Service Sunday October 20, 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
We respectfully acknowledge that we are participating in this worship on the traditional territories of many different indigenous peoples. With gratitude to all of our First Nations, Metis, Inuit and all First Peoples across Canada, may we remember that we are not separate from the earth which sustains us. We respect the history, languages and cultures of the first peoples of Treaty 20, whose traditional lands we now share. We are grateful and open to the wisdom of the Elders and the teachings of those who are Two Spirit. May their wisdom inspire our actions in today’s world. May we be intentional in our journey to act as we can on the Calls to Action available to us from the Truth and Reconciliation Report.
Call to Worship:
One: Joy in the harvest,
ALL: for all that has been safely gathered in.
One: Thanks for the harvest,
ALL: for those who have laboured, in field and prairie, ranch and forest.
One: Concern at harvest time,
ALL: for some crops have received too much rain and some have not received enough.
One: A challenge at the harvest:
ALL: to share what has been gathered in and to provide where food is short.
One: May the God of the harvest challenge and inspire us as we worship today.
Written by David Sparks, Summerland, B.C.
Gathering, Pentecost 2024, p.47. Used with permission.
Hymn: “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” VU #271
1 There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
like the wideness of the sea;
there's a kindness in God's justice
which is more than liberty.
2 There is no place where earth's sorrows
are more felt than up in heaven;
there is no place where earth's failings
have such gracious judgement given.
3 There is plentiful redemption
in the blood that Christ has shed;
there is joy for all the members
in the sorrows of the Head.
4 Troubled souls, why will you scatter
like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts, why will you wander
from a love so true and deep?
5 For the love of God is broader
than the measures of the mind,
and the heart of the Eternal
is most wonderfully kind.
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
Creator, you have given us all sorts of things to enjoy. We thank you for daily nourishment for our bodies, minds, and souls. We also thank you for the tastes and smells, the textures and colours of the food you provide. We thank you for those who grow and transport and prepare food. We thank you for those who cook and share food. Lead this society away from being ungrateful and selfish in our use of food. Help people to never eat without thinking of the needs of others. And help us to be mindful of your love, which never ceases to provide. Amen.
Written by Carol O’Neil, Westminster U.C., Whitby, Ont. Gathering, Pentecost 2024, p.47. Used with permission.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC:
LEARNING TOGETHER:
Hymn: “Creator God You Gave Us Life” MV #27
1. Creator God you gave us life,
your image formed within our souls,
yet through the mist of time and space,
we search for that which makes us whole.
Refrain
Through hands that paint majestic skies,
and voices chanting melody,
with words that reach beyond the page,
we comprehend your mystery.
2. In ev’ry flow’r and ev’ry tree,
we see your great diversity,
yet greater still we see your love,
expressed in our humanity. Refrain
3. When with our hearts, our hands our minds,
we share our gifts with all the world,
our spirits soar beyond the veil,
to touch the very face of God. Refrain
THE WORD
Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE
“Nobody Knows But Jesus”
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: “We Plough the Fields” VU #520
1 We plough the fields and scatter
the good seed on the land,
but it is fed and watered
by your almighty hand;
you send the snow in winter,
the warmth to swell the grain,
the breezes and the sunshine,
and soft refreshing rain.
Refrain All good gifts around us
are sent from heaven above;
we thank you, God, O holy God,
for all your love.
2 You only are the maker
of all things near and far;
you paint the wayside flower,
you light the evening star;
the winds and waves obey you,
by you the birds are fed;
much more to us, your children,
you give us daily bread. Refrain
3 We thank you then, O Maker,
for all things bright and good,
the seed-time and the harvest,
our life, our health, our food;
accept the gifts we offer
for all your love imparts,
and, what from us you long for,
our humble, thankful hearts. Refrain
YOUR GENEROSITY MATTERS:
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER:
Today, as we celebrate World Food Day, we are thankful for a world blessed with abundance. Yet, we think of the hunger in our world and in our lives: hunger for food, for companionship, and for justice; hunger for shelter, for safety, and for your presence. We pray that we and all our gifts may become the tangible solutions to meet these needs. Amen
Written by Fern Gibbard, Pentiction, B.C.
Gathering, Pentecost 2, 2024, p.47. Used with permission.
SUNG BLESSING: VU #227 v 2
In the just reward of labour, God's will is done.
In the help we give our neighbour, God's will is done.
In our worldwide task of caring
for the hungry and despairing,
in the harvests we are sharing, God's will is done. ©
Sending Forth:
One: Here we have danced with the Spirit God, danced and sung each in our own way.
