Service Sunday March 23, 2025
The Third Sunday in Lent
Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
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All are Welcome!
Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below.
The Gathering
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FOCUSING MOMENT:
LIGHTING THE OF CHRIST CANDLE:
Acknowledgement of Land
We acknowledge the territory on which we reside and on which we worship. This is the Traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people, shared with us through the signing of a treaty that outlined rights and responsibilities for the people who live here. We acknowledge with respect this territory, and we covenant to live as Treaty people, with the responsibilities that come with that promise.
Written by Peter Chynoweth, Cochrane, Alta.
Gathering, Advent/Christmas/Epiphany 2021-2022, p.43. Used with permission.
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Come to this place to continue your Lenten journey.
ALL: We have come with our temptations and our laments.
One: Come to this place to understand what God is calling you to let go of.
ALL: We come as forgiven people ready to forgive others.
One: Come to this place to find and accept the abundance and extravagance of God’s love and God’s grace.
ALL: We come to worship God.
Written by Catherine Tovell, Kilworth U.C., London Ont.
Gathering, Easter*Lent 2025, p.30. Used with permission.
HYMN: “This is God’s Wondrous World” VU #296
1 This is God's wondrous world,
and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings
the music of the spheres.
This is God's wondrous world;
I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas,
God's hand the wonders wrought.
2 This is God's wondrous world:
the birds their carols raise;
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their Maker's praise.
This is God's wondrous world:
God shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass or mountain pass,
God's voice speaks everywhere.
3 This is God's wondrous world:
O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.
This is God's wondrous world:
why should my heart be sad?
Let voices sing, let the heavens ring:
God reigns, let earth be glad!
A SONG OF FAITH: Read In Unison
We place our hope in God.
We sing of a life beyond life
and a future good beyond imagining:
a new heaven and a new earth,
the end of sorrow, pain, and tears,
Christ’s return and life with God,
the making new of all things.
We yearn for the coming of that future,
even while participating in eternal life now.
Divine creation does not cease
until all things have found wholeness, union, and integration
with the common ground of all being.
As children of the Timeless One,
our time-bound lives will find completion
in the all-embracing Creator.
In the meantime, we embrace the present,
embodying hope, loving our enemies,
caring for the earth,
choosing life.
Grateful for God’s loving action,
we cannot keep from singing.
Creating and seeking relationship,
in awe and trust,
we witness to Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Amen.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER
HYMN: “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” VU #684
1 Make me a channel of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me bring your love;
where there is injury, your healing power,
and where there's doubt, true faith in you:
Refrain O Spirit, grant that I may never seek
so much to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love with all my soul.
2 Make me a channel of your peace:
where there's despair in life, let me bring hope;
where there is darkness, only light;
and where there's sadness, ever joy. Refrain
3 Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
in giving to all that we receive,
and in dying that we're born to eternal life. Refrain .
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE: Luke 13:1-9
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“Fruits of Repentance”
Listen to an audio recording of the message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
OUR REPSPONSE
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and
A CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATION OF THE LORD’S PRAYER:
Loving parent of all life, present throughout the cosmos,
The mere mention of your name calls us to love, respect, and care for each other. May justice for all, be imbedded in the hearts of all people.
Today may we accept only what we need, respecting creation, doing our part in sustaining the delicate balance of the natural world. Renew us with your grace, as we stumble through this world and help us to share the spirit of forgiveness, with those who have hurt us. Guide us with your spirit of love when we are tempted to be of this world. May evil be removed and replaced with your love. For by living with your love written on our hearts, we may rise above injustice and share the glory of equality, and peace with all of creation. All the days of our lives and into eternity. Amen
By Rev. Stephanie Richmond Seagrave/ Greenbank UC
Used with permission
HYMN: “We Shall Go Out with Hope of Resurrection” VU #586
1 We shall go out with hope of resurrection;
we shall go out, from strength to strength go on;
we shall go out and tell our stories boldly;
tales of a love that will not let us go.
We'll sing our songs of wrongs that can be righted;
we'll dream our dreams of hurts that can be healed;
we'll weave a cloth of all the world united
within the vision of new life in Christ.
2 We'll give a voice to those who have not spoken;
we'll find the words for those whose lips are sealed;
we'll make the tunes for those who sing no longer,
expressive love alive in every heart.
We'll share our joy with those who still are weeping,
raise hymns of strength for hearts that break in grief,
we'll leap and dance the resurrection story,
including all in circles of our love.
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Gracious God, we return to you a portion of what you have given us. With it, we bring the gift of our love, our hearts, and our passion to work for justice and peace for all. Bless our gifts, bless our hearts, and equip us for the work to which you call us. We ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Written by Bob Root, Peterborough, Ont.
Gathering, Easter*Lent 2025, p.36. Used with permission.
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:
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2024 - 25/10/2025; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches.
Sermon 2025 03 23
“Fruits of Repentance”
Luke 13:1-9
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.
From our gospel lesson… “There were some present at that very time who told Jesus of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”
No one is sure of the details, but most Bible Commentators agree on the incident that these people referred to.
The story goes that Pilate suspected a group of Galileans of planning a revolt.
So while they were in the temple making their sacrifices to God Pilate ordered them killed; on the spot.
That is why the people said that their blood was mixed with the blood of the sacrifices, because their blood was spilled where the sacrifices were made.
It was bad enough that Pilate killed them, but to have it done in God’s holy temple was an affront to Almighty God.
Why did these people bring this awful incident up at this time.
We know that at this point in his ministry Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
These people may very well have been part of the crowd that was following Jesus; some of his followers.
Many of these followers believed that Jesus was God’s chosen King, the Messiah, and that he would lead a rebellion when he got to Jerusalem.
