We gather to worship God

Music Prlude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit,
P: and transform our thoughts and actions.
L: Stir in our hearts, Holy Spirit,
P: and fill us with your wisdom.
L: Breathe upon us, Holy Spirit,
P: and refresh our commitment to serve in repentance, love and renewal.
L: Stir in our hearts, Holy Spirit,
P: as we worship and witness to God’s love.

Opening praise: This I believe (The creed)

Prayers of approach and confession

God: Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit, Your energy moves in us and through us as we step into each new day. You are as close as our next breath, the very life within us. You refresh us like a cool breeze on a hot afternoon, giving us strength when we’re tired. You challenge us like a strong wind, waking us up and stirring us to pay attention.

Shift our focus to the wonder of who you are, your mystery, wisdom, grace, and the beauty of everything you’ve made. Turn our hearts toward the warmth of Christ’s love.

To you, Creator God, Christ our Redeemer, and Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers and our praise with love and trust.

Bring us together as one, united in worship and witness by your grace and power.

As we remember all that you are and all you’ve done, we also remember who we are and what we’ve done. So we come honestly before you to confess:

God of wind and fire, at Pentecost, your Spirit filled Jesus’ followers and gave them the power to speak your truth in ways that everyone could understand, no matter their language or background.

But we admit we’ve often ignored your guidance. We’ve stuck to our own opinions and words instead of letting your Spirit speak through us. We haven’t always lived the lesson of that first Pentecost, that your love is for every culture, every language, every person.

Forgive us for the times our words and actions in your name came from pride, self-interest, or a desire for power instead of from your Spirit and real love. Forgive us for the wrong things we’ve done… and for the good things we’ve failed to do.

Send your Spirit again. Renew our faith, energize our repentance, and transform us so we can live with purpose, doing justice, loving others, and serving with genuine hearts. Amen.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s grace

The mercy of our God is from everlasting to everlasting. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and set free to live in the renewing power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God for this most generous gift.

Musical offering: Dayspring Singers

We listen for the voice of God.

Song: Open our eyes, Lord (445 )

Children’s time: Pentecost: The Birth Day of the Church:
Props: birthday cake or cupcakes decorated with red candles
Pentecost is the birthday of the church. It is the day that the disciples really started to go out and spread the gospel message. Bring a birthday cake decorated with red candles. Tell the story of Pentecost and explain why it is the church’s birthday. Light the candles and make reference to the Spirit flames, then blew out the candles to remember the rushing wind. The cake/cupcakes could be eaten during Sunday School.
Prayer and The Lord’ Prayer (535)

Song: Come, let us sing (706)

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:25; 5:2

Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet           

Message: The Incredible Hulk

Everyone gets angry. Sometimes it’s justified, even “righteous”. Most of the time it’s not. When we let anger fester and don’t try to rectify things, we get stuck in it. But God has a different plan for us, a plan that makes us One body.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by superheroes. My mom would safety pin beach towels around the necks of all the neighbourhood kids, so we’d have superhero capes and could run around having imaginary adventures. Of course, the boy from Smallville, Kansas, known as Superman, was a favourite. I loved the Silver Surfer, too. Today, I’m a pretty big fan of the Incredibles Jack-Jack. But probably my favourite superhero as a child was Dr. Robert Bruce Banner and his alter ego, The Incredible Hulk.

Banner is a genius scientist with 7 PhD’s: (a good hero in his own right for kids to look up to), and the Hulk he becomes (of course) is the giant green rage monster whose strength grows proportionally with his anger and is seemingly unlimited. In one of the older comics, for example, the Hulk easily swats away a 20-ton dragon as if he were shooing away a fly. But all of his strength comes from his anger and his instability. As a boy, I suppose the idea that anger and power are linked made perfect sense to me. In adult life, however, it seems anger doesn’t really work that way. Instead, it usually gets us into trouble.

Ephesians was written sometime in the early 60’s, possibly by Paul (though it lacks many of his usual features) and possibly from imprisonment. Possibly, the book (which several times over claims Paul as the author) is actually a collection of Paul’s shorter writings by his students, who compiled and sent this letter to the churches as a kind of introduction to the apostle’s thoughts. This would be a common and accepted practice of the day.

In any case, the surviving copy we have handed down to us is addressed especially to the Church in Ephesus. But there were probably multiple other (slightly different) versions of it produced for other communities.

Ephesus, the city, was sort of the West Edmonton Mall of its day or the Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It was a major shopping center of the ancient world. It was a busy, cosmopolitan place. The congregation there was fairly wealthy, but it was very diverse ethnically, and Paul also mentions some tradespeople in the congregation. The people come from all over the world with different ideas and different traditions. Though Paul would eventually spend three years with the congregation in Ephesus and address a number of issues, in this letter, he has only one major theme in mind: Unity.

The author’s main point is that Christians (no matter where they come from) need to get along because we’re all part of the one body of Christ.

For the Christian, honesty and conversation are key.

Paul writes,

²⁵ Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger with one another do not sin.” “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,”

Do you get angry? Maybe not green rage monster angry – but angry?

These days, there is a disorder for absolutely everything you can think of. Accordingly, what I might refer to as a “Hot Head” might actually be someone who suffers from the aptly named Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Do you know someone with Intermittent Explosive Disorder? If that describes you, the good news is that there’s now a drug that can help you control your anger. Doctor Emil Coccaro, a researcher and professor of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago Hospitals, who studied anger for several decades, is championing a new drug called Depakote, introduced first by Abbott Laboratories in 1995. However, it was a very long road to classify the condition and assign a pharmaceutical solution. By his own admission, Coccaro’s research was incredibly slow. The problem… apparently, nobody gets angry.

Subsequently, Dr. Coccaro could never seem to find enough volunteers with tempers for the clinical studies. You see, apparently, very few people think of themselves as angry. And those who did – didn’t really think it was a problem. 501

What about you? What makes you angry? Does it have a negative effect on your life or relationships?

According to a police report, Melodi Dushane became outraged and jumped partway through the drive-through window at 6:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day 2010. The security camera footage (which became an overnight internet sensation after someone added fake closed captions) captured the altercation, which includes the woman punching and breaking the window itself, attempting to climb inside the restaurant, ripping the hair out from the head of the McDonalds employee, and punching her repeatedly in the face while shouting “I am going to end you!” over and over again.

In the video, Dushane also retrieves a bottle from the backseat and throws it through the window as the drive-thru staff call the police.

And the reason she-hulk went mad with rage: well… her 10-piece chicken nuggets weren’t ready yet.

Now, all of that gloriously unhealthy fat-drenched goodness aside, I can’t personally recall ever letting my anger get the best of me quite like that. But… I do recall 8-year-old me, throwing my Atari controller down and breaking it when I knew in the depths of my little heart that I pushed that red button in time, but my little 8-bit guy didn’t jump like he was supposed to, and my game was over. With a broken controller, however, I’d never play the game again.

I do recall stepping on a kid’s Lego and screaming that the kids needed to clean their room, even though ten minutes earlier I really couldn’t have cared less.

I do recall being so annoyed by a customer in line ahead of me that I set down a basket half full of groceries and left the store, only to have to return later and do it all over again.

And more than that… I also remember being mad at my wife and then leaving for a week of school (as previously scheduled), but an hour before I would normally get up and without saying goodbye. And also… not answering my phone for the first two days after that class.

The Silent Treatment… Not exactly my high point.

You know that saddest part about that shameful story, though? It’s that my wife probably didn’t even know what I was all bothered about, because I never actually talked to her about it.

Paul says, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

That quote feels like it was perfectly written for married couples. And maybe it is, but it’s also a lot bigger than that.

For the Christian community, in our relationships with each other and with others, anger is never meant to outlast a single day. Just think about that for a second. We’re not supposed to be angry with each other longer than a day.

And this is actually a theme in scripture. Psalm 4:4, for example, says, “Be angry, BUT do not sin, in the your bed at night, search your heart and be silently at peace.” In the words of that great prophet, Princess Elsa – “Let it go”.

Notice that neither our verse from Ephesians nor this verse from the Psalms says that we shouldn’t feel anger. In fact, the bible never says that. Just the opposite is true. We are not only allowed to feel angry, but we’re even supposed to feel angry sometimes.

Jesus felt angry. He chased people with a whip, knocked over tables, and told Peter to get back in line. In Deuteronomy 25, it says that God “hates” the scales that are tampered with to cheat the poor, and that he “burns” with “anger”.

It’s not that we can’t be angry; it’s that it can’t consume our lives. It shouldn’t spill over into the next day, then the next, and then the next.

And it’s not that we can’t be angry, it’s that it has to be directed in the right places.

Righteous indignation, a Holy Anger, is good.

This week, two teenagers (18-year-old Caleb Liam Vazquez and 17-year-old Cain Lee Clark) who espoused white supremacist views opened fire at the Islamic Center of San Diego (the city’s largest mosque), killing three random and innocent men.

Suppose you are angry today about that – good. Injustice and suffering should make us angry. That’s righteous indignation.

But that’s not really the kind of anger Paul is talking about.

If, however, you are angry with a friend of yours who’s always late or a spouse for doing the dishes the wrong way or at a coworker you think isn’t pulling their fair share, that’s a different story.

If you are angry and it is not a holy, righteous anger, then Paul is telling you to go to that person and be honest with them. And you need to do it today before the sun goes down tonight.

You need to do it before your anger starts to fester and get worse. As Ron McManus writes, “Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”

Next, Paul continues in this section with an absolutely incredible and terrifying statement. He writes, ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

When we hold on to anger and let it fester, when we let the sun go down, and we’re still upset with someone, it literally “grieves” the person of the Holy Spirit who resides in us. This word used here is Loo=peh-o, which also means “deeply distressed” and “saddened”. This is the same word that’s used to describe a mourner after John the Baptist is beheaded in prison. He is Lu-Peh-O. And that is how the Holy Spirit reacts when we let unrighteous anger sit with us overnight. It causes the Spirit pain.

Instead, we are to “³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave us.”

Now this is where things get a little complicated. Sometimes that’s easier said than done.

Forgiving someone for forgetting to put the laundry away or for that snarky email or for making your job harder or the person in that car that keeps changing lanes or the person who put raisins in the cookies where God intended the chocolate to be – well, that is one thing. Getting rid of your anger at someone who took credit for your work or lied about you or cheated on you or hurt someone you love, well, that is a whole different story, isn’t it?

But is it supposed to be?

How radical is this forgiveness we are supposed to emulate?

A South African woman stood in an emotionally charged courtroom listening to white police officers acknowledge the atrocities they had perpetrated in the name of apartheid. Officer Vanderbrook acknowledged his responsibility for the death of her son. Along with others, he had shot her 18-year-old son at point-blank range. He and the others partied while they burned his body, turning it over in the fire until it was ash. Eight years later, Vanderbrook and others arrived to seize her husband. Hours later, Vanderbrook came to fetch the woman. He took her to a woodpile where her husband lay bound. She was forced to watch as they poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed it. The last words her husband said were, “Forgive them.” Vanderbrook stood awaiting judgment. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission asked the woman what she wanted. Three things, she said. I want Vanderbrook to take me to the place where they buried my husband’s body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial. Second. Mr. Vanderbrook took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be his mother. Third, I would like Mr. Vanderbrook to know that he is forgiven by God and that I forgive him as well. I would like someone to lead me to where he is seated so I can embrace him, and he can know my forgiveness is real. The older woman was led across the courtroom. Vanderbrook fainted. And someone began singing Amazing Grace, and eventually the entire courtroom erupted in song as she hugged the man who murdered her son and husband..

Paul writes,

5 ¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

I don’t really know how far each of us can take this. Some things seem so unforgivable. And the idea that we can forgive and forget is far too simple. But that’s what God does. That is the ideal we are meant to shoot for.

A woman named Lynn Sullivan wrote this little journal entry. “In the late 1920s, my grandparents married and moved into grandpa’s old family home. It was a clapboard house with a hole in the middle. In the late 1930s, they decided to tear down the old house and build a new one.

But much to my grandmother’s dismay, many of the old materials from the old house were recycled into the new one. My grandfather used old fastenings, handles, hinges, mouldings, and other pieces of lumber. When the house was done, everywhere my grandmother looked, she saw old doors that wouldn’t shut properly, crown mouldings that were split, walls littered with old nail holes, poorly painted-over panels, and unfinished window trimmings. All her life, she longed for a new house, but all she got was a recycled one.

When God brings us into the Kingdom, the old way of living must be dismantled and discarded completely. We are called not to an easy life but to a faithful one. Letting go of anger and forgiving others may in some cases seem impossible, but you can’t build a new kind of life out of old material. Unlike the Incredible Hulk, letting go of our anger is actually what makes us strong. Redirecting it at injustice and doing something about it is what actually makes people heroes. 81

My challenge for you this week

Admit that there is anger in your life. Commit to not letting it fester. Seek out and speak honestly and in love to those you feel have wronged you, the very day it happens. While it’s not always simple, refuse to let the sun go down before you do it. And when it seems impossible to reach the ideal, remember with God, All Things Are Possible. Amen.

Song: For all the love (440)

We respond to serve God.

Our time of giving

Prayers of the people

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us on this Pentecost day and make our faith new again.

Wake up our love for you and give us fresh energy to serve in Christ’s Church. Help us see the needs around us for caring and mission. Give us the courage to try new things we haven’t dared before. Help us heal the hurts the church has caused, and work for truth, healing, and good relations with Indigenous peoples. Give us strength for the work you call us to do, together and as individuals. Breathe through us in our prayers and our praise.

Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and help us understand the hard challenges facing our communities and the world you created. Give us a new commitment and your guidance to work for truth, healing, reconciliation, and saying sorry for the church’s part in colonization and residential schools. Change us into faithful followers who show your love to others.

Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and bring healing to everyone who is hurting, those who are sick, sad, discouraged, or grieving, and those struggling with money and daily life. Bring healing to the earth, to places in trouble, and to nature that is in danger.

Spirit of Power and Promise, move in us and renew our faith.

Wind of the Spirit, blow through us and fill us with the same kindness we see in Jesus Christ. Refresh us as your followers, ready to serve the world you love. Warm our hearts with trust in Jesus, and give us courage to live lives of loving service in his name. Amen.

