Order of Service for June 10th 2012

 EUGENIA UNITED / ST. JOHN’S UNITED

2^nd Sunday of Pentecost

87^th Anniversary of Church Union Holy Trinity

June 10^th 2012

Welcome to worship. Please sign the guest book if you are visiting.

May God bless you during this time & renew your spirit.

OUR WORSHIP APPROACH TOWARD GOD

*Asterisks invite all who are able to stand

Gathering Music:

Welcome and Announcements:

Lighting of the Christ Candle:

*Introit:          The Church’s One Foundation                       VU 332

Call to Worship (from the Inaugural Service of June 10^th 1925):

            One: O Lord, open Thou our lips,

All: and our mouths shall show forth thy praise.

One: O God Eternal, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ, whose Name is great and whose goodness is

inexhaustible, who are adored by the hosts of heaven

and dost accept offerings sanctified by Thy Holy Spirit:

sanctify us, we beseech Thee, in body, in soul and in spirit;

touch our understandings, search our consciences,

and cast out every unbecoming thought and base desire,

all falsehood and vainglory and indifference, every motion

of the flesh and spirit not in accordance with Thy holy will,

And grant us, O Lord, with freedom, with a pure heart,

contrite spirit, without confusion of face, and with

sanctified lips, boldly to call on Thee,

our holy God and Father in heaven.

All: Praise to our God now and forever! AMEN.

Our Personal Confession and Silent Prayer …

            Silent Prayer ……………………… (F) Voices United pg. 959

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, and the power and the glory,

                        for ever and ever. AMEN

Prayer of Approach:

One: O God, who to an expectant and united church didst grant at

Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit, and hast wonderfully

brought into one fold those who now worship thee here:

grant us the hope of the same Spirit in all our life and

worship that we may expect great things from thee,

and attempt great things for thee, and being one in thee

may show to the world that thou didst send Jesus Christ

our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit,

be all honour and glory, world without end.  AMEN.

(F)*Hymn:     A Voice in the Wilderness Calling                 VU 18

(E)*Hymn:     Make a Joyful Noise                                VU 820

(E) Story Time:

WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD

I Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20

Psalm 138                                                   (VU pg. 860)

2 Corinthians 4:13 – 5:1

            Mark 3:20-35

(E)*Hymn:     A Voice in the Wilderness Calling                 VU 18

(F)Choir:

Reflection: Daring to live the dream … the UCC at 87 !!

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*Hymn:          Eternal, Unchanging We Sing                        VU 223

Minute for Mission:

Offering:

Offering Hymn: “Praise God From Whom …”                   HFG 382

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost AMEN.

Offering Prayer:

Service of Communion:

One: May God be with us.

ALL: God is with us.

One: Let us open our hearts to God.

ALL: We open them to God and to one another.

One: Let us give thanks to God.

ALL: It is right to give thanks and praise.

One: O Holy Wisdom of God, eternally offensive to our wisdom, and

            compassionate toward our weakness, we praise you and give you

            thanks, because you emptied yourself of power and entered our

            struggle, taking upon you our unprotected flesh.

            You opened wide your arms for us upon the cross, becoming

            scandal for our sake, that you might sanctify even the grave to be

            a bed of hope to your people.

            Therefore, with those who are made refugees in their own land,

abandoned or betrayed by friends, whose bodies are violated

or in pain; with those who have died alone without dignity,

comfort or hope; and with all the company of saints who have

carried you in their wounds, we join to praise you, saying:

ALL: Holy, holy, holy, vulnerable God.

            Heaven and earth are full of your glory!

            Hosanna in the highest.

            Blessed is the One who comes in the name of God.

            Hosanna in the highest.

One: Blessed is our brother, Jesus, who, before his suffering, earnestly

            desired to eat with his companions the Passover of liberation;

            who, on the night that he was betrayed, took bread, gave thanks,

            broke it, and said:“This is my body, which is for you. Do this to

            remember me.” In the same way, after supper, he passed the cup,

            saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this

            whenever you drink it, to remember me.”