ALL: Here we have twined our spirits with the great Love of All Creation.
One: Here we have prayed for peace and justice in the world, and our own peace.
ALL: Here we have joined our hearts in God’s great dream of a world renewed and restored.
One: We have gathered here with open hearts, confessing our brokenness, knowing that, as a human race, we take too much, we talk too much, we toss too much; knowing that sometimes we doubt God’s call to love and serve others like Jesus did.
ALL: But now, we go forth, renewed through this time of worship and community.
One: God sends us now to soothe those who are hurting, calm those who are anxious, encourage the sharing of resources, and soften the harshness that abounds.
ALL: We go reminded of God’s mercy and care. Amen!
Written by Robin Wardlaw, Toronto, Ont.
Gathering, Pentecost 2, 2024, p.48. Used with permission.
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.
Sermon 20 October 2024
“Nobody Knows But Jesus”
Hebrews 5:1-10
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.
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus”
It’s been said that misery loves company.
We’ve all been through trying times and found comfort in a friend who had been through the same kind of difficulties.
Many times we feel isolated and alone in our troubles.
It’s a liberating experience to find someone who really knows our pains.
It also offers us hope when that person has survived and triumphed over those adversities.
Nobody knows who wrote the song “Nobody knows.”
Whoever it was, he or she knew Jesus.
The song writer knew that Jesus had faced troubles in his life.
Jesus had hungered and spent sleepless nights.
Jesus had felt loss at the death of his friend Lazarus and even cried.
Jesus had known temptation, loneliness, deep physical and emotional pain.
Nobody but Jesus knows the pain that the songwriter was going through.
Whatever it was he or she found comfort in Jesus.
The writer knew that Jesus understood his/her anguish with a depth that was beyond words.
Maybe that is why the testimony of this anonymous person’s pain was not related in a story.
Instead, this witness to the grace of God, comes in song.
It expresses a depth and a breadth of human suffering and a Divine love that goes beyond what words alone can say.
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus”
That’s exactly what the book of Hebrews 5:1-10 is talking about.
You might say,
“No preacher, its talking about some high priest and sacrifice stuff.”
Yes, but the point it’s getting to is the same.
Before I go any further, I would like to share a bit of the context about the book of Hebrews.
My Bible has a short introduction to each book of the Bible that can be very interesting and enlightening.
Read: Re: then To: then From:
So, who was this Melchizedek the Bible talks about and what does he have to do with Jesus?
Melchizedek was an Old Testament priest of God that lived before Moses.
In fact he blessed Abraham.
He was also a King as well as a priest.
He was a Gentile and served as a priest of God to all peoples.
Jesus is a high priest like Melchizedek in that Jesus is the King of kings and a priest to all the world.
I guess yet another way to say all that Hebrews is saying is that Jesus is like the ultimate minister.
You see every minister has their strengths and their weaknesses; myself included.
Ministers are at their best when they are able to use their own experience to understand their parishioners.
They are able to call upon the memory of their own pain and loss and grief to better minister to those who are in pain or experiencing grief.
On the other hand all ministers are human.
Being human, we have all been selfish and uncaring at one time or another; that’s part of being human.
Jesus is the best of both worlds.
He lived 30 years as a human.
He fell and skinned his knees.
He had friends abandon him, betray him and die on him.
He knew those pains firsthand.
And he can minister to us from that personal experience.
Jesus is much better than even the best merely human minister.
While Jesus experienced all the pains of human existence, he did so without ever surrendering to sin.
He never succumbed to selfishness or pride or bitterness or hate.
He went through it all and triumphed in ways that no other person could.
He even offered himself; his own life.
I don’t know what everybody here is going through today.
I don’t know the trials and troubles that each of you face.
And even if I did I wouldn’t be able to minister to everyone.
But Jesus knows and he is able.
What are the troubles that you face?
Jesus faced them.
Are you lacking the necessities of life?
Well, Jesus hungered and had no place to lay his head.
Are you grieving for the loss of a loved one?
Jesus wept because his friend Lazarus died.
Are you feeling abandoned and alone?
Jesus’ disciples could not stay awake with him one hour in the midst of his pain and then one of them betrayed him with a kiss.
Do we feel like nobody knows the troubles we face.
The Good News is that Jesus knows.
He knows because he has been through the same kind of thing.
And more importantly, he triumphed over all the frailties and pains of our lives.
He is our great high priest, our perfect minister!
So let us turn to him in our hour of need.
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
