fads, frivolity and untruthfulness:
Good Lord, deliver us.

Our worth Lord is in You. No title and no idea of self more central than “Child of God”.

From arrogance, narrowness and meanness, from stupidity and pretense:
From boredom, apathy and fatigue, from lack of conviction, from fear, self-satisfaction and timidity, thinking to little or self, too much of self to distracted by self:
Good Lord, deliver us.

From self-satisfaction and self-abuse
From the consequences of our own folly
From resignation and despair, from cynicism and manipulation:
From all unmerciful suffering, our own and that of others:
From empty refrigerators, little closets, and tiny/empty tummies
From broken parts of life, and pain and loss of a baby in the whom.
Lord, From the unending cry of all peoples for justice and freedom:
Good Lord, deliver us and calm our storms.

Good Lord, deliver us. Deliver us, Good Lord, by opening our eyes and unstopping our ears, that we may hear Your Word and do Your Will and attempt to do ourselves all that we have asked of you as well.

Thy will be done. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Song: How firm a foundation (685)

Sending out with God’s blessing

May the God of endurance and encouragement
Grant you to live in such harmony with one another, and in accordance with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice,
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
through the Spirit of God who resides within all of you. Amen.

Response: Amen, we praise your name, O God

Music postlude

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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.

The Father’s Day

Posted on June 16, 2024June 16, 2024 by John

Worship on the Father’s Day and National Indigenous Sunday
10:00 am       16 June 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs    Elder: Sam Malayang
Music director: Binu Kapadia    Guest Pianist: Gail Lundquist
Vocalist: Lynn Vaughan

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: It is good to give God thanks, to sing praises to the Most High!
P: We will sing for joy to God who has made us glad.
L: Let us declare God’s steadfast love in the morning,
P: and God’s faithfulness by night.
L: So come to worship God with thankful, joyful hearts!
P: Let us praise God’s holy name together.

Opening praise: O come to the altar

Prayers of approach and confession
Living God, from you come vitality, love and joy.
Your peace is our companion, your love is our strength, your Son is our hope.
Your Spirit nurtures tiny seeds of purpose and potential, hidden deep in the soil of life, to surprise us with new life.

While the earth begins to bloom around us, we bring you our prayers and praise, trusting that your Spirit will renew in us the gifts we need to serve you in faithfulness in the example of Christ our Lord.

Living, loving God, as we watch our gardens and our children grow, we confess we often resist the change growth can bring.
We form opinions about many things – and cling to them.
We fear new insights and new directions.
Forgive us when we think already know enough.

Grant us faith like the mustard seed, able to grow with your blessing to become a mighty sign of your lively kingdom among us. Amen.

Response: I will trust in the 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
And once forgiven it is now our job to forgive someone else.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus loves me (373)

Story: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:40-42 (NIV)

Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: This is my Father’s world (328)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Genesis 22:1-4

Response: Glory. Glory hallelujah

Message: The Father’s Day

Abraham and Issac… what stranger story can be found than the story of God asking a father to sacrifice his son? But it’s not only the idea that troubling it’s also the individual verses themselves that present a problem.

See, right from the start we are told that the whole thing is just a test. It says in verse 1, “Now it came to pass that God did test Abraham” and God said to Abraham, “Abraham!” and right away Abraham responds, “Here I am”. The story continues as God speaks to Abraham and says, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac, and go to the place of Moriah and bring him there for a burnt offering.”

Now there are a couple of problems here. See, the first one is this, God says, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac” but the problem is simple. Abraham actually has two sons.

Long before all of this happened God had promised Abraham something. God told Abraham that his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars”. But Abraham has some trouble with this because he and his wife don’t seem able to have a child and so Abraham has a child (Ismael) by another woman. Yeah, Abraham seems to believe the promise but on his own terms. Have you ever looked at God’s promises or your understanding of them and then, tried to make it all happen on your own? I’m pretty sure I have.

But God says that this is not what he meant and tells Abraham in Gen. 12:3 that it is through Isaac (the one he didn’t plan for) that he will become the father of a nation.

See, God says, “Only son”, because by this point Ismael had been sent away. Isaac was the only son that Abraham had left. And that’s because Abraham messed up! He messed up. He tried to control the blessing and make it make sense. But it didn’t make sense. God didn’t need it to make sense.

Because of Abraham’s weak faith things didn’t get better, they got worse. And now only one child remained. And so, Isaac was Abraham’s last chance.

And so, with only one son left; without Isaac, there could be no nation (no descendants as numerous as the stars – no promise).

After sending one son away, Isaac became dearer to Abraham than we could possibly imagine. All his hopes were now pinned on this one child. Isaac was Abraham’s only son (LEFT), but more than that, Isaac was proof of God as well. He was a miracle that shouldn’t have existed at all. Abraham tried to do things on his own, but God had other plans. God didn’t need Abraham to do what God wanted to do.

Now, I just want everyone to think about this for a second. God has rejected Abraham’s attempt to do things on his own. And still, God has given Abraham a son (just as promised) and promised that he will be the Father of nations through him… that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky – but there’s a catch.

In Gen 17, God says that in order for this to come to pass Abraham must, “Walk before God and be blameless”. Isaac will be the father of many nations but ONLY if Abraham can “walk before God and be blameless”.

But we’ll get back to that.

The story continues. In verse three it says, “Abraham arose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son… and split the wood for the burn offering and went to the place God had told him”.

Again, there are two interesting things here. One is silly and bit unimportant and then the other is serious and very important.

The first (silly and unimportant one) is this: At this point in the ancient near east, a man in high standing (an important man) always took 2 servants with him as a status symbol.

Does anyone know why? …

It’s because the servants are meant to protect you… and if you only took one servant, then who would be there to protect you if that one servant might need to use the washroom? This is true folks.

It sounds crazy but this is true.

If you had money… then you took two servants with you because one servant – might have to pee. That is dead true.

And so, respectable men in high standing (like Abraham) took two servants with them when they travelled. It was kind of like a status symbol, like having a large SUV for the winter and a sports car for the summer. It’s probably not necessary but it’s nice to have. The second (the grotesque but important thing) that begs mentioning… is this: How much wood, do you think it takes for a burnt offering of a lamb? Have you ever built a fire for a small fish or a few hot dogs? How much wood does that take?

How heavy a load do you think you might need, to cook something that’s 50 or maybe 200 pounds? What would that bundle of wood be like? What strength might that take to carry that amount of wood on a long walk up the foothills? How hard would it be to bring that load of wood all the way up to the top of a mountain?

In verse 5-6 it says, “Abraham said to his servants ‘stay here with the donkey, and I and the LAD will go over there’” (and then it says this) “and WE will worship and WE will return to you.” “Then Abraham took the wood for the offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and Abraham took the fire and the knife and the two of them walked on together.”

Do you see what happened there?

Again, there are two more strange things worth noting.

First, Abraham says, “WE” will worship” and way more interestingly “WE will return.”

Now I don’t know exactly what Abraham thought would happen. I guess it’s also possible that he just attempted to lie to his servants so they wouldn’t stop him. I don’t know. Maybe he thought God wouldn’t make him go through with it. It is a crazy request. Maybe he thought God would bring Ishmael back from banishment or maybe even thought God would bring Isaac back to life.

But what I do know is that after Issac was born, Abraham never wavered. God called Abraham and Abraham responded, “Here I am” and that was it. God had told Abraham that he would be the father of a nation and that it would be through his son Isaac. And though Abraham once doubted God’s power, now he believed in it with his every fiber of being.

Second, remember Abraham has two servants.

He also has a donkey. But who carries the wood on this final part of the journey up the mountain top? Isaac!

Abraham piles it up and piles it up in Isaac’s hands and the two of them head off into the distance leaving the donkey and the other two men behind.

Something strikes me odd about this. In fact, it’s bothered readers of this story for at least the last 3,500 years. One might speculate that while Abraham calls his son a “lad” that Isaac is actually a rather large “LAD”.

Remember, Isaac is going to walk a long way into the distance; up the foothills and up the mountain with a heavy load (enough wood for a large sacrifice). That is a big LAD. And in fact, this is part of why the Jewish Talmud refers to this story not as the “Faith of Abraham” but rather as the Binding of Isaac and claims that Isaac and not Abraham is the real hero of this story.

But again… we’ll get back to that.

It’s an interesting picture, isn’t it? In fact, it’s a beautifully told story and a picturesque scene. A father and a son walk calmly off into the distance together. It’s so nice. But also, it’s not. It’s horrible. And the readers are shocked. And maybe that’s the whole point. Maybe it’s to tell the people in a region of the world where child sacrifice was common, that the true God would never make you do something like this.

When I’m on a long car ride, I talk. And when I read this story, I picture a father and son in some very important kind of conversation. And that is exactly what happens here. In verse 7 it says, “Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘my Father’?” And just as Abraham responded to God in love, he now responds to his son Isaac the same way, “Here I am.” And in response, Isaac says, “Here is the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for the offering?”

Then in verse 8 Abraham answers in a very interesting way, he says, “God will provide for himself the lamb for the offering, my son. And so, the two of them walked on together”. But again, things are not always what they seem.

The question arises, where does the emphasis lie? See the Hebrew language has no punctuation. Translators are left to figure emphasis out for themselves. And this often changes the way we read the texts before us.

In other words, does Abraham say, “God will provide for himself the lamb my son” or does he say, “God will provide the lamb for himself, – My son” Does Abraham say, to his son that God provides, or does Abraham say to his son, “it’s you – my son” and Issac knows exactly what is about to happen. The story can and has been read both ways and it seems that this was the intent of the author. I think the confusion is on purpose.

I personally feel that in this one line’ Abraham tells Isaac that Isaac is the sacrifice. But I might be wrong. Still, that is what I think.

The story goes on. In verse 9 it says, “Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the alter there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the alter on top of the wood.”

Now let’s go back to something for a second. God tells Abraham that he will have a child. Neither Abraham nor his wife believe and say, “We are far too old”. Abraham and wife make other arrangements. Ishmel the first child is sent away. Years later we are told that Isaac was born, and Abraham is now said to be 100 years old (when Isaac is born). Now while numbers in the bible may not always be exactly what they first appear, one thing is for sure – we are being told that this guy is Very Old. That’s when Issac was born. By the time that this story takes place, Isaac is called a “LAD”.

The term, “lad” can have a variety of meanings in Hebrew. It is used for a small boy but also describes a newlywed. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus claims that Isaac is 25 years old, and the Jewish Talmud (an ancient commentary on the Jewish texts) says that Isaac is 37. The idea that Isaac is a young boy is relatively modern. But most ancient commentators agree that Isaac is most likely at least in his late teens or early twenties. What’s more, he’s a farm boy; not some city slicker.

Isaac’s a guy that grew up knowing how to put in a hard day of manual labour and he is big enough to carry all that wood through the foothills and up the mountain for his elderly father. Does anybody here want to do the grouse grid with a 50lb pack? And then Abraham is said to have just casually tied Isaac up and laid him on the altar??? No, no I don’t think so. I think we are meant to read something else into this story. I think we are supposed to see between the lines.

I think not only did Abraham respond to God “Here I am” and Abraham respond to his son “Here I am” but Isaac too responded to His father and to his God in the same way. I think Isaac might be the hero of this story. I think Isaac also said, “Here I am!” I think the conditions of the covenant had been met, that the test was over; that the two of these servants had indeed Both – “walked with God” and had been “found blameless” as the covenant commanded.

In verse 10 it says, “Abraham stretched out his hand and took his knife to slay Isaac” but then the angel of the LORD called out from heaven “Abraham, Abraham” to which Abraham responded one more time, “Here I am”.

The story concludes, “And God said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the LAD and do nothing to him; for I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld even your son, your only son, from me.’ Then Abraham looked and saw behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and Abraham took it and offer the ram instead of his son.” Because of this they named the place, God provides.

Our world is full of tests. Some are easy. Some are more than a little challenging. Some like Abraham and Isaac’s seem downright impossible. And the tests we face in life will be different for all of us. But no matter what the test might be, like Isaac and Abraham before us we are called to walk with God and called to be blameless. And when God calls out to us, we should respond just as they did. Whatever the test, “Here I am” is the answer. “I’m ready”. Because if we stay true to God, God still provides.

May we all walk with God, calling out always “Here I am” and may we be found blameless in all the tests of life. – Amen

Song: My shepherd is the King (691: vss. 1-4)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves

O Eternal one, we thank you for the record of the biblical witness which documents your love affair with our humankind. We thank you for these words of Jesus which remind us of our need to be welcoming. We thank you that you continually stretch us to reach beyond ourselves.

Stretch us to widen our souls to include others of your children whom we might naturally exclude.
Stretch us to grasp for more than we can reach.
Stretch us to believe in ourselves and others.
Stretch us to support and encourage others.
Stretch us to offer a cup of cold water, food, shelter and a safe haven in your name.

We pray that we might learn the lessons of Christian community. Help us to be instructed by the errors of the past in order that we may be saved from repeating them. Help us to learn exciting new behaviours and new ways. Temper our penchant for holding resentments.

Teach us that life does not have to be marred permanently by resentments.
Teach us that life is much more positive and meaningful and satisfying when it is focused on love.
Teach us that forgiveness is not a sign of weakness but of strength.
Teach us to build more expansive souls which can reach out and embrace the least of your little ones.

Send your peace and love and overwhelm and transform all of the bitterness and anger which we so often want to hold close. So lead us in your higher way.

For all who suffer and need your special grace we lift up our prayers today. Amen

Song: Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us (647)

Sending out with God’s blessing

May you go out into the world
Blessed and ready to bless
Fed and ready to feed
Forgiven and ready to forgive
Tested and found blameless and faithful

Response: God to enfold you

Music postlude

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You are Salt … or Beef Jerky (Youth led service)

Posted on June 9, 2024June 9, 2024 by John

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am 09 June 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Youth-led Service: Rom, Wesley, Matthew, Felix, Godfrey, Cohen, Marilyn, Maddie, Bianca, Kaye, John, Sam, Arghavan, Nejabastian, Corrie, Shaylynn, Tassen, Noah
Minister: 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: Welcome to this place of grace and care; of hope and perseverance
P: God invites all of us to be a part of the beloved community
L: God invites us to share in the good news
P: We are welcome just as we are
L: And loved too much to stay that way
P: Let us praise the One in gratitude for all things.