ALL: Remembering the death and celebrating the resurrection, we

            await with hope the coming again of compassion and justice

            to the earth.

One: Therefore, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we are

            proclaiming Christ’s death until he comes. In this communion,

            we restore to memory and hope the broken and unremembered

            victims of tyranny and sin; and we long for the bread of

            tomorrow, and the wine of the age  to come. Come then, life-

            giving Spirit of our God, brood over these bodily things, and

            make us one body with Christ, that we may labour with creation

            to be delivered from its bondage to decay, into the glorious

            liberty of all the children of God, as we join together sharing the

            words of our faith:

ALL: We are not alone,

            we live in God’s world.

            We believe in God:

                        who has created and is creating,

                        who has come in Jesus,

                        the Word made flesh,

                        to reconcile and make new,

                        who works in us and others

                        by the Spirit.

            We trust in God.

            We are called to be the Church:

                        to celebrate God’s presence,

                        to live with respect in Creation,

                        to love and serve others,

                        to seek justice and resist evil,

                        to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

                        our judge and our hope.

            In life, in death, in life beyond death,

                        God is with us.

            We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.

            One: The Gifts of God, for the people of God.

                        The table is ready, let us share in joy!

Sharing of the Table:

Hymn:            One Bread, One Body                                    VU 467

Prayer after Communion:                VU 719 – In Unison

Prayers of the People:

(F) *Hymn:    Make A Joyful Noise                                      VU 820

(F) Story Time:

* Hymn:         O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing                VU 326

*Benediction:

*Choral Response: When We Walk from Here        x2        (VU 298)

 ---------------------------------------

 

To mark our 87^th Anniversary as The United Church of Canada,

today’s service is utilizing a variety of United Church resources

from the breadth of history and heritage.

Our hymns are chosen from the June 10^th 1925 Inaugural Service

held in the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto, as well as from

United Church composers and authors.

Our prayers are selected from the Inaugural Service

and have been offered verbatim.

Our Communion Liturgy was composed in 1998 and used by

the Executive of General Council as part of a service of Repentance.

The service took place soon after the United Church of Canada

apologized to the First Nations People of Canada for the Church’s

role in the abuses that happened within the Residential School Systems.

The United Church of Canada has twice been the first Church

to offer apologies to the First People for mistakes of the past,

and we continue to work with our First Nation brothers and sisters

to create an inclusive environment where bridges are built,

and diversity is celebrated.

Our Order of Service today is a timely and celebratory reminder

of the 87 years of history and heritage that are part of

The United Church of Canada here

in our local community and across our nation!!

Sermon for June 10th (87th Anniversary of Church Union) 2012

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.

87 (more or less) Things about the United Church worth

knowing as we celebrate our 87th Birthday!!! 

One of the commentaries for this week’s readings begins with the observation: In various ways, the lectionary passages today remind us that it is God that ultimately determines our value as human beings. When we place too much importance upon inheritance through family, or social status, we diminish the value of the most essential part of our identity – our identity as God’s children. (WPOG, June 10 2012)

The commentary ends with the question of where our loyalty lies – with the institution, or with our relationship with God?

Today, as we mark our 87^th Anniversary as the United Church of Canada, it is a very relevant, and very timely question. In recent months, the National Post has once again placed the United Church firmly in its sites and has published several highly critical articles about our stance on everything from the Divinity of Jesus through to our approach to the Israeli-Palestinian relationship … and from within we have witnessed pages and pages and pages of scathing letters to the editor in the Observer, and comments on internet forums like Wonder Café and Facebook about things we say and do as the United Church … one letter I read this past week in the Observer noted that we’ve shifted in recent years from being a collective denomination to being more and more congregational.

In short, we’ve forgotten much of what makes us unique and special as the United Church … we’ve forgotten the heritage and history that has set us apart and motivated our faith journey … we’ve forgotten who we are.