Song: Joyful, joyful we adore you (410)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go in the strength of the Spirit, to greet those we meet with understanding, loving service and care. 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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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: Let us be joyful before God!
P: We will sing praises to God’s holy name
L: Let us lift up a song to the One who rides upon the clouds,
P: who protects orphans and widows and gives the desolate a home.
L: Sing to God, all nations of the earth.
P: We will sing praises to the Lord, our God!

Opening praise: I lift my eyes up

Prayers of approach and confession

God of life, we praise you for your love which fills creation from the beginning and which calls all life into being.

We worship you for Christ who reveals your loving purpose for all people.

We bless you for your Spirit who guides and inspires us and who draws us into the circle of your tender love.

In recalling all that you have done and who you are, we confess what we have done and who we are:

God of mercy, we confess the times when we forget you and are divided from one another, and how often our thoughts, words, and actions betray your goodness and our calling.

Forgive us, merciful God.

Mend what is broken, heal our wounded relationships and convert our hearts and minds, through Jesus Christ, our Lord remaking us anew each day.  Amen.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon

While it is true that we have all fallen short in our call to follow Jesus, it is a greater truth that we are forgiven through his grace. Remember the Good News! In Jesus Christ our sin is forgiven. Be at peace with God, with yourself and with one another. Amen.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: Open our eyes, Lord (445)

Children ’s time

Hey kids! Come on up. How many of you have ever said goodbye to someone you love? Maybe a parent going on a trip, or a friend moving away? It feels a little sad, right? But sometimes the person says something really special before they go – like ‘I love you’ or ‘I’ll be thinking of you.'”

In the Church Calendar year this is still Easter time. In the assigned readings Jesus has risen from the dead and spent time with his friends. Now it’s almost time for him to go back to heaven to be with God the Father. But before he goes, he does something beautiful. He looks up to heaven and prays for his disciples – the people who love him and follow him.

¹⁰ All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. ¹¹ I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of^[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. (John 17:10-11)

The Children’s Bible puts it like this: “Holy Father, protect my friends… Keep them safe. Help them to be one – to love each other and stick together – just like you and I are one.”

The thing is Jesus wasn’t just talking about the people around him. He was talking about everyone who know and loves him. He was talking about You too. Jesus prayed and still prays for you.

This morning I want to encourage you to do for your friends what Jesus does for us… to pray for them. Each night this week, pick a friend and before bed, say a short prayer for them. Ask God to look over them, protect them and be with them. This is one more way this week, we can be ore like Jesus.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Song: Christ is King (272)

Scripture readings:  Isaiah 45:1-7 and Ephesians 1:15-23

Response: Glory to the Father            

Message: Who’s the Boss?

Back in the 1980s, there was a popular sitcom called Who’s the Boss? starring Tony Danza. The entire show revolved around one hilarious, ongoing question: In this house, who’s really in charge?

Angela Bower was a high-powered, type-A advertising executive; the clear boss on paper. She had the big career, the beautiful house, the income, and the sharp mind. Tony Micelli, a retired baseball player turned live-in housekeeper, came in to help with the kids and the home. On the surface, Angela was supposed to be running everything. But anyone who watched the show knows the truth: Tony’s calm strength, wisdom, humour, and steady presence often shaped what actually happened in that home far more than Angela’s titles or paycheck ever did.

The show kept millions laughing for eight seasons because we all recognize the tension: Titles and positions don’t always reveal who’s truly calling the shots.

Today, the Apostle Paul brings that same question into our lives, not about a sitcom family in Connecticut, but about our own hearts, our families, our church, and our world. Ephesians 1:15-23 pulls back the curtain of heaven and gives us a clear, powerful answer.

Christ is Exalted as Supreme Lord

God the Father raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, the ultimate position of authority (v. 20). Jesus is now “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (vv. 21-22).

In any kingdom, the one seated on the throne is the Boss. Jesus isn’t campaigning for the position. He already occupies it. All things are under His feet. He is not hoping to become Lord one day, He already is Lord of all.

Imagine the most powerful CEO in the world walking into a small company meeting and being told, “We’ll let you give us some advice if we feel like it.” That’s how absurd it is when we treat Jesus as a consultant, a co-pilot, or a part-time advisor. He isn’t our equal. We don’t get to take what He says, mix it with our own ideas, and create our own hybrid religion. He is the Head over everything.

This means every single area of your life is already under His authority: your career, your finances, your relationships, your sexuality, your politics, your entertainment choices, your thought life, and your future plans. The only real question is whether you will acknowledge it and live as if it were true.

If Christ holds this supreme, unchallenged position, then why do so many of us still live as if we’re the ones in charge?

We Resist His Lordship

Even though Jesus is seated far above everything in heaven and on earth, our fallen human nature wants to sit on the throne of our own lives. We bow to lesser “lords” like fear, ambition, culture, addiction, pride, public opinion, or our own desires. Instead of submitting to the King on the throne, we play our own version of “King of the Hill.”

We say:

“My truth” instead of God’s eternal Truth.

“Follow your heart” instead of “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

“You do you” / “Be true to yourself” instead of “Be conformed to the image of Christ.”

“Live your best life now” instead of “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Not every one of these ideas is 100% wrong in every situation, but when they become our highest authority, they lead us away from Christ. These days, people seem to need to be seen as good but don’t actually want to do any good. We like making decisions based on what feels right or what culture applauds, rather than what honours the Head of the Church. Social media is filled with people signalling their own virtue, doing nothing and seeking applause for it.

And the truth is, we do this with God, too.

It’s easy to treat Jesus as Saviour for heaven, but Boss nowhere on earth. I call this the “good ol’ boy” theology. It’s the I’m right with Jesus so I can do whatever I want and be forgiven, theology. But it doesn’t really work that way. That’s calling Jesus Saviour, but not Lord.

It’s like passengers on an airplane suddenly trying to grab the controls from the pilot who is already in the cockpit, flying the plane perfectly. The plane has a rightful captain. Ignoring him or fighting him doesn’t remove his authority; it only creates danger, chaos, and potential disaster.

A self-ruled life always leads to emptiness, broken relationships, secret shame, burnout, and eventually judgment. Eventually, scripture tells us, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11). The only question is whether we bow willingly now in worship or later in shame.

Be honest with yourself right now, in which area of your life are you still saying, “This part belongs to me, Jesus. Am I the boss here”?

The good news in Ephesians 1 is that we don’t have to stay stuck in this rebellion. The same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in victory is available to every believer.

Surrendering to the Real Boss Brings Blessing and Power

Christ has been given as Head to the church, which is His body, “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (v. 22-23). When we submit to Him, we are not diminished, we are completed. We are connected to the One who fills everything with His presence, power, and purpose.

Many people fear that submitting to Jesus will make life smaller or less enjoyable. Nothing could be further from the truth. Submitting to the right Boss actually sets us free.

Think about a child who finally stops fighting their loving parent and learns to trust their wisdom. Or a wild horse that fights the rider until it yields; once it submits, it discovers the joy of running powerfully and freely under a skilled master. The same is true with Christ and us. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. True freedom and fullness are found under His lordship.

Begin every morning with a simple prayer: “Lord Jesus, You are seated far above all. I am not. Have Your way in every part of my life today.”

Deliberately align your decisions, big and small, with His Word.

If you want to know if Jesus is Lord over your life, find something you don’t really want to follow and follow anyway. Find something in Scripture you naturally resist and obey it anyway (giving generously, if you have two coats, give one to someone else, speaking truthfully, forgiving someone undeserving 77 times). That’s having a Lord.

Remain vitally joined to His church, where Christ is the Head. Don’t try to live the Christian life alone.

Be bold in your witness. Let your life, your words, and your choices show who your Boss really is.

Who’s the Boss of your life right now, really? Not what you sing in worship, but what your daily decisions, spending habits, relationships, and private thoughts reveal.

The resurrection power that raised Jesus and seated Him far above every ruler, authority, power, and dominion is the same power now at work in everyone who believes. Stop resisting the rightful Head. Crown Him Lord of all today.

If Jesus is not yet Boss of every area of your life, this is your moment to surrender. But know that you are not alone. Every one of us has areas where we’ve tried to stay in control. But today, look to the empty tomb and the throne in heaven. Jesus is the Boss. He has always been, and He will always be.   Amen.

Song: Jesus, life of all the world  (776)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Prayers of the people

God of the generations in time and eternity, we turn to you in these quiet moments to offer you our thanks and our hopes for our lives. Today we give you thanks for all those people who have shown us your face and taught us to follow you through the loving example of their living faith. We are grateful for their wisdom and courage which continue to inspire us. Thank you for our life together in your church and the saints we have known here.

May the light of Christ shine through our lives, too, so that we offer light for the world you love as witnesses to your purposes.

Christ of Compassion in action, in you, we receive our call to live with purpose.

From you, we learn how to love those around us.

With you, we find strength to face each new day.

So today, we offer our prayers for those facing challenges, and seek your guidance to respond to their cries.

We pray for those brought to mind by news headlines this week for situations of violence, corruption and deprivation, danger and devastation…

We pray for families going through difficult times, for all who are sick or in sorrow, for all who are lonely or despairing …

We pray for those agonizing over important decisions and responsibilities,

for those in leadership roles and for those who care for the most vulnerable…

Creator, Christ and Spirit, move with us into the week ahead, remind us each day to live according to your will and purposes in all our relationships and to live lives of meaning so that we bear witness to the love we meet in Jesus. Amen.

Song: Crown him with many crowns (274)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Go forth in the power of the living God  to love, to serve, to shine as lights in the world until we gather again in His name. And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit  be upon you and remain with you, both now and forevermore.

Response: God to enfold you

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: Let us see you this day, Lord
P: Come to us as light
L: Let us hear you this day, Lord
P: Come to us as truth
L: Let us sense your presence, Lord
P: Come to us as love
L: Come, let us worship the Lord of light, truth and love. Amen

Opening praise: Come, now is the time to worship

Prayers of approach and confession

God of life,
we praise you this day for the gift of your creation
as new life rises around us in flower beds and farmers’ fields,
in the nests and burrows of your creatures.
We praise you for the gift of our lives, and for all those people—
from our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents
to our teachers and coaches and good friends—
who have encouraged us along the way.
In this time of worship,
encourage us in the present moments of our lives,
challenging as they may seem.
Refresh us with the new life you promise us in Christ Jesus
in whose name we praise you as the Spirit prays within us.
God of love,
we are grateful for the love you bless us with in our homes and families.
Yet you know family life is not always easy.
Our love for each other gets strained some days.
Forgive us if we have taken our family for granted.
Give us grace to repair relationships where strain is showing. Amen.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon
Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn?
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 set free to love more fully by God’s generous grace.

We listen for the voice of God

Song: Open our eyes, Lord (445)  

Children’s time

Hello, children. Can anyone tell me what today is? (Pause for responses)
Today is a very special day, because it’s Mother’s Day!
We all have women in our lives who are mother figures – whether it’s our own mom, our bonus mom, grandmothers, aunts, and even our friends’ moms! Mother’s are everywhere, and they love us unconditionally … just like Jesus does.

Have you hugged your mother yet today? Well, if you haven’t already, make sure you do it before the day is over.

Did you know that the Bible has a lot to say about our mothers? Mothers who love God – those who try to teach their children about God – have a very special place in His heart. In fact, God made a promise to the children who love and honour their mother and father. The Bible says, “Honour your father and mother. Then, you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12)

Does your mother carry a purse?
Let me go grab MY mother’s purse for this little demonstration!?!
Most mothers carry a pretty big purse like this one. Have you ever looked inside your mother’s purse – with her permission, of course?
You might be surprised at what we might find inside. Let’s take a look and see the things my mom carries around with her that could maybe help teach us about God.
(Pull out each item and talk about how it relates to what a Christian mother might teach a child.)

• A small flashlight: Jesus is the light of the world, and we can count on Him to help make the path easier to follow when the world seems dark and lonely.
• Tissues: These are always handy for a runny nose, of course. Sometimes, when we are scared or worried, we might shed a few tears. God is always there to help us feel better and wipe away our sorrows.
• Candy: A mother should always have something sweet on hand to encourage others when they are down in the dumps. She also can provide sweet words to help bring hope in troubled times.
• Comb or brush: This could be a reminder that each of us represents the Lord. Every morning, when you comb or brush your hair and you step out to face the world, YOU are a disciple of Jesus. Put your best self forward and know that God is with you every step of your journey.
• Bible: A mother should always keep the Word of God handy. It can be kept close enough to read a little bit every day, and it will serve as a reliable guide when helping others to stay on the right path.
• A wallet: A mother must always be prepared in case of a financial emergency. But this wallet can also represent the value our faith brings to our lives. Knowing and loving God makes us richer, in all the BEST ways!

We have so much to be thankful for when it comes to our moms and those who love us like mothers. God uses mothers every day to lead us and love us completely … just like He does.

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, tell your Mom that you love her. But more importantly, let’s remember to show her that she’s loved. In the same way, let’s tell God that we love Him today. But more importantly, let’s remember to show Him that we love Him through worship and by loving one another.

Let us pray:
Thank you, God, for mothers. Thank you for their love, patience, kindness, and wisdom. We are thankful that they are always prepared to help their children and lead them along the right path … just like Jesus does.

And now, together, we’ll say the prayer that you taught us, saying “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name …”

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Song: King of Kings                               266

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:13-22 & John 14:15-21

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

Message: The Hope that You Have

We are a people called not live our faith openly and with truth, never giving up our zeal for doing what is right. In this world, doing right may not always mean being rewarded for it. At times, we are harmed by it. But we are called, nonetheless, to speak the good news in word and deed, and never to shy away.

A few years ago, I came to know a Christian family seeking refuge in Canada. Eventually many family members made it into the country, but the patriarch made sure everyone else got out first. They loved the country they came from but the government was and is still very hostile to non-Muslims. This family patriarch was a respected bank manager. He was also fairly open about his faith in Jesus. People knew he was trying to reach a place where he and his family could worship freely. And that was the problem.