Opening praise: Bless the Lord, O my soul

Prayers of approach and confession
God of all creation, we are amazed at the details in your world around us.
You care for the fragile beauty and balance in the world.
You receive praise from the depth of the sea to the tops of the mountains.
God of love – you have seen your Church grow from tiny beginnings into a worldwide community, full of diversity.
Open our eyes to your purpose for each of us, all of us.
Help us to be guided by your Holy Spirit to do your will in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord.
God of purpose and possibility, you give us work to do.
And you give us the skills we need to do what you ask of us.
Yet we prefer to follow our own ways and to do our own thing.
We think we know better than you.
Forgive our stubborn natures and our unwillingness to love and care for all creation as we should.
By the power of your Holy Spirit, create in us a teachable spirit so we can learn new ways to serve you, becoming the people you know we can be.

Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O Lord

Assurance of God’s love
The prophet Micah reminds us that God requires three things of us: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.
To all who love God and seek to love our neighbours in kindness and humility, God offers forgiveness and peace.
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with you all.

We listen for the voice of God

Response: Jesus, we are gathered

Story Time

Story: More than Salt (Corrie)

Introduction: As you entered the sanctuary you were given a little packet of salt… take that in your hand now and imagine if you were compared to salt! How would that feel? (pause)

You are loved more than salt! Really?

Now let’s hear a story –

Once upon a time, a long time ago, when most stories begin, there was a kingdom far away, where most kingdoms are. In this kingdom, there lived a king with three loyal knights. Now, this king was a fairly ordinary man, sometimes wise, sometimes foolish. He trusted his knights and made certain they wanted for nothing. One day, the king wanted to know how much his knights loved him.

He put the question to them.
“My loyal knights, I crave to know how much you love me. Pray, tell.”
The first knight to speak said. “My liege, I love you more than gold or silver.” (place a bar of gold/silver on sidestep of platform?)
The king was pleased that he loved him more than such valuable things, and smiled at him.
The second knight, spoke next. “My liege, I love you more than diamonds and pearls, more than rubies and emeralds, or any other gem.” (place jewels on sidestep of platform?)
Again, the king was pleased to be loved more than such precious things.

He looked to his third, and most beloved, knight.
“My liege, I love you more than salt.” He spoke simply, quietly. (Place a bag of salt on the communion table in the centre)

More than salt? More than salt?! The king was displeased. He couldn’t believe his most beloved knight had compared him to something so common and coarse as salt. The king was angry, thinking of all the gifts he’d lavished on this knight. Such was his rage that he exiled him from the kingdom. The knight left without saying a word, simply carrying away small packets of salt in his pocket.

The Knight traveled to the next kingdom, where he worked as a shepherd.

Meanwhile, in the king’s kingdom, something strange happened. As soon as the knight had crossed the border, all the salt began to disappear. At first, no one noticed. There was NO salt for their meat, NO salt for their broth, NO salt for their bread. Soon the people realized that NO new salt was coming into the kingdom. No matter how hard the caravans, ships, or gypsy traders tried, they could NOT bring salt beyond the border.

After a while, the king fell ill. As he grew weaker, sicker, the royal physicians puzzled out what could be wrong. Finally, they decreed that the king needed salt, or he would perish. Until then, no one knew that salt was necessary for life. Tales of the king’s plight reached beyond the borders, from town to town, and finally to a simple shepherd’ hut. When the knight heard of his king’s illness, he went to him. He carried nothing with him but the clothes he wore and his bag of salt. For long days, he walked, until he reached the palace. He made his way to his king’s room, where he slept fitfully, close to death.

The knight kissed the king on his boney hand and sat beside him. He cut a piece of bread, buttered it, and sprinkled salt over it. He managed to sit him up and coaxed the bread into him. The king slept again, and woke a short time later, a little stronger. The knight called for broth, sprinkled salt in it, and encouraged the king to eat. He regained his strength slowly, after that, until he was well. He again sat on his throne and kept his knight close by.

“My loyal knight, can you forgive a foolish king?”
“Of course, my liege. I cherish you.” The knight meant it, too.
From that moment on, salt flowed freely into the kingdom once more.
The king never looked down on salt again, and he knew that his most beloved knight loved him best of all, for when he said “I love you more than salt.” he meant that he loved him more than that which gives life, which is a great love indeed.

Silent Actors:

King – Matthew (special chair, crown, sceptre, ice bag when ill…)
Knight #1 – Felix (spear/sword, knight vest, gold bar

(after bringing the king his treasures, Knight #1 stands beside the king… and will help the king when sick)

Knight #2 – Godfrey (spear/sword, knight vest, jewels – gems

(after bringing the king his treasures, Knight #2 stands beside the king… and will help the king when sick)

Knight #3 – Cohen (knight vest, salt… will need to pretend for bread…)

(after bringing king salt, he is banished. Pointed out by other 2 knights… comes back)

Song: Jesus bids us shine (773)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:13-16

Music Offering: Binu, Arghavan, John, and Sam

Message: You are salt … or Beef Jerky

Part 1 – Wesley

About 2000 some years ago a very special guy named Jesus, was walking around Palestine. JESUS was a common name for Hebrew boys, but this Jesus was extra special! Matthew was one of his closest friends, and it is believed that Matthew wrote a book about his friend Jesus. This is the Gospel of Matthew that we just read from this morning.

Mathew shows Jesus to be a pretty regular guy, but he gives this outrageous story about his birth and magi coming to visit. Then Matthew talks about John the baptizer, and he says Jesus was tempted like any other person. Matthew talks about Jesus calling his disciples (a word for student-learners) and then the next thing Matthew remembers is that Jesus is up on a mount giving a group of ordinary people small sermons. We call this the Sermon on the Mount. Over the past few months, the youth here in Dayspring have been learning about some of these ideas in this sermon on the mount.

This sermon begins with the words of the beatitudes (which is Latin for “happy). This peasant-teacher – Jesus – is telling the crowd that’s gathered that people who feel sad, are blessed… that people who have lost someone they love can find comfort… that people who have no power will inherit a Kingdom… that people who seek peace are called “children of God”… and that even when people are tortured for their faith that they are blessed.

The people listening to Jesus were ordinary people – the peasants, the poor, the farmers, the people who were under the domination of another nation, forced to obey the Roman law and they did not have many freedoms. Jesus is telling them things that they had never heard before. In their minds rich people were blessed. But this crazy Jesus, from Nazareth guy told them… “Blessed are the poor”!

It was crazy, unheard-of, shocking, life-altering things that Jesus was saying.

Part 2 – Maddie

Today these words sound simple, and we don’t pay much attention to them. But think about how wild this is… “Blessed are you, who people insult, and hurl insults at”. Blessed are the people that the world makes fun of?!

But that’s what Jesus said. These common, everyday people are blessed, even when they are poor or sad or sick or judged or dominated by the Romans, needing justice or whatever…

Jesus tells them that they are blessed because GOD loves them more than they can ever imagine. Being loved by God makes them as important to God as salt is to humans, as beef jerky is to me.

After Jesus tells them how much he loves them, he reveals something even more spectacular. People are important! Jesus said,“You are the salt of the earth. Or, as I like to say, “You are beef jerky!”

Part 3 – Marilyn

Now really! Why is that spectacular? Who wants to be compared to salt?

Do you?

Maddie responds: “I do!”

Wesley responds: “Me too!”

Marilyn:

WHY do you want to be “salt of the earth”? (pause)

Salt is the mineral that God created to be a necessity of life. Salt is essential for the survival of living things. We heard the importance of salt in the story about the King and his 3 knights. Living things – animals such as cows and horses, lick blocks of salt to obtain the nutrients and minerals they require to live.

In Jesus’ day salt was a precious and valuable commodity. Indeed, salt was so valuable that it was sometimes traded ounce-for-ounce with gold. At times, Roman soldiers were even paid in salt. The word salary is derived from the word for salt. According to some people, If a Roman soldier didn’t do his job, he wouldn’t get all of his salt. That’s where we get the phrase, “He is not worth his salt,” if someone doesn’t do a good day’s work. In the Palestine of the past, much of the salt came from the Dead Sea or in Hebrew it means, “The Sea of Salt.” It was like a pool of gold.

In cultures lacking refrigeration, salt was the key preservative which allowed a thriving fishing industry to flourish. In an age before modern drugs, salt was a critical disinfectant which saved untold numbers of lives. For example, I would use salt in warm water to rid myself of a throat infection.

Maddie: Salt is a seasoning spice that transforms food from distasteful or bland to palatable and delicious. When I make chocolate chip cookies I make sure to add a little sprinklin’ of flaky sea salt on top.

Are there other ways that salt is special?

Marilyn: This wild Jesus character just says “You are the salt of the earth.”

Let’s take a moment and open those brown bags you were each given when you came into the sanctuary today… (hold up a brown bag)

Does anyone not have a bag?

(Have a couple of youth ready to distribute some bags to people who might not have received them…WAIT here – take time for everyone to open their bags.

You will notice there are baggies containing popcorn but one has NS written on it – “NO salt on the popcorn.” Please take this baggie first – and eat it (WAIT!!!! For people to do this…)

Now take the second baggie of popcorn and eat it; it has salt on it. (WAIT for people to do this)

Maddie: I like this one with salt on it.

Wesley: Yes, this one is better!

Marilyn: Which one did you like better? (Pause… there may be some responses…) I think MOST would agree that the salted popcorn tastes better.

Part 4 – Wesley

“You are the salt of the earth”.

Jesus looks out to a crowd of people and says, “You know that thing that preserves our food and keeps us from dying. That thing that takes a dull life and bland food and makes it exciting… That thing that is more precious than silver or gold – that’s you! You are that salt!

You are the salt of the earth. This is how we are to BE – salting the earth…sharing God’s love with everyone, preserving the goodness, taking care of God’s world and God’s people. As salt we will make things better, bring joy into sadness, give understanding instead of judgement, accept all our neighbours whomever they are.

But then Jesus puts to the people a small challenge. He says “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything.”

Part 5 – Maddie

For those of you not on familiar with the land of Palestine – The Sea of Salt is more than a mile and a half below sea level. The waters of The Sea of Galilee flow into the Jordan River and from there go to their final resting place in The Sea of Salt – the lowest land elevation on earth. So once the water gets there, there’s no place to go. The hot sun evaporates the water and leaves behind a chunky white powder made up of a combination of salt and minerals. That powder contains enough salt to season meat or to flavour soup, and that’s why people used to get their salt from The Dead Sea. But it’s also mixed with minerals and it’s not pure sodium chloride – it was a quite unstable compound. When it was stored in a damp environment or even when mixed with a little dampness in the air it would frequently begin to dissipate. That’s the surface meaning of Jesus’ word. That’s how the salt “loses its seasoning.” Jesus goes on to say, “It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

Part 6 – Marilyn

But honestly that Jesus fella was on to something. I mean if we are really, actually, truly blessed… then why not share that love? Why would we NOT be salt of the earth? Why would we NOT help to make this world a better/brighter place filled with Gods’ love? Why NOT be salty?

At the same time Jesus never said that you BEING salt gives you your worth. Living as the salt of the earth does NOT make us more important. Jesus never says that you gain anything by your sharing. He does say that people will see God in you and that is a great thing. But Jesus never promises to add blessings to you because you live as the salt of the earth.

And Jesus would never ever say that… because to JESUS, we are already Salt. There are no conditions to God’s love. WE are already, no matter how normal or lowly we think we are – WE are blessed because God loves us more than we can ever imagine.

No matter what you do or don’t with this message: You are Salt.

Maddie: You are beef jerky!

Marilyn: You are loved! Amen

Song: Lord, the light of your love is shining (376)

Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: When we look at God’s world around us, we see the beginning of new growth and our gardens will soon be plentiful. We see God’s abundant care for us. We also know that God asks us to care for all Creation. We know that there are many people around the world that do not have enough food or clean water. Through World vision, we are sponsoring Joshua and his family who live in El Salvador.

Today we will take up two offerings.

Our regular offering can be given in as is our normal practice.

If you are able, please feel free to add some coins to this can or donate by putting an envelop in the offering plate labelled with this special donation. May we give out of our abundance to those in need.

Prayer of Dedication

God of growing gardens and growing hope, receive our gifts and our thanks this day. Bless what we bring and what we do, so that we become salt of the earth, in Jesus’ name. AMEN

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves.

Embrace the world you love.

Bianca

God of grace and compassion, We offer you our thanks for all that we have, for our friends and families, our neighbours and fellow citizens. We name before you those whom we love. We are thankful that they are in our lives. We know that your love touches the depths of their needs and celebrates the joys of their journeys:

Keep silent for 6 seconds.

God of grace and compassion,

(Together: Bianca and Kaye) – Embrace the world you love.

Bianca

As part of YOUR Church, we celebrate our Dayspring community, where we worship together and grow in our faith in Jesus Christ. We are challenged to live what we learn and what we believe you ask of us. Make us aware of opportunities to serve you both in this church and in the world beyond these walls. Give us the courage to reach out to more neighbours where there is human need. Help us to BE salt of the earth, in Jesus’ name.

Keep silence for 6 seconds.

God of grace and compassion,

(Together: Bianca and Kaye) – Embrace the world you love.

Kaye:

God of all people, we think of neighbours in Canada and in other places in the world who are facing ongoing conflict and violence, those who crowd together in refugee compounds and homeless encampments, or who face the consequences of nature’s unpredictable destruction (fire, floods, violence wind, earthquakes).

We join our prayers with those who are desperately seeking to survive, wherever they find themselves: Give us courage and commitment to meet the greatest challenges. Inspire our hope to work and live as we seek to love all our neighbours.

Keep silence for 6 seconds.

God of grace and compassion,

(Together: Kaye and Bianca) – Embrace the world you love.

Kaye:

As summer approaches, and your creation changes around us, we give you thanks for beauty in your world, for the living and nonliving things.

Thank you for the chance to participate in your creation – walking, biking, camping, swimming and all the recreational activities we can enjoy.

Yet we know that we sometimes forget how we are guilty of misusing these gifts and we damage your creation with our selfish ways and careless actions.

Show us how to act for justice with compassion so that all your creation is precious, and all your peoples are cared for as we show love to all our neighbours in the world.

Keep silence for 6 seconds.