SO, in honour of the 87^th Anniversary of the United Church of Canada, and from these reading that challenge us to consider our spiritual loyalties, and what brings us together as the family of God, I’m going to attempt to share 87 things about the United Church of Canada you may not know, you may have forgotten, or we may have simply over looked …

The United Church of Canada formally came into being on June 10^th 1925, in a service held in the Mutual Street Arena in downtown Toronto. Participants witnessed the coming together of the Methodist, the Congregationalist and the majority of the Presbyterian Churches, with leaders from each denomination leading them through a service that was celebrated with a 38 page long bulletin.

In 1968, the fourth partner of Church Union, the Ontario based Canada Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren joined, bringing with them over 10 000 new members (including me), 58 congregations, 40 clergy (including Reverend Don Pletch) and 2 Church camps.

Today the United Church of Canada consists of four Church courts that govern the affairs of the Church. They are the national General Council, the provincial Conferences, the regional Presbyteries and the local Congregations or Pastoral Charges.

The United Church consists of 13 Conferences, 85 Presbyteries, 3196 Congregations and 2223 Pastoral Charges.

We are 525 000 members strong with 2.8 million adherents, and 402 689 households under pastoral care.

We ARE the largest Protestant Denomination in Canada.

Together we have 2188 weekly Sunday School classes that offer lessons, and fellowship to 64 586 children across Canada.

Each week an average of 174 000 people join in our worship services that are led by 3719 ordained ministers, 287 Diaconal Ministers and 275 Lay Pastoral Ministers. In 2010 celebrated 9733 Baptisms and 7837 marriages.

Together in 2010 the 257,799 identifiable givers raised $29,766,401 for the Mission and Service fund, which is included in the total of $393,753,521 contributed for all purposes within the life and ministry of this United Church of ours.

In our 87 year history we have had 40 Moderators – the elected figurehead of our Church. The first was the Rev. George C Pidgeon, and the current is Mardi Tyndall.

Along the way, our Moderators have achieved some notable firsts:

In 1968, Dr Robert McLure became the first lay person elected Moderator of the United Church.

In 1974 The Reverend Wilbur Howard who in 1941 became the first Black minister to be ordained in The United Church of Canda, became the first black Moderator of the United Church, and in 1988, The Reverend Sang Chul Lee was our first moderator of Asian descent.

The Reverend Stan McKay was elected Moderator in 1992 becoming the first First Nations person to hold that office – Stan was part of the circle at my service of ordination on June 6^th 1993 in Windsor Ontario.

In 1980, The Reverend Lois Wilson became our first Female Moderator, and a couple of years later Anne Squire became our first Female Lay member to serve as moderator. To date, only four non-ordained persons have held office of Moderator – Bob McClure, and three women: Anne Squire, Marion Best and Mardi Tyndal.

Along the way there are many other notable first for the United Church of Canada.

In 1935, we became the first Canadian Denomination to ordain women when Lydia Gruchy became a Reverend through ordination.

In the 1940’s the United Church of Canada was for a time the ONLY Church that spoke out against the forced relocation and seizure of assets of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Many Japanese speaking congregations in BC were destroyed by the actions of our Government. In the mid-1990’s I spent a ferry ride from Vancouver to Nanaimo chatting with a Japanse family who were returning from Hamilton for the very first time to see the city they had been removed from in 1941 … they shared, it was a United Church in the interior of BC, and a United Church in Hamilton that gave them the hope and strength to carry on after losing everything so abruptly. The 80+ year old parents had both been born in Canada.

In the 1950’s against the popular opinion of the day, the United Church supported a Baptist preacher and politican named Tommy Douglas in his quest for Universal Medicare for ALL Canadians.

 In 1988 we became the first Church to formally apologize to the First Nations people of Canada for our collective role in dismissing and denigrating their indigenous spiritual traditions. In many cases, the First Nations invited the early missionaries like Thomas Crosby to come into their community and share the Gospel, only to find themselves at odds with the greater Church and its views of their traditional ways.

As a result of the apology offered by our Moderator Robert Smith in 1986, the United Church of Canada formed the All Circle Native Conference that brought together First Nations Pastoral Charges.

In 1998, the United Church was the first Church to apologize for its role in the system of Residential Schools and the excesses, abuse and missteps that were part of that experience for many young aboriginal people across Canada. We have been a staunch supporter of the process of Truth and Reconciliation across Canada, and the work to address the legacy of Residential Schools in a positive way.