One day he was arrested on what appeared to be very flimsy evidence for embezzlement. In prison he was then charged with Blasphemy. This is of course typical. According to Pew Research, out of the 50 Muslim majority countries in the world, 47 have clear blasphemy laws very much intended to kill or imprison Christians and the other 3 have different titled laws that do the same thing but claim all non-Muslims are by default “inciting religious enmity”. At the same time, there are 152 majority Christian nations and not a single one punishes Muslims for their faith. That should speak volumes. Yet, we do live in a very messy world. And in the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf States, most non-Muslims fear for their lives and have to make attempts to escape to the places with the most religious freedom. But that’s not easy to do.

During the trial the father of the now “Canadian kids” was released for a short time on bail, and during that time of release, one day he fell to his death down an open elevator from the top floor of a building in a neighbourhood, he’d never been previously known to visit. Additionally, the security cameras were mysteriously off at the time of the incident. Those close to the family believe he was murdered because he refused to stop following Jesus. Most of his family eventually reached safety and now live across Saskatchewan. By all accounts, they are doing more than fine. All but one of them. One died. Or more likely, one was murdered.

As John Calvin once wrote, “Against the persecution of a tyrant, the godly have no remedy but prayer.” Doing what is right does not always bring immediate reward. Sometimes it brings more trouble.

This is exactly the situation Peter was addressing. His readers were scattered as exiles across a hostile Roman Empire. They faced suspicion, slander, discrimination, and sometimes outright suffering simply because they belonged to Jesus. But Peter does not tell them to hide their faith, compromise their convictions, or fight back with anger and bitterness. Instead, he calls them, and us, to not be afraid of their threats and to continue on in faithfulness and in “eagerly doing good”.

Even though the cost of following Jesus in Canada is not our lives, standing up for Christ can still cost us comfort, reputation, opportunities, or relationships.

Peter says, “But in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience…”

When Christ is Lord in our hearts, we can live with courageous hope and gentle boldness even when doing good brings suffering. And even if we live in a place that hates us, we can still be bold. Yet I must say, I wonder how the Bold in other countries think of us and how quiet we often are. Do you?

Peter begins with realism, not romance. Listen to verse 13: “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?”

In a perfect world, goodness would always be rewarded. But we don’t live in a perfect world. Peter knows that. So, he immediately adds, “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled” (v. 14).

And then, Peter goes even further in verse 17: “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

So, here’s a question we need to ask ourselves as a church and as individual believers: Are we known in our community as people who are zealous for what is good? Or have we become timid, shrinking back to avoid discomfort or conflict?

Peter gives us three vital instructions. They form the heart of how we live as exiles with hope.

First: Honour Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts.

This is the foundation. Peter is saying: Give Jesus the highest place in your inner life. He is not just your Saviour or a helpful spiritual advisor. He is Lord. When Christ is enthroned in your heart, the fear of people is dethroned. Worry about consequences loses its power.

Is Christ truly Lord over our fears, our reputation, our career plans, our social media, and our family decisions? When anxiety starts to rise, do we run to Him first? When pressure comes to stay silent or soften our convictions, do we remember who sits on the throne of your heart?

When this is true of us, we are freed to live differently. But that doesn’t mean , just because we love Jesus, are bold enough to say it and bold enough to live it out, that things are going to go well. Peter knows very well, that some of us are being thrown down the elevator shaft. He just wants us to know that following Jesus is still worth it.

In the hills outside Los Angeles in 2004, Lisa Torti and her friends were in a serious car accident. One of them, Alexandra Van Horn, was trapped inside the wreckage. Fearing the car might explode, Torti pulled Van Horn out of the fiery car by her arms to safety. Van Horn had survived the crash but was paralyzed. But instead of gratitude, Alexadra Van Horn sued her best friend and rescuer, claiming that Torti’s actions worsened her spinal injuries.

The case went all the way to the California State Supreme Court, which ruled in a split decision that Good Samaritan protections for non-medical rescuers are limited. In other words, Torti could be held liable for the way she performed the rescue. What should have been a heroic act turned into years of legal battles and stress for the woman who risked her life to save a friend’s.

How do we live in a world where “no good deed goes unpunished?” Peter gives us the heart of the matter. It is not about being rewarded. It’s about doing what is right.

Second: Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.

Peter says, we can’t stay silent about who we worship or why we do good. Notice Peter does not say, “Always be prepared to argue with everyone who disagrees with you.” He says be ready to give a gentle, respectful answer to anyone who asks about the hope inside you.

As I am very found of saying, “People make the best advertisements for the gospel.” When your life is marked by joy, integrity, and steady hope in hard times, people eventually notice. Evangelism is far less about cold-call preaching and more about being ready to respond when the door opens and not being afraid to be faithful.

An inner-city free clinic in Chicago announced sudden budget cuts and let go of nearly half the staff on the spot one morning. The waiting room filled with worried patients. Many employees walked out in frustration. But one man, Dan, stayed despite no longer being paid. But he kept showing up, calm and kind, handing out forms, answering questions, and trying to bring order to the chaos only now as a volunteer.

One afternoon a nurse named Sarah, who had barely spoken to him before, watched him for a long moment and then asked, “How are you not falling apart right now? Everyone else is panicking or angry.”

Dan paused, then said, “I don’t always feel okay. Some days I’m fighting fear just like everyone else. But every night my mother used to light a small candle and name one thing she trusted would still be true in the morning when she woke up. Then she would pray, blow the candle out and let the smoke carry her thanks to God for that one thing. I’ve started doing the same, one small truth at a time.

Sarah didn’t say much that day, but she sat down and started helping. The problems at the clinic didn’t disappear. But something quieter and stronger settled in the room, and in their hearts.

I think that is the kind of hope Peter is talking about. It is not vague positive thinking. It is the confident expectation that we are forgiven, that we have new life now, and that eternal glory is coming, because Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection is the reason we believe the best is yet to come. Death is defeated. This broken world will be made new. We belong to a living Saviour.

Third: Do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a good conscience.

Our defence of the hope must match the hope itself. Harsh, angry, self-righteous answers undermine the very gospel we defend. A good conscience matters. We cannot live like the world during the week and then try to defend the hope we have only on Sunday. And I am working on that.

Here Peter grounds everything in the gospel itself.

How can we live in hope even when suffering comes? Because of what Christ has done.

“Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (v. 18). He died. But death could not hold Him. He rose victorious. Just as God saved Noah and his family safely through the waters of judgment, He saves us through the waters of baptism, not as a magical ritual, but as the outward sign of an inner appeal to God for a clean conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Christ has already won, we can endure. Because no snide looks or mockery or elevator shafts can every change that.

We live in a world where good deeds are sometimes punished and faithfulness can be costly.

In such a world, Peter’s words are not naïve, they are powerful. No, it is not likely that in Canada someone will throw you down an elevator shaft for your faith, but they might belittle you. They might insult you. They might consider you to be “less than” at times.

Set Christ apart as Lord in your heart. Stay ready with a gentle, respectful answer. Our hope is not fragile optimism. It is resurrection hope. It thrives even in suffering. It refuses to be silenced. And when we live this way, our lives become a quiet but powerful testimony that makes people ask, “What is different about you?”

May God make us a church known for being zealous for good, gentle in spirit, and unshakably hopeful, because Jesus is Lord, He has risen, and our future is secure in Him no matter what else may happen. Amen.

Song: Spirit, come dispel our sadness (380)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

The Apostle Paul declared that in God, we live and move and have our being. We offer our gifts to God in thanksgiving for all we enjoy in life, praying that our generosity will become a blessing throughout all God’s precious creation.

Prayers of the people

God our Creator and Redeemer, you made us in love to share that love with neighbour and stranger as Jesus commanded. Take our gifts and make them tokens of your love that we can share throughout our community and in the world you love.

God of homes and families, this Sunday we give you thanks for our families,  especially remembering mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers.

We are grateful for their love and attention, their hard work and the deep hope they have cherished for each one of us.

We honour before you each one who has mothered us and now lives with you in your eternal care.

And we ask your blessing on each one in our family who continues to care for us, cook for us and worry about us.

God with a loving heart,
Hear our prayer.

 God of connections and compassion, today we thank you for our friends and relations, for the neighbours and fellow citizens who help to make our lives complete.

We thank you for glad times shared, helping hands offered, commitments honoured.

And we pray for those around us facing particular challenges this day.

Keep silence for 15 seconds.
God with a loving heart,
Hear our prayer.

God of courage and new possibility, today we pray for all those who feel life or love slipping through their fingers, for those who face the loss of good health, and for those who face the loss of good times.

We pray for communities facing upheaval through natural disaster and human misjudgement, and for countries facing economic turbulence and environmental collapse.

Keep silence for 15 seconds.
God with a loving heart,
Hear our prayer.

God of forgiveness and renewal, today we pray for those caught up in relationships in need of repair and for all who seek peace and seek to make peace.

We pray for families, churches, communities, and countries caught up in division.

Keep silence for 15 seconds.
Send your Spirit to bring peace to troubled lives.
God with a loving heart,
Hear our prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father,

On this day and every day, we come before You with hearts full of gratitude for the beautiful gift of mothers. Thank You for creating them with such tender hearts, endless strength, and unconditional love that reflects Your own.

Lord, bless every mother who has poured herself out in quiet, unseen ways — the late nights comforting crying babies, the gentle hands that wiped away tears, the sacrifices made without complaint, and the endless prayers whispered over her children. For the mothers who loved fiercely through exhaustion, who gave when she had nothing left, and who carried both joy and worry in the same heartbeat… hold them close today.

Wrap them in Your comforting embrace. Renew their weary spirits, restore their joy, and let them feel deeply how precious they are. Remind them that their love has shaped lives in ways that will echo through generations. Give them moments of sweet rest, laughter that fills their souls, and the assurance that they are seen, valued, and loved beyond measure — not just by their families, but by You.

May every mother know today how irreplaceable she is, and may she feel Your gentle presence walking beside her every step of the way.

In Jesus’ name, we pray with love and thanksgiving,  Amen.

Song: When we are living (630)

Sending out with God’s blessing

 Walk in the love of the Lord, as Jesus taught us, showing that love to all whom you meet. And may grace, mercy and peace from God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, be with you, now and evermore. Amen.

Response: God to enfold you

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

                                         We gather to worship God

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: God is our Rock and our Fortress.
P: In God, we find refuge and strength.
L: God’s house has many dwelling places
P: We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
L: Christ himself has gone to prepare a place for us.
P: For us, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
L: So let us worship God in Spirit and in Truth.

Opening praise: Bless the Lord, oh my soul

Prayers of approach and confession

O God, In whom we trust.

Life is full of storms, and sometimes there is no other place to go for shelter, except to You.  The very idea of you is Calm itself. When anxiety, grief, or fear overwhelm, or when loneliness or uncertainty settle in. When things are bleak, we can hold on to something (I would never want to be without). And so Hope still exists.

You set the path before us in Jesus and gave some pretty impeccable guidance that basically nobody ever seems to disagree with.

We admit you are wiser and call you Lord because we say we listen to you. Help us to do so.

Our God, we come now to worship you: the Source of life for all people,

the Son who taught mercy to the poor, the outcast, and the hurting,

and the Spirit who nudges us toward justice, compassion, and truth.

Trusting who you are and honest about who we are, we do what very few people in this world ever take the time to do. We confess our mistakes, admit we are flawed and ask for help to become better.

Lord, we confess that while we proclaim (as the Son himself) that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and yet, we too often choose our own comfort over his call, our own way instead of what we see in his heart for us, our own version of truth instead of The Truth, and a life quite frankly, at least at times, wasted chasing things that don’t matter or cannot be caught.

At times:

We ignore the hungry and the oppressed, not because we are callous but because we are overwhelmed. We tend to cling to wealth and status, but we have all been just a generation or two away from starvation.

At times:

We protect privilege instead of pursuing justice because, in the past, being protective about one’s “tribe” meant security. We admit, our God, that we, well-meaning or not, understandable or not, have made mistakes, and we want to be better.

At some point, every single one of us has spoken harshly, judged quickly, or remained silent when just one voice could have helped.

The real plank in the eye, however, is that Lord, we rarely stop to question whether we are at fault for anything. And so we distort your truth to excuse fear or self-interest, and we live shallow, distracted lives that forget your purposes. And yet we live in contradiction. We come to this place and admit our faults, and we do so because you have promised to love us despite them all, the while helping us to correct them.

Our Lord… Forgive us all of our errors. Restore our hearts, grant us courage to follow Jesus more faithfully, and shape our actions to reflect your mercy and love more fully.  Amen.

Response: I will trust in the Lord

Assurance of God’s pardon
Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in the Father. And so Trust in the Son. And so, trust in the Son who told us to trust in the Spirit.

Know that, in Christ, you are forgiven. Let us all, accept God’s grace and forgiveness this day, and extend it to others for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

We listen for the voice of God.                   

Song: Those who wait on the Lord (882: vss 1,2,3,6)

Scripture: Proverbs 4:10-18; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

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

Message: “Living Stones”

The temple fell, and the people were scattered. As a result, Christian faith spread throughout the world. What one ruler meant for destruction became a way for the people to live out the Temple life all around the world. Let’s be living stones, a living temple and let us remember that it is often the simplest things that make the most impact.

Many scholars believe that 1 Peter was written after the fall of the Temple. The second temple had been the center of worship since the time of the Prophets. It was thought to be the place where God’s (Shekinah) glory actually resided and where God’s priests had been set apart as Holy. But in 70 AD, the soon-to-be Emperor Titus besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem. The zealots (a group to which Peter belonged before he met Jesus) had previously defended the city against a troop buildup but lacked discipline. Eventually, infighting led to gaps in leadership.

Titus took advantage. First, he let up on security during the Passover season. Then, with the city packed to the gills, he sent four legions of soldiers to stop pilgrims from leaving the city following Passover, causing a massive shortage of water and other supplies. He surrounded them, smashed the third wall with a battering ram and hit the fortress of Antonia just north of the Temple Mount. Fighting ensued as the Roman military filled the city streets.

At this point, most of the Jewish Zealots fled to the Temple in retreat. While Titus originally wished to convert the temple into a pagan site, a Roman soldier set it ablaze instead. The fire spread uncontrollably to residential areas. Jews and Jewish Christians fled through underground tunnels. The zealots in the temple were burned to death. Had he not met Jesus, Peter probably would have been among them. Eventually, Titus flattened the Jewish place of worship almost completely. As far as Jerusalem was concerned, there were no chosen people left, no temple, no priests set apart to lead worship, and no one to offer sacrifices. This was September the 7^th, 70 AD.

