Service Sunday May 12, 2024

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All are Welcome!

Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below.

The Gathering

Welcome and Announcements.
Focusing Moment.

Acknowledgement of Land

For thousands of years, Indigenous people have walked this land.

We acknowledge the traditional territory of the Mississauga and the Ojibwe Anishnabek peoples and their stewardship of this land throughout the ages. May we also walk here with respect.

Call to Worship:

One: Gather together, people of God! Come to this sacred space, this building, these chairs, these floors, and this ceiling. Recognize the work of those who came before us! Yes, recognize ALL that those who came before us have left for us: the love of this community, the shared sacred story, the ministry in the world we have shared.

ALL: They shaped the world. We are shaping the world of today!

One: Yes, you have shaped the world we live in. You’ve contributed to God’s kingdom. Now let us explore how we shape the world of tomorrow, how we might use our worship to bring God’s dream into reality, how we might plan for the future.

ALL: We come to encounter the divine presence and to let it transform us!

Written by Eric Heber-Daly, Executive Minister, Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council

Gathering, Lent-Easter 2024, p.42. Used with permission.

HYMN: “We Praise You, O God” VU #218

1 We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;

in grateful devotion our tribute we bring.

We lay it before you; we kneel and adore you;

we bless your holy name, glad praises we sing.

2 We worship you, God of our mothers and fathers,

through trial and tempest, companion and guide.

When perils o'ertake us, you will not forsake us,

but faithful to your promise, you walk by our side.

3 With voices united our praises we offer

and gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.

Our sins now confessing, we pray for your blessing,

to you, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!

OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison

Creator God, we offer our praise and wonder for the world you have given us. We rejoice in today—the new shoots springing forth from the earth, the sun warming us, the clean drinking water to quench our thirst when we simply turn on a tap, the cozy reclining chair or couch at home where we can crash for a Sunday afternoon nap. Holy Spirit, help us to be aware and attentive as we celebrate all the good gifts around us. Help us to be good stewards of the wonders of God’s living earth. Help us to truly live with respect in creation. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who walked on this same blessed earth as us. Amen.

Written by Mary Parson’s, Munn’s U.C., Oakville, Ont.

Gathering, Lent-Easter 2024, p.44. Used with permission.

MINISTRY OF MUSIC LEARNING TOGETHER

HYMN: “Take Time to Be Holy” VU #672

1 Take time to be holy, speak oft with your Lord;

abide in him always, and feed on his word.

Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,

forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek.

2 Take time to be holy, let him be your guide,

and run not before him, whatever betide.

In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,

and, looking to Jesus, still trust in his word.

3 Take time to be holy, be calm in your soul,

each thought and each motive beneath his control.

Thus led by his spirit to fountains of love,

you soon shall be fitted for service above.

THE WORD

Scripture: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 & John 17:6-17

Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE

“What Do We Do Now?”

Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.

**OUR RESPONSE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER: sung VU #960**

HYMN: “Christ Has No Body Now but Yours” MV #171

Refrain

Christ has no body now but yours,

no hands but yours.

Here on this earth, yours is the work,

to serve with the joy of compassion.

1. No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,

no hands but yours to soothe all its suffering,

no touch but yours to bind the broken hope

of the people of God. Refrain

2. No eyes but yours to see as Christ would see,

to find the lost, to gaze with compassion;

no eyes but yours to glimpse the holy joy

of the city of God. Refrain

3. No feet but yours to journey with the poor,

to walk this world with mercy and justice.

Yours are the steps to build a lasting peace

for the children of God. Refrain

4. Through ev’ry gift, give back to those in need;

as Christ has blessed, so now be his blessing,

with ev’ry gift a benediction, be

to the people of God. Refrain

PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

Lord God, we ask you to receive these gifts of our hearts and of our hands. Please use them in the name of Jesus, our risen Christ. Amen.

Written by Kate Gregory, Trenton U.C., Trenton, Ont.

Gathering, Lent-Easter 2024, p.48. Used with permission.

SUNG BLESSING: VU# 242 vs 1

1 Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving

to God our Creator triumphantly raise;

who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,

by guiding us on to the end of our days.

God's banners are o'er us, pure light goes before us,

a pillar of fire shining forth in the night;

till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,

as forward we travel from light into Light. ©

Sending Forth: In Unison

One: We are called to be vessels that carry the precious message from the God of love. We are called to give of ourselves so that the world can be made whole. Let us resist the urge to make it all about us. Let us reach out in love and bring healing hope to the world.

ALL: Amen!

Written by Beth W Johnson, Bridging Waters P.C., Nipawin, Sask.

