Service for Sunday March 17, 2024
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Fifth Sunday of Lent
All are Welcome!
Watch a recording of the whole service with Youtube below.
The Gathering
Welcome and Announcements.
Focusing Moment.
Acknowledgement of Land
Lent is meant to be a time of deep reflection about who we are, and whose we
are. It should also be a time of reflection on where we are. We are indeed in a place that has been inhabited for a long time, and most of us are very much newcomers on this land --- despite how long we might claim residence. Ancestors and settlers agreed to live peacefully on this land in agreements named Treaty 20 and the Williams Treaties. The words of these treaties tell of rights and responsibilities for all who are part of them. All of us are treaty people --- whether we are the descendants of the Ojibwe/Chippewa peoples or others who came to settle here, or those of us who are new to this place. May we remember with respect the story of this land, and may our relationship with the land and the people form a part of our Lenten reflections.
~ Written by Peter Chynoweth, Gathering. L/E 2020 (Year A), page 67
Call to Worship:
One: In-person and virtually, we arrive for worship.
ALL: We wish to encounter Jesus.
One: We come searching for Jesus in scripture, in our lived experiences of giving and receiving, and in our prayers of compassion and gratitude for each other.
ALL: We seek to follow the Way, with the assurance that the Blessed Companion leads us and guides us on the way.
One: We come as we are: Some of us needing a prayer right now, some of us seeking hope, and some of us looking for directions, because we have lost our way.
ALL: Let us worship God.
HYMN: “Come Touch Our Hearts” MV #12
1. Come touch our hearts that we may know compassion,
from failing embers build a blazing fire;
love strong enough to overturn injustice,
to seek a world more gracious, come touch and bless our hearts.
2. Come touch our souls that we may know and love you,
your quiet presence all our fears dispel;
create a space for spirit to grow in us,
let life and beauty fill us, come touch and bless our souls.
3. Come touch our minds and teach us how to reason,
set free our thoughts to wonder and to dream;
help us to open doors of understanding,
to welcome truth and wisdom, come touch and bless our minds.
4. Come touch us in the moments we are fragile,
and in our weakness your great strength reveal;
that we may rise to follow and to serve,
steady now our nerve, come touch and bless our wills.
5. Come touch us now, this people who are gathered,
to break the bread and share the cup of peace;
that we may love you with our heart, our soul,
our mind, our strength, our all, come touch us with your grace.
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
As we near the end of our Lenten journey, we continue to ponder what discipleship truly means, and what it truly means to follow Jesus. Would that we be mindful of our obligations: to care for creation, to speak truth to power, to hear the voices of the oppressed and respond with compassion, to break down walls and build bridges of love and respect for one another. May we learn the simple truth that we can do so much more than we ever thought was possible through Christ. Amen
MINISTRY OF MUSIC TIME FOR THE YOUTHFUL
HYMN: “When We Are Living” VU#581
1 When we are living, it is in Christ Jesus,
and when we're dying, it is in the Lord.
Both in our living and in our dying,
we belong to God, we belong to God.
2 Through all our living, we our fruits must give.
Good works of service are for offering.
When we are giving, or when receiving,
we belong to God, we belong to God.
3 'Mid times of sorrow and in times of pain,
when sensing beauty or in love's embrace,
whether we suffer, or sing rejoicing,
we belong to God, we belong to God.
4 Across this wide world, we shall always find
those who are crying with no peace of mind,
but when we help them, or when we feed them,
we belong to God, we belong to God.
THE WORD
Scripture: John 12:20 - 33
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE
“A Transformative Journey”
No audio recording of the message this morning. Please read the message at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER: sung VU#960
HYMN: “Now the Green Blade Rises” VU #186
1 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
love lives again, that with the dead has been:
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
2 In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain,
thinking that he would never wake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
3 Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
he that for three days in the grave had lain;
raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
your touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;
love is come again, like wheat arising green.
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
Offertory Prayer (In Unison)
We hear the wisdom of Jesus declaring that “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24) Help us to live our lives, so that we may bear fruit for your kin-dom on earth. We share our wealth that others may live lives of dignity. Amen.
IRISH BLESSING
May the Road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be ever at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields,
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of his hand. Amen
SUNG BLESSING: VU# 108 vs 1
1 Throughout these Lenten days and nights
we turn to walk the inward way,
where, meeting Christ, our guide and light,
we live in hope till Easter Day. ©
Sending Forth:
One: As this Lenten season comes to an end, let us decide to be intentional about being attentive to God’s voice in our lives. Let us, like the Greeks, endeavour to experience Jesus in all that passes our way. Go in peace.
ALL: Amen!
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2023 - 25/10/2024; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches.
MESSAGE: “A TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNEY” = John 12:20-33
Today’s scripture passage is set in the context of the Jewish festival of Passover,
one of the holiest feast days of the Jewish faith. Thousands of faithful pilgrims
make their way to the Temple; they come from Syria, Persia, Egypt, Rome and
Greece.
A small group of Jews from Greece had heard that Jesus was there and they wanted
to meet him. They approached Philip and Andrew ame request that they meet Jesus.
When they deliver the message to him, his response is: “Unless a grain of wheat
is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of
wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over.”
(The Message Bible, John 12:24-25)
Jesus used many images from nature in his teachings: grains of wheat, birds, lilies,
fig trees and more. He knew that the people would understand...especially the
agricultural parables, for many were farmers.