The Christians fled and scattered throughout the known world in search of safety. And because of that, so did the faith.

Peter writes, “⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house^[a] to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

And then, ^9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession-”

In short, Peter says, “The building is gone, we’re not. The Building (no matter how important) was made of stones. You are living stones. You are the temple made mobile… made alive.” 1 Peter 2:2-10

We’re chosen to be living stones, to build something bigger than a bunch of brick walls.

In 1710, Christopher Wren, who designed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (one of the world’s most beautiful buildings), wrote about the reactions of construction workers who were asked what they were doing. Most workers who were bored and tired responded by saying, “I’m laying bricks” or “I’m carrying stones.” But Wren recalled one worker, who was mixing mortar, who seemed especially cheerful and enthusiastic about his work. When this man was asked what he was doing, he replied, “I’m building a magnificent cathedral.”

To this man, it wasn’t just Christopher Wren building the cathedral; it was everybody involved.

Sometimes when we think about the church, we think too small. I tend to focus on the details rather than the big picture. But truth be told, it’s all the little things we do that build the church. A smile from the people who volunteer in the kitchen today makes just as big an impact as the minister or the music director.

When Peter writes to the people, he writes to tell them that they are the church. That’s it, it’s not just a bunch of mortar and stone but a living, breathing thing, and that’s when you do it right – it grows.

And though the people had no official Priests, Peter writes to tell them they didn’t need someone else to make their sacrifices for them. He says, “You are the Temple, and you are the Priests. In fact, more than that, he says, ‘you are a Royal Priesthood’, offering ‘spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

From now on, he says, we are all “set apart”. We are together “a Holy Nation”, but not because of who our forefathers were or where we were born, but because of who God is and how we will live because of that.

The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies will always be known as the team that suffered one of the great collapses in sports history. They let a huge division lead slip away by losing ten games in a row at the very end of the season. Despite the collapse, the Phillies’ season had its share of memorable moments, including a perfect game and a ninth-inning home run by a Phillie to win the All-Star Game.

But the most remarkable moment of the entire season occurred after a game, not during it. Clay (Dal-Rimple) Dalrymple, a Phillie pitcher, was asked to assist a blind girl who had asked for a chance to walk onto the field. (Dal-Rimple) Dalrymple took the girl to home plate, where she reached down and felt the plate. Then slowly he walked the girl to first base (where she stooped down, smiled and examined every inch of it), and then to second base, and then to third base before ending up at home plate once again (with a nice long pleasing pause at each so the girl could confirm her dream).

The thing is, while (Dal-Rimple) Dalrymple was showing the girl around the bases, he missed something important. See, he had been so focused on fulfilling this little girl’s dream that he hadn’t noticed that the fans had stopped leaving. They’d stopped talking. People just sat in silence in the stadium to watch him and his companion round the bases. (Dal-Rimple) had been so focused on this one person that he hadn’t been paying any attention to the other things going on around him. The kindly baseball player just assumed that the silence in the stands meant the fans had all gone home. But when he and his new friend finally reached home plate, and this blind young girl had finally “run the bases”, the ballpark erupted with applause. (Dal-Rimple) Dalrymple, however, was shocked by the thunderous clapping. When he looked up, he saw tens of thousands of fans standing and applauding, smiling and cheering with appreciation, pride, respect, and love.

Later, (Dal-Rimple) Dalrymple told Sports Illustrated, “It was the biggest ovation I ever got.”

Sometimes we forget that our efforts to be Christlike, to be living stones, to be set apart… are observed by others, even though we may be unaware that they’re watching. And I have a little theory about this that I’d like to share with you. I believe that it’s not usually the big things we do that matter the most… usually, it’s the right things we do that matter the most.

I did a little research on the top 10 sports viewers over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, hockey didn’t appear on the popularity list. But it’s not far off. But for perspective, Hockey has about 250 million viewers worldwide. NASCAR has around 300 million. Neither made the list. But… here are the top ten:

1. Rugby 470 million
2. American Football 500 million
3. Baseball 550 million
4. Basketball 800 million
5. Table Tennis 850 million
6. Volleyball 900 million
7. Tennis 1 billion
8. Field Hockey 2 billion
9. Cricket 2.5 billion

10, Soccer 3.5 billion

It appears that these are some of the most attention-grabbing moments in the shared history of the world over the last year. 3.5 billion people watched.

But who was the MVP of the last Super Bowl (Ken Walker, 3rd of the Seahawks)?

MVP or the NBA finals? Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous Alexander.

Who won the last World Series? L.A. Dodgers.

Who won the 2025 FIFA World Cup MVP?

How about this: Who was the Nobel Prize winner for Physiology and Medicine last year, and for what? This person won for using CRISPR to demonstrate gene-editing Alzheimer’s out of a person’s DNA.

Who received the top researcher prize for Physics by developing breakthroughs in quantum computing that physicists believe might enable calculations to be made in more than just our dimension (possibly proving alternate realities)?

Who won the Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Journalism?

Who won the Fields Medal for groundbreaking work in mathematics, which might be used to solve world hunger?

But now ask yourself these questions instead:

Who are the people who truly shaped your life?

• Who taught you something fundamental (like reading, thinking, how to study, how to respect others or behave or got you to believe in yourself? I bet you can name that person.
• Who showed up consistently and made all the difference?
• Who cared about you in ways that are specific and personal and changed your life or made you a better person?
• Who shared tears, hugs, pain, death, a wedding or the birth of a child with you? I bet you know their names.

No 3 billion people watched those moments but I bet they were more impactful.

People aren’t shaped most by those who are important to the world, but by those who are important to us personally. The biggest influence on your life usually come from people who will never be famous.

History remembers the great figures: the prize winners, the champions, the innovators. But a person’s life is usually shaped far more by the quiet, consistent actions of ordinary people: someone who taught them, supported them, listened to them, or showed up when it mattered.

I’ll bet those names and faces came to mind immediately. You may even feel gratitude welling up as you remember them. Those are the “living stones” God has placed in your life, ordinary people through whom He builds something eternal.

Their small, faithful acts, meals shared, burdens carried, truth spoken in love, quiet prayers offered, are spiritual sacrifices that strengthen the church far more than any spotlight moment.

I believe that it’s not usually the big things we do that matter the most… usually, it’s the right things we do that matter the most.

Giving a lamb to the priest at the temple (three times a year was a big thing and had its place), but spiritual sacrifices (those little things we do for Christ and neighbours) change us and change others around us. Spiritual sacrifices build an even bigger Temple with more and more living stones. They built up a whole kingdom.

The problem is we don’t always live like a Royal Priesthood and a Holy Nation we’re called to be, partially because (just like Peter’s original audience), we tend to cling to the past and hold on to our old ways instead of celebrating what God is doing in the here and now.

There is this old story…
An old beggar lived near the king’s palace. One day, he saw a proclamation posted outside the palace gate. The king was giving a great dinner. Anyone dressed in royal garments was invited to the party.

The beggar went on his way. He looked at the rags he was wearing and sighed. Surely only kings and their families wore royal robes, he thought. Slowly, an idea crept into his mind. The audacity of it made him tremble.

Would he dare? He made his way back to the palace. He approached the guard at the gate. “Please, sire, I would like to speak to the king.”

“Wait here,” the guard replied. In a few minutes, he was back. “His majesty will see you,” he said. “Let the beggar in!” he shouted.

“You wish to see me?” asked the king.

“Yes, your majesty. I want so much to attend the banquet, but I have no royal robes to wear. Please, sir, if I may be so bold, may I borrow one of your old garments so that I, too, may come to the banquet?”

The beggar shook so hard that he could not see the faint smile that was on the king’s face.

“You have been wise in coming to me,” the king said. He called to his son, the young prince. “Take this man to your room, have him bathed and dress him in some of your new clothes.”

The prince did as he was told, and soon the beggar was standing before a mirror, clothed in garments that he had never dared even to hope for. “You are now eligible to attend the king’s banquet tomorrow night,” said the prince. “But even more important, you will never need any other clothes again. These garments will last you for the rest of your life with ease. These will never tear.”

The beggar dropped to his knees. “Oh, thank you,” he cried.

But as he started to leave, he looked back at his pile of dirty rags on the floor. He hesitated. What if the prince was wrong? What if the King changed his mind? What if he needed his old clothes again? Quickly, as the prince looked the other way, the beggar sneakily gathered up his old clothes and hid them away before leaving.

The banquet was far greater than the beggar had ever imagined, but he could not enjoy himself as he should. He had made a small bundle of his old rags, and it kept falling off his lap. The food was passed quickly, and the beggar missed some of the greatest delicacies while trying to keep one hand on the rags at all times.

Time proved that the prince was right. The clothes did last forever. Still, the poor beggar grew fonder and fonder of his old rags. As time passed, people seemed to forget the royal robes he was wearing. They saw only the little bundle of filthy rags that he clung to wherever he went. He became a sort of local celebrity. Everyone knew him. But they knew him only as “the old man dressed as a prince but always holding dirty rags”

One day, as the old beggar lay dying, the king visited him. The beggar saw the sad look on the king’s face when he looked at the small bundle of rags by the bed. Suddenly, the beggar remembered the prince’s words, and he realized that his bundle of rags had cost him a lifetime of true royalty. And so the beggar and the king both, together, cried.

Our King cannot stand to see us holding on to our old rags. For as Peter puts it, we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” and “God’s special possession.”

No matter where, when or who you were born to be, all God’s children in Jesus Christ are chosen, and all who do right make up the Holy nation. If you follow The Way, the Truth and the Life, what might you accomplish? All who strive to sacrifice for others are the living embodiment of the Temple; we are living stones and it’s our everyday small acts of kindness that matter most.  Amen.

Song: With the Lord as my guide (574)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Prayers of the people

Generous God, we thank you for the renewal of life in Christ and for the greening of fields and gardens that remind us of your power to restore. Use the gifts we offer, time, money, skills, to bring hope and tangible renewal: feed neighbours facing food insecurity, support farmers and farmworkers, repair homes after storms, and fund programs that heal bodies and rebuild communities in the name of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.

Holy One, God with us, we give thanks for Jesus’ promises that reveal your face, mercy in the hurting, peace in the restless, and justice for the oppressed.

He knows us more deeply than we know ourselves and calls us into a life of compassionate action.

In Christ, you show us the Way through self-giving service. We pray for those who are lost or isolated, refugees and migrants, youth without mentors, people living with addiction, those struggling to find steady work, and anyone crushed by loneliness or shame.

In Christ, you show us the Truth revealed in costly love. In an age of misinformation and quick fixes, we pray for those misled by false promises, victims of scams, people radicalized online, and communities harmed by corrupt leaders. God of the Truth, expose deceit, protect the vulnerable from exploitation, and give us courage to speak and live truth, even when it costs us.

Our very grounding… in Christ, you show us the Life that defeats death. We hold before you people facing serious illness, caregivers burned out from long nights, those grieving loss, the separated and separating, folks living with chronic depression, the Bipolar, the unsettled, those who wish for life to end, and anyone denied full dignity for any reason.

Renew our purpose: teach us to follow Jesus’ footsteps by serving the hungry, welcoming the stranger, defending the marginalized, and stewarding your creation. Shape our words and actions so your kingdom of compassion, justice, and life is made visible in our neighbourhoods and the wider world. Amen.

Passing the peace

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation                          

Beloved in Christ: The Lord invites to his table all who trust in Jesus Christ, know themselves to be less than perfect, seek to rectify the wrongs and wish to live at peace with one another. The body and blood of Christ have already been offered to any and every person designed to receive it (the children of God). Come, all of those who wish to be faithful!

Song: Let us break bread together (548)

The Nicene Creed                       

Let us join together in the words of our common faith.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day, he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen

The Communion Prayer

Great and Loving God, Father of all, we praise you for creating the world and for loving every person you made. You give us life, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the beauty of morning and night. Thank you for caring for children, for the old, for people experiencing poverty, and for everyone in between. You hold us when we are afraid, you forgive us when we fail, and you remind us that we belong to you. We join with all creation and with your people everywhere in saying: Holy, holy, holy is your name.

Jesus Christ, our Brother and Saviour, we thank you for coming to live among us, for showing us how to love by your words and your actions.

At your last supper, you took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and shared it with your friends. You said it was your body given for us. Then you took the cup and said it was your life poured out for many.

You taught us to love our enemies, to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, and to forgive as we have been forgiven. Remembering your life, death, and rising again, we ask you now to be present with us in this meal.

Make this bread and this cup for us the signs of your presence: feed our bodies, heal our hearts, and help us to live like you—kind, brave, and full of hope.

Holy Spirit, Breath of God, come upon these gifts and upon all who share them. Fill this table with your life. Make the bread into the body of Christ for us, and the cup into the new life poured out for all. Help us to see you at work in our neighbours, especially those who are hungry, lonely, or afraid.

Teach our hands to serve, our tongues to speak truth, and our feet to follow where Jesus leads. Unite us with Christians around the world and with those who have gone before us who have trusted you. Give us courage to love better, to forgive faster, and to keep believing that you can make things new.

God of grace, use what we receive at this table to change us.

Let it make us braver in doing good, kinder in our speech, and deeper in our love. Help us share what we have, protect creation, and work for peace and justice in our communities. When we leave this place, keep your life in us so we may be lights of your love wherever we go.

We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Friend, and we pray together with confidence, as he taught us, saying, “Amen.”

Institution

On the night he was handed over, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to his friends, saying:

Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

After supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and said:

This cup is the new promise of God poured out for you — my life for the life of the world. Whenever you drink it, remember me.

So, as you eat this bread and drink this cup, remember Christ’s love for you, proclaim his death and celebrate his risen life, until he comes again. Amen.

Sharing of the Bread and Wine

Song:  Eat this bread (527)

Prayer after Communion

Gracious God, thank you for meeting us at this table with forgiveness, hope, and your love. Send us out strengthened to serve others, share your grace, and live as signs of Christ’s peace. Amen.

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

Sending out with God’s blessing
We are God’s own people, who have received mercy.
So do not let your hearts be troubled. Jesus waits for you in each new day.
May the Spirit guide you in the Way;
May Christ reveal the Truth in you;
And may God the FATHER grant you Life abundant now and evermore.