Maybe they were trying to incite Jesus to anger against Pilate and the Romans by citing this sacrilegious act.
Perhaps they wanted Jesus to tell them that the same fate would not befall this rebellion, because Jesus and his followers were right.
All we really know about these people’s motivation comes from Jesus’ reply.
Jesus knew what was going on in those people’s minds.
From Jesus’ reply we can conclude that the people believed that these Galileans deserved to die.
That somehow God was punishing them for some sin by killing them.
The natural flip side of that belief is that if you are good you do not suffer.
Many people believe that all suffering is the result of some evil that the suffering person has done.
Psychologists call it the “Just World Theory.”
It is a psychological defense mechanism that people use to make them feel secure.
It is basically the belief that everything that happens is just and right, as it should be.
This “Just World Theory” states that if someone is suffering it is because they deserve it.
The results of this way of thinking are as follows.
This “Just World Theory” creates the illusion of moral superiority.
The person says to himself, to herself, to themself, “I am better than them because I am not suffering.”
The “Just World Theory” also creates a false sense of security.
So one could conclude, “I will not suffer because I am better than others.”
To see this at work makes it much more clear.
Let’s say Joe Smith believes in the “Just World Theory.”
One day he is walking down the street.
He sees someone on the side of the road, half naked, unconscious and bleeding.
There are many reasons that someone could be in that condition.
But Joe Smith says to himself, “He must have done something to deserve this.”
He must have brought it on himself.
He was probably drunk or high on drugs, or maybe he was associating with a gang or something.”
So Joe Smith convinces himself that he is morally superior to that man in the ditch.
Many of us, whether we would have helped or not, would think, “If I were in that state, I would want someone to help me.”
That thought might make us help, or make us feel bad about not helping.
Yet that thought never occurs to Joe Smith because he has convinced himself that he is too good to end up like that.
Jesus saw through all of this much quicker than we could.
So he got straight to the point.
He said “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?”
Jesus could have condemned Pilate or the Galileans.
Instead, Jesus made people look at themselves.
“Do you think you are better than these?
Is that why they died and you didn’t.”
“And what about the 18 people who died when that tower fell on them?
Had they committed some awful sin?
Or were they just regular people, like you, who were in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
To make his point clearer Jesus told a parable.
A man had a fig/apple tree in his garden that produced no fruit.
The man gave the tree three years to produce fruit but it produced none.
Finally, he said to the gardener, “Cut it down, it is using up good soil.”
But the gardener pleaded with him.
Don’t cut it down.
Give it another year and I will take special care of it.
Then if it produces fruit, good, but if it doesn’t, then we will cut it down.
The people understood Jesus well.
The man in the parable is God the Father and the gardener is Jesus.
But the tree was each of those who were listening.
Jesus was saying, “You are supposed to produce fruits of love and mercy and forgiveness, but I see none.
God has good reason to cut you down now.
God could let you die just like those 18 the tower fell on, or like the Galileans killed in the temple.
But I pleaded with God and you have another year to produce fruit.
Hurry up, show some mercy and love.
Instead of blaming people for suffering, seek to ease suffering.
Politics and issues change, but human nature doesn’t seem to change much.
“And at that very time there were people present who said, ‘Preacher, I heard about the three boys that were shot in Toronto on Friday night.’
“How should I respond?
I can condemn the shooter; and all those who practice and preach messages of hate.
On the other hand I could condemn the Islamophobia that grips so many people and allowing them to think less of their fellow humans/brothers/sisters.
Yet there is a problem deeper than all this.
It is the belief that all suffering is the result of sin.
We in the church too often point our fingers at the suffering and condemn them.
When we see the sick, the poor, the oppressed, we say to ourselves:
“They probably deserve that.” or
“If they would only live right they wouldn’t have those problems.”
What would Jesus say?
I can make a suggestion.
“Do you think that because these people were shot they are worse sinners than every one else?”
Before you answer, think.
Consider all the evil that people do in this world.
Are these people worse than all of them?
“What about the millions who die from hunger and poverty?”
Are you any better than they?
Do you think you won’t suffer from poverty because you are so good?
“No, but unless you repent, you will all perish.”
The belief that all who suffer deserve to suffer is wrong and sinful.
There is Divine justice; God will do away with the wicked and reward the righteous.
Yet most of the time we don’t see that in our lifetime.
Reality itself shows us how false this way of thinking is.
Sometimes righteous people suffer, and suffer incredibly.
After all, Jesus was sinless, yet he suffered.
Jesus’ message to his followers 2000 years ago is his message to us today.
We shouldn’t be wasting our time trying to determine whether someone else’s suffering is a punishment from God.
Instead, we should be trying to determine if we are being faithful to God.
God calls us to love the lowly and the outcast, to follow him in his ministry of grace and justice, to feed the hungry and bring some good news to the poor.
Perhaps the people pointing the fingers at others should take some time to point them at themselves.
Perhaps we should do the same.
But how do you love the Pilots of the world?
How do we love the Putins and the Trumps?
How do we love people who’s lifestyles we find disturbing?
How did Jesus do it?
How did he love the Woman at the well?
How did he reach out to Matthew?
How did he show grace to Zaccheus?
He did it by looking past their sin.
He didn’t overlook their sin.
Matthew had sold himself to the Romans.
Zaccheus’ love of money was destroying him.
The Woman at the well was being used and abused.
Yet Jesus looked past their sin and suffering and loved them for the human beings they are.
He spoke tender words of forgiveness, he sat down and ate, he said, “walk with me.”
Jesus hated sin, but foremost he loved sinners; he loved them enough to die for them - for us.
We are called to do the same - that even includes those who spread messages of hate.
Yes, we should hate sin, all sin, but if we refuse or fail to love even one sinner, we have sinned too.
A hard lesson to hear from Jesus today.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