Along the way, The United Church has been a publishing force to be reckoned with. In 1829, Egerton Ryerson founded a weekly publication called The Christian Guardian. In 1925, along with publications from the other partner Churches, the Guardian merged to become The New Outlook, which in 1939 was renamed “The United Church Observer.” The Observer, now an independent publication, remains the print media voice of the United Church, and is the oldest continuously published magazine in North American and the second oldest English publication in the world.

We’ve also published our share of resources, books and publications. In 1930, the Blue Hymnary was first published. In 1970’s the Red Hymn Book was published in partnership with the Anglican Church of Canada. And in 1996, the burgundy Voices United was published. Along the way, we’ve used a myriad of other hymn books and music resources from Songs of the Gospel to Songs of a Gospel People.

The United Church has also published thousands of cookbooks, newsletters, and of course the 1960’s New Curriculum. In addition to the original Methodist based Ryerson Publishing, we’ve also been part of the United Church Publishing House and the BC based Wood Lake Books. United Church writers, artists, and musicans have contributed much to the fabric of our nation and our church.

Some notable United Church people include:

Politicans Lloyd Axworthy, Roy McMurtry, Jack Layton, John Crosbie and Lester B. Pearson. Ontario Premiers Frank Miller, Mitch Hepburn and Bill Davis. BC Premiers WAC and Bill Bennett. Writer Margaret Laurence. Actor Adam Beach. Skater Karen Magnusson. Singer Gordon Lightfoot. Toronto Star journalist Gregory Clark. Activist and politican Nellie McClung, and according to some our own Agnes McPhail. The first female justice to serve on the Supreme Court of Canada Bertha Wilson. And writer, philosopher and teacher Northrup Frye.

We also have had a number of clergy who have sat in the House of Commons and various provincial legislatures over the years. They include the legendary parliamentarian Stanley Knowles, Bill Blaikie, David MacDonald, and Saskatchewan premier Lorne Calvert.

And service to the greater good is not limited to politics. In addition to being one of the founding members of the World Council of Churches in 1948, we had Marion Best, former moderator serve as a Vice Moderator of that body beginning in 1998.

We are also an intergral part of the Canadian Council of Churches since its founding. The Reverend Gallagher served as General Secretary from 1944 to 1964. Two other clergy, Floyd Honey and Bob Mills have also served in that capacity, and The Reverend Karen Hamilton sits in that chair currently.

We’ve also had seven clergy members of the United Church serve the Canadian Council of Churches as President since 1944 including Lois Wilson, James Christie, ABB Moore and Bruce McLeod.

Over the years special appeals for assistance and help have raised money and awareness about issues facing our sisters and brothers around the world.

In 2004 the Beads of Hope campaign concluded with 2.4 million dollars having been raised in the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-sahara Africa – over double what was targeted.

In 2005, 1.5 million dollars was raised by the United Church alone in response to the Tsunami of December 26^th 2004 that ravaged south east Asia.

And in 2010 we raised over 3 million dollars to help in the Earthquake relief for Haiti.

We’ve also been very good at addressing needs within our own nation.

In 1962, the National UCW was formed and has continued to be a formidable force in raising money, awareness and involvement in a vast myriad of issues across Canada.

We have three communities on the West Coast – Hazelton, Bella Bella and Bella Coola that are offered health care through United Church sponsored and run Health Centres and Hospitals that have been operating for well over a century, and continue to serve the people by providing necessary medical and health services.

We have 11 Theological Schools across Canada, 4 Universities, and 4 Education Centres.

We provide support to 66 United Church Camps from coast to coast, and supply chaplaincy to our Military, our Universities and our Hospitals and care facilities.

We have a number of inner city missions ranging from Stella Burry in St Johns’ to Brunswick Street in Halifax, Fred Victor in Toronto and First United in Vancouver who offer a wide range of service, support and ministry to people truly living at risk on the margins of our society. These ministries take seriously the call to action that arises from taking seriously the call to care for ‘one of the least of these my brethren …”

We also supply housing, care for seniors, and in some cases like McLure United in Winnipeg have recreated our worship space within highrise apartments that provide much needed housing in downtown neighbourhoods.