Response: God to enfold you

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God.

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: God, our Shepherd, offers us abundant life.
P: God, you are with us!
L: God, our Shepherd, leads us by still waters.
P: God, restore our souls!
L: God, our Shepherd, walks with us through every dark valley.
P: God, we will not be afraid! God, our Shepherd, we praise you for your goodness and mercy with us every day.

Opening praise: Holy is the Lord

Prayers of approach and confession

God of love,

We come together into your presence

trusting that your love has the power to defeat evil in the world.

We come together into your presence, trusting that Christ

shows us that your love defeats even the power of death.

We come together into your presence, trusting that your Holy Spirit

guides us through the darkest valleys.

We worship you with glad hearts,

praising you in the name of our Risen Lord,

praying with the breath of your Spirit in us.

Renew our strength and courage to face whatever each day holds,

so our lives will bring you honour and glory now and always. Amen.

Trusting your grace and mercy, we come together to your throne of grace to confess our sins.

God of love,

we confess that too often we let the events around us

shatter our trust in your love.

When terror strikes and innocents fall,

we wonder if love can defeat violence.

When truth gets lost among misleading claims,

we wonder if love can prevail over lies.

Forgive us, God, when we lose our trust in the power of your love

So soon after it raised Jesus from death’s grip.

Response: Glory, glory, hallelujah

Assurance of God’s pardon

The Apostle Paul asked: What will separate us from the love of Christ? Hardship? Distress? Peril or sword? No! he declared. 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, God’s gracious and forgiving love will never let us go.

Musical Offering: Warren Garbutt and Jack Brown

We listen for the voice of God.

Song: Jesus, we are gathered (514)

Children’s time: Lost and found

Prayer with the Children

The Lord’s Prayer (535  )

*Song: The Lord’s my shepherd  (11)

Scripture: Ezekiel 34:7-15; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

Response: Jesus is risen from the grave            

Message: Shepherd
We have a shepherd who wants to lead us beside still waters and wants for us a life of abundance. Do we believe it?

Let’s suppose that I bought a horse from a man, and for that horse I had to pay, in cold, hard cash, a total of six dollars.

When I get home with the horse, everyone is excited. My kids think I’m a hero, and Tracy, who’s a bit of a penny pincher, thinks I’m a great bargainer. The horse is a definite hit with the family.

But after a while, problems arise. The horse is too big for the house. I’ve told the kids, “No galloping in the living room.” It’s getting expensive to feed this animal, too. Finally, my wife declares, “This horse has got to go.” I take the horse back to the man who originally sold it to me, and he’s gracious enough to buy the horse back for eight dollars. So, I have lost two bucks. Not a huge deal, obviously.

But soon I miss that old horse. A lot of times, at night, after the kids have gone to bed, I can be found staring up at the moon and playing my harmonica while singing cowboy songs. My wife, bless her heart, can’t stand to see me mope around, and so finally she gives in and says, “Oh, all right, go back and buy the horse again.” This time, I bought the horse from the same man for ten dollars.

You can guess what happens next. No sooner did we get the horse back to the house than we began to face all the same old problems again. The kids were horsing around, and the horse was doing a major number on the carpet.

I could see the handwriting on the wall. I was going to have to get rid of old Calico. So, I took the horse back to the same guy and sold it to him for twelve dollars.

I no longer have the horse, but I do have a question. After all my wheeling and dealing on the horse, did I make money or lose money? Not counting fees or gas back and forth to the farm, did I come out ahead? Did I go in the hole? Or did I break even? And if I did gain or lose, how much did I gain or lose?

The answer is I made four dollars. I spent six and ten, that’s sixteen; I received eight and twelve, so that’s twenty. Subtract sixteen from twenty, and you get four dollars profit. Wait, is that correct?

That story problem came from a second-grade math book. It should have been really easy, right? Second-grade math! But it wasn’t so easy, was it? In fact, it was downright confusing.

That’s the way life can be sometimes. Things that seem simple sometimes aren’t so simple. The world can be a very confusing place. But we have someone we can trust.

Psalm 33 says, “God’s word is true, and everything he does is right. He loves what is right and fair; the Lord’s love fills the earth.”

You gotta go to the One who designed you.

A few years ago, I bought this wonderful program: The Word Biblical Commentary series on CD-ROM. It was a steal: the whole set for only $800, instead of nearly $3,000 for the books, plus a bunch of extra resources thrown in. But I was newly married, working part-time as a youth director and a librarian’s assistant, and I was broke. Nine hundred dollars felt like a fortune.

I took that CD out of its package, followed the “three easy steps” that somehow took over an hour, typed in my 23-digit personalized code… and nothing. It didn’t work. So, like any intelligent young man, I repeated the same steps, got angry when I got the same result, and did it again. After about five hours of pure stupidity, I finally broke down and called the good people at Logos Software. I ended up speaking to one of the guys who actually helped write the program. In a few minutes, he gave me a couple of simple steps even I could follow, and voilà…

the program was up and running.

How many times in life do we try to work out our own problems our own way? We keep repeating the same mistakes, getting angrier and more frustrated, until finally we break down and go to the One who designed the program, the One who designed us, to begin with.

The world can be a very confusing mess, but Hebrews 13 tells us that our Lord is stable, trustworthy, and constant. He “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

But more than that, our trustworthy God has created us for a purpose. Psalm 139 says: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made… Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Our God has created us for a purpose, and part of that purpose is to live a wonderful life, to be joyful and passionate, to really be alive. When the world thinks “Christian,” they picture some boring, dull, stoic existence. That’s nonsense.

You’ve got to do something. Take a little responsibility.

A few years ago, a 33-year-old truck driver named Larry Walters made national news. Larry had a habit of spending his weekends in his Los Angeles backyard, drinking Pepsi and eating peanut butter sandwiches, staring at the houses around him. Not a really exciting life.

One day, sheer boredom prompted him to buy some balloons and a tank of helium. He figured he’d tie the balloons to his lawn chair, float up a few feet, and get an aerial view of the neighbourhood. Just in case, he brought his old BB gun to shoot out balloons and control his altitude.

He bought 45 big weather balloons, filled them, tied them to his lawn chair, grabbed another six-pack of Pepsi, some sandwiches, and his BB gun. With a small crowd of curious neighbours watching, he yelled, “Let’s go!” and they cut the ropes.

He didn’t go five or six feet. He shot straight up… 10,000 feet! Right into the landing pattern at L.A. International Airport. The BB gun was useless because he was hanging on for dear life with both hands. They had to close the airport and send a helicopter to rescue him.

When they finally got him down, the reporters asked, “Were you scared?” “No, not really,” he said. “Are you going to do it again?” “No.” “What in the world made you do that in the first place?”

Larry thought for a moment and said, “Well… you just can’t sit there, can ya?”

Abundant life isn’t about launching yourself into the sky on a lawn chair fueled by Pepsi and boredom. But Larry was right about one thing… you can’t just sit there.

Denis Prager, in his book “Happiness Is a Serious Problem”, writes that unhappy religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than all the other arguments combined. Perpetual unhappiness reflects poorly on our God, our faith, and all creation. God didn’t create us to mope around. He didn’t open the door to grace and love and expect a bunch of stoic faces.

Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

That word “abundantly” is the Greek word “perissos” (περισσός). It means:

– Over and above, more than is necessary, superadded

– Exceeding abundantly, supremely

– Something further, far more than, much more than all

– Superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon

– Pre-eminence, superiority, advantage, more excellent

That’s the life God has prepared for us… abundant life, superadded life, life with extra poured on top.

But how do we actually live that kind of life? Jesus doesn’t just drop the promise and walk away. Right in the same chapter, He tells us exactly who He is and how He leads us into it.

In John 10, Jesus says: “Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep… I am the gate for the sheep… I am the good shepherd.”

What is your faith to you?

What is it when someone else attacks your faith?

What does it mean when the beliefs you hold most dear are attacked?

By the way, I am not telling you what to believe. What I am saying is that sometimes a fake shepherd comes into your life and messes things up. Do I, or do you, always see it for what it is? I don’t think I do.

Jesus says to be careful about those who want to mess up your life, change your ideas, or break in.

The thief climbs over the wall to steal, kill, and destroy. But the Good Shepherd comes through the gate. He calls His own sheep by name. He leads them out. The sheep know His voice and follow Him. They won’t follow a stranger.

Jesus is not a distant ruler barking orders. He is the Shepherd who knows you by name. He goes ahead of you. He walks with you.

That’s exactly what King David celebrated in Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Notice what the Shepherd does: He provides. He leads. He restores. He guides. He protects. Even in the valley of the shadow of death, the darkest, scariest places life can take us, we don’t have to be afraid, because the Shepherd is right there with us. His rod drives off the wolves. His staff gently corrects and keeps us on the path.

The abundant life isn’t a life without valleys. It’s a life where, even in the valley, you have a Shepherd who makes sure you lack nothing that really matters. He superadds peace in the storm, joy in the sorrow, strength in the weakness, and hope when everything else is falling apart.

The thief wants to rob you of that. The world wants to convince you that following Jesus means a boring, restricted, colourless existence. But Jesus says the opposite: “I came that they may have life, real life, vibrant life, and have it ‘perissos’, overflowing, extraordinary, surpassing, superadded.”

You were fearfully and wonderfully made for this. The Designer who knit you together in your mother’s womb is the same Good Shepherd who stands at the gate and says, “Come on in. Follow my voice. I’ve got green pastures and quiet waters waiting. And even when the path gets dark, I’m walking right beside you.”

So here’s the question for all of us this week: Are you going to keep trying to fix things your own way, repeating the same frustrating loops, or will you go to the One who designed you? Will you listen for the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him into the abundant life He promised?

You don’t have to launch yourself 10,000 feet in a lawn chair. But you do have to move. You do have to take responsibility. You do have to reach out and grab hold of the life that’s already been purchased for you.

Go and find some way this week, maybe today, to grab that abundant life that God has promised you.

After all… You just can’t sit there, can ya?

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

We respond to serve God.

Our time of giving

Prayers of the people

God with a tender heart, we thank you for the care you offer to us as our Shepherd. Bless the gifts we offer so they will spread your abundant love to those in need of caring. Bless our lives so that we may care for the world as we follow Jesus day by day.

Wise and generous God, shepherd of our lives, we are thankful this day for all you provide to sustain us.

You call our weary souls to rest when the world seems busy. You bless us with the promise of new life as pastures around us turn green, announcing another spring.

You gather us around tables of friendship to draw strength from one another. Thank you for the signs of your goodness and mercy, which we can treasure each day.

Loving and listening God, shepherd of the world,

We bring you 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.

Walk with them through dark days and steep valleys.

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.

Walk with them through dark days and steep valleys.

We pray for victims of discrimination, acts of hatred,

domestic violence and physical punishment.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

Walk with them through dark days and steep valleys.

We pray for journalists and advocates for justice

who live under threat for telling the truth.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

Walk with them through dark days and steep valleys.

We pray for congregations that seek to renew and reorganize themselves

to meet the needs of the communities they serve.

Hold silence for 15 seconds.

Walk with them through dark days and steep valleys.

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.

Walk with us all through dark days and steep valleys. Amen.

Song: Praise him, praise him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer (372)

Sending out with God’s blessing
Go in peace, sure that the Good Shepherd walks beside you.
May God lead you to places of rest and renewal.
May Christ give you courage on the journey;
May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with joy and generosity;
And may the blessing of God, Creator, Christ and Spirit,
dwell in your hearts, overflow and be always abundant… this day and always.

Response: He is Lord

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements

Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: We have come from many places, following different roads.
P: We come hungering for greater understanding.
L: We have come to hear the wisdom of Scripture.
P: We come seeking companions in the faith.
L: We have come to discover the One revealed in the breaking of the bread.
P: We come to grow as disciples of Christ
L: Come, let us worship God, made known in Christ Jesus.

Opening praise: I give you my heart

Prayers of approach and confession
Loving, Everlasting God, you who kindle the smallest sparks of faith into blazing light, we come to you with hearts that long for your nearness. You are the light of the hearts that love you, the warmth that steady our timid steps, the life at the center of every soul that serves. You are the breath within us when we cannot find our voice, the steady hand when our grip slips, the gentle whisper that calls us home. You are the inspiration of those who seek you in midnight questions and in daylight errands. You are infinite and eternal, unchanging in your mercy, yet always new in the ways you meet us — full of compassion for our failings, rich in grace for our wandering, patient with our slow learning, truthful when we need correction.

When we turn from you, we stumble and grow small; when we turn toward you, we rise, lifted by your forgiveness and hope. The earth and every living thing sing of your handiwork; the sunrise, the time we share, the friend who stays… all testify to your goodness. Above all, your glory and truth shine most clearly in Jesus Christ, whose life, death and rising bind us to you. For this miracle of love, for the One who walked with strangers and called them family, we praise you now and forever: Creator, Christ, and Spirit.

Remembering Christ’s loving-kindness and mercy, let us confess the ways we have missed the mark.

Merciful God, you are the One of Glory and we need you. We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, in the private places and the public moments, by what we have done, by what we have left undone, by the kindness we withheld and the hard words we spoke. We have not loved you with our whole heart, body, mind and soul; too often we have held back the best of ourselves. We have failed to love our neighbours as ourselves, turning a cautious eye from those who needed our courage, our time, or our resources. Forgive us for pride that protects us, for fear that silences us, for indifference that numbs us. Be merciful as promised and show us glory! Amen.

Response: Glory, glory, hallelujah

Assurance of God’s pardon
In your mercy, forgive what we have been; heal what we are now; and shape who we shall become. Restore in us a generous spirit, a softened heart, and steady hands for service. Teach us new ways to embody your compassion so that in small acts of love, your kingdom becomes visible here. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who bore our wounds and shows us the way back. Amen.

We listen for the voice of God.

Song: Jesus, we are gathered (514 )

Children’s time 

I have a couple of pictures to show you today. Here is the first picture.

What do you see? How many of you see a tree? Did anyone see anything besides a tree? Did anyone see a gorilla? If you didn’t see a gorilla, look here on the left side of the picture. (Point to the gorilla.) Can everyone see it? Does anyone see anything besides the tree and the gorilla? How about a lion? Do you see a lion? Look here on the right side of the picture. (Point to the lion.) Now, do you see it? So, if you look at this picture, you will see three different things – a tree, a gorilla, and a lion.