We know in our hearts that you love us and that you offer us your grace and compassion. So, loving God, we offer these and all our unspoken prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to say together …

The Lord’s Prayer

Song: I’m gonna live so God can use me (648)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Friends – Keep your eyes open as you walk in God’s world. Look for ways to share God’s love. And may the God who loves you more than Salt, The Christ who flavours you as salt, And the Spirit who gives us life, empower you to BE salt of the earth. Amen.

Response: Go forth into the world

Music postlude

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The Rev. Brad Childs and Elder Darlene Eerkes retain the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as they are aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is their own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Jars of Clay

Posted on June 2, 2024June 2, 2024 by John

Worship on the Lord’s Day
02 June 2024    10:00 am
The Sacrament of Holy Communion & General Assembly Sunday
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev. Brad Childs     Elder: Lynn Vaughan
Music Director: Binu Kapadia           Vocalist: Glynnis McCrostie
Guest Pianist: Darolyn McCrostie
Guest Violinists: Rob Hryciw & Thomas Schoen

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: Raise a song of joy and gladness before God.
P: We will make music and sing God’s praises.
L: Sing aloud to God, our strength!
P: We will shout for joy to the God who made us.
L: Worship God who makes all things new!
P: We will celebrate God’s goodness in prayer and praise.

Opening praise: Everlasting God

Prayers of approach and confession

God of all life and each life, you created us in love to enjoy your presence in creation.

You made us in your image so that we would find purpose and possibility in our lives.

You gave us Sabbath rest to breathe in your grace and peace week by week.

In Jesus, you show us how to share grace and peace with one another.

Refresh us in this time of worship, so that we may leave with a deep sense of well-being at our core, for we offer ourselves to you through Christ, our Saviour. Amen

God of all life and each life, you created us to enjoy your presence, yet we confess it is easy to lose track of that joy.

When times are tough, we feel resentful.

When someone else succeeds, jealousy creeps in.

Some days bad news is all we hear.

Draw us back to your goodness and grace.

Response: Glory, Glory, Hallelujah

Assurance of God’s forgiveness

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” Friends, trust that peace and forgiveness are God’s gift to you this day. Be renewed by the power of the Spirit that moves with you into each new day.

Music Offering: Rob, Thomas, and Darolyn

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

We listen for the voice of God

Scripture readings (NRSV): I Samuel 3:1-20 & II Cor 4:5-12

Response: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet

Message: Jars of Clay

Paul is the King of Metaphors. Or perhaps it is young coauthor Timothy.

Let me try it this way and see if it makes it a little more clear what the bible is saying here. This is the Brad Version: We have this Good News inside us. Something from the Divine with the power to change people. It is inside us: fragile, broken people, harmed, attacked, complex, beautiful people. But we continue on, in our brokenness; with the good news of the resurrection shining through us even in our weakness.

Paul and Timothy, in Macedonia in 56 AD, wrote a letter to the congregation in Corinth. In this section, they say that we, as Christians everywhere, have this special treasure kept in jars of clay—meaning our fragile human bodies, complete with scars, sins, contradictions, mixed emotions, and everything else that also makes us beautifully human.

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. It is power from God and something beyond ourselves. This treasure is the Good News: we do not need to be perfect, shining, golden examples of Christ. We cannot earn God’s love because we already have it; it is simply given.

But still, we beat ourselves up for sins already forgiven. We consider our pain, marks of shame and nothing else, even if we were victims of them.

We get beat up by life and think it degrades our worth. We beat on each other. We could, like this congregation in Corinth, (also be physically afraid of our government, from persecution or abuse).

In Paul’s day Jars of Clay were extremely common, extremely useful but also easily broken.

And yet just like the $100 bill that gets torn or wrinkled or wet or stuck in the mud, yet it’s value remains the same. Our value lies so heavily upon what we contain within these easily damaged but very useful jars of clay.

John Newton once said, “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.” We are not made on a potter’s wheel but in the image of God, the perfect Potter. He is the one moulding us, shaping us, and filling us with His treasure, His grace, and His power.

God’s grace is most powerfully demonstrated in flawed people, in our weaknesses and imperfections. The metaphor of a clay jar is significant: clay jars in Paul’s time were common, everyday items. They were not particularly beautiful or strong. They were prone to cracks and easily broken.

Our flaws provide the perfect backdrop for His grace to shine. In our weaknesses, His strength is made perfect. In our brokenness, His healing power is displayed. In our sinfulness, His forgiveness is magnified. The clay jar, with all its cracks and imperfections, does not subtract from the treasure it holds.

Here’s the thing: His power is not dependent on our strength. It is often most evident in our weaknesses. The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'” God’s power is not diminished by our frailty; it is magnified. You need not be perfect to be His. It appears the more fragile you are, the more useful you can be.

It’s a sad fact and it’s insane, but for some reason, there is this theory that if a Christian person doesn’t live up to absolute perfection, we believe that Jesus Christ upheld, then we are hypocrites. But what’s the alternative? Be perfect. Because it’s a bit late for that. We aren’t perfect. We are just following the one who is.

What a sad situation it is when people believe this. But it’s worse yet when we Christians do it to each other.

You know, there is this logical fallacy called the No True Scotsman fallacy. If you haven’t heard of it, it goes like this: Say a man called Alex makes this statement, “All true Scottish people love haggis. It’s part of who we are!” But his friend Hill replies, “But Alex, you know none of the guys in the neighbouring town like haggis.” To which Alex then replies, “Then they aren’t true Scottish people.” In short, if a person is proven wrong after claiming everyone in a particular group acts equally, they insinuate that “those people” aren’t truly a part of the group. And of course, it’s always they who are evil, never us.

But look, the physician comes for the sick whether that’s because you did wrong or you got beat up by the world. And listen, if sinners and struggling and broken people cannot also be “real Christians” despite their faults, and their wounds ‘s left. Or as Canadian musician Matthew Goode put it, it heaven’s for clean people, it’s vacant. It would be nice if we could stop doing this to each other but I also do it and don’t see it. It’s that whole “plank in the eye”/”speck in the eye” thing.

You may recall that Moses was a likely stutterer, yet God used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. David was an adulterer and a murderer, yet God called him a man after God’s own heart. Peter denied Christ three times, yet he was chosen to lead the early church. Paul himself was a persecutor of the Christians before he became one of the most influential ones of all time.

God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. He does not look for perfection; He looks for willingness. He does not require us to be strong; He asks us to lean on His strength. His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in our weakness.

We have these fragile lives, and they are breakable. But inside us is a powerful message. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Not gold vaults, not diamond-strong containers, but imperfect, flawed, breakable clay jars like you and me.

If the famous Director Steven Spielberg is making a movie you can pretty well guarantee it will have an estranged father-and-son relationship involved.

Saving Private Ryan, Poltergeist, ET, Lincoln, War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, AI, Sugarland Express, Hook, Catch Me if You Can, Jurassic Park, BFG, and of course the most obvious to me, Indian Jones and The Last Crusade.

In the film, a group of Nazis force Indy to determine from a mysterious treasure room, what cup Jesus used at the last supper. As a kid, I remember that pivotal scene being very impacting. The Nazis chose the biggest, most gold and richest cup and died from the curse eliciting the phrase “You have chosen poorly” from the thousand-year-old Knight of Templar who guards the sacred cup’s location. Indiana on the other hand looks around the room quickly before wrapping his hands around a small dirty wooden and copper cup exclaiming “That’s the cup of a carpenter”. The audience is then treated to the phrase, “You have chosen wisely”.

It is the usefulness and not the shine that God loves.

This doesn’t mean pain is good. Don’t get me wrong but I do have a very good quote for you because I could never put it this well.

Theologian J.I. Packer once said, “God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away.” Charles Hadden Spurgeon adds, “The Lord’s mercy often rides to the door of our heart, upon the black horse of affliction.”

In our lives, we may feel like we are too flawed, too broken to be used by God. We may feel like our mistakes and failures disqualify us from His service. But the truth is, our flaws do not disqualify us from God’s grace; they qualify us for it. God’s grace is not for the perfect; it is for the broken, the flawed, the sinful. It is for people like me.

Twice in the chapter, the authors proclaim, “Therefore we do not lose heart,” showing the clear theme of this message. Even if our status is taken away or we are thrown in prison or beaten or abandoned, God still uses us and blesses us. It says we are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

We all, Christians everywhere, carry the death of Jesus with us, which shines through all the cracks in these fragile jars. The treasure that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 4:7 is the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and the salvation that comes through Him. This treasure is of immeasurable worth, far surpassing any earthly riches. Because it is the message that while Love is not God, God is Love and you are God’s beloved. Made of clay, yes and yet, God has chosen to place this priceless treasure in us, frail and flawed human beings. Clay jars were not the kind of containers one would typically use to store something of great value. Yet, this is precisely the point Paul is making. God deliberately chose what is weak and ordinary to carry the extraordinary message of His love and salvation.

God does not wait for us to rid ourselves of flaws before He can use us. Instead, He uses our imperfections to display His power and grace.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Song: We have this ministry (590)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer for ourselves and for our world

God of communion and community, we give you thanks for our life together in Christ, and for the work of the Spirit that draws us closer to you and each other.

We pray for the life of our denomination as it meets in the General Assembly throughout the next few days.

Send your Spirit to work in and through the commissioners, opening minds and hearts to your leadership.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ sustain us in communion and community, even when we differ over decisions and directions.

God of compassion and concern, Thank you for the ministries and mission Presbyterians undertake together in Canada and throughout the world you love.

Thank you for the lessons learned and hope inspired by all the partners we have worked with in different cultures and on different projects.

We pray for all who serve in ministries supported by Presbyterian Sharing and Presbyterian World Service and Development.

Open our hearts to support their work with generous giving and ongoing prayer, so that lives will be healed, transformed, and strengthened according to your compassionate concern.

God of our hearts and our hopes, We pray for those you have given us to love.

Hear us as we name them before you in silence.

We pray for those who serve our nation and communities as leaders in business and politics, in health care and education, in the military and all emergency services.

Grant them wisdom and resilience when resources are stretched, so, their choices address the needs of the most vulnerable.

We pray for those who face uncertainty, unrest and threat from violence day by day.

In this moment of silence, we bring before you people in our community and those in places around the world where injustice and deprivation are unrelenting.

God of the earth and all its fullness, in this season of planting and growing, nesting and nurturing, we pray for the environment and all the creatures it supports.

Protect species and habitats at risk,and make us better stewards of all you have entrusted to us.

But above all, aid us as we reach out with the good news of Salvation in Jesus Christ and his incomparable saving love found in the next life yes, but also in the now. Amen.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

All those from any place, with faith in Jesus Christ are invited to table. Let us not return to God the offerings of our lives and the gifts of the earth.

Song: All who hunger, gather gladly (534)

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.

Communion Prayer

Almighty and merciful God, in the face of much that seems to deny your presence, we give you grateful thanks for the victory of Christ, that has become our victory in him.

We thank you for revealing yourself in Jesus our Saviour.

He blessed little children when adults thrust them aside.

He touched lepers and made them whole; wept at the death of a friend; confronted fear in the darkness of a garden; was subject to the torturer’s lash and the scoffer’s tongue; and he suffered as we suffer.

We thank you that in his death and resurrection Christ has overcome all that can destroy us.

We thank you that nothing in our lives, no power or principality, no occasion of pain or fear, can ever separate us from your love.

In our weakness your strength is shown.

Help us, gracious Lord, so to bear our infirmities before the world that we may testify to your strength and become to others a means of grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

The words of Institution

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.”

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.

Sharing of the bread and wine

The bread of heaven. Amen.

The cup of salvation. Amen.

Song: One Bread, one Body (540)

The prayer after Communion

Rejoicing in the communion of saints, we praise your name, most holy God.

We give you thanks for all your servants who lived for you, departed in the faith, and are now at peace with you.

We thank you for all saints of every age and especially those who have been dear to us,mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in the faith who have led us to you.

Believing that we are still at one with them we pray that we may follow their faith and example until that time when we feast with them in your heavenly kingdom.

Hear us heavenly Father, for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Hymn: Let us talents and tongues employ (563)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go in the strength of the Spirit, to greet those, you meet with gifts of nderstanding and friendship, serving gladly in Jesus’ name.

May the 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.

Response: God to enfold you

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).

Wounds

Posted on May 26, 2024May 26, 2024 by John

Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am       26 May 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia     Vocalists: Cheryl & Peter Sheridan
Children’s Time: Vivian Houg and Marc Johnson     Elder: 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: Loving God: you call us together
P: To worship God as the people of God.
L: You call us by name and just as we are: you know each of our needs; you know our experiences; you know what rests in our minds and our hearts, and in your love you call us:
P: To worship God as the people of God
L: We come together, our heads, our hearts and our hands and feet yearning to be remade and redirected to paths of justice, and in ways of love. Help us, Jesus, to walk in the paths of justice and love that you yourself have walked:
P: To worship God as the people of God.
L: God invites us to worship as beloved and loving people! Mold us, Holy Spirit:
P: To worship God as the people of God.

Opening praise: Here’s my heart. Lord

Prayer of lament for children who did not return from Residential Schools

Creator God, we pray for Love. We thank you for the love that these families and communities hold for their daughters, mothers, grandmothers, aunties, sisters, cousins, and friends. We mourn with them. We pray for all those whose lives are marked by trauma because of these murders and disappearances. Hold them in love, Abba. Catch every tear that falls.

Creator God, we pray for Honesty. May those who have information about the whereabouts of these women and girls be moved to share it?

Creator God, we pray for Humility. Give Canadians the humility to open their hearts to hear stories from this country that are not celebratory: stories of colonization, racism, and marginalization.

Creator God, we pray for Wisdom. May the leaders of the inquiry and all those who direct them have the wisdom that comes only from you to listen deeply and make wise recommendations, so that we may all heal together.

Creator God, we pray for Respect. May the families who share their pain and perspectives with the inquiry be treated with respect—may the inquiry be centred on their needs.

Creator God, we pray for Truth. These stories are far from simple and clear-cut. May the truth of the impacts that Indigenous women bear become clear.

Creator God, we pray for Courage. For families and community members testifying. For inquiry commissioners crafting recommendations. Civil society organizations hold the inquiry to its mandate. For Canadians, as we prepare to listen to these stories and to advocate for action on its recommendations. For our political leaders, as they prepare to respond to the recommendations.

And Lord we also confess that too often we have let ourselves ignore these and other issues. In Christ’ name we pray. Amen.