Gathering, Lent-Easter 2024, p.49. Used with permission.

A Time of Fellowship

Sermon 12 May 2024

“What Do We Do Now?”

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 & John 17:6-17

Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.

Today’s message was inspired by: Rev. Alex Stephenson.

What do we do now?

That was the question on all the disciples’ lips.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his followers for forty days – what we now call the season of Easter.

Today is the last Sunday of the Easter season.

During that time, he showed them how his death and resurrection were all part of God’s eternal plan.

Then at the end of the forty days, Jesus assembled the believers.

After telling them to wait for the Holy Spirit, he ascended into heaven.

This past Thursday, the church calendar celebrated the Day of Ascension.

In today’s reading, after the Ascension Day story, the assembly looked at Peter and collectively asked,

“What do we do now?”

Peter after all was the chief Apostle.

He was the one in charge now.

Peter scratched his head and said,

“Well, I guess we should find someone to replace Judas.”

So they cast lots and Matthias was chosen.

What do we do now?

It’s a good question.

What do we disciples of Jesus do now?

There is a common way of speaking among theologians which says that we live in “the between time.”

We live in that period of history between the ascension of Jesus and his return on clouds of glory or so the disciples believed.

So our place on the timeline of God’s plan for the cosmos is in between the time that Jesus came and the time when he will come again.

But, what are we supposed to do now as we await his return?

(look at watch, yawn, straighten books, brush lint off jacket)

Some people think that we should be keeping things straight and tidy.

As we await Jesus’ return we should keep the house clean and maintain internal order.

That’s what Peter appears to be doing: keeping things in order.

Spring is in the air.

How many of you have cleaned up around the house?

Or cleaned up your desk?

Or cleaned out the car?

Or finally cleaned up the back yard?

Sometimes, when we don’t know what else to do, we clean!

We found that out especially during the pandemic!

We try to put things back into some sense of order when the things we can’t control seem out of order.

When I read these passages, I was struck how I got a new understanding out of them that simply wasn’t possible before COVID-19.

I felt like I knew that feeling that Peter must have had with the other disciples asking him,

“What do we do now?”

Sometimes I have been wondering if we have been focusing too much on maintenance.

Are we still focused on ministry, outreach & pastoral care?

Should we simply have our crosses polished and our steeples on straight as we wait for Jesus to come again and inspect the troops so to say or is there more to this in between time?

Is what we are doing what Jesus wants us to do now?

There is that question again, “What do we do now?”

Did Jesus intend that we spend all our time maintaining the church?

I think the passage we read from John gives us some clues as to what Jesus’ intention was for his disciples.

This passage is a prayer.

Jesus is praying for his disciples.

He knows that he will be taken away from them and that they will be without his physical presence for a time.

So what does he pray for to help them through this time of separation?

Jesus says that he has protected the ones that God gave him.(17:12)

But he will no longer be with them in bodily form.

So Jesus asks God to protect them.

He asks God to protect them from the enemies of this world for they are still in the world even though they are not of the world.

At first, it appears that Jesus just wants them to be preserved until he comes back.

But then Jesus says something that changes that perception.

Jesus says, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”(17:18)

God sent Jesus into the world to preach and teach and heal and lead the lost back to God.

He was crucified for doing all those things.

So Jesus asks the Father for protection as he sends us to do the same kinds of things he did.

What should we do now?

We should be out in the world carrying on the work that Jesus began.

Just as the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us.

We should be and we are caring for the sick, searching for the lost, teaching one another.

This is our ministry.

Simply maintaining order is not a ministry.

So what about Peter and the early church?

Were they wrong to focus on maintenance after Jesus ascended?

No, because they were told to wait for the Spirit to come upon them.

That is what happened a few days later at Pentecost.

Next Sunday we will celebrate Pentecost.

God’s Holy Spirit came down and the church went out into the streets to preach the good news.

The difference between us and the church in this passage we read from Acts is this:

They were living before the Holy Spirit came and so they could do nothing.

We on the other hand live after the Holy Spirit has come.

So we should go forth in ministry like Jesus.

It may not be as straight forward as it was prior to the pandemic.

Many ways that we used to interact had to change but there were still ways that we could reach out to one another.

Today, although COVID-19 is still with us, many of the ways that we used to get together are back to normal or a new normal.

There are still ways that we can support those in need.

There are wrongs to be righted.

There are hurting people to be comforted.

When Jesus returns, as the disciples believed, I hope he doesn’t catch us polishing our crosses when there are so many in need.

Let’s hope that he finds us hard at work fulfilling his wonderful ministry together.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Inspired By: Rev. Alex Stephenson

Edited By: Rev. Max Ward