**Please note this service is based on the format of the Anglican Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) and the hymns from the Book of Common Praise (BCP). Other hymns and prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**Music selected by the team effort of Jeanne Kaye and Reverend Theo.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.
Opening Prayer
You are a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that you may declare the
wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
Through dreams and visions, O God, you broaden the horizon and hope of your people, that they may discover the meaning of your covenant, even in the midst of trail and exile. Increase the number of those who believe in your word so that all people may joyfully respond to your call and share in your promises. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (BCP #354)
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Collect for Purity
The Gloria
Collect of the Day
Let us pray.
Almighty God, you
have taught us through your Son that love fulfills the law. May we love you
with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, and may
we love our neighbour as ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Readings
A reading from
the Book of Genesis 22:1-14
After
these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here
I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to
the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains that I shall show you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled
his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut
the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the
distance that God had shown him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the
place far away. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey;
the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back
to you.” Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son
Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked
on together. Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I
am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb
for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a
burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
When
they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and
laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on
top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill
his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said,
“Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on
the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have
not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a
ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and
offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that
place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the
Lord it shall be provided.”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be the God.
Psalm 13
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans 6:12-23
Therefore,
do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their
passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to
life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin
will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What
then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you,
having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form
of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free
from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms
because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your
members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now
present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When
you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what
advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The
end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and
enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal
life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn – Because He Lives I Can Face Tomorrow
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 10:40-42
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
“Whoever
welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s
reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous
person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup
of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I
tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
The Book of Psalms is
full of lament and complaint and Psalm 13 is no exception. Its plea of “how
long” is full of a deep pain to which many of us, I’m sure, can relate.
Steve Bell’s song, as
you heard during the Psalm reading, reflects the questions directed at God that
are found in Psalm 13:
“Have you forgotten me?”
“How long will you hide
from me?”
“Answer me, before I
fall!”
“How long will I
wrestle with my thoughts?”
“How long will I have
sorrow in my heart?”
“Where are you, you don’t
seem to be answering?”
I am sure that we have all
asked one or more of these questions throughout our lives. And in today’s
world, these questions are getting louder.
Looking at the world
around us, it is easy to complain about the lack of God’s presence. So much
hurt, so much death, so much anger and resentment.
I can assure you that
God is present, God is watching, and God is hurting as much as we are.
When I read Psalm 13
this week in preparation for writing my sermon, my heart did not call out “how
long until you are here, God?” My heart called out “how long until there is
equality in the world?”
How much longer do we
have to live in a world where people die meaningless deaths?
How much longer do we
have to live in a world where people are discriminated against because of
gender, race, culture, and beliefs?
How much longer do we
have to live in a world where “white” people claim to be better than everyone
else and continue to defend the image of a “white” Jesus?
How much longer do we
have to live in world where we decide that one missing child or person is more important
to find than another?
As I contemplated this
Psalm over the last few days, a couple of items crossed my desk that I both
wished I had in time for last Sunday’s National Indigenous Day of Prayer and am
glad I saw them this week as they go well with Psalm 13.
One is an article that
spoke about how some people are calling the residential schools a bogus
genocide story and the other is a book called “If I Go Missing” by Brianna
Jonnie.
The glossing over of
history is not a new concept and it is important that we become part of the
solution. We need to insist that history is learned, and learned properly from
the right people, so that we can be a force of change. Especially when
considering Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people.
The book “If I Go
Missing” is an illustrated telling of a letter written from Brianna Jonnie to then-Chief
of Police Devon Clunis. Brianna noticed that it took up to two weeks longer for
the police to begin investigating cases of missing Indigenous peoples so she
wrote the letter asking the police to “do better”.
All over the world,
there are groups of people who are at risk. Because of their race, background,
age, or orientation, their lives are seen by some as being worth less than
those of others.
Women make up one of
these groups. They have been oppressed through history and continue to lack a
voice or fair treatment in many cultures. When women go missing, searches for
them are often delayed or not as wide. Crimes against them often go unsolved
and unpunished. And Indigenous people across the world face assumptions and
stereotypes that put their lives at risk.