Our outreach also has included coast mission boats, airplanes, dog sleds and snow mobiles …

The litany of who we are, what we do, and how we share and live and most importantly – CELEBRATE our faith could go on.

There have been books written about who we are as a Church, and what we do … but at the end of the day, the United Church of Canada has for the last 87 years remained people like you and I trying to share our faith.

I like to quote a beef farmer from eastern Ontario who was often invited through the 1980’s and early 90’s to speak at various Church Courts about the farming crisis he was very much a part of. Stan would ALWAYS say – “I don’t know why you keep asking me. I’m just a farmer …” but then he would end by saying “We’re just God’s people doing the best we can to make a difference in the world living out our faith.”

After 87 years, that’s the heart of who we are and what we are about: just God’s people doing the best we can to make a difference in the world living our faith!!!

AMEN to that!!

May it be so – thanks be to God … Let us pray …

Sermon for May 27th 2012 - Pentecost Sunday

(Ann Weems – The church is ... (from Reaching for Rainbows))

The Church is Pentecost – but what is Pentecost?

We talk about The Holy Spirit, mystical visions, flames and fire, being sent out into the world, speaking in strange tongues, dancing, rejoicing … all things strange and alien to us.

We like our worship to be precise, predictable, orderly … stick to the bulletin thank you very much, and please be done within the hour, we have things to do and don’t want to be late … We don’t do well with unpredictability and things that seem out of control – it’s the Presbyterian in us, the mainline denomination in us – it is the way we’ve been and we like it, so let’s not change it …

But what if the gift of Pentecost is the ability – no, the necessity of changing ourselves over and over, and becoming what is needed by the world out there to offer the Gospel??

What if Pentecost calls us to abandon the comfort of the way things are, and instead we are to follow the Spirit wherever that journey takes us?

What a radical and discomforting thought – to willingly abandon everything we know, everything we’re comfortable with, everything we LIKE, to follow the Spirit into the unknown … yet, ironically that is the very process we have for decades expected of our candidate for ministry.

We train them, support them, then after their ordination and commissioning we send them out into the vast unknown and expect them to minister to the communities they’re more often than not simply plunked in.

Over the years I’ve marvelled at the stories this has created throughout the Church. The minister and his wife who arrived in a prairie town in the mid-1970’s and she expressed surprise that they had electricity and running water … or the published story of the young minister at Smoky Burn in Saskatchewan who found himself in a double holer alongside a parishioner making small talk while gazing at the vast prairie landscape … the stories are incredible, diverse, uncomfortable and laughable … and every year they are added to as newly ordained and commissioned ministry personnel are sent out into the unknown and told – and we ARE told in our vows of ordination and commissioning – to TRUST in the Spirit.

To be fair, for the most part it works – the experiences that mould us and shape us in those first months of ministry are at times incredible and rewarding – though, as I look back I think an apology is in order for the patient folks in Bella Coola who endured long winding sermons that tried to be scholarly and notable, but reading now were … well, not so much …

We learn along the way.

We grow along the way.

We change along the way.

And we trust in the Spirit every step … every breath … every moment of the journey …

Yet, it is a strange dichotomy – we have one set of expectations for our Ministry personnel and another for the occupants of the pews … the Ministers are to trust in the spirit and embrace the dynamic possibility of change and movement throughout their careers, while the people in the pews are to endure the change and movement by the coming and going of the people in the pulpit: WE MOVE – YOU SIT …

Somehow I don’t think that is what the Spirit has in mind …

Yet, change comes … look back on the journey each of us have had within the Church and think about what it was like worshipping in our youth, and contrast that to what it is like worshipping now … in my youth, not really that long ago, we – that is the younger generation – didn’t stay up stairs AT ALL. We were taken down ten minutes before Church started and herded into a service of readings and hymns before being lead off to our curtained cubicles for our Sunday School lessons. Then our parents would gather us after Church was over and we’d head home … the minister was some strange almost mystical figure in robes who stood way up there removed from the rest of us, and who seemed mysterious and powerful.