Response: Here’s my heart, Lord

Assurance of God’s loving grace

In Christ, we are new creations. Let the old fall away and embrace the new. Forgiveness is found in Christ for all those who wish to change.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Open our eyes, Lord (445)

Story: This is Trinity Sunday, a day we set aside every year to celebrate our wonderful 3 in 1 God. The Trinity cannot be completely explained by me (or really by anyone else), because we don’t totally understand it. It is a bit of a mystery, so I’ll do the best I can, but remember that this comparison doesn’t explain everything about God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Although the word “trinity” does not appear in Scripture, it is taught in Matthew 28:18-19. Some people think God is a very big idea to understand, and God is, but we don’t need to understand everything about the mysteries of God to love God and to serve God with our hearts, our minds and our whole bodies. God loves us. Because of that love, God shows God’s self to us in different ways. Trinity means 3, just like a triangle has 3 sides.

I don’t want you thinking God is like an egg or water or an apple. God made all these things; they are part of his creation. God is greater than this similarity, but it’s the best I can do to help you understand the concept of the Trinity. Does that make sense?

Have you ever eaten an apple? Of course you have. Look at this apple. It is one of God’s creations. It can help us understand that there is still only one God. Have the children name the three parts of the apple, the skin, the flesh and the core. All the parts are uniquely different, but they are all one apple.

There are basically three parts – the skin, the flesh, and the core. All the parts are still one apple, yet they are all uniquely different. Each part of the apple – the peel, flesh, core – have different functions, yet are all “apple” and nothing else. The Trinity [three parts] of God – Father, Son Jesus, Holy Spirit – are all God in different forms. Just as the peel protects the apple – God the Father protects humankind, an apple has flesh – Jesus was God made flesh and the core of the apple, like the Holy Spirit, contains the seeds. Just as seeds of apple trees grow in fertile, watered and cared for ground; seeds of faith will sprout, grow and flourish. The seeds of faith are just that – faith – in God. We Christians need to nurture and care for one another to keep the seeds of faith alive.

Prayer: Dear God, help us to know your love through Jesus, to feel your power in the Holy Spirit, and to praise your splendor in creation. Amen.

Source: https://sermons4kids.com/sermons/an-apple-for-trinity

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: Holy, Holy. Holy (299: vss. 1, 3, 4)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Psalm 147; Zechariah 8:16-17; Micah 6:8

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: Wounds

It was over ten years ago now. I was the minister of First Church in Regina. I had done my first 40 or so funeral services and became a sort of “go-to” for people without a church association. And I was at the time serving as the Moderator of the Presbytery and as the Moderator of the Synod. Because of this, when Prince Charles came to town, I got the invitation to come. When they filmed local Christmas services, I did the opening prayers. Whatever the activity required some level of ministerial presence, either I or the three other guys in my theology book club did it.

So, I wasn’t surprised when a small group of local activists came to my office with the news that they would like me to speak at a ceremony. The reason, however, did surprise me.

Someone had noticed one small grave marker in a corner of a farmer’s field outside the airport. It was the old location of the Regina Indian Industrial School. It had been taken over by the United Church in 1945 and torn down in the 1980s. But it was originally operated by the Presbyterian Church.

The reason they came to see me. There was one marker… but there were dozens of mounds. From correspondence with the government, church records and other materials like ground penetrating radar, it was determined that likely 38 children resided in that field. And while early letters are rather kind, after a few years the correspondence becomes almost completely about finances.

Now I want to be fair. I think this was one of those well-meaning plans that didn’t go well. But residential schools (especially one like this one which taught farming) at the time seemed like the only way to get kids regular medical care (which they had on site) while not getting “left behind” without an education in a newly technological world. You can imagine the alternative of having only white kids getting an education and everyone being left behind. And while horror stories exist to be sure, it’s always good to remember that the principal and teachers and nurses’ children all stayed in the same dorms, ate the same food, and got the same medical attention. It is 100% true that these schools also did good. But I understand that probably sounds to some people like I’m saying Nazis did build large instruction and boost the economy… while murdering 6 million people. That’s because I am.

In the end, we had the ground scanned, discovered the marker of the Principles two children, located the burial space, commissioned a book, and funded indigenous artists to make a music video and dance along with a documentary film which we premiered. We planned 3 feasts of remembrance and three mass funerals as well as attempted to connect with the federal government about the issue.

It bears saying that when I first agreed to speak publicly about this issue, I was advised by some folks at the national church offices that I needed to make a “confession” but NOT an “apology” because (not to put to fine a point on it but) a confession is to God and an apology can get us sued.

So, I wrote three apologies; not because I’m a good guy – ‘cause I’m a contrarian and I’m full of beans as my grandma says.

Now wouldn’t you know it 8 years later another group discovers the bodies of more children, this time in Kamloops – and this time people seem to notice. Improvements are being made, just slowly.

When I first came to Canada I had no idea about the history of native peoples. I didn’t know any about residential schools (didn’t know what they were) and had never met someone taken away from their home to attend a school by force – though in the US, the government did a similar thing with the Amish who didn’t go to school and were becoming completely incapable of surviving outside the colony. They are now legally required to attend school until grade 8.

I had no idea what had taken place at these schools until I was introduced to Sheryl Bear a famous Canadian artist and activist. And that is when I decided that I was guilty of something, despite also, not being guilty at the same time.

I wrote an article for the Presbyterian Record Magazine. I wrote the most popular and silliest of the monthly columns, but I also wrote two very serious op-eds. One was shortened and submitted and won an award in Canadian Journalism. I’d like to read my original entry now.

My editor changed the title to

Why Issues Surrounding the Residential Schools Should Matter to Us

My original title was: I might not be a racist, But I benefit from it.

I will read it in full now.

I don’t believe I have ever personally mistreated a native person on the grounds of race. I never personally created any rules restricting First Nations people. When The Presbyterian Church in Canada set up Residential Schools I wasn’t even born yet. I had nothing to do with it. I’m an immigrant. I didn’t even come to Canada until 1999. I didn’t join the Presbyterian Church in Canada until 2005. What exactly do I have to apologize for? I don’t like being blamed or taking the blame for things I didn’t do. Who does?

I was born in a small community in the State of Kansas. “Bleeding Kansas” is its nickname due to corruption in the White House at the time which led to a change in the number of entered “Slave States”. You see, there weren’t just Union States and Confederate States. Union States were covering the Northeast as well as Nevada, California, and Oregon. Then there were Union States not permitting slavery (which is different). There were also Border Union states between the Union and the “Deep South”. Then there were three Union States that permitted slavery (bet you didn’t know that). That was Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona. Then there was Kansas who simply entered the Union (sort of). So, what happened? People above us permitted slavery and people below us did not. People Northeast of us did not and people Southeast of us did. People Northwest of us permitted slaves and the people Southwest of us were confederates. We were surrounded. So, they all met in Kansas for 8 years of fighting while tensions grew within the state itself and neighbours simply started killing neighbours in the middle of the night. I’m not a Yankee! Only people from 20 Union states are. I’m not a Southerner. And I’m not a Confederate. I’m just “bloody”.

As you might imagine race and racism are often just under the surface of what’s going on. But am I a racist? Unlike 50million living today, I never owned a slave. I didn’t grow up thinking about race the same way that my grandparents’ generation or my parents’ generation did. When I was little, I just didn’t notice it. My brothers’ (then and still) best friend is black. My best friend was Japanese. Early on in life, the only racism I ever encountered was when I was the target. The other kids at my Amish school hated me because I was “Zee English”. Eventually, I had to be pulled out and switch schools. But me? I’m not a racist. I didn’t own a slave or set up a “separate but equal” water fountain. I know slavery was/is wrong but, just what exactly do I have to feel sorry about when it comes to slavery?

Well actually quite a lot. Indeed, I may not be a racist… but I’ve sure benefited from it. The fact is, the rapid prosperity experienced in the United States occurred on the backs of slaves and on land first claimed by the Europeans though Native Americans were already living there. Even people who belonged to the Union had investments in the South, wore clothes made by slaves and had sugar for their tea that came from free labour. They might not have been racist themselves, but they sure benefited from it. Even today, many major companies still exist that were slave fueled at one time (part of The Canadian National Railway Company for example claimed the loss of dead slaves for insurance purposes). They still thrive today because of the money they made with slaves for future investments.

My family moved to the United States legally at a time when people from Asia, Africa and other areas were restricted. The best land of course was gone by the time immigration opened more broadly. My ancestors might not have been racists, but they benefited from it. Once here my ancestors were never relocated forcibly. When they died, they passed down money earned on land not made available to other races. Later on, they lived in better communities where non-whites were discouraged from living. If I have any inheritance coming to me (and I most certainly do not), that’s where it’s coming from.

My grandparents received small business loans unavailable to non-whites. They voted in elections and voted for people that best represented them and their particular class as to be expected but those politicians and platforms had little interest in representing non-whites. In their newer neighbourhoods, police protection appeared easier to come by. My parents were safer. They had public swimming pools, libraries, and playgrounds close to them. No one stopped them from using these facilities. They were encouraged too.

When my parents were young there were segregated schools that received more funds and drew interest from more and better-qualified teachers than non-white schools would get. They have got newer materials, up-to-date books, and better facilities. They were trained better to get higher-paying jobs. They learned from textbooks that reflected their race, religion, class, and opportunities and spoke more favourably to issues textbooks written by non-whites might have. Little to no mention of non-white heroes were anywhere to be found. They had tons of people who looked just like them to look up to, making it clear that they too could be doctors, scientists and engineers. People told them they could someday be the “president of the United States”. My parents might not have been racist, but they sure benefited from it.

When my parents and grandparents went to college, they were eligible to receive student loans. No one stopped them or protested their education. While they were training to be the boss others were being kept for labor. When a co-worker of colour was hired, often, they would be paid less, leaving more money for white workers. When cuts were made often people of color were cut first saving white jobs. My father might not be racist, but he probably benefited from it. He built a house with a higher wage because of it. He bought me my Sunday dinner with it, and my shoes too. I may not be racist, but I benefited from it when I got new toys someone else didn’t.

Very few of us would ever consider ourselves racist and yet there is no doubt that we benefit from racism. We were born into or inherited a system which restricted some and propped up others and helped create a cycle which can be escaped from but isn’t as easy to do as it is to say. Today I own a house built on land that was taken from someone long ago. When the government first sold that land to a homesteader the homesteader didn’t steal that land and wasn’t a bad person for buying it… but that homesteader sure benefited from racism and so have I. I benefit from it every time I shop at a store or buy gasoline made with oil pulled up out of the ground that belonged to someone else. I may not be a racist, but I benefit from it.

When I joined the Presbyterian Church in Canada the residential schools were all closed, an apology in the form of a “confession” had already been issued (provided at the end of this service text) and people by and large just wanted to forget about it and move on. And that makes sense. After all, what did most of us ever have to do with those schools anyway?

Well in truth it sort of doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if they were closed. It doesn’t matter if rather conveniently the United Church inherited the “problem” from Presbyterians seemingly freeing us from the past. It doesn’t matter at all. Because I call myself a Presbyterian now. I joined this church, and I don’t just get to identify with this denomination and its rich heritage when it suits me. I don’t get to celebrate with it without admitting the faults with it. I don’t get to be a part of the “Continuing” Presbyterian Church without being a part of the history it’s continuing from.

Sometimes when we think about the issues surrounding Residential Schools in Canada, we are tempted to brush them off and go about our business. It’s tempting to think, “Get over it”. It’s tempting to blame others or ignore the issues altogether. But the truth is, there is no getting around it or away from it. And it’s not someone else’s problem. We all have a role in it.

I may not be a racist, but I’ve benefited from it. How about you?

-The Rev. Brad Childs

Song: O for a world (730)

Our time of giving

Prayer for others and ourselves

Creator God of love and justice, Comforter of those who mourn,

We turn to you acknowledging the actions of your church, our complicity in running residential schools and taking children from their families. We have asked forgiveness and committed to work for truth, healing and reconciliation. But we recognize that for some, that change came too late.

The names of more of the students who died and never made it home from residential schools are beginning to be known, but we know these lists are incomplete; that there will be more names and that some names may never be publicly known. But you know, Loving and Healing God, their names, and their stories, their hearts and their families.

For those children whose names we do know, those we do not yet know, and for the intergenerational harm, the trauma still present today that grew from their absence, we apologize. We pray for healing for the siblings, family, and friends of those were taken from home but did not return, and for the intergenerational impacts the schools continue to cause today in families and communities.

For where there was joy, and we took it:

Laughter and we stifled it.
Play and we turned it to tears.
Family and we broke it.
Dignity, and we stifled it.

We repent and renew our commitment to walk a new path. We honour the children lost and hold the memory of their lives in our hearts.

Comforting God, we pray for healing in the communities and families of all who experienced residential schools, and strength for all who pursue healing, truth and reconciliation. Amen.

Song: Make me a channel of your peace (740)

Sending out with God’s blessing

As we go out today, may the Spirit rouse in each of us, minds prepared to be unsettled, hearts that yearn for justice, and bodies that work for peace. Guide and impassion us in love and justice, to walk lightly and humbly and seek truth and reconciliation, healing, and wholeness. May God’s transforming love flow freely through each of us. Amen.

Response: Benediction (As you go)

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

The Confession

In 1994, The Presbyterian Church in Canada adopted a confession recognizing the church’s role in operating residential schools and the harm those schools caused to Indigenous children, their families and communities. The Holy Spirit, speaking in and through Scripture, calls The Presbyterian Church in Canada to confession. This confession is our response to the word of God. We understand our mission and ministry in new ways in part because of the testimony of Aboriginal peoples.