Here is the second picture.

What do you see? Does anyone see a rabbit? This is easy, isn’t it? Here is the nose, an eye, and here are the ears. Does anyone see anything other than a rabbit? Oh, I see a duck! Here is the head and here is the duck’s bill. It is interesting how the picture changes, depending on how you look at it!

Sometimes, like in these pictures, we don’t always see everything that is there. It was easy to see the tree, but we might not see the gorilla or the lion until we look at the picture for a few more minutes. The same thing is true of the rabbit and the duck. We might not see one or the other right away. Our Bible lesson today is about two men who had some difficulty in recognizing Jesus when he joined them as they were walking to a village called Emmaus.

We will learn more about this in Sunday School today. Sometimes, we don’t see the whole picture at first, just like when we looked at the illusions. We might have to look more closely. Just like the men who didn’t know that it was Jesus right there with them on the road. You and I might not always see that Jesus is walking beside us, but … He IS there, always – loving and protecting and caring for us every day.

Prayer
Let us pray: This is a repeat-after-me prayer.
Dear God,
open our eyes
so we might recognize
that Jesus is right here with us
as we walk through life.
We trust in him
as he guides us
along our daily path.

Now together, we’ll say the prayer that Jesus taught us.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Song: Come to us, beloved Stranger (262)

Scripture readings:  1 Peter 1:17-23 and Luke 24:13-35

Response: Jesus is risen from the grave

Message: Born Again

Looking at the passage in Peter’s letter, we find guidance on how to live in this world, knowing Heaven is our home.
What are imperishable people born again by the Word?
How then shall we live?

Years ago, when my kids were little, I planted a tiny garden out back. You know the kind, the hopeful spring project where you buy packets of seeds, till the soil, and dream of fresh fried green tomatoes and chocolate zucchini cake to appear sometime around July. I really wanted to plant a taco pizza tree, but… it… well it turns out that was just a dream of mine and it never really materialized.

I planted primarily flowers, but also a few other things, and I took more care than usual with the carrots and strawberries.

I suppose we’ve all seen the beautiful little packets, bright orange and red pictures on the front. They only cost a couple dollars at most. It’s not a big investment to start out.

I did the novice gardener things, and I watered them faithfully. And then… nothing. Or at least, not what I expected. Some of the seeds came up, sure. But most of them were spindly little things that never amounted to much. A few got eaten by rabbits.

At the time, one of the big problems for us were these things called Chafer Beetles that look like really fat and long grub worms that nest just a inch under the grass. They are pretty gross. But Raccoons love them. So the raccoons would show up at night and roll the sod back up into what looked like giant Swiss cake rolls looking for them and by morning the whole lawn would be this odd mess where you had to roll the grass back out and put it in place. In short, the adversaries destroyed the seeds and the life growing from them. That happens in one way or another to everything. The things of this life pass. But according to the scriptures, there is still life.

Now, I know that phrase “born again” has gotten tossed around a lot over the years and not always in ways that are accurate or Good News to others.

In Hebrew, it’s ἀναγεννάω anagennaō (Anna-Geh-Nawh-O), and the thing is, it only appears in this one place. So it’s a little bit mysterious but maybe not completely.

Those raccoons dug up everything. And sure, raccoons can be coaxed away from the yard with the promise of a half an apple fritter (take that!), but they’d be back.

Birds ate some of the seeds, some the rabbits got, and some the trash pandas destroyed. And the rest just… withered when the summer heat hit.

The marketing is great. The truth is different.

“Perishable seeds”. That’s what the packets should say. “Nice for a season if any of them make it halfway through life. Also, nothing lasts!” On the back it should say, “You get what you pay for!”

Two things:

1. Farmers have it hard and they might all be crazy.
2. I would have been a terrible disaster if I had gone into advertising. I’d put an honest “This probably wont grow!” on the front page.

Okay, maybe that shouldn’t be on the package… but I feel as if you get my drift.

Peter knew something about perishable things. He’s writing to believers who are scattered like seed themselves, exiles, foreigners in a hostile world. They’re trying to figure out how to live faithfully when everything around them feels temporary. And right in the middle of his letter, in verse 23, he drops this bombshell of hope:

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)

Let’s back up just a bit so we don’t miss the road that gets us here. Peter has been reminding them, and us, who they really are. You call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, he says. So live out your time here as foreigners… in reverent fear. You weren’t bought with silver or gold, the stuff that rusts and fades, but with the precious blood of Christ, like a perfect lamb without blemish. He was present before the world was even made, but revealed for your sake. Through him, you know the Father-God, who raised him from the dead and believe. Your faith and hope are in Him.

And then, having purified yourselves by obeying the truth, you have sincere love for each other. So love one another deeply, from the heart.

And then comes verse 23, the heartbeat of the whole section: You have been born again. Not of perishable seed. But of imperishable seed. Through the living and enduring word of God.

This is not just nice religious talk. This is the core of what it means to be a Christian. We have been born again.

Also, don’t be afraid of that phrase. It is absolutely biblical.

I know that phrase “born again” has gotten tossed around a lot over the years.

Sometimes it sounds like a bumper sticker slogan or something a person feels they have to say at the right moment to get their Christian card stamped or be considered “one of the good ones”. But that misses the point. And we don’t throw out the baby with the dirty bathwater.

There is something important here.

This is not a strict Justification (being declared acceptable before God), it’s also about Sanctification (bearing good fruit in thanksgiving for being justified). In other words, Peter isn’t just talking about a one-time emotional experience or a checklist item. He’s talking about a complete, God-initiated transformation. A new birth. A new identity. A new life that comes from something that cannot die.

Think about the contrast he’s drawing. Perishable seed. That’s the old way. It’s the way of the world before faith. It’s silver and gold that tarnish. Jobs that end. Glory that fades, accomplishments that dissolve and are forgotten. It’s human effort that eventually runs out. It’s family traditions that feel meaningful for a generation or two, only to be lost. It’s the “I love you” in words and the opposite in deeds. It’s the best we can do on our own… which, let’s be honest, isn’t enough. Perishable seed produces perishable fruit. It withers. It dies. Those pesky troublemakers come in and destroy it all. We all know that story too well.

But this new birth? It’s different. It’s of imperishable seed. It comes through the living and enduring word of God.

That little phrase “living and enduring” is important. The Word of God isn’t some dusty old book on a shelf. It isn’t even the Bible. It’s a person. It’s Jesus. It’s alive. It’s active. It’s the same voice that spoke creation into being. It’s the same Word that called Lazarus out of the tomb. And it endures. It doesn’t wither like those carrot seeds in my garden, or get eaten by the bugs, or destroyed by the animals. It doesn’t rust like silver. It doesn’t fade like the latest self-help trend. Heaven and earth will pass away (Jesus said), but my words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, and Luke 21:33).

So how does this new birth happen? Through the Word. Not through our perfect behaviour. It is not through our impressive family tree. Not through our good intentions or our denominational pedigree. Through the Word. The Good News of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, coming again, is planted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That Word takes root. It grows. It changes everything.

I’ll be honest with you, I also need to hear this news again and again. Because, left to myself, I still sometimes try to live by perishable seed. I catch myself thinking, “If I just do a little more, serve a little harder, pray a little more intently, find a more clever way to say that, be smart enough, fix that one thing, be a little better… then maybe I’ll finally feel like I’ve earned my place.” But I always end up feeling so unworthy. Yet, Peter says “no”. That’s not how new birth works. You don’t earn a birth. You receive it. You’re born into it. It happens to you. And I know that in my head but I don’t always feel that in my heart. DO YOU? We all should! We all Should!!! We all should.

And notice what this new birth produces. Look back at verse 22: sincere love for each other. Deep love from the heart. When you know you’ve been born again by the imperishable word, you stop competing so much with your brothers and sisters. You stop keeping score. You love deeply because you’ve been loved deeply; not because of what you’ve done, but because of what Christ has done.

That’s why Peter tells us that we are “foreigners” living here in reverent fear. Because we are intended to be citizens of heaven (our ultimate home), though living for a time on earth.

We are not always at home in this world’s value systems. We belong to another kingdom. Our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and we are only here in this place for a short time. We call ourselves Canadian, American, Cameroonian, Iranian, Filipino, Chinese or whatever. No matter what, ask anyone who has lost someone – it hurts. It hurts a lot.

Being a citizen of any country on earth is one thing, but being a citizen of heaven is something completely different.

That truth cuts, but it’s also very clear. And that changes how we live; not out of fear of punishment or hell or anything selfish, but out of awe at the God who gave us new life.

This is incredibly good news for anyone who feels worn out. For anyone who’s tried the perishable route and come up empty. For anyone who wonders if they’ve messed up too badly or waited too long. The word of God is still living and still enduring. Still powerful enough to bring new birth today.

I think about the people who first heard this letter. Scattered believers facing incredible hardships. Some of them had lost homes, jobs, and families because of their faith. They felt like exiles. Peter says to them, “You haven’t been left with nothing.” You’ve been given everything. A new birth. An imperishable hope. A living word that will never fail you.

For me, it’s a little like seeing a family who lost their home in a tornado but joyfully discovered after it was over that the whole family made it through alive. When they come out from the storm shelters and the house is gone, and yet they see each other, and hug each other and love each other in that moment, they aren’t worried about great-grandma’s China or family photos anymore; they are just overjoyed to still have what truly matters.

That same Word is here for us this morning. It’s in the life beyond this. It’s in the scriptures we just heard. It’s in the promises we sing. It’s in the bread and cup we share. It’s in the quiet voice of the Spirit speaking to your heart right now: “You are mine. You’ve been born again. Live like it.”

So what does that look like on a Tuesday morning in Edmonton? It looks like choosing deep love when it would be easier to stay distant. It looks like living as a foreigner, not fitting in with every cultural trend, but holding onto what lasts. It looks like opening this (small “w” “word) every day and letting the living “Word” do His work in you. It looks like telling someone else about the hope you have, not because you’ve got it all together, but because the same imperishable seed that gave you new life can give it to them too.

And when the hard days come, and they will, when you feel like that spindly little plant in the garden, remember: you were not planted with perishable seed. That’s why even in death, the author of Ecclesiastes 12:7 writes, “And the dust always returns to the earth, but the spirit returns to the God who gave it.” And it’s why Paul wrote, “even if this earthly tent is taken down, we will go home to be with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).

For now, remember this is not our home. Live accordingly.

The Word that calls you is the Word that will sustain you. The God who began this good work in you will carry it on to completion.

You have been born again. Not of perishable seed. But of imperishable. Through the living and enduring word of God. Let’s live like people who know that’s true.

Thanks be to our God and Amen.

Song: Lord Jesus, you shall be my song (665)

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Prayers of the people

God, our Maker and Companion, you have walked the Emmaus Road with your people through every age, in seasons of fear and seasons of joy, in confusion and in clarity. Thank you for never leaving us to travel alone. Thank you for the friends who walk beside us, and for unexpected signs of your presence that renew our faith. Walk with us and with those for whom we pray today; let your grace sustain our hope and steady our feet. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for children and young people who sit with worry about the future. Hold them when anxiety steals their rest; give them mentors who believe in them; plant in their hearts the assurance that their lives matter to you and to us. Help them find the courage to dream and the wisdom to take faithful steps. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those whose age, illness, or disability builds walls between them and full participation in community life. Grant them dignity, meaningful work, true companionship and access that honours their worth. Open our eyes to see their gifts and our hands to remove the barriers they face. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for communities battered by forces beyond their choosing,  economic hardship, environmental distress, disaster, and political conflict. Comfort the grieving, protect the vulnerable, and give endurance to those who serve. Grant leaders wisdom, courage and humility so that healing and justice may take root. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for our congregation, for our shared life and our calling into the future. We are anxious about change and unsure which path to take. Steady our hearts; deepen our trust in you; give us imagination to try new things and the humility to listen to one another. Let our fellowship be a place where honest questions are met with grace, and where risk is taken for the sake of the Gospel. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We lift before you the private worries and names carried silently in our hearts (pause). You know each burden; hold them, heal them, and bring peace that surpasses our understanding. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

God our Maker, hear now the prayers we speak and those we hold in silence. Make us instruments of your mercy, to feed the hungry, speak for the voiceless, comfort the broken, and proclaim with our lives the love we have received. Teach us to trust the work you begin in us and to follow where Jesus leads. Amen.

Song: Who’s going to tell the story (761)

Sending out with God’s blessing
Now go out into the world: face the road ahead with courage, for the Risen Christ walks with you. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust, so that your life may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Strengthen one another, love without measure, and live as a people renewed by grace. Amen.

Response: He is Lord

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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God

Music prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: All things of God, all the heavens,
P: Worship and praise your Maker
L: Sun, moon and stars; wind, rain and thunder,
P: Worship and praise your Maker
L: Mountains and forests, streams and waterfalls.’
P: Worship and praise your Maker
L: Creatures beneath the sea, birds throughout the skies, all that leaps or crawls, all who walk or worry or wonder,
P: Let us worship and praise our Maker together.

Opening praise: This is amazing grace

Prayers of approach and confession

God of new life and fresh beginnings, the Risen Christ came to his frightened friends and spoke words of deep peace right into their chaos and fear. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the way you keep strengthening my faith, even when doubts creep in. Thank you for offering me that same peace, not as a general idea, but as something I can lean into day by day as I live in you. In the quiet moments and the noisy ones, your presence calms my racing thoughts and reminds me I am never alone.

I am so grateful that you give me courage when my fears feel overwhelming, and my struggles threaten to pull me under. You give me patience when the path ahead is foggy and uncertain, when I can’t see the next step, no matter how hard I try. And you build resilience in me so I can face the changing realities of life without losing hope. Lord, shape me more and more into someone who can be a living source of that same peace and resilience for the people around me, for my family, my friends, my coworkers, and even strangers who cross my path. Do this in me for Christ’s sake, so my life might quietly point others to you.

Loving God. My Father is no longer here, this side of paradise. Yet you are my compassionate Father forever here, just as you were to my own dad. And as a father myself, I know what it is to worry.

I feel that I understand day by day and more and more what the word “father” really means. And I fall short.

I want to act as a parent. I want to be there. I want to do better. I want to turn others to you.

