Service Sunday June 30, 2024
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All are Welcome!
Watch a video recording of the whole service using Youtube.
The Gathering
Welcome and Announcements.
Focusing Moment.
Acknowledgement of Land
We begin by acknowledging that we are gathered for worship on the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig and Anishinaabeg Peoples, collectively known as the Williams Treaties First Nations. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources, but established agreements for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations, for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow.
Call to Worship:
One: Touch us with your presence, O God!
ALL: We will respond with worship that is joyful and faithful.
One: Touch us with your presence, O God!
ALL: We will hear the Word, spoken for us and our community of faith.
One: Touch us with your presence, O God!
ALL: We will experience the healing grace that makes us whole again.
One: Touch us with your presence, O God!
ALL: so that we may be your compassionate presence to others.
~ Adapted from David Sparks, Prayers to Share, Year B, p. 116
HYMN: “Bathe Me in Your Light” MV #82
1. Bathe me in your light, O God of All, Creator;
let it shine upon my soul with healing and with grace.
Be to me a beacon bright through shadows of life’s wounding,
showing me the way to live in faith, in your embrace.
2. Bathe me in your love, O Source of Awe and Wonder;
help me walk the sacred path of harmony and peace.
May I be attentive to the musings of your presence,
drinking from the well of hope that brings the heart release.
3. Bathe me in your grace, O One of Spirit’s longing;
teach me of your gentle ways that fill the soul with strength.
Guide me on the pilgrimage that leads to truth and wholeness,
Fill me with your promise of a love that knows no length.
OPENING PRAYER: (Spoken In Unison)
In the light of a summer morning, we raise our faces to the sun and feel its healing embrace wash over us as warmth and light. May this season of rest and renewal work its transformation upon us. As light into light, we pray. Amen.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER
HYMN: “Great Sorrow Prodded Jairus” MV#132
1. Great sorrow prodded Jairus
to seek the Healer’s touch-
“My little girl is dying,
I need your help so much.”
When Jesus stood beside her,
he took the child’s limp hand,
he brought back life and laughter
by saying, “child, now stand.”
2. Through years of pain and torment
the woman yearned for peace,
while people scorned and shunned her,
she prayed her pain would cease.
When Jesus felt her presence
he touched her trembling hand,
“your action, daughter, healed you,
in faith and wholeness, stand.”
3. Wherever people hunger
for faith and hope and trust,
where people search for wholeness,
for treatment that is just-
Christ, give your healing presence,
your strong and gentle hand,
your voice to lift us upwards,
by saying, “child, now stand.”
THE WORD
Scripture: Mark 5: 21 - 43
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE
“Transformed By Grace”
There is no audio recording today but the message can be read below at the bottom of this page.
OUR RESPONSE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and THE LORD’S PRAYER:
(spoken VU #921)
HYMN: “What Can I Do?” MV #191 (sing twice)
What can I do? What can I bring?
What can I say? What can I sing?
I’ll sing with joy. I’ll say a prayer.
I’ll bring my love. I’ll do my share.
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
Offertory Prayer In Unison
We give from just and compassionate spirits, in the knowing that life is to be shared with others. Would that we also remember to be open to receive from those who extend kindness, care, and compassion to us. Amen.
SUNG BLESSING: (VU #117, vs 3)
Jesus Christ is healing, healing in the streets,
curing those who suffer, touching those he greets.
Listen Lord Jesus, I have pity too.
Let my care be active, healing just like you. ©
Sending Forth:
One: May love lift you up and place you in the Light.
May peace be the gift to see you through the night.
May grace be your friend to guide you on the way.
May faith be your strength to lead you to new day. Amen.
~ Written by John Wesley Oldham
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: “TRANSFORMED BY GRACE” Mark 5: 21 — 43
Jesus knows when we reach out to him in faith, and he is never too busy to provide
his healing touch. Such is the case of the hemorrhaging woman in today’s Gospel
reading.
Jesus has just learned that Jairus’s daughter is sick and needs his attention quickly.
But he is interrupted by an unknown woman who doesn’t even receive a name. As
a ritually unclean, otherwise unknown participant in the story, her audacity in
reaching out and touching the clothing of Jesus is shocking. Surely Jesus doesn’t
have time for such matters. Certainly, he does not care about her in this moment.