We, the 120th General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, seeking the guidance of the Spirit of God, and aware of our sin and shortcomings, are called to speak to the Church we love. We do this, out of new understandings of our past not out of any sense of being superior to those who have gone before us, nor out of any sense that we would have done things differently in the same context. It is with humility and in great sorrow that we come before God and our Aboriginal brothers and sisters with our confession.
We acknowledge that the stated policy of the Government of Canada was to assimilate Aboriginal peoples to the dominant culture and that The Presbyterian Church in Canada co-operated in this policy. We acknowledge that the roots of the harm we have done are found in the attitudes and values of Western European colonialism, and the assumption that what was not yet moulded in our image was to be discovered and exploited. As part of that policy we, with other churches, encouraged the government to ban some important spiritual practices through which Aboriginal peoples experienced the presence of the creator God. For the Church’s complicity in this policy, we ask forgiveness.
We recognize that there were many members of The Presbyterian Church in Canada who, in good faith, gave unstintingly of themselves in love and compassion for their Aboriginal brothers and sisters. We acknowledge their devotion and commend them for their work. We recognize that there were some who, with prophetic insight, were aware of the damage that was being done and protested, but their efforts were thwarted. We acknowledge their insight. For the times we did not support them adequately nor hear their cries for justice, we ask forgiveness.
We confess that The Presbyterian Church in Canada presumed to know better than Aboriginal peoples what was needed for life. The Church said of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, “If they could be like us, they could think like us, talk like us, worship like us, sing like us, and work like us, they would know God and therefore would have life abundant.” In our cultural arrogance, we have been blind to how our understanding of the Gospel has been culturally conditioned, and because of our insensitivity to Aboriginal cultures, we have demanded more of the Aboriginal people than the Gospel requires and have thus misrepresented Jesus Christ who loves all peoples with compassionate, suffering love that all may come to God through him. For the Church’s presumption, we ask forgiveness.

We confess that, with the encouragement and assistance of the Government of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada agreed to take the children of Aboriginal peoples from their own homes and place them in residential schools. In these schools, children were deprived of their traditional ways, which were replaced with Euro-Canadian customs that were helpful in the process of assimilation. To carry out this process, The Presbyterian Church in Canada used disciplinary practices which were foreign to Aboriginal peoples, and open to exploitation in physical and psychological punishment beyond any Christian maxim of care and discipline. In a setting of obedience and acquiescence there was opportunity for sexual abuse, and some were so abused. The effect of all this, for Aboriginal peoples, was the loss of cultural identity and the loss of a secure sense of self. For the Church’s insensitivity we ask forgiveness.

We regret that there are those whose lives have been deeply scarred by the effects of the mission and ministry of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. For our Church we ask forgiveness of God. It is our prayer that God, who is merciful, will guide us in compassionate ways towards helping them to heal.
We ask, also, for forgiveness from Aboriginal peoples. What we have heard we acknowledge. It is our hope that those whom we have wronged with a hurt too deep for telling will accept what we have to say. With God’s guidance our Church will seek opportunities to walk with Aboriginal peoples to find healing and wholeness together as God’s people.

Pentecost

Posted on May 19, 2024May 19, 2024 by John

Worship on the Pentecost Sunday
10:00 am 19 May 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Ann May Malayang
Elder: Jane de Caen

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: Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit,
P: and inspire our worship with your truth.
L: Stir in our hearts, Holy Spirit,
P: and fill us with your love.
L: Strengthen us, Holy Spirit,
P: and move us to act with your power.
L: Breathe in us, Holy Spirit,
P: and receive our prayers and praise.

Opening praise: Holy Spirit, you are welcome here

Prayers of approach and confession
God of power and possibility, with the flame of your Spirit, you give us energy to move into the world in Jesus’ name.
With the breath of your Spirit, you refresh us to engage life in its complexity.
Your Spirit embraces us in the diversity and difference you wove into our creation and united us in your love.
We praise you for your presence with us in every time and place.
In this time of worship, send us the Holy Spirit once again.
Renew us to serve you in the world that aches for the healing and wholeness you offer through Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.
God of mystery and mercy, we confess we have not always paid attention to the urging of your Spirit to follow your will and your way.
Too often we claim to belong to Jesus, yet we ignore his teaching.
You created us to love one another, but we resist loving those who differ from us.
Stir our hearts with your Holy Spirit.
Transform who we are, and direct who we shall become through Christ’s redeeming love.

Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O God

Assurance of God’s love

These words are worthy of our trust and acceptance: In Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven. Be at peace with God, with yourself and with one another. Thanks be to God for God’s steadfast love and mercy!

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus, we are gathered

Story

When I was in school, I studied several languages (Spanish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew). I’m not great with any of them.

Pentecost took place with people from all around the known world who spoke many different languages.

There were Flames, Tongues, and Fire.

People heard God’s Message in their own languages.

The Bible has been translated into 1,658 languages to share God’s message.

One language that everyone speaks is Love. If you love someone, they know it. Now the Holy Spirit has never given me the special gift of speaking in tongues, but I know what the language of Love is. It’s kindness and respect. It’s sharing God’s message by how we act and how we treat each other.

God has given you a message to share, in English, in any language you speak and in all you do.

Prayer: Our God, we pray that you will help us to speak the language of love – to share the Gospel with all people whether we share the same language or not.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: When the Spirit of the Lord (398)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Acts 2:1-21 and Romans 8:22-27

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: Pentecost

I heard a story some time ago about a boy who was wandering around the narthex of a large downtown church one Sunday morning. As the ushers looked over, they saw the boy stop and carefully examine a large bronze plaque that was hung on the wall. The ushers came over to say “Hello.” “Why are all those names up there?” the boy asked the ushers. “Those are the names of people who died in the service.” the usher replied. With eyes now open as wide as they had ever been the boy stared at the ushers and asked “the 9:30 service or the one I come too?”

Sometimes it’s easy to get confused about things in the Church. Pentecost is one of those things. Most people know what Christmas is; many know what Easter is but very few people generally know what Pentecost is. And really that’s very understandable because most Christians tend to disagree a bit about what Pentecost is about.

My Grandmother Grace once told me about how she and her friends used to hide in the bushes outside the Pentecostal church and watch the people roll around in the aisles. She said that one of her great regrets in life is laughing at the so-called “Holy Rollers” when all they were doing was trying to understand God in their own way.

The events of Pentecost and different understandings about what happened at Pentecost have helped to create a whole host of different denominations and sects of Christianity. The Toronto Blessing is a group of Charismatic Christians that believes itself to be weekly experiencing the Holy Spirit as worshipers go through fits of uncontrolled laughter. It may not be for me… but I doubt laughing every really hurt anyone.

Many Pentecostals believe that only those who speak in tongues have been given the Holy Spirit and therefore are the only true Christians. That seems odd and perhaps rude at first but then again, John Calvin was the complete opposite. He believed that the original Pentecost experience was a miracle but that it existed only for the birth of the church and that miracles were no longer needed and so, no longer happened. When people spoke of the miraculous, he argued with them (considering them uneducated). It seems Pentecost (a day that’s supposed to be about unity) is dividing us. We all seem to understand what happened differently.

In the story from Acts chapter two, the disciples are gathered together when suddenly a sound “something like” a violent wind came from heaven and filled the house. And then what seemed like “tongues of fire.” Then the tongues separate and rest on each person. And then everyone in the room begins to speak in “other tongues.”

Outside there is a large crowd with people gathered from all around the known world. But somehow everyone outside hears the gospel message proclaimed in their own native language. Some of the people nearby are skeptical and think the disciples and other travelers are simply drunk and attempt to dismiss them. But many others come to believe.

Just what was happening at Pentecost though is a little hard to tell. There was no camera around to capture the event; it was written two thousand years ago, and it was written in another language complete with its own traditions, background, idioms and much more. At first it might seem straightforward enough (The Holy Spirit came as tongues made of fire and gave people a magical language so they could share the gospel with the world beyond) but… What does it mean that Luke (the writer of Acts) doesn’t actually say that a great wind came? No instead he himself can’t describe it…calling it “something like a mighty wind.”

Next Luke can’t describe the so-called tongues… instead calling them “what seemed like tongues of fire.”

Next what does tongues of fire mean? By tongues are we meant to literally envision tongues but made of fire? Or are “tongues of fire” a figure of speech that describes the flickering edges or tops of the flames? What is speaking in tongues anyway? Are they speaking other human languages as some suggest? Did they know the languages they were speaking but simple felt compelled to speak as some say… or did they speak human languages they had never studied before? Or are they babbling nonsensical words or are they speaking the language of angels as many Charismatic Christians believe?

On the more literary front, many scholars have pointed out that the events of Acts 2 appear to mirror the events that take place at the bottom of Mt. Sinai in the book of Exodus. Both have a violent wind, both have the theophany (fire of God), both have the presence of God being revealed in a new way, both have a multitude of people gathered, both make a point to note that people from foreign lands are present and both note the Word being given to the people to share.

Other scholars have noticed that what happened in Acts 2 is actually the exact opposite of what happened in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel. The say that in Babel the people didn’t trust in God’s promise to Noah to never again flood the earth and so they began to make a structure to reach the heavens where they could go and be above God’s reproach and so be “like gods” themselves. In response God confuses their language and scatters them throughout the world as a curse. In contrast to this, on the day of Pentecost they say, God lifts the curse and creates a kind of universal language and speaks to people from all around the known world who are all gathered together once again.

Is the story history the way we define history, history the way they defined history or was the whole event meant to be a literary or figurative way of explaining the beginnings of a spiritual revival that first century people would have easily understood but has been largely lost on us?

Want to know what I think happened? Would you like to know exactly what I think happened?

I don’t have a clue. I don’t know why but strangely and quite frankly I don’t really care all that much to know exactly what happened.

But I’ll tell you what I do know.

Three times a year the Jews were to take a pilgrimage up to Jerusalem. Shavu’ot is one of the three. It comes from Ex. 34:22 which says that God’s people were to have a festival on the Sabbath following seven weeks after the Passover. In Leviticus 23:16 it says, “You shall number the festival after 50 days”. By the New Testament times, the Hebrew Bibles were nearly out of use and most people; even Rabbis read a Greek translation called the Septuagint. The Septuagint translation of the above texts just reads “You shall have a festival at ‘pentekostes’” the Greek word for 50 (“You shall have the festival at 50”). While the Passover was about the exodus from Egypt, the pentekostes was commonly thought to be about the giving of the Ten Commandments. But officially the holiday was a pre-harvest festival called “The Feast of First Fruits.”

See in the early first temple period when the nomadic Israelites had just left the desert and first begun to farm, they began to celebrate the festival of first fruits. It was an extreme act of faith. See farmers didn’t just cultivate crops all at the same time. It took a long time to plant and a long time to bring in the crops. Farming is hard and dangerous today, but this was an even harder time. For most people there were no irrigation systems, no safe place to store next year’s seed, no guarantee of pleasant weather, no pesticides to keep crops from being destroyed, and only a few ways to take out loans (none of which were pleasant) if nothing grew. A weak harvest could mean starvation and the death of a whole extended family. Two weak harvests and death was almost certain. Now it should be noted that Leviticus asks the people to give a tithe or tenth of their earning as a sacrifice to God for the festival but here’s where the feast of first fruits gets really serious.

See – at the feast of first fruits, they gave 1/10 of their harvest. But it’s not 1/10 after the harvest is all over. It’s the first 10% of the crop. At the beginning of the harvest before it had all come in, long before they knew if the rest of the crop would mature, if the rain would come, if the bugs wouldn’t eat it all, if there would be enough to eat, if enough to eat… enough to store, if enough to store then enough to save for planting the following year. Before they knew anything at all… they would take the first 10% of their crop, and during the harvest season… travel to the Temple in Jerusalem (at the time when they should be watching their crops most carefully) and they would take that first 10% (their only food for the whole year thus far… all of it) and they would burn it.

They would burn it because they trusted God would provide them with more.

Shavu’ot… Pentekostes… That is why the disciples are gathered together in that room 50 days after Jesus was killed. There is a party going on… it’s the 50^th day. It’s a pentecostes. It is an exciting time… but it’s also a very selfless time when the people really stepped up to the plate in faith, where they stuck their necks out as far as they could possibly go.

And on that day, the Ruach HaKodesh (the very Breath of God) came into that place. And as opposed to how things had been before (an insular and tight knit group), verse four says the Breath of God and the Fire and Spirit “came to all present.” What’s more the Spirit didn’t just “rest” on them as He did in the Old Testament but instead verse five says he “filled them.” Everyone began at once preaching the gospel and outside travelers from all around the known world heard the message of Christ in his or her own language. Because of Pentecostes when the people gave their first fruits, God birthed the Church through the disciples… the First Fruits of many (including you) who would share the gospel with others. Because he trusted that there would be more.

Sometimes it’s easy to get confused about things in the Church. And that’s understandable. Exactly what happened that first Christian Pentecost day two thousand years ago? I don’t have a clue. I don’t know for sure if they were literal tongues or just flames (both would be miracles). I don’t know if the story is more literal or literary. I don’t know for sure if they were known languages, angelic tongues, or something else. I don’t know if God still does the same kind of miracles today or if this was just for those first believers. I don’t know… but strangely and quite frankly I don’t really care all that much. Because I may not know all the minute details of exactly what happened at that first Christian Pentecost, but I do think I know what it means that it happened.

I think what John the Baptist had said in Luke 3:16 came true when he said,
“I baptize with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

I think Jesus did what he said he’d do in John 14:16 when he said, “And I will ask the Father and He will send you another advocate who will never leave you.”

I think what Christ said Acts 1:8 came true where he said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”

I think that first Pentecost day they were the first fruits of those called to proclaim the message of Christ to all the world and that you and I are a part of that harvest just as you and I are called to proclaim it to all the world in every language and every corner of creation. Because Acts chapter two is the birthplace of the Church as we know it… and when the Bible says, “12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, ‘What does this mean?’” I believe Peter is right to answer that question by saying, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Because the Church might be confusing at times and the gospel hard to grasp but the Spirit of God wants everyone to hear it.

May the Lord Bless you and keep you,

May you be the first fruits of all those you touch,

And may we always proclaim Happy Birthday to the Church of Jesus Christ, in every language everywhere knowing that by the power of the Sprit, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Song: I am the church (475)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: At Pentecost, God poured out gifts of the Spirit upon the Church, to equip Christ’s followers to bear witness to him throughout the world. We offer our gifts and our lives to God so that the witness of the Church will continue with the blessing of the Holy Spirit in this generation and beyond.