In my teens,I met our new minister one afternoon playing basketball across the road from the Church in the gymn of the local elementary school. The afternoon ended with Rev. Bob getting a nose bleed from an errand palm of one of the youth players … it wasn’t my finest hour …

Yet, I can’t imagine Reverend Wes or Reverend Ross playing basketball with us, even five years earlier … and I look back on my ministry and I’ve swam, climbed rocks, danced (not very well) and participated in ALL manner of activities with our youth – all things I have a hard time seeing some of those grand old men who were the ministers of the past doing … Change … it’s inevitable – it’s subtle – and it’s ongoing.

And sometimes we only see it when we pause to look back and see how far we’ve come …

Children at worship. Children at Communion. ALL manner of change has unfolded around us in our lifetimes - Yet, for ALL the change, we’ve experienced as communities of faith, in our life time, I marvel at how resistant we really are to it …

Ezekiel, offering the prophetic query – “Can these bones live?” knew that resistence … Can these dry, dead, dusty, broken up bones live?

Can these (…) bones live?

Too often we look around us, especially in our modern era with so many people busy with so many OTHER things than Church, and we wonder CAN these BONES live?

This past week a fellow blogger from the Maritimes lamented on his blog Maritime Preacher that within the United Church of Canada there are Church congregations who are pleading to be allowed to simply die.

Nick Phillips writes a timely observation:

Yes, we do have too many churches. But some of these churches which wish to be left to die are actually churches in areas where there is a huge opportunity to share the Gospel message. One church in particular is in a residential neighbourhood, absolutely full of small families and they are the only protestant church in the area. And they are more than satisfied with continuing with nothing more than Sunday morning services presided over by a part-time aging retired minister.

Heart… breaking…

No wonder people don’t want to have any kind of connection to the church if this is the public message we are giving.

When did we lose our passion? Why? How? What took it away?

I can’t believe I serve in a denomination where churches wish to die when so many people in our communities are looking for hope, joy, love, peace… the things that our great and wonderful Father, our God in heaven, is just waiting to pour out for all who come to know him.

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…”

Let’s bring it back!

Let’s bring Christ back into our churches and have the Spirit move us to serve faithfully, sacrificially, with our whole being so the world may once again know how great is our God!

Pentecost is about embracing the Spirit’s call of faith. Daring to dream. And having the courage to act on our faith … church suppers, knitting circles, yard sales, mens’ coffee, a booth in the local farmers’ market, support to the food bank, services out in the community, and being PRESENT … these are signs not just of life, but of the real and dynamic change that is possible when the People of God – you and I – take seriously the call of the Spirit to go out into the world and LIVE.

Can these bones live?

Yes, they can … if they dare to believe in the power of the resurrection, and are bold enough to go out into the world in the name of Christ proclaiming, sharing and LIVING the Gospel!!

I’ve journeyed in this United Church of ours for over 20 years in a place of leadership in ministry. I’ve experienced invigorating highs and soul crushing lows, I’ve seen the best and the absolute worst of what people can do, and I’ve known the dark lonely corners of feeling utterly rejected by the Church … and yet, at no point on that journey have I EVER felt the kind of hopelessness that would offer the answer NO, to the question “Can these bones live?”

The ONLY thing preventing these bones from living, is a lack of faith. And a lack of faith can only come when we’ve abandoned the call of the Spirit …

Today is Pentecost, the Birthday of the Church, the day when we celebrate and affirm the winds of the Spirit blowing over us and through us.

Today is when we say AGAIN “Yes!” to the question – can these bones live?

Today is when we say AGAIN – “YES!!” to the call of the Spirit.

Today is when we say AGAIN – “YES!!” to our ministry and our faith.

Can these bones live? (this is NOT a rhetorical question) …

Can these bones live? …

Can these bones live? ...

Then let’s go into the world and show them how lively and alive we truly are!!!

May it be so … thanks be to God … Let us pray …