**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.
**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
Let us pray.
God of the
prophets, you call us from evil to serve you. Fulfill in us your commonwealth
of justice an joy, that the light of your presence may be revealed to all
nations, to the glory of Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Revised Common Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn – I Will Not be Shaken (written by and used with permission from Steve Bell)
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,
by grace alone you call us and accept us in your service. Strengthen us by your
Spirit, and make us worthy of your call; through Jesus Christ or Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The Readings
A reading from
the Book of Jonah 3:1-10
The
word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set
out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an
exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the
city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast,
and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When
the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his
robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a
proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No
human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not
feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered
with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their
evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may
relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do
not perish.”
When
God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his
mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did
not do it.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be the God.
Psalm 62
For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I
shall never be shaken.
How long will
you assail a person,
will you batter your victim, all of you,
as you would a leaning wall, a tottering
fence?
Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
They take
pleasure in falsehood;
they bless
with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is
from him.
He alone is my
rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock,
my refuge is in God.
Trust in him
at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Those of low estate are but a breath,
those of high
estate are a delusion;
in the
balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
Put no confidence in extortion,
and set no vain
hopes on robbery;
if riches
increase, do not set your heart on them.
Once God has
spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
and steadfast
love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay
to all
according to their work.
A reading from
the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 7:29-31
I
mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on,
let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn
as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not
rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who
deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present
form of this world is passing away.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gradual Hymn – Come and Journey with a Saviour (BCP #482)
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. 1:14-20
Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Now
after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of
God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;
repent, and believe in the good news.”
As
Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them,
“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left
their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of
Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.
Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with
the hired men, and followed him.
The Gospel of Christ.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O Lord, for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
The Book of Jonah doesn’t come along
very often in our lectionary. It’s a short book, only 4 chapters. You heard Chapter
3 today and in the fall of Year A you hear chapter 4, if you choose it over Exodus,
which I’m sure rarely happens.
While I’m sure that most of you know the story of Jonah and the whale, it is understandable that details are lost when you only hear of it once every three years. So I thought that as something different, we would talk about Jonah today.
Jonah is more than just a big fish tale. It is a humourous story about a lousy prophet, and it is worth telling it in full. In fact, it was always meant to be told in full, not in bits and pieces.
Here is a video that gives us an overview of Jonah’s story. Please take a moment to watch it now.
As I’m sure you can tell from the video (and from reading the story), Jonah’s tale was never designed in any way to be taken as history.
It is a story, filled with surprise and humor and pokes at would-be prophets who are called to proclaim a God of love and acceptance but instead announce that God hates everyone who is not like they are.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Jonah was called by God to spread the word of God, to be a prophet. But, unlike Peter, Andrew, or James, he doesn’t leave what he’s doing and immediately follow God’s call. He jumps on the first boat going in the opposite direction and he hides in the hold of the ship, hoping that somehow God won’t take notice.
Imagine if Peter, Andrew, and James, upon encountering Jesus, jumped into their fishing boats and rowed like madmen for the opposite shore, as far away from this dangerous itinerant preacher as they could get.
That’s what Jonah did.
Jonah got as far away from God, and God’s bizarre instructions, as he could get. Go to Nineveh? The capital of the Assyrian Empire, that destroyer of Israel, that brutal occupying force? It was unthinkable.
Jonah runs away, but God sends a storm. The sailors are more pious than Jonah but they eventually, reluctantly throw Jonah overboard. The sea calms down immediately and so the sailors accept the existence of God.
God then calls on a big fish to swallow Jonah whole, who is then stuck in there for three days and three nights.
Jonah, totally immersed in sea water and fish blubber, does end up praying to God. It was a self-serving prayer, with the sole purpose of saving Jonah’s life.
God hears Jonah’s prayer. God speaks to the great fish, and the fish vomits him out onto dry land.
That’s where we enter the story with today’s reading. God, once again, tells Jonah to go to Ninevah. And, this time, still covered in sea water and fish vomit, Jonah obeys. He walks into the city and preaches the shortest sermon ever recorded, a sermon of 5 words, “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!”
The people of Nineveh believed Jonah without question, just like Peter, Andrew, and James believed Jesus without question.