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves

Spirit of grace and power, bless the gifts we offer so that they may accomplish surprising things in Jesus’ name. Bless our lives, too, so that our words and actions bear witness to Jesus’ love and mercy each and every day.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through your whole church on this day of Pentecost: Blow through us and renew our faith. Re-awaken our love for God. Let the flames of your love warm our hearts with trust in Jesus Christ. Dare us to do great things in his name.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and renew our faith and hope.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and give us energy to serve you as the body of Christ working in the world. Open our eyes to recognize needs for ministry and mission around us. Open our hearts to welcome newcomers and meet those we don’t yet know. Open our hands to share in tasks that need doing, and open our lips in prayer and praise.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and renew our faith and hope.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and give us understanding for all those whose lives seem so different from ours (brief silence)

for those facing situations we’ve never encountered (brief silence)
for those with whom we’ve disagreed (brief silence)
for problems and challenges we face at home, at work, and in the world facing so much turmoil. (longer silence)

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and renew our faith and hope.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and bring healing

for all who face pain or illness, discouragement, or disappointment (brief silence)
for all who know sorrow, sadness, or grief (brief silence)
for those who feel pressure in these uncertain times (longer silence)

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and renew our faith and hope.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and bring us the compassion we see in Christ Jesus to serve the world you love in his name.

Blow through us and refresh us as his faithful followers.

Unite us across our differences as together, we pray, Amen.

Song: Jump with joy (406)

Sending out with God’s blessing

On this Pentecost Day, go in the strength of the Spirit to serve with renewed energy wherever the Spirit moves you. And may the 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.

Response: God to enfold you

Music postlude

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Sent into the World (Lynn Vaughan)

Posted on May 12, 2024May 13, 2024 by John

Worship on the Seventh Sunday of Easter
Mother’s Day / Christian Family Sunday
10:00 am 12 May 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Lynn Vaughan
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Linda Farrah-Basford
Elder: Gina Kottke

We gather to worship God

Music prelude

Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
P: and also with you.

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Silent preparation for worship

Call to Worship
L: Clap your hands, all you peoples;
P: We will shout to God with songs of joy.
L: For God is awesome, reigning over all the earth!
P: We will sing praises to God every day.
L: Let us worship God with all we have to offer.
P: We will offer God our love – heart, body, mind and soul!

Opening praise: Love the Lord, your God

Prayers of approach and confession

God of promise and purpose, we praise with thankful hearts.

As the beauty of the seasons change the beauty of your world lifts our hearts in praise. You lifted up Jesus to be by your side, and so we know he is always by our side as the future opens before us. Show us the promise and purpose in our own lives – how we can unfurl with new life and move into the future empowered by the Holy Spirit, embraced by the love of Christ our Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, you called your followers to carry the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness to the ends of the earth. Yet we confess we cannot always find the words to tell others of our faith.

We try to act out your love, but it’s hard to tell others why we do what we do for you.

Forgive us. Give us the courage to speak openly of our commitment to you.

Response: I waited, I waited on you, Lord

Assurance of God’s forgiveness

Friends, remember the promise the Apostle Paul declares: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Hardship? Distress? Peril or sword? Neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Let us rejoice that, no matter what is happening around us, no matter what path we are looking to follow, God’s deep love will always be with us.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: My Lighthouse

Story

Our theme in Sunday School today is “Sent into the World”, so we’re going to do a little experiment to demonstrate how that might look for us, as Christians.

This bottle I have and the water inside of it is going to represent the world we live in. It has the potential to be pure and beautiful and clear but, unfortunately, our world is sometimes a messy place. Sometimes, bad things happen. Sometimes, people are too busy looking out for themselves that they forget to look out for each other. They forget to love one another and be kind, as Jesus teaches us. So, that makes our world look a little murky and cloudy. (add food colouring to water)

After Jesus and his disciples ate their Last Supper together before his crucifixion, he prayed for them. He prayed that as they lived in the world, they would not become part of the murkiness and bad things that happened in the world. He wanted them to go out into the world and share the gifts he had given them, but he did not want them to become stained. He wanted them to remain the people God made them to be. He wanted them to know His love and to share that love with others. So, he prayed for them.

This prayer doesn’t just apply to Jesus’ disciples; it applies to us, too.

So, here we are, getting ready to go out into the world. Let’s see what happens. (pour oil into water in jar, shake it up)

When we first put these things together, it appears that the water and oil become one, right? But wait a minute.

Have the oil and water really become one? Let’s let the bottle stand for a little while and see what happens. Look! The water and oil have separated. That shows us that even when they were all mixed together, they were never really all together as one.

This is a pretty good picture of what Jesus wants US to be like in this world of ours. Even though we live in the world, we don’t have to become part of the muck and the bad stuff that so often exists. We can rise above everything bad and negative in the world and be separate from it, showing off our love and compassion for each other. We can teach others about God’s kingdom and everything good that happens when we follow Jesus and open our hearts to having a relationship with God.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, help us, as we live in this world, to remain faithful to your call to be separate from the world and show off your love.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: God forgave my sin (774)

Today’s Message

Scripture reading: Acts 1:1-14 and John 17:1-19

Response: Behold the Lamb of God

Message: Sent into the world

This Sunday’s Gospel text comes at a unique time in the Church year.

The Easter season begins a time of 50 days that ends with Pentecost, which will happen next Sunday, and it includes the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto Jesus’ disciples. During the 50 days of Easter, we have the chance to revel in the new life Christ brings when he conquers death.

This past Thursday, which is ten days before Pentecost, marks the day of Christ’s Ascension into heaven. So then, today, the 7th Sunday of Easter – is kind of an “in between” Sunday.

On this particular Sunday of the Easter season:

Christ is no longer physically present with the disciples, as he has been since his resurrection, but
The Holy Spirit has not yet come upon them and given them the courage and motivation to begin their mission work as they are sent out into the world.

This scenario is a very typical moment for our own experiences of Christian life. We know Christ is risen. We know He has the power to conquer death. But, like the Apostles during this in-between time before Pentecost, we sometimes feel a bit scared and powerless to go out and face the world.

In the Gospel reading from John 17 that we just heard, we are taken back in time to Jesus’ last meal with his friends – the Last Supper – and the great and mysterious prayer he recited after dinner. Jesus is acutely aware that he is about to leave them. He has done all he can to protect his friends and teach them about God’s love, up until this time, but now he must entrust them to his Father’s care.

The prayer that Jesus recites bounces around a bit and is a little confusing, but it emphasizes three main things: belonging, being informed, and being sent. Today, I’m choosing to focus on the being sent part of things.

The disciples are made aware that Jesus, the Son, was “sent” by the Father. This “sentness” seems to be crucial to a true and transforming faith.

Jesus prays that his disciples – that WE – are being sent out in the same way as he was sent. He gives us the big green light to GO into the world to spread the message of the gospel and TRUST that all will be well as we face the future … and all the uncertainties that come along with that.

I’m going to share with you a little story about some fish who were kind of stuck in their own little world, set in their ways, when they were suddenly given the opportunity to follow a new path and take a chance on something that could change their sheltered lives forever. We are reminded that Christ offers an invitation to each one of us, as well. He holds it out and waits for us to respond. No one is forcing us to accept it. No one coerces us into believing. We each receive an invitation to follow Him and go out into the world to continue to spread the good news.

Do we dare respond to this invitation? Are we ready to follow this teacher? Are we ready to live our lives with him and be sent out to do His work? As I tell the story, see if you recognize any of the characters in the story in the people around us. See if you recognize any of the characters in yourself!

This is a story about some fishes who lived in a very small puddle of water.

“Give me that waterbug!”

“No, I saw him first!”

“Get your fins off my supper!”

“He’s mine, I tell you!”

And so, every day, the little fishes would fight. In such cramped quarters, there isn’t much else to do — except swim in circles and hunt for waterbugs. Their stagnant puddle, cradled between the roots of an ancient oak, lay just beside a swiftly flowing river. Life never seemed to change for the puddle fish.

But one morning, as they swam in circles and hunted for waterbugs, there was a sudden noise:

SPLASH!!!

“Watch yourself! Stand clear!”

An amazing, brightly coloured fish had jumped into the riverside puddle. This large fish had blue and red and golden scales. And — what was most unusual to the inhabitants of this particular puddle of water — he was smiling.

At first, the frightened puddle–fishes huddled together against the puddle’s far edge. Finally, one of them asked, “Where do you come from?”

The Sparkling Fish smiled brightly: “I come from the sea.”

“The sea? What’s the sea?”

The Sparkling Fish shook his head in surprise. “You don’t know about the sea? No one has ever told you? Why, the sea . . . the sea is what fish are made for!” He rubbed a golden fin against his head, puzzled.

“How can I explain the sea to you? Well … it’s not like this little puddle; it’s endless! You don’t have to swim in circles all day; you can dance with the tides. Life isn’t lived in the shade — the sun arches over the waves in silver and crimson! And there are many splendid sea–creatures, such as can hardly be imagined! It’s endless! And sparkling clear. The sea is what fish are made for!”

Just then, a waterbug skirted the surface overhead, but no one moved. Then a pale gray puddle–fish spoke up: “How do we get to the sea?”

The Sparkling Fish pointed toward the large black root that lay close to the river’s edge. “It’s a simple matter. You jump from this little puddle into that river, and trust that the current will take you to the sea.”

Astonishment clouded the puddle–water. At last, a brave little fish swam forward with a hard, experienced look in his eye. He was a Realist Fish.

The Realist Fish looked down at the muddy puddle–bottom and frowned. “It’s pleasant to talk about this ‘sea–business’. But if you ask me, we have to face reality. And what is reality? Obviously — it’s swimming in circles and hunting for waterbugs.”

A look of distaste mingled with pity crossed his face. “It’s all pie–in–the–sea nonsense. Of course, I sympathize; you undoubtedly dreamed this up because of some trauma you suffered as a little guppy. But life is hard. It takes a real Fish to face the facts.”

The Sparkling Fish smiled: “But you don’t understand. I’ve been there. I’ve seen the sea. It’s far more wonderful ….” Yet before he could finish speaking, the Realist Fish swam away.

Next, there neared a fish with a nervous twitch in his tail. He was a Scared Fish. He began to stutter: “If . . . if I understand y–y–you, we’re supposed to j–j–jump into th–th–that river over there?”

“Yes. For a fish who wants to go to the sea, the way to get there lies through the river.” The Sparkling Fish swam closer. (It’s difficult to understand someone when he stutters underwater.)

The Scared Fish’s voice jumped to a screech: “B–B–But . . . have you looked at that river over there? I’m just a small fish! That river is deep and strong and wide! Why, a small fish would be swept away by the current! If I jumped out of this puddle, I wouldn’t have any control! NO! I just can’t. . .”

The Sparkling Fish whispered, “Just trust me. Trust that the river will take you some place good . . .” But before he could finish, the Scared Fish hurried away.

Finally, there swam out a figure who seemed very solemn and learned. (He had been in this particular school of fish longer than anyone else.) He was a Theologian Fish.

Calmly, he swam to the middle of the puddle and adjusted his spectacles. Setting down a small shellfish podium, the Theologian Fish pulled out a sheaf of notes from his vest pocket. Then he smiled at the puddle–fishes: “My brothers and sisters, our distinguished visitor has expressed many views which certainly merit consideration.”

Then, he bowed respectfully to the Sparkling Fish: “However, my colourful friend, we must also concede that those fishes who so gracefully inhabit this humble puddle have also expressed many views which merit consideration. By all means, let us be reasonable.”

He glanced down at his notes, and then his smile brightened: “We can work this out. Why not form a discussion group? We could meet every Monday at seven o’clock, and I’m certain that some of the puddle–fish would be happy to bring coffee and doughnuts ….”

The eyes of the Sparkling Fish were sad: “No, this will never do. Talking is important, but in the end — it is a simple matter. You jump. You jump out of this puddle and trust that the river will take you to the sea.”

From somewhere above the muddied waters, a sparrow was singing. The light in the Sparkling Fish’s eyes shone with a bright urgency: “Besides, don’t you know? Summer is coming!”

The puddle–fishes murmured: “Summer is coming! Summer is …. Summer is coming. What difference does that make?”

The Sparkling Fish pointed toward the sun: “Summer is coming. The spring rains filled this little puddle to overflowing. But this puddle is going to dry up someday. No puddle lasts forever.”

The puddle–fishes were stunned. But then the Realist Fish swam to the front. There was a dark contempt on his face as he spat out his words: “That’s just like you religious people. When you don’t honestly convince people of what you believe, you try to scare them. You’re just one of those end–of–the–puddle fanatics!”

He swam away in disgust.

But then, all the colours of the Sparkling Fish — blue, red and gold — brightened into a warm glow. He whispered: “It is a simple matter. You jump. You jump from this little puddle, and trust that the river will take you to the sea. Will take you to a better future. Now … who will come and follow me?”

At first, no one moved. But then, a few puddle–fish swam to his side. Together, they jumped into the river, and the current swept them away.

The remaining puddle–fish were quiet for a long time.

Then, once again they began to swim in circles and hunt for waterbugs.

So now, ask yourself: are you ready to jump? Amen

Song: We are marching (639)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Reflection on giving: Even as the season of Easter draws closer to its end this week, we continue to receive the blessings God pours out for us in Christ and in creation. Our gifts to God speak of our gratitude for these blessings and our commitment to share them with the whole world.

Eternal and ever-present God, bless the gifts we offer today with the power of your Holy Spirit. Use them and us to witness to the love of Jesus Christ and bring healing and hope to the world in his name. Amen.

A Prayer for Christian Family Sunday

Lord Jesus Christ, You came to us bearing God’s love to live with us, to walk with us, and to show us how to love.

You pray with us and for us day by day.

Today we turn to you with our hopes and our concerns.

Draw near to us and to those for whom we pray, so that your love will be known in our world this day.

Lord Jesus, on this Christian Family Sunday, we pray for the families we belong to. Thank you for parents, grandparents and great-grandparents for the generations who started our families and all they have given to us.

Today we thank you especially for our mothers and pray for all the mothers around the world.

Give mothers hope for their children, and peace in the world to raise their children safely.

Comfort and support each member of our families and guide each child and young person into the future.

Lord Jesus, we pray for families in our community and in your world

We remember families in need:

Families who are struggling under economic pressures…

Families who know sorrow because someone has died or gone away…

Families who live in fear because they are in the midst of some kind of trouble…

Surround these families with your love and bring them courage to face whatever tomorrow brings.

Lord Jesus, we pray for each other and for our church family:

Thank you for the friendship and fellowship we share, and the unique gifts each one brings to our life together.

Show us our paths into the future and give us important things to do in your name. Amen.

Song: Who’s goin’ to tell the story (861)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go in strength, with the assurance that Christ walks with you, to witness to his love in truth and action. And may God’s resurrecting love open the future for you, empowered by the Spirit, and embraced by the presence of Jesus Christ, our Risen and Ascended Lord.