Violence against
Indigenous women is compounded even more.
There have been more
than 100 reports and inquiries related to violence against Indigenous women and
girls, but no one knows for sure how many have actually been murdered or gone
missing.
Many factors are in
play such as issues of poverty, home violence and abuse, sexual violence and
abuse, and addictions. These issues affect more Indigenous families than
Canadian families as a whole and are a direct result of the Residential
Schools, the 60s Scoop, and the relocation projects.
To claim that these
events did not happen, that they belong to a bogus genocide, is ludicrous.
These were government-led actions that removed children from their families and
forcing them to learn a new culture, and that their own history, language, and
lives were worthless.
While the facts are
staggering, the conversation is shifting. Rather than victim shaming, the
people of Canada are beginning to understand the tragedies of the past and the
desire for reconciliation is gaining strength.
There is hope.
The plea of Psalm 13,
in my heart, is a plea for equality. How long until we can all live in a world
where all people are treated equally?
God has heard our plea,
as the Psalmist’s plea was heard.
With trust and hope, we
will rejoice again.
Affirmation of Faith
Let us confess
the faith of our baptism, as we say the Apostles’ Creed:
The Prayers of the People
(Here is a scriptural litany that contrasts the hope and confidence of the psalmist in Psalm 23 (in bold print) with the anguish and despair of the writer of Psalm 13 (light print). Be sure to take your time. Read slowly, without rushing. Allow space between the two voices. Following that is a prayer written by John Birch, and posted on his Faith and Worship website. Visit that site for many other excellent worship resources. http://www.faithandworship.com/)
O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever?How long will you look the other way?
The LORD is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
He restores my soul.
He guides me along paths of righteousness
for the sake of his good name.
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?
Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!
Restore the sight to my eyes, or I will die.
Even when I walk through the dark valley of death,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.
You prepare a feast for me right in front of my enemies.
You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
I will sing to the LORD
because he has been so good to me.
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.
God, in whose love we live and move, we pray for a world crying out to feel loved, wanted, cherished and unique.
Heavenly God, source of all love
We pray for a world torn apart by conflict and war. A world that lives uneasily in a climate of fear with no clear vision for future days.
Heavenly God, source of all hope
We pray for a world that thinks less of others than of self. A world where division between nations, race, religion neighbour and family leads to distrust.
Heavenly God, source of all peace
We pray for a world that is short on happiness, too busy to enjoy this world you have created, too preoccupied with living to appreciate life.
Heavenly God, source of all joy
We pray for a world where spiritual longing is satisfied by fashionable notions and temporary solutions with no thought for tomorrow.
Heavenly God, source of our Salvation
We pray for a world that needs to know your love, your hope, your peace, your joy and Salvation. A world that needs to know it is special, unique and is uniquely loved by a Heavenly God. Amen.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
Gathering our prayers together, let us pray as Christ has taught us,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Save us from the time of trial,
And deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever. Amen.
Confession and Absolution
Dear friends
in Christ,
God is
steadfast in love and infinite in mercy; God welcomes sinners and invites them
to the table. Let us confess our sins, confident in God’s forgiveness.
(Silence)
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against
you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left
undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our
neighbour as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake
of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we might
delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although not physically at our church buildings to share
our offering together I would encourage you to set your offering of money aside
so that it can be dropped off or placed in the church once services resume, to
mail your offering to the church, or to make donations online. Please remember
ministry is still taking place.
Let us pray.
God of wisdom,
receive all we offer you this day. Enrich our lives with the gifts of your spirit,
that we may follow the way of our Lord Jesus Christ, and serve one another in
freedom. We ask this in his name. Amen.
Doxology
Glory to God,
Whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we
can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church
and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing
The blessing
of almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be upon you now and always. Amen.
Closing Hymn – On Eagle’s Wings
Dismissal
Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the
power of the Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
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