My heart breaks for the many places of brokenness in our world today. I think especially of people weighed down by heavy economic pressures, those who lie awake at night worrying about bills, jobs, or providing for their families. I pray for those who feel trampled in the relentless search for prosperity, left behind or pushed aside in a world that often values success over people.

I want to pray specifically for the People of Iran. The people and the government are not the same thing. The government ignored you. The people need you. Actually, everyone in the world needs you. And I pray that any unprovoked aggression against you would fail. Only those who suppress the people of Iran and the movements of the people should face opposition (and in that, not deadly but conversational). I pray for a world where nations reason with each other, and reason prevails.

I lift up communities and relationships strained by sharp disagreements over policies, politics, and opinions. So many voices feel unheard, dismissed, or ignored, and that pain runs deep. I also pray for our earth itself, groaning under the weight of human activity, its beauty and balance threatened in ways that scare me. I remember with gratitude those who work tirelessly to protect its future, scientists, activists, farmers, and everyday people making small, faithful choices.

I don’t wish to assign morality in places where communities are still fighting to figure things out. But I certainly want to say that over the last decades of my life I have been far too judgmental about other people for their crimes, their acting out, their sex, their sexuality, their circumstances, probably their religions and skin and the histories of their lands and maybe not so much just them… though I tend to think I treat people fairly.

Maybe I’m good at it. But I still suspect I fail from time to time because that’s just logical and almost certainly true.

Gracious God, I feel as if we might all be in the same boat. Please pour out your gifts of real hope and deep healing on this hurting planet and on all its peoples. Where there is despair, bring renewed possibility. Where there is division, sow seeds of understanding. Where there is damage, begin the long work of restoration, starting even in my own small choices each day.

Faithful God, steady and true, I pray for those who carry pain or disappointment from their experiences with the church. Some have been hurt by judgment, exclusion, or silence when they needed grace the most. Open their hearts again to your unconditional love and healing grace so that any wounds the church has caused can begin to mend.

At the same time, guide me and all of us with your wise and gentle Spirit. Help us live out our faith in ways that create open pathways for others to find you, rather than accidental barriers that push people away. Show me how to listen better, love more humbly, and speak with kindness instead of defensiveness.

I pray especially for my own congregation, for The Presbyterian Church in Canada, and for the whole Church of Jesus Christ in every country, culture, and context. In these challenging days of shifting culture and deep questions, strengthen our trust in you. Deepen our genuine concern for others, especially those who feel far from you. Give us humble ears to truly hear the correction we need and soften our hearts with the overwhelming grace of the Risen Christ so we can grow and change.

We also pray for ourselves, our families, our friends, our local community, and our countries (both those of our homelands and those we chose and chose us back).

Thank you for the incredible gift that I can pour out all my worries, fears, hopes, and dreams into your strong and caring hands. You hear every unspoken word. You respond with love that never runs out. I trust you with it all, knowing you are already at work in ways I may not yet see.

Response: Glory, glory, hallelujah

Assurance of God’s love

Hear this good news, my friends: The tomb is empty. Christ is risen, and his resurrection power is at work right now, in us and for us. Nothing you have done, nothing you have failed to do, and no failure or regret you carry can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s steadfast love for you. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed your sins through the cross and the empty tomb. You are forgiven. You are made new. You are deeply loved, exactly as you are, and called to live as a beloved child of the Risen One.

Believe this truth deep in your bones: In Jesus Christ, you are fully forgiven. Go in peace, and live as people who have been set free. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Musical offering: Dayspring Singers

We listen for the voice of God.

Song: Jesus, we are gathered (514 )

Presentation: Roxanne Plischke

Roxanne. Today, we’re not just marking the end of a job, we’re recognizing a calling that you’ve lived out faithfully for many years. You began R&S before- and after-school care back when R. Truly stood for Roxanne. And that tells us something important. This wasn’t and never has been just a program. It was personal. It was you. Your heart, your care, your presence poured into children day after day and year after year.

At Dayspring Presbyterian Church, we often talk about ministry as something that happens beyond Sunday mornings, and Roxanne, you have embodied that. Yes, technically, R&S has used space here, but I’ve never really thought of you as renters. You have been and are mission partners. You have helped shape not just schedules, but lives. Children who felt safe because of you have come through these doors. Families who trust you have been here. Moments of kindness, patience, laughter, and guidance that may never be fully seen. We’re here because of you. And they can never be lost.

And one of the most beautiful things is this: the kids love you. Not because they had to, but because they felt seen, known and cared for. That kind of love doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from who you are. Scripture reminds us that when we care for the least of these, we are participating in something very sacred. Roxanne, your work has been sacred work.

So today we don’t just want to say thank you. We say we have been blessed by you; this church has been better because you’ve been here, and your impact will continue long after your last day. With the kids is done. As you step into retirement, we pray it’s filled with rest, joy, and the deep knowledge that what you have built truly matters. Roxanne, you are not just appreciated, you are loved, and we thank God for you. And we will continue to pray for you and your family, especially in this time of need.

The Lord’s Prayer (535)

Song: At the dawning of salvation (248)

Scripture:  Psalm 111; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

Response: Jesus is risen from the grave              

Message: Living Hope
We are often like gold being refined. Our trials can prove our faith solid. Our hope is in the Salvation God has guarded for us, not in our present circumstances.

“Praise be to the God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3).”

These words were written around 63AD by Jesus’ friend and Apostle Kaphas, or known to us by the name Peter. Peter wrote this to the suffering and scattered gentile believers as well as Jewish followers of Jesus living as “exiles” in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, and Bithynia. He calls his location Babylon, which probably means he is in Rome at the time, due to the persecution of Christians under Emperor Nero. Peter’s hope is to provide encouragement for those facing hardships and death.

And for Peter, perhaps for us… That one sentence changes everything.

Peter wrote these words to believers who were scattered, suffering, and facing real trials. They felt the pressure of a hostile world. Yet right at the start of his letter, Peter bursts into praise. Why? Because God has done something extraordinary for us.

He has given us new birth into a living hope. Not a wishful hope. Not a fragile hope. A living hope, vibrant, active, and anchored in the resurrection of Jesus.

Today, we’re going to unpack what this living hope looks like and why it can sustain us no matter what we face.

But Peter’s main point is very clear. Because God has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can rejoice even in our trials, knowing our faith will be proven genuine and will ultimately bring out the salvation of our souls.

Let’s walk through the text together.

Verse 3 says: “In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Everything starts with God’s great mercy. We didn’t earn this hope. We didn’t deserve a fresh start. Like a friend you did wrong, a spouse you took for granted, a parent you didn’t listen to… I think we’ve all had moments when someone granted us forgiveness and showed mercy toward us, even when we didn’t earn it. Here it is much the same: God in great mercy has caused us to be born again… has made all things new in our relationship.

This “new birth” is not just a nice religious idea; it’s a radical, supernatural change. It’s like moving from spiritual death to spiritual life. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave now lives in us and gives us hope that cannot die.

Let me tell you about Gabe Craig. He grew up in church but never really believed. He was deep into taking stolen painkillers and anything else he could get his hands on. One night at a party, he nearly overdosed; he felt like he was sliding down tunnels into hell with screams all around him. He fought for his life all night, but it didn’t break the addiction.

Years later, out of nowhere, he heard the Lord speak an address to him. On a whim, he jumped on his motorcycle and rode there; it turned out to be a church. The pastor preached Proverbs 3:5-6, the exact verse Gabe had tattooed on himself before he even knew God! “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”At the end of the sermon, Gabe ran forward, threw his whole backpack of pills on the altar, and surrendered his life to Jesus.

That night, he left the drug dealer’s house he was living in and rode cross-country to start over. And here’s the miracle: he had zero withdrawals. None. God supernaturally set him free. Gabe says it felt like being resurrected from the grave, dead in addiction one moment, fully alive in Christ the next. That’s what new birth looks like.”

Is this always exactly how it works? No. But the world is full of stories just like this one.

When we experience that kind of new birth, hope ceases to be theoretical. It becomes alive inside you.

Peter continues: “…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you.”

This hope includes an inheritance. In the ancient world, an inheritance meant security for the future. But earthly inheritances are risky. They can be lost, divided, stolen, absent or wasted.

Our heavenly inheritance is completely different. It can never perish, spoil, or fade. No rust can touch it. No thief can steal it. No death can cancel it. And best of all, it is kept in heaven for you, guarded by God Himself.

Your present life may be a mess, but your future is not uncertain. It is safely stored where nothing in this broken world can damage it.

Think about how fragile earthly inheritances can be. In 2021, a woman named Sarah Faith Jacobsen received $250,000 from her grandmother, $175,000 in life insurance and $75,000 straight from the will. She was already struggling financially, so this felt like security.

But Sarah had no financial education and ‘champagne tastes on a beer budget.’ She hired an adviser, then ghosted him, quit her job, and blew the money on a cross-country road trip to places she dreamed of living, fancy dinners, jewelry, and health gadgets. In just months, it was all gone. The inheritance that was supposed to secure her future was wasted and vanished, leaving her with little more than regret and anxiety.

And here is another thing. When the bible speaks of inheritance, I really have no idea what that’s like. My great-grandparents had nothing left to leave my grandparents. There was no inheritance from my grandparents (and, to be fair, I told my grandmother to spend every penny on herself and having fun, but she ran out by then), and I’m not being rude, it’s just that I don’t believe my parents will be leaving anything either. Again, I’m not picking on them. I think that’s how life is for most people today. The other side of the family will play out much the same.

But contrast that with what Peter says: our inheritance can never perish, spoil or fade, and is kept in heaven for you.’ No bad investments, poor planning, selfishness, bad luck, family fights or spending sprees can touch it. God Himself is guarding it.

But contrast that with what God has prepared for us.

Verse 5 tells us we are “through faith… shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

We are not left to protect this hope on our own. Through faith, we are shielded by God’s power. The Koine Greek word here is often translated as “shielded,” but it carries the idea of being guarded, surrounded, kept safe, like a fortress or a military escort. In common parlance, it meant to keep an eye on something, to attend to it carefully, or to take care of it. In fact, the same word is used for how God holds the 10 Commandments. He keeps them safe. That is how we are to see his care over our inheritance. God would not break the commandments any more than God would let your inheritance slip from his fingers.

This protection lasts all the way until the final day when our salvation is fully revealed. No matter what storms come, God’s power is actively at work keeping us for Himself.

I love stories that show God’s shielding power in action, even odd ones from pop culture that make you stop and think.

There’s a famous scene in the VERY “R” rated movie Pulp Fiction where two hitmen, Jules and Vincent, are standing in an apartment. A guy bursts out of the bathroom and unloads a whole revolver at them from just a few feet away, point-blank. Now, if you watch the scene closely, you will see that the bullet holes are already in the wall as the two hitmen enter. It’s a fun little mistake in the movie. But that’s neither here nor there, just a fun fact for cinephiles like me.

In the scene, every single bullet misses. They hit the wall behind them, but not a scratch on Jules or Vincent. They walk out untouched. Jules looks at Vincent and says, ‘What just happened here was a miracle… Divine intervention! That means God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets.’

It’s a gritty, unexpected moment in a wild film, but it captures the shock of realizing God’s power just shielded you when it looked impossible. In real life, believers have the same promise: through faith we are ‘shielded by God’s power’ until the day our full salvation is revealed.”

Now Peter gets honest about the present: “In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

We can greatly rejoice even while we grieve in trials, because the trials are not pointless. They are temporary (“for a little while”), and they serve a purpose. That sure doesn’t make it fun. Still…

Trials test and prove the genuineness of our faith. Just as gold is put through intense fire to remove impurities and reveal its true value, our faith is refined in the heat of suffering. And when Jesus returns, that proven faith will bring praise, glory, and honour to Him.

The trials don’t destroy our hope; they actually strengthen and purify it.

Here’s how the gold-refining process actually works. The goldsmith takes impure gold, full of dirt, copper, silver, and other junk, and puts it in a crucible. He heats it in a furnace to over 1,000 degrees Celsius until everything melts. As it melts, the impurities (called dross) rise to the top like foam. The refiner skims them off and throws them away.

Then he turns the heat up even higher and does it again… and again… sometimes seven times or more. Each time, more impurities are removed until finally the gold is pure… 99.5% or better. The refiner knows it’s done when he can look into the molten gold and see his own reflection clearly.

Peter says our trials are exactly like that fire. They’re not random suffering; they’re the refiner’s fire. They burn away pride, selfishness, and false faith so that what’s left is genuine and far more precious than gold. When Jesus returns, that proven faith will shine with praise, glory, and honour to Him.

Joni Eareckson Tada was just 17 when a diving accident snapped her neck and left her a person with quadriplegia. In the beginning, she was angry and bitter, begging God to let her die. But in that furnace of suffering, something beautiful happened. Her faith didn’t break; it was refined.

She learned to paint with a brush between her teeth, wrote dozens of books, and started a non-profit called “Joni and Friends” in order to serve people with disabilities around the world, and now says, ‘Sometimes God permits what He hates to accomplish what He loves.’ Even today, with constant pain and new health battles, she wakes up every morning and prays, ‘I can’t do this… but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’

Her suffering didn’t weaken her faith; it proved it was genuine and made it shine even brighter for Jesus. That’s what trials do when we let God use them.

Finally, verses 8–9: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

We are already tasting the goal of our faith: the salvation of our souls. The full deliverance is coming, but even now, hope makes joy possible.

It’s a lot like the way a military wife loves and trusts her husband while he’s deployed. She hasn’t seen him for months, sometimes over a year. She can’t hold his hand, look into his eyes, or even get a hug when the day is hard. All she has are letters, short phone calls, and the promise that he’s coming home.

Yet her love doesn’t grow cold; it actually deepens. She trusts his commitment even though she can’t see him right now. She keeps his picture out, reads his words over and over, and lives every day with the quiet joy that one day he’ll walk through the door and everything will be made right.

Peter says that’s exactly how we love Jesus: ‘Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.’ We haven’t seen Him with physical eyes, but we know He’s real, He’s coming back, and that unseen relationship fills us with joy that nothing in this world can take away.

So let’s return to where Peter began: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Because this living hope is anchored in the resurrection of Jesus, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We can rejoice even in trials. Our inheritance is secure. God’s power shields us. Our faith is being refined for glory. And even now we love and believe in a Saviour we have not seen, and He fills us with joy.