Response: Go forth into the world

Music postlude

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Lynn Vaughan retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as she is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is her own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

The long road

Posted on May 5, 2024May 5, 2024 by John

Worship on the Sixth Sunday of Easter
05 May 2024    10:00 am
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev. Brad Childs                Elder: Heather Tansem
Music Director: Binu Kapadia           Vocalist: 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
Silent preparation for worship

Call to Worship
L: Let us sing to the Lord a new song,
P: for God has done marvelous things.
L: Let us make known the Lord’s victory,
P: for God’s steadfast love covers the whole earth.
L: Let us sing joyful praises,
P: and join all creation to worship God’s holy name.

Opening praise: Forever God is faithful

Prayers of approach and confession

God, you are known to us in scripture and you are known to us in our experiences but you are also beyond our knowledge and our comprehension. We come together not because of strength but because we need to be lifted up. We come to put our attention for one hour of the week on something clearly beyond ourselves. We come to dedicate time to the God we know and yet still strive to fathom.

God of all power and new life we come, humbly, bowing our heads before you, aware of your holiness and majesty knowing that in most things we are powerless and lowly. We come hoping to be received as humble servants but when we pray we feel like more than that. Many of us are invigorated by the morning. Yet many come today with reservations or doubts or simply come weighed down by the burdens we carry. Here we experience your willingness to walk beside us and share the weight of our load.

Only you can meet us in the heights and depths of human living. Only you can lead in the way of fulfillment. Only you are worthy of our worship. Thus we join with all creation singing your praise. To the seas’ roar, we add our melody. To the song echoing in the hills, we add our harmonies. To the voices carrying long distances through the prairie fields, we add our tone.

Despite our experiences of grace, we are not always faithful to you. We do not always live up to our calling to be your people. We seek joy in the strangest places. We tire of the old, old Story and seek happiness in novelty. We seek out swear words more often than true ones. We seek easy roads rather than the right paths. We play with the fires of addiction, compulsion and greed and wonder why we have so little fulfillment.

We are more attentive to the voices around us that sanction self-interest over love of neighbor or stranger and we wonder why peace is so elusive. We fail those you have given us to love and wonder why we feel so insecure.

Forgive us, Lord. And we ask for your help to live up to our best intentions and help to be the best that we can be and prayerfully even beyond. Help us use the energy of our regrets to change our ways. Fuel our desire to walk in your way. Energize us to pursue your purposes. Make us yours and only so. Bless the days ahead and lead us in all truth. Forgive us, change us, send us, defend us and make us new. We offer our prayers through your son, Lord Jesus Amen

Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon

The God of the Scriptures comes with fire to burn away what is unclean. But like gold being refined in the flames, what is left behind is more pure. In confessing our trials and our failures and in our promises to do better, our God refines the souls of the faithful. Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God amen.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: There’s a spirit in the air (764: vss 1, 3, 5, 6)

Scripture readings (NRSV): I John 5:1-6 & John 15:9-17 (NIV)

Response: Glory to the Father

Message: The Long Road

While a college student, Heidi Neumark took a year off from Brown University to be part of a volunteer program. It was sponsored by a group called Rural Mission. Heidi was sent to Johns Island—off the Carolina coast—where she learned from the sons and daughters of plantation slaves who allowed her to sit and listen-in as folks sat around telling stories.

In her words: “The most important lesson I learned on Johns Island was from Miss Ellie, who lived miles down a small dirt road in a one-room, wooden home with an outhouse and one small cooking pot. I loved to visit her. We’d sit in old rocking chairs on the front porch, drinking tall glasses of sweet tea, while she’d tell me stories often punctuated with unique expressions that would leap from her river of thought like bright, silver fish. ‘Girl, I be so happy I could jump the sky!’ she’d say.

It’s the kind of phrase where you know what she means without understanding what she means. And Miss Ellie was full of them.

I never could find out Miss Ellie’s precise age, but it was somewhere between 90 and 100. The sad part – maybe she didn’t know herself. She still did everything herself. She still chopped her own firewood, stacked in neat little piles behind the house. She was committed to work hard and to relax.

Miss Ellie had a friend named Netta. And Netta, whom she’d known since they were small girls had been a good friend. In order to get to Netta’s house, Miss Ellie had to walk four miles through fields of tall grass. This was the sweet grass that Johns Island women make famous baskets out of sold at Easter all around the state. But it was also home to numerous poisonous snakes: coral snakes, rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and copperheads. It was home to all manner of venom.

Actually, Netta’s home was not that far from Miss Ellie’s place, but there was a stream that cut across the fields between the two homes. You had to walk quite a distance to get to the place where the stream narrowed enough to pass. The travel was dangerous. And I admired Miss Ellie, who would set off to visit her friend Netta; full of bouncy enthusiasm, with no worry for the snakes or the long miles or the aching bones.

Still, I also felt sorry for her. Poor Miss Ellie, I thought, old and arthritic, having to walk all that way, pushing through the thick summer heat, not to mention the snakes. And the miles of travel! It was a lot for anyone; certainly a well-seasoned senior!

I felt sorry—until I hit upon the perfect plan.

See, I arranged with some local men to help build a simple plank bridge across the stream near Miss Ellie’s house. I scouted out the ideal place—not too wide, but too deep to cross without a bridge. I bought and helped carry the planks there myself.

Our new bridge was built in a day.

I was so excited that I could hardly wait to see Miss Ellie’s reaction.

I went to her house, where she wanted to sit in her rocker and tell stories as usual, but I was too impatient with my project for that. I practically dragged her off with me. ‘Look!’ I shouted, ‘a shortcut for you to visit Netta!’

I was so proud of what I’d done to help Miss Ellie, that sweetest old lady I had ever met. I’ll never forget that day.

In our reading from today, Jesus tells his disciples “¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

It’s one of those nice moments. But of course, it means different things to different people. The question has to be asked, “What does it really mean to love somebody”?

Over the years I have done a lot of weddings and a lot of wedding sermons. You may have noticed that I don’t insert names into forms. I start from scratch with nearly every wedding or funeral service. I don’t just do the same thing on repeat replacing “he” with “her” and call it quits. They are all very specific to the individuals involved.

But all of my wedding messages have one thing in common. In every one, I always make a point to say that “Love is not a feeling, it’s an action”. And that is extremely important.

For example, when the apostle Paul famously lists his definition of “true love” he says, “Love” “is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸True love never fails.”

But here is the rub” Those are all actions.

Nothing on Paul’s list is a feeling.

Nothing.

I am completely convinced that the rise in divorce in recent years is at least in part due to the fact that Hollywood and movie stars and the whole world out there – have convinced people that love is a feeling you have for someone else… that love is some feeling you get. In reality, love is not a feeling you have for someone else, it’s the things you do, in response to a feeling you have about someone else.

We have a whole generation of people raised on a concept of love that is utterly selfish at its core because it’s about what we get out of a relationship. Are you served by this relationship? What do you get out of it? It is often selfishness deputized as love.

The Bible on the other hand has just the opposite concept. In the scriptures, Love is not something you feel about someone else, it’s something you do for someone else. And there are no shortcuts. Love takes work. It’s not getting. It’s giving.

Putting Paul’s words in the affirmative: Love is when you have patience for someone else. Love is when you show kindness to another when you hold humility, and you show honour to someone else. Love is when you reject selfishness, you choose to trust and decide to have hope. You give love.

The Bible says that true love “never fails” because true love isn’t a feeling that can pass with time or emotions, it’s a commitment, a devotion and an action. You can never fall out of “true love” because it’s an action you’ve determined to do and you keep at it even when not deserved.

Jesus takes this idea to its ultimate conclusion.

True love is being willing even to die for someone else. It’s being willing to give up everything for another.

Often modern readers will be a little confused if they sit down with these verses and no surrounding context. So, when Jesus says “You are my friends if you do what I command” it sounds harsh and silly. To be friends we have to do whatever you say? Really?

When you hear those words it’s easy to think – that’s a horrible thing to say. “You are my friends if you do what I command” sounds like the little 8-year-old neighbour-girl Jenny who used to tell my little sister Hannah when they were kids that if Hannah didn’t do A, B and C then they weren’t gonna be friends anymore. It’s mean.

But is that really what he’s saying?… that we need to be perfect and follow him perfectly or will he reject us?

I don’t think so. Remember in Luke 7:34 Jesus is called “the friend of sinners” too.

No, it’s deeper than that.

If you don’t understand your relationship, and your place in God, you’ll find yourself trying to do what only God can do.

Many people in church today are confused, messed up, discouraged, depressed, and unable to praise God the way they are supposed to because they are spending all of their energy trying to be their god. They are trying to bless themselves, make their gospel, heal themselves, promote themselves, climb the latter of success themselves, trying to solve their problems alone, answer their own prayers, trying to cover up for God, because they feel as if he’s not doing it fast enough, trying to make God look good through their human efforts and it cannot be done. We don’t need to be perfect we just need to be His and fully His.

True Christianity is not about adding Jesus to my life. Instead, it is about devoting my life completely to Him – submitting wholly to His will and seeking to please Him above all else. It demands dying to self and following the Master, no matter the cost. It’s doing exactly what he did… it’s being willing to give everything.

And then the conversation takes a unique turn. Jesus says ^15 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends.”

In ancient times, a rabbi or teacher would have followers and those followers were considered servants. But here Jesus is changing the relationship that He has with the disciples and with us. He now calls us friends.

Interestingly although this was the common word for Talmidim (a Master’s student) this is the last time the word doulos (for servant) or any variation of that word appears in John’s gospel. After this, the word is never used again. Once Jesus called us friends, that became the only way they were referred to from that point on.

Theologians have noted that Abraham was called a “friend of God” (Chron 20:7) in Exodus 33:11 so was Moses. But that’s it. It’s very rare in the Bible for someone to receive that kind of title from the triune creator of the universe. That should say something about the power of friendship. And it should say something about the love of Christ.

Aristotle writes, “To a noble man there applies the true saying that he does all things for the sake of his friends … and, if need be, he gives his life for them” (Eth. Nic. 9.8, 1169a). Plato stated “Only those who love, wish to die for others” (Symposium, 179B).

Plato and Aristotle it seems are in good company.

To the idea that a friend is willing to give everything for another Jesus adds, “¹⁴You are my friends…if you do what I command.”

And once again that comes phrase comes off a tad harsh to modern readers. Jesus will only love us and he will only call us friends if we do what he says. It just feels like little 8-year-old Jenny Mahoney is trying to get my sister Hannah to do something she doesn’t want to.

Do we have to do what God says to be called friends? If we want to be loved or be friends with God we have to obey his every command. At first, this verse makes the all-powerful God of the universe sound like a kid on the playground readying to take his ball and go home, if he doesn’t get his way.

But then again… maybe it’s more simplistic than all that.

See, In this very paragraph, Jesus defined what he meant by this exactly. He said this is my command: “Love one another”. You are my friends if you love one another.

And then he gives an example: “Greater love has no more than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” In other words, if you want to be friends you can’t just decide that you like each other. You don’t just get to have warm fuzzy feelings about God or the people around you. You have to do something about it. You don’t just get to take. You have to sacrifice. You have to actually love, not just with your feelings but with your service. Because true love isn’t a feeling, it’s an action. You have to give.

The point should be well taken. You don’t just get to call people your friends and then do nothing for them. You don’t get to call yourself of friend of God and then ignore Him. There are no shortcuts to friendship, no shortcuts to real love. It’s a long road. And real Love means action.

For Jesus, the title that was previously given only to Abraham and Moses is now a title that belongs rightly to anyone who knows that kind of love… true love. Many things in this world could cause us to wonder. But one of the most striking is that the bible tells us – the divine being that hung the stars in their place and built the universe atom by atom, and quark by quark, that this same God should want to call us His friends.

And we are. But love has a price. Friendship has a price.

This is not the love of Hollywood. It’s the love of God.

On John’s Island, Heidi Neumark shouted “Look” to Miss Ellie, “A shortcut for you to visit Netta!” And it was a grand gesture which was greatly appreciated. But “Miss Ellie’s face did not register the grateful, happy look Heidi had expected at first. There was no smile, no “jumping the sky”.

Heidi continues to tell the story in her own words. She wrote: “Instead, for a long time, Miss Ellie looked puzzled, then she shook her head and looked at me and said, ‘Child, I don’t need no shortcut.’ And then she told me about all the other friends she kept up with – on her way to visit Netta.

A “shortcut” she noted, would cut her off from Mr. Jenkins, a lonely man with whom she always talked about politics; from Miss Hunter, who so looked forward to the quilt scraps Miss Ellie would make sure to bring by; from the raisin wine she’d get to sample at one neighbour place in exchange for her homemade biscuits; and the chance to look in on the “old folks” (whatever that means to someone over 90) who had “taken ill”.

And then as if she were a parent speaking to a child or a teacher granting a bold and important lesson to a student, Ms. Ellie cocked her head a bit to the side, blinked her dark brown eyes slow and hard and with a pursed little smile she taught… “Child, ‘can’t take no shortcuts if you want friends in this world. Shortcuts don’t mix with love.” (1001 Il. pg325)

Friends… The God of the universe commands you – to love. But remember this, Love is not a feeling, it’s an action. Friendship has a price because love takes work. And “shortcuts don’t mix with love”. So when it comes to friends and loved ones, to God and neighbour…. Always take the long road. Amen.

Song: For the beauty of the earth (434)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer for others and ourselves

Life-giving God, we thank you for signs of renewal around us. From treetops to roadside ditches new life is bursting forth. Vitality is now evident all around us. Our city is becoming green again. How amazing is a renewal? How delightful is birth and rebirth? Who are we that we should be so blessed? And yet we are. Even the greatest losses we’ve ever suffered in life, are only painful because we had something so special in the first place.

Deep is our gratitude for your constant reminders of the power of life over death. Deep is our gratitude for the resurrection’s power upon which your church is built.
Deep is our gratitude for the simple gift of prayer.
Deep is our gratitude for the ability to transform as people, change situations and revitalize the yearnings of our hearts.
Deep is our gratitude for love that nurtures life and makes renewal possible. For all that nurtures love, we are grateful: family relationships, friendships, worship, prayer, art, music, rest, play, learning and even our work.

We pray for your love to spill over into the areas of need where it seems too thin.