In a Globe and Mail article from the February 24, 2024 edition “Citizens of soil”
describes how Canaan Palestine is preserving the West Bank’s millenif#~as-old
culture of cultivating olive oil, despite farming under siege. For Palestinians, olive
trees symbolize their identity, resilience and rootedness. There was a photo in the
article of an olive tree, estimated to be 3,000 years old! Old-growth olive trees
have an average life span of 500 years. They can take 3-5 years of growth until
they produce their first harvest and most only become fully productive after 15
years. When the journalist asked the farmer what it’s like to walk alongside
ancient olive trees in the West Bank, this was his response: “They’re so beautiful;
the wrinkles in the trunk show her age. As the root system meets the soil, it
expands outwards, almost hugging the land. The tree is so expressive of how
much she loves home. We’ve changed cultural orientation many times in the
holy land, but the tree continues to give across cultures.” To hear such a
connection to the land, there is no doubt that this farmer would understand today’s
teaching.
When Jesus responded to Andrew and Philip, he declared that “the hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (v. 23) The Greek’s request to meet him was
evidence that the news about him had spread throughout the world and that it was a
sign that “the hour has come.”
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But unlike the other gospels, in John we hear that Jesus accepts his destiny. He
doesn’t plead in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, and asking
Abba to save him from what he is about to face. He accepts that the hour has come.
He knows that his mission on earth has been accomplished and that his life will
soon come to an end. All he says is “Ml soul is troubled.” (v. 27)
In many ways, this illustration is similar to that of an expectant mother. It brought
to mind my daughter-in-law who is pregnant, with a due date in less than a month.
She too will soon have a sign that her hour has arrived. This will be her third child.
She knows what lies ahead for her...the struggle of labour, but also the joy of a
delivery.
Likewise, Jesus knows for him that the struggle of crucifixion and death will soon
come, but that death will be followed by the joy of resurrection. In today’s
teaching, he compares himself to a seed. The tiny seed knew that in order to grow,
it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness and struggle to reach the light.
“And when [ am lifted up from this earth, I will draw all people to myself.” (v.
32) He is telling us the kind of death he will die. (v. 33)
On his earthly mission, Jesus has shown us the Way of Love and how to live it out.
He had to learn to listen to the love that sent him to the cross. His capacity to listen
with compassion to every suffering person he met along his life’s journey was
paramount: the friends who had lost their brother and couldn’t believe he hadn’t
come sooner. The widow who had lost her only son. The mother who hadn’t been
able to buy enough wine for everyone who had come to her child’s wedding. To
love them was to truly hear them and be filled with compassion in response to their
suffering. This is the Way of Love. (Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions 2024,
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, page 97)
He calls us to do the same, when he says in verse 26: “Whoever serves me must
follow.” We are being called to follow the Way of Love in our time. We are called
to hear the voice of Jesus today, and we ask ourselves, where do we hear him
today? In the stranger who walks into church on a Sunday morning seeking
welcome and connection...in the hungry person who stands in line at the food
bank...in the elders in long-term care facilities or at home whom we visit.
Our souls are troubled too. There is so much chaos in this troubled world of
ours...so much polarization, division, hate and vitriol. It has become an epidemic
and its many forms are antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+ and Anti-Asian.
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Our souls are troubled when this chaos floods our newscasts and social media
feeds. Many of us would rather turn away, while others are filled with helplessness,
hopelessness and despair, not knowing what to do. To listen is to enter into the
suffering that we may want to avoid, but listen we must, for it is the way we grow
into the Way of Love.
Jesus doesn’t promise that it will be easy to live into today’s reading. Following the
Way of Love may see you accused of antisemitism for speaking up for the dire
need and dignity of Palestinians. Being public about becoming an Affirming
Church hase seen rainbow flags stolen and rainbow steps defaced.
J hang onto Brene“ Brown’s encouragement when she says, “Only when we are
brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of
our light.”
Lent has been a resting season for us. The seeds that we planted last fall have been
in their time of gestation in the dark, rich Earth. Former Moderator, the Most
Reverend Stan McKay said, “We have trouble waiting in the darkness and
discerning through prayer.” The long, shadow-filled evenings of winter, and
those Covid lockdowns, forced us to sit in the unknown spaces till we opened
ourselves to the light.
In this season of change and renewal, the light and warmth are slowly returning to
the land, and it brings to mind the wisdom of Albert Camus, who wrote “In the
depth of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.” In the
transformation to new life, the seed dies; it is completely changed.
Lent is also about taking the time to listen to the truth we do not want to hear...that
death must precede life...that we must die to the parts of ourselves that no longer
serve us, and that includgs the church’s old ways of doing things. Sometimes old
ideas for doing ihe ie) of God have to be let go, even as older language 1s let
go. Consider the language of the 1940 Statement of Faith versus the poetic
language of our 2006 Song of Faith. What do we need to let go of to be a
flourishing Community of Faith, in a time that many churches are closing’? We
need to listen to the words of Anais Nin who said, “And the day came when the
risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to
blossom.”
A new chapter in our lives, and in the life of the church, is waiting to be written.
The Japanese poet and Christian activist, Toyohiko Kagawa, wrote a resurrection
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hymn that can be found in More Voices. (#125) “When a grain of wheat into the
sround has fallen, into the cold ground, and lies in waiting for the spring, this
fallen grain will rise to life!”
The promise of resurrection calls us to flourish and thrive. May it be so. Amen.
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