If you are here today and you don’t yet have this living hope, hear the good news: Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again. In His great mercy, He offers you new birth today. Turn to Him in faith. Receive the forgiveness and hope that only He can give.

For those of us who already know Him, let this living hope sustain you this week. When trials come, remember: they are only for a little while, and they are making your faith more precious than gold.

So let’s praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen.

Song: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord (260)

We respond to serve God.

Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves

God of new Life, the Risen Christ spoke words of peace to his friends.

Thank you for strengthening our faith and offering us that peace as we live in you day by day. We are grateful that you give us the courage to face our fears and struggles, patience to endure moments when the way ahead is not clear, and resilience to meet changing realities. Make us a source of peace and resilience for Christ’s sake.

Loving God, We pray for the many places of brokenness in our world. We think especially of those weighed down by economic pressures, and those who have been trampled in the search for prosperity. We pray for people and communities at odds over policies and opinions, and those who feel their concerns are going unheard. We pray for the earth itself under the impact of human activity and for those working to protect its future. Grant the earth and all its peoples your gifts of hope and healing.
Faithful God, We pray for those who struggle with their experience of the church.
Open them to your love and grace so that any pain the church has caused will be healed. Guide us with your Spirit of wisdom to know how to live out our faith in ways that create pathways for others to find you, not barriers.
We pray for our congregation,
for The Presbyterian Church in Canada,
and for the Church of Jesus Christ in every country and culture.
In these days of challenge, strengthen our trust in you and our concern for others.
Give us ears to hear the correction we need, with hearts opened by the grace of the Risen Christ.
We also pray for ourselves, our family and friends, our community and our country.
We lay before you in silence the people and concerns on our hearts and minds today.
(Silence for 15 seconds)
We are grateful that we can place all our worries and our hopes into your hands,
O God, knowing that you will hear us and respond.

Song: Thine be the glory (258)

Sending out with God’s blessing

Now may the God of new life and endless hope, the One who raised Jesus from the dead and speaks peace into every storm of our lives, fill you to overflowing with his presence.

May the Risen Christ walk beside you every step of the coming days, strengthening your faith when it feels weak, calming your fears with his gentle voice, and giving you fresh courage for whatever lies ahead. May he make you a quiet source of peace and resilient love for everyone you meet, so that others might glimpse his kindness through your life.

Response: He is Lord

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.

Video recordings of the Sunday Worship messages can be found here on our YouTube Channel.

We gather to worship God

Music Prelude

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

Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship

Call to worship:
L: Christ is risen!
P: He is risen indeed!
L: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death.
P: Hallelujah!
L: This is the Good News – the grave is empty & Christ is risen.
P: Hallelujah!
L: Let us worship God with Easter joy!

Opening praise: He is Lord

We listen for the voice of God

Scripture readings: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; and John 20:1-8

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

Reading: New Rags for Old (The story ”The Ragman” ©, is adapted from The Ragman by Walter Wangerin Jr.)

Part 1: The Call and the First Exchange
The Ragman comes in down the centre aisle, drops the clean clothes on the steps, but stays at the scripture lectern.

It was just before the dawn on a Friday morning. It smelled a bit like rain, and just a hint of light showed in the distance, like a bubble of slightly brighter-than-grey sky. The street lights had just turned off, but the sun wasn’t quite up to replacing them yet.

There was a very strong-looking, handsome young man who walked through the alleys between the more respectable streets. He held a candle in one hand. It was the only bright light around. Intently, he looked down the street, back at the candle and then to the street again. He blew the light out and placed the candle in his pocket, a dark place to keep it for another day.

The 6-foot-4-inch man, with arms like tree limbs, stood like a tower. But he did not appear intimidating. Nothing about him would cause you pause. His face was like a kindly, well-drawn set of features. Still, there was something different about him. As he walked, he was pulling an old cart filled with new, brand-new clothes. He stood out.

And then he began to speak.

He called out as he walked the streets in a beautiful tenor voice. He called out what could only be described as an unusual sales pitch. And that explained it. He must have been a salesman looking for new customers. Apparently, he didn’t understand he was in a poor part of town. Still, he called out his pitch for all to hear.

(PAUSE)

It wasn’t a shout exactly, just powerful. He called out, saying just one word at first, “Rags,” he’d call.

Then the pitch changed a bit. “New Rags for old rags!” he said. And then “New rags for old rags! I’ll take your tired old rags! Simultaneously the Ragman said this to no one and yet everyone at the same time.

Again, “New rags for old rags! I’ll take your tired old rags!” A strange sales pitch indeed. The streets were lined with a few ramshackle guests, perhaps left over from the night before. A man furrowed his brow in disappointment and annoyance. Two others looked at one another with inquisitive but dismissive smirks.

One man out to get the paper scoffed and mumbled to himself, ragman and then returned to his business again.

“New rags for old rags! I’ll take your tired old rags!” “New ones for old ones”, the Ragman clarified.

Soon, the Ragman came upon a sobbing woman sitting on her back porch. She hadn’t even noticed him until he was right upon her. Her shoulders shook, and her head was buried within her hands (a cloth drenched in tears peeking through from between two fingers). Her heart was breaking. It was obvious. The Ragman stopped his cart and stepped around the litter of tin cans, broken toys and soiled Pampers on the walkway. He quietly walked over to the woman. And then the Ragman sat down next to her and gazed into her eyes, the window to her soul. He stretched out his hand. “Give me your rags, and I’ll give you a brand new one,” he said.

Brad continues:

Confused by the kindly stranger, she paused from her grief for a moment. The Ragman slipped the handkerchief away from her with a smile. She looked up at him just as he laid across her palm a fine linen cloth so clean and new that it seemed to shine. She blinked, wiped a tear away and with that, she stopped crying.

The Ragman walked around the items back to the cart. Down the street he went, cart and all. And as the Ragman pulled his cart away, he put the woman’s handkerchief to his face to collect a tear of his own, and then another and then some more. Just as grievously as she had done, the Ragman’s shoulders now shaking, his fine smile lost to a new expression of overwhelming grief.

And then again, he began to call out now in a more intermittent voice, “Rags! New Rags for old ones!” His sales pitch was now shakier and it was clearer that he had no intention of selling.

Musical Interlude 1: I feel better, so much better since I laid my burden down

3 groups bring their “rags” to the front – throwing them down and picking up new rags… symbolical of being made whole: (1) Vivian and children (2) Maureen & Ron (3) Helga and Dad Michael.

With that, the Ragman came upon a young girl whose head was wrapped in a blood-soaked, makeshift bandage. Broken glass lay all around her, and a small and single line of blood ran off her cheek, uncollected. Now the Ragman looked at her with pity, but those more astute might call compassion or solace. He smiled a bit, though his tears were still falling, and he slowly withdrew from his cart, a lovely yellow bonnet. And once more he said, “Give me your rag, I’ll give you mine.”

The teen gazed up at him while he loosened the bandage from around her head, carefully removed it, and then tied it around his own head. He put the new bonnet on her head, now clean, yellow, and pretty. And the wound went with the bandage. The dark blood ran again, but now it was the Ragman’s.

Prayers of approach and confession

Holy and Eternal God,
perfect in love and endless in grace,
governor of the days and seasons,
creator of all things visible and invisible;
filled with glory, majesty and honour,
on this first day
you began creation,
bringing order and life out of chaos.

On this first day
you began your new creation,
raising Jesus Christ from the powers of death.

On this first day,
we gather to join with all creation
to worship and honour you
as the Creator.
Christ,
and Holy Spirit,
now and always.
As we recall who you are and what you have done, we recall who we are and what we have done. Hear us now as we confess to you our sins:
Gracious God,
our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips are afraid to name
and what our hearts can no longer bear.
Set us free from a past we cannot change,
open us to a future in which we can be changed
and give us the grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image.

In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

Response: Glory, glory hallelujah

Forgiveness proclaimed
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Dear friends, Christ has laid down his life for us and invites us to love one another as he has loved us. Know that you are forgiven, have the grace to forgive one another and be at peace.

Reading – Part 2: The wounds we carry

The sobbing, bleeding Ragman pressed on as The Ragman cried out, “Rags! Rags! I take old rags!”

And then he met a man leaning against a telephone pole. There, he smiled and asked a question. “Sir, are you on your way to work?” he asked.

The man scoffed at him. “Are you crazy?” And then he pulled away from the pole he had been leaning on, revealing the lifeless sleeve of his jacket stuffed into the front pocket because he had no arm.

With a quiet authority, the Ragman said: “Give me your jacket, and I’ll give you mine.” It was a fine, clean jacket for an old, tattered one. And so, with that, the one-armed man, looking at the brand-new, beautiful jacket, thought this a wonderful idea. The one-armed man took off his jacket. So did the Rag Man. And the Ragman’s arm… it stayed with his sleeve.

When the man with no job put it on, he had two good arms again. But the Ragman had but one.

After that, he found an older lady on drugs, lying unconscious beneath a torn army blanket. Without a word, the Ragman took the blanket off the hunched, shriveled, and sick older man. In the silence of the dawn, he wrapped it around himself, but for the unconscious man, he left new clothes. And put a warm new blanket in its place.

(Ragman leaves)

Song: What wonderous love is this         242

We respond to serve God

Our time of giving

Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves
God of power and possibility,
you broke open the tomb that held our Lord.
Now break into your church where your people are distracted
by old quarrels, discouraging results,
or unhelpful divisions about mission and service.
Resurrect, renew and revive your church!

God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of resurrection and new life,
you broke into the hearts of Jesus’ fearful friends.
Now break into our relationships with one another.
Where they are vibrant and life-giving, nurture them.
Where they are strained by old hurts and misunderstandings,
or carelessly taken for granted,
mend them.
Resurrect, renew and revive our life together!

God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of might and mercy,
you broke the schemes of those who stood in the way of your love.
Now break into the governing systems of your world.
Stir the minds and hearts of leaders to work for justice and equitable sharing.
Where laws are corrupt, or people suffer under harsh rule,
call them to account.
Resurrect, renew and revive the leaders of the world!

God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of healing and hope,
you broke the bonds of death that tried to shackle new life.
Now break into situations of illness, pain, grief, and loss.
Wherever people are sick in body, mind, or spirit,
wherever someone mourns the loss of any relationship or dream,
bring your healing grace.
Resurrect, renew and revive our lives!

God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of Easter Renewal and Resurrection,
you have broken into our lives again this day.
We give you thanks for the power of your love to remake every situation
that brings us challenge or choice.
Break into all our moments of celebration and joy, too.
Give us gratitude, the impulse to share, and a spirit of grace and understanding.
Resurrect, renew and revive your people!

God, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

To carry this idea of the Ragman exchanging our burdens and giving praise into our daily lives, please select a square of quilt fabric or “a rag” and bring it forward to exchange for the communion meal. For those at home, someone will also bring rags forward for you. Later, these rags will be used to construct a prayer quilt with pockets to carry prayer request.

Invitation

On this resurrection day, we come to the table to remember our future with our Risen Lord.

Jesus declared that people will come from east and west and north and south to sit at table in God’s kingdom.

Remember – the Risen Christ has spread this joyful feast for you.

The gifts we bring to his table are for all those who love him

and for all who want to love him more.

All who belong to the body of Christ are welcome to share his gifts on this joyful Easter day.

Taste and see that God is good.

Song: One bread, one body (all vrs)        540

The Communion Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Risen Savior and Living Bread, on this glorious Easter day I come to Your table with joy and wonder.

You who conquered death and the grave, You who broke the chains of sin, come now into my heart once again. As I receive Your Body and Blood, fill me with the power of Your Resurrection.

May this Holy Communion renew my life as You renewed the world. Let the light of Easter shine in me, driving away all darkness, doubt, and fear.

Risen Lord, make me a witness of Your victory. Help me live as one who has been raised with You— full of hope, overflowing with love, and eager to share the Good News.

Thank You for the gift of this Easter Eucharist, the foretaste of the heavenly banquet where we will feast with You forever.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.

The Lord’s prayer                             (sung 469)

Reading – Part 3: He Died for Us

The Ragman was weeping uncontrollably, bleeding freely from his forehead, pulling his cart with one arm, clumsily stumbling around and yet, he skidded through the alley still, until he came to the city limits. Sickly looking now, unrecognizable, the people threw garbage at him, and so the Ragman came to the landfill. There, he climbed the garbage hill with great labour, cleared a little space inside a hole, and lay down. He formed for himself from the handkerchief and the jacket, a dirty, lumpy pillow on which to rest his head. He covered his tired, shaking, and bleeding body with the Army blanket, and there he died.

many were appalled at him—
His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, – familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
despised and held in low esteem.

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

⁴  he took up the pain of others
and bore our suffering,
stricken, and afflicted.
⁵  pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and it was laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He took this willingly; he gave up life by his own will: The Christ, The Messiah, The Substitution for us, The Saviour, The Ragman, The candle of his light snuffed out and stored away in a dark place.

THE CANDLE IS SNUFFED HERE

Brad: But this is Easter Sunday. Death does not get the last word.

Action: Light the Christ Candle AGAIN!

Brad: The Ragman rose. The rags became robes. The wounds became glory. And today he offers every one of us the same exchange: Give me your rags… and I will give you mine.

Response: Behold the Lamb of God

Sharing of the Bread and Wine/and
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Bringing of Rags

Musical offering: the congregation sings the refrain: Because he lives

Prayer after Communion
Risen Lord, through this holy Communion you have fed us with your body and blood, and renewed in us the life of your resurrection. Strengthen our faith, that we may walk in your victory over sin and death, and bear witness to your love in word and deed. Fill our hearts with joy and hope, that the new life you give may shine through us to others. Keep us united with Christ and one another until we share the eternal banquet in your Kingdom. Amen.

Song: Lord of the dance                          250

Sending out with God’s blessing
Go now, with wonder at the empty tomb to amaze you,
with the joy Mary felt in the garden to lift your hearts,
and with the disciples’ hope at the news Jesus had risen to encourage you.
May God’s resurrecting love open the future for you,
empowered by the Spirit and embraced by Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.

Response: He is Lord                          252

Music postlude

————————————————————————-

Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).

The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2026) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.