Meditation: Imagine the scene, the crowd gathered around Jesus. A woman stands
at a distance, sees and hears Jesus speaking in front of the people, who listen
intently. She doesn’t feel well. She never feels well. She is continuously weak from
loss of blood. She is so tired of being ill. Added to that, she feels great fear,
knowing she ought not be there. Jewish law states that if she is menstruating, she
contaminates the people she touches.
She slowly walks up to the crowd, at first, standing by the edge of it. Then she
senses inside of her an insatiable need to be closer; if she can just be next to the
Healer, she will have a chance to be well. She struggles with her fear and her
indecision whether to leave or to take the risk of staying and possibly being healed.
Her long years of bleeding lead her to make a dangerous choice. How wonderful it
would be to feel well again. She will take the risk. She cares about herself enough
to go ahead and move closer.
The*she takes a deep breath, slowly nudges her way between the people who are
standing tightly together. With every step she knows she is breaking the law, that
she could be stoned for what she is doing. But her desire to care for herself grows
gradually stronger than her fear.
Finally, she is just one row away from Jesus. Oh, how amazing his voice, how
caring he sounds. She doesn’t want to be noticed, so she crouches down to a low
posture, praying her presence will not be detected. Oh, how she longs to be well.
Then, with a sudden burst of courage, she reaches out to Jesus, hoping to simply
touch him. That will be enough. Her fingers feel the texture of cloth. She has
actually touched the hem of his robe! At this moment, a strong current of energy
rushes through her. This is like nothing she has ever felt before. Joy and
astonishment vibrate in her body and spirit. She feels new, fresh, released.
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In that moment, she knows without a doubt that she no longer bleeds. She feels a
tug on the robe as it slips from her hand. Jesus turns. Trepidation rises up in her.
What if she has been discovered? Jesus knows, somehow, that someone has
touched him with a desire to be made whole, to be healed, to be set free. And he
looks around to see who it was. Then she hears him ask, “Who is it that touched
me? I felt power go out from me.”
The people look around and then someone looks down at her. She can no longer
hide. She must stand and claim her healing. She responds, “I am the one who
touched you.” As she speaks these words, Jesus smiles at her, reaches out, takes
the healed woman’s hands and helps her to stand up. She beams with happiness
and Jesus assures her that she has been restored to good health. (Joyce Rupp,
Prayer Seeds: A Gathering of Blessings, Reflections, and Poems for Spiritual
Growth, pages 121-122)
Now put yourself in the place of this brave and faith-filled woman. When the
events in our lives are beyond our ability to cope, we too reach out in desperation,
because we don’t know what else to do.
What part of your life has troubled you or caused you distress for a long time?
Maybe it’s something about your own personality or spiritual life, or a painful
aspect of a relationship that continually fails to be what you long for it to be.
Perhaps it is chronic pain, or a dream for something that still has not come into
reality. Or maybe, it’s a longing for community that will accept us for our authentic
selves.
Whatever it is, when people of faith realize that there is no place else to turn, we
are likely to turn to the God of our understanding. Like the woman who reached
out to touch Jesus’ robe, you, too, may see the eyes of compassion and kindness
that John O’Donohue writes about: I imagine the eyes of Jesus were harvest
brown. It’s a gaze that is perfect sister to the kindness that dwells in his
beautiful hands. As the eyes of Jesus gaze on us, they know the signature of
our heartbeat...forever falling softly on our faces, his gaze plies the soul with
light.” (To Bless the Space Between Us, pages 219 — 220)
“Daughter,” he said to her with great loving kindness in his eyes, “your trust in
me has made you well. Now go in peace, for you have been healed of your
disease.” (v. 34)
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She must have been stunned, when Jesus called her “Daughter.” He recognizes
her not as “some nameless, bleeding, unclean woman in the crowd” but affirms
her as a daughter of God, a child of the covenant; in other words, as nothing less
than a person. Jesus has restored her to full humanity. Or, as Lynn Japinga puts it,
“Touching Jesus healed her body. Talking to Jesus healed her soul.” (From
Daughters to Disciples: Women’s Stories from the New Testament, page 79)
We can all rest in the knowledge that we are not alone, that the Great Physician
responds to our needs. He may not respond as we want, but the Good News shows
he responds as we need.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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