We pray for our families and for the families of our church where suffering might be found. May loving actions be the mark of our homes. May those who nurture the young and the needy be supported. May children experience their value. May people be treated fairly. We name before you now particular situations in our family and we pray silently to you. …

We pray for the new life slumbering within our church. May it burst forth in ways we cannot imagine. Help, us look for its signs and put our energy into nurturing it. Show each of us one thing we can do for the good of your Kingdom in this place in the coming weeks. Hear our prayers for this congregation and a thousand other churches in this denomination. …

We pray for the people of Nepal. We pray for aid workers, for those who administer resources, for those who are on the front lines serving those who have been devastated, for generous responses around the world and for the people who offer them. Uphold each individual who has been directly affected and lead each one to new places of safety and care. And Lord, Bless those who think of others… those who give. Amen.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

Beloved in the Lord, as we draw near to the Lord’s Table, we are to consider the great benefits of this Sacrament for those who come in faith and repentance, and those who hunger and thirst after Christ.

Those who, putting their trust in Christ, desire to lead a new life, and to mature with the gifts of grace, are invited and encouraged to come to the Supper of the Lord for their spiritual refreshment and renewal of strength.

Song: Worship the Lord (555: vss. 1-4)

The Lord’s Prayer (469)

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 simple 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.

Sharing of the 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.”

…

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: One bread, one body

The prayer after Communion

Our God, we ask that you would send us out to love our neighbours, to love you and to do so not just with words but with our acts.

Hymn: Amigos de Cristo / Friends of the Lord (476)

Sending out with God’s blessing

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Response: Benediction (as you go)

Music postlude

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You and Goliath

Posted on April 28, 2024April 28, 2024 by John

Worship on the Fifth Sunday of Easter
Mission Awareness Sunday
10:00 am 28 April 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Rom Rhoad
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: Like spring breaking through winter’s power,
P: God’s resurrecting power breaks into our lives in surprising ways.
L: Like the vine that supports blossoms and fruit,
P: God’s Word upholds the church in strength.
L: Let us worship God who makes all things new.
P: We will praise God who brings growth and renewal to all life.

Opening praise: I give You my heart

Prayers of approach and confession

God of Great Wisdom,

You are beyond our imagining, beyond our control, and sometimes beyond our comfort zone.

You amaze us.

You have given us more than we could ever earn or deserve, and in response, we are not only grateful but determined to be faithful stewards.

Receive our worship this day, O God.

Speak to us in the sounds and silence of this hour and amaze us once again in your presence. God of Goodness, You share your abundance with us and shower us with gifts.

But we confess that we have squandered those gifts.

We have wasted knowledge, friendship, beauty and wealth; we have squandered our time and energy, sometimes even our trust and love.

Forgive our foolishness.

Have mercy on us.

Teach us new ways of living out your love in the world today and every day, with the help of Jesus Christ, our Friend and Saviour. Amen.

Response: Glory, glory, hallelujah

Assurance of God’s grace

While it is true that we have sinned and squandered God’s gifts at times, it is a greater truth that we are forgiven through God’s love in Jesus Christ.

To all who humbly seek the mercy of God I say, In Jesus Christ, our sin is forgiven. Be at peace with God, with yourself and with one another.

We listen for the voice of God

Children’s time

Response: Jesus loves me (373)

Story: Behold a team went forth to play a game of baseball.

Just as the umpire was saying “Batter up” to start the game, the catcher for the home team arrived and took his place behind the plate. The center fielder didn’t show up at all but sent regrets. The 3^rd basemen likewise failed to come to the game, having been up late the night before. The shortstop was there but left his glove at home by mistake. Two the outfielders were away on a weekend trip but said they’d be there in spirit.

The pitcher went to the mound and looked around for his teammates. But his heart was sad for their positions were empty. The game was announced; the visitor were in the stands; and there was nothing to do but pitch the ball and hope for the best.

BUT in addition to pitching the ball, the same person also had to cover first base, shortstop, and center field.

When the absent players heard that their team had lost, they were very upset. Everyone held a meeting and they decided to get a new pitcher.

When things aren’t going well, it’s the leader that often gets the attention. But it’s never just about the leadership.

Schools, Work, Church, Families – everyone has to do their part.

That is exactly what you are all doing right now. Thank you for being here today to worship together. Without you, we just don’t have a full team.

Prayer: God, I thank you for these young people, for our children, for their excitement and their big bright smiles and their energy. You bless us greatly and we are not the same place without them. And now we pray our prayer that you taught us to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Transition music

Song: We will tell each generation (46)

Today’s Message

Scripture: I Samuel 16:1-23 and 17:1-6, 32, 38-40,48-50

Response: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord

Message: You and Goliath

In the City of Gath, located near the mound, in 2005, just below the late 9th-century BCE earthquake destruction level, in a small section dating to the earlier phase of the Iron Age, a team of British archeologists found an interesting inscription. Scratched on a shard typical of the time are two non-Semitic names written in Semitic “Proto-Canaanite” letters. Both inscriptions are variant spellings of the same word – (Gol-iYeth). Goliath.

The ancient Greeks and Philistines sometimes decided on issues of war through the battles of selected warriors or small detachments. The “trials by battle ordeal” was based on the idea that the gods of the peoples determined a war’s outcome anyway so why not just send a few fighters and spare as many of your people’s lives as possible? Of course, despite this belief that the gods determined the victors, evidence is pretty clear that only the biggest, fastest and strongest were ever chosen. Although the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is not actually in the bible. I think it’s fair to say that it’s a pretty universal concept nevertheless. I guess the Kings and military leaders thought their gods needed a little extra help… just in case.

The custom was not that uncommon, In fact, in 2Sam. 2:14-16 there is a similar story whereby 12 men are picked to battle in place of the full military (though in that story the warriors cheat… I guess they thought god needed help).

Historical texts outside scripture also show other traditions of warriors who fought this way as well, including Egypt. And of course, it is also well recorded in the epics like Homer’s Iliad and the famous Enuma Elish epic.

Now the Philistines were a sea-faring people who came to Canaan at the very end of the Bronze Age and barely defeated the Hittites in a land war. When they did win, however, they gained a whole new kind of technology – Ironworking. And that was a game changer. With this new ability to make weapons, came a new age of warfare. The introduction of these weapons changed the world of war forever and is part of what led the Israelites to demand a King for themselves in the first place.

As a result of these trades and weapons the Philistines quickly ravaged the surrounding lands and claimed 5 new territories for themselves including the mysterious land of Gath (a city that had already stood for at least 1200 years before the Philistines ever got there). In Gath, like all places, once the people were defeated they became a part of this new Philistine army and were granted in return the gift of breaching the Iron Age.

Now armed with a whole new kind of violence and covered in metal protection even the average soldier became a super-soldier; almost invincible to other people still counting on arrows and rocks as weapons to fight off this new Iron Man. You can imagine how frightened the people in the nearby cities must have been. They had never seen anything quite like this before and now every town was falling to the Philistines.

When the Philistines arrived on the scene, readying to enter Israel they stopped at the top of the valley on the West side. There they stood with long steel swords. Israel received word of their coming and assembled in the East to defend their land and people.

In the text, Goliath’s spear is said to be “like a weaver’s beam” meaning that at times the writer didn’t even know what it was or understand it.

Until David, Saul’s army focused on guerrilla warfare holding attackers off with short copper and tin or even rock knives. They managed to do so, simply because they knew the landscape and could fire random arrows and hurl rocks from hiding places. Israel was completely made up of light infantrymen, and only the very wealthy might have been able to buy armour (and even that was made of weak flimsy tin). It was designed to deflect small rocks.

As the Philistine army prepared for war (metal armour blazing in the light of the sun) they sent Goliath out to the front to taunt Israel as their chosen warrior. Sometimes translations will call him the “warrior” or the “champion” but the Hebrew description is pretty literal. It calls Goliath “the man who stands in the space between two armies”.

And then comes the description. While I must note that the oldest version of this story from the Dead Sea Scrolls states that Gol-yet is “Four cubits and a span” which is roughly 6ft 9inches, the majority of texts, the Septuagint and the Masoretic texts all state that he was “Six cubits and a span” which is roughly 9ft 9inches tall. Do with that what you will, but the point is this… He is big. In all variant text, it is agreed that his coat of armour weighs 125 pounds and that just the tip of his iron spear is another 15 pounds. To the Israelites, it was like the first time a chariot was ever seen the first time someone used gunpowder against a bow and arrow or the first time a tank appeared on a battlefield. It was insurmountable. And without a doubt, this huge armoured man is the champion and the only selection of a massive army picked to be “the man who stands in the space between two armies”. He is huge and he is nobody to be trifled with.

Then again, the whole point of this story is that God doesn’t judge by outward appearances. See, about the time that the Philistines were coming to power the people of Israel begged God for a king so they could be like the other nations around them. But King Saul wasn’t quite what they hoped for him to be. In essence, he was chosen because he was the tallest in the land. In 1 Samuel the bible says that Saul was “a head and a shoulder above everyone else in height.”

So when God asked Samuel to go and anoint a new leader he rather naturally goes out looking for the same thing. That leads him to the sons of Jesse but as Samuel is looking over the boys, the biggest and tallest and strongest around, and just as he is considering Jesse’s oldest and tallest child, God speaks to Samuel and says, “Do not consider his appetence or his height for I have not picked him, for the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at outward things but the Lord looks at the heart.” ¹¹So Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

Now up until this point Jesse hadn’t even considered that his youngest boy would even be a possible candidate. He was off in the field and while the others are named, David is so unimportant he is simply referred to as “another boy” until the end of chapter 16 when finally his name appears. In other words, he’s nothing, just a shepherd. But remember God does not consider his age or his height.

Now- some people disagree on this one but – Some people believe that David is pretty big. And I will concede that it’s probably a fair possibility that he’s large compared to most Israelites considering that he does have tall brothers (though he is very young here). Some also wisely note that Saul (the tallest man in Israel) later puts his armour on David and that David takes it off not because it’s ill-fitting but in his own words because “I am not used to them” meaning they might not have fit all that badly.

So was he a big guy? Maybe. Relatively I suppose. Okay, I don’t think so. I think he’s pretty small. And honestly, even if he’s big for the time – he’s still a whole “head and shoulders shorter than Saul”. And Saul we should remember trembles at the mere sight of Goliath. The whole point of the story is that David isn’t big but that God “does not look at his appearance or his height”. He looks at the heart.

No, I think the whole point of the story is that he’s small. The tall impressive men have been rejected (two in a row so far and soon to be a third) so that God can prove His might, not the warriors. The point is that David is facing a real insurmountable challenge, not that he’s almost big enough to beat Goliath on his own.

When David finally shows up at the battlefield, he comes as an errand boy; not even allowed to fight. He’s way way way too young. Only three of his oldest brothers (three out of 8) are there. David’s a kid; still taking care of the sheep and doing the lowest of chores.

For 40 days both armies had been waiting for Israel to send a champion. The valley of course has steep walls on both sides with each one looking down on the battlefield. Each army stood there waiting; all the while knowing that whoever rushed into battle first would be both tired from the climb up the other side and strategically disadvantaged (literally fighting an uphill battle). Neither side was stupid. It was time to choose a hero. It was a “trials by battle ordeal”. They needed “the man who stands in the space between the armies”. But who?

When David (who’s just there to deliver the pizza by the way) hears Goliath calling out to the Israelites saying he will murder them all, David is infuriated and confused that nobody is doing anything. It drives him mad that Goliath is insulting the God of Israel and no one has the guts to stop him – and so he volunteers.

And now as if to make it even plainer to see that “God does not consider” his “appearance or his height”, and perhaps even more importantly that God does not consider these new weapons of war or armour as a threat, David strips off the amour he is offered and picks up 5 smooth stones instead.

Now he is just a boy with a sling.

And then of course the story takes place that many of us know. “⁴⁹Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.⁵⁰So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.”

Now I want to be clear, this story is not a story about why we need to defend God’s honor and it’s not a story about how God will help a small persecuted people rise against a massive military oppressor. I would argue that King Saul could have defeated Goliath too. He just had one problem. He didn’t have the right attitude.

Saul thought too much of himself and too little of his God. He forgot who was actually in charge. He forgot this one simple truth in life which we cannot and should not ever forget: that no matter what giants we face, we do not face that Goliath alone. As Mother Theresa once wrote, “We are all pencils in the hand of God”. We just have to realize it and let him draw the picture. Unlike those who trusted in the stature, strength and skill of their warriors, Israel sent an untrained, ill-equipped and largely unarmed teenage boy into battle as the only willing champion.

In the end, Goliath’s name ended up scribbled on a shard of pottery that eventually fell to pieces thousands of years ago.

Everyone knows David. Why? Because when everyone else saw a giant, David saw an ordinary problem and knew an extraordinary God.

Whatever Goliath you face, and you will face more than a few….

Ask yourself this – What do you see?

Song: With the Lord as my guide (574)

We respond to serve God: Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves

Lord Jesus Christ, we draw near to you in prayer this day, trusting that your love changes lives and your resurrection brings hope into the world God loves.

You walk with us through every challenging time, and we give you thanks for every sign of hope in a world that is often on edge and the future seems uncertain.

May we abide in your love.

We ask you to bless the ministries and mission activity undertaken through staff and funding provided by The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Thank you for each faithful servant serving in these challenging days, whether in Canada or in international ministries.

Bless them with good health and courageous commitment, and equip them well to reach out in love and respect.

May they abide in your love.

Loving and Listening God, we bring you now our prayers for others, friends and enemies, neighbours and strangers alike.

We pray for people who are struggling with illness, loneliness, grief or sadness:

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May they abide in your love.

We pray for people in countries and communities where it is not safe to live out their faith or express their views openly.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May they abide in your love.

We pray for victims of discrimination and acts of hatred, and those who fear violence day by day.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May they abide in your love.

We pray for journalists and advocates for justice who live under threat for telling the truth.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May they abide in your love.

We pray for churches, local organizations and businesses struggling under the pressure of economic challenges.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May they abide in your love.

We pray for our families, friends and for ourselves, as well as those in the news whose situations tug at our hearts.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

May we all abide in your love.

Song: You are holy, you are whole (828)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go in the peace of Christ, to witness to his love in truth and action each day. And may God’s resurrecting love open the future for you, empowered by the Spirit, and embraced by the presence of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.

Response: He is Lord

Music postlude

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