Disciples

Sunday Worship – February 13, 2022

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Gathering

We come from scattered lives to this time of community, seeking unity in the Spirit, seeking the grace of the Christ of all people, seeking the peace of the God of All.

God’s people have gathered, in our glorious diversity and difference, as God created and intended.

Let us worship God together.

Hymn

Confession & Words of Assurance

Merciful God,
You made us in Your image,
with minds to know You,
with hearts to love you,
with wills to serve You.
But our knowledge is imperfect,
our love inconstant and immature,
and our obedience incomplete and self-serving.
Help us to understand our own prejudices and narrow mindedness.
Help us to love our neighbour as we ourselves long to be loved.
Help us to serve others with humility and gratitude.

Jesus is gentle with our doubts. 
The Spirit offers us peace in the midst of our lack of understanding.
The One who created us leads us step by step into deeper trust. 
Thanks be to God.

Story Time

Scripture

 

Sermon on the Plain

Luke 6 17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Sermon

 

 Prayers

God our Maker, listen to the cry that rises from every corner of this fragile earth, from our human family:

To world leaders and decision makers,
grant the wisdom to reach beyond boundary and border. May our common humanity drive policy and foster peaceful dialogue and constructive collaboration.

To those who misuse their power or take power from others, through violent action or hateful speech. Grant mercy and grow in them a humble heart of compassion, peaceful dialogue and constructive collaboration.

To the innocent ones robbed of dignity, possession, or shelter, to the victims of these forces who have had life taken from them, we entrust them in Your everlasting arms, O God, that are wide enough to embrace all of Your creation.

All of these prayers and so may more we pull together and pray the prayer tradition has taught us…

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Hymn

Blessing

Love wholeheartedly.
Live as you were created.
Be God’s people in our fragmented world. 
Amen

Kids Korner: Sermon on the Plain (February 13th)

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Read Luke 6:17-26 with your family.

Luke’s gospel is the Social Justice gospel. About a hundred years ago Christians focused on asking “what would Jesus do”? when seeing all the problems in their communities, the churches looked to Luke’s gospel and read about these promises. They read how people needed to be fed, so the churches started feeding people. They read how the prisoners needed better care, so they started working for prison reform. They read how children needed to be loved, so they encouraged education for all children and supports for families. They read how the rich had to give up their wealth, so the church joined campaigns to have the rich pay for more social programs.

All of this is found in Luke’s gospel. And the great thing about the promise of food, comfort, happiness and respect for the poor is that the promise was to start immediately, not some imagined time in the future. The promise of equality in God’s world where everyone had enough and no one had too much or too little, was a promise that the church wanted to see happen today.

We are still that church and we still work to make things better for the poor, struggling, ignored and insulted people in our community. Jesus made the promise, and as disciples we are called to help make it reality.

Sunday Reflection – October 17, 2021

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Jesus predicts his death and resurrection

Mark 10 32 Jesus and his disciples were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, with Jesus in the lead. The disciples were amazed while the others following behind were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he told them what was about to happen to him. 33 “Look!” he said. “We’re going up to Jerusalem. The Human One will be handed over to the chief priests and the legal experts. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles.34 They will ridicule him, spit on him, torture him, and kill him. After three days, he will rise up.”

A request from James and John

35 James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

37 They said, “Allow one of us to sit on your right and the other on your left when you enter your glory.”

38 Jesus replied, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink the cup I drink or receive the baptism I receive?”

39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said, “You will drink the cup I drink and receive the baptism I receive,40 but to sit at my right or left hand isn’t mine to give. It belongs to those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 Now when the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with James and John. 42 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the ones who are considered the rulers by the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around.43 But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. 44 Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, 45 for the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Jesus talks to his friends about being a ‘ransom’ (October 17th)

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Read Mark 10:32-45 with your family. This is the third time Jesus tells his closest friends that he is going to die soon. And just like the last two times, the disciples don’t want to hear it and don’t understand what Jesus’ death means. In this story John and James go to Jesus privately and ask that they can sit on his left and right hands – the most important positions to a king or leader. They just don’t understand that Jesus is not going to be a king the way the world recognizes kings.

Again Jesus tries to explain to his friends what being a servant leader means, and he uses a new word to help them understand: Ransom. The way the Hebrew’s understood random with God is that God is making an exchange to get people free from the cultural ideas of power and greed, and bring them back into God’s world of equality. In that ransom exchange, people have to accept Jesus being offered as a replacement for their mistakes. If the people don’t accept it, the ransom doesn’t work.