The Ninevites believe God, spew acts and words of repentance, and change their lives so completely that God forgives them and decides to not bring about any punishment regarding their actions.
That would make Jonah the most successful prophet in the bible! Every person in Nineveh believed Jonah and turned to God.
But instead of celebrating, Jonah storms off and pouts under a tree. Jonah wants God to punish those nasty Ninevites for all of the terrible things they have done. That God did not punish the Ninevites was shocking to Jonah.
And the prospect of worshipping in the same pew with a repulsive Ninevite, those just repentant folk in the city dancing and singing for joy at their newfound faith, fills him with disgust.
The story ends with God asking Jonah why the Ninevites don’t deserve God’s care, grace, and love but we don’t get to hear Jonah’s answer. We are left hanging.
Jonah is a prophet gone bad and, unfortunately, he is alive and well and living among us, and too often, in us.
Here’s the thing about following the call of God in and through the waters: God is God and does not act as we think the Almighty should act. In good faith, we follow where we hear God’s call, we go to the city, or the suburb, or to the small town, and we are prepared to bring God’s word to that place, and what we find is that God is already there before us. We find that no people, and no place, not even Nineveh, can be called God-forsaken.
Whenever we read the Bible and use it to exclude, deny, and reject living creatures of God, there is Jonah.
Whenever we say we will follow God but in fact follow our own bigoted desires, our own narrow-minded ways, there is Jonah.
Whenever we hope that persons who are not like us, who do not sound like us or think like us or act like us, should be removed from the earth by some edict of God, there is Jonah.
Think of a person you find difficult to love. Now consider the fact that the God that loves you, love them just as much.
The same God who gave Jonah a second chance gives the people of Nineveh a second chance, and we can’t begrudge that kind of mercy.
God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
May this loving and merciful God quell the Jonahs in our hearts and in our lives.
Amen.
Affirmation of Faith
The Prayers of the
People
(~
written by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, and posted on Kir-shalom.
http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/b-or02sm.php)
Eternal God, you
are the maker of us all, and we are your creation, people formed in your image,
as individuals, as community; formed and fed and furnished with understanding
of who you are and of who and whose we are. We worship you today in recognition
of your calling, of your communicating, of your caring to invite us to share in
your creative and healing work. We are here because we have heard you speak in
us and through others. Help us, dear Lord, to ever respond to you and your
invitation to your grace.
Lord hear our prayer.
God of all our moments, of our days and our nights, you speak and you act in the world around us, not only to call all people to you, but also to direct and guide us in the way of healing and wholeness. Awaken us Lord, to hear what you would say to us. Help us to open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts to your presence. Help us to know when it is your voice we are hearing and it when it is our prejudices and desires to which we are paying heed.
Lord hear our prayer.
Lord, we pray that your church may rise up with renewed commitment in answer to your call, that your people may be instruments of your grace and love.
Lord hear our prayer.
We pray for those who consider themselves inadequate and dismiss or avoid your calling in their lives. Give them a new vision, a vision in which you are their strength and their hope.
Lord hear our prayer.
We pray for those who, in answering your call, must leave the known for the unknown, the oasis for the desert, the comfortable for the uncertain. Grant them courage and steadfast faith.
Lord hear our prayer.
We pray too, today, O Lord, for those in want and need – for those of us and of the larger community who suffer in body or in soul. We remember before you anyone we choose to name aloud or keep in the silence of our hearts.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
Keep those we have named and those known only to you close to you, O God.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Loving God, bless us all with an abundant faith, a fruitful ministry, a joyful life. Bless us and all those who gather together to continue the work of Jesus, who came to heal, save, and deliver us all. 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)
Song of Confession - words and music by Gord Johnson, used with permission from st benedict's table
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.
Offertory Hymn – Be Thou My Vision (BCP #505)
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.
Loving God,
before the world began you called us. Make holy all we offer you this day, and
strengthen us in that calling. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the
Lord. Amen.
And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,
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.
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, Son, and Holy Spirit, be upon you now and always. Amen.
Closing Hymn – Will You Come an Follow Me (BCP #430)
Dismissal
Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the
power of the Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
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