Hamilton Conference On-line Worship Resource for May 25, 2014 Call to Worship One: We are One Body, united in Christ Jesus. All: God calls us to worship and we respond with thanksgiving. One: In the name and ways of Jesus, we gather in ministry. All: Thank You God for this privileged time together. We Praise You O God #218(VU) Make a Joyful Noise p.820(vu) Let Us Build a House #1(MV) It s a Song of Praise to the Maker #30(MV) Prayer (in unison) God of life and love, we come to worship together and give thanks. You are here. Open us to the gift You long to give us in this time. We celebrate the life You offer. In the ministry of Jesus we find abundance and hope. Bless us as we gather so that our lives might be a blessing to others. We also come to confess wounds we carry within us, pain we have caused others, relationships that are broken, ways we have failed to work for Your justice and peace. Forgive us and restore us to right relationship with You and others (silent prayer) Amen. Words of Hope and Healing/Words of Assurance God forgives and heals us. God s desire is to restore us in grace and love. May we trust this and live as forgiven people so we might offer that forgiveness to others. Amen. Theme Time/Time with Children Consider bringing in a piece of pottery or two along with some clay. Let the children touch the pottery and hold it in their hands. Then pass the clay around so the children can feel it and hold it. What does it feel like? What does it look like? How is it different than the pottery? Then describe the process of how clay turns into pottery. Explore how God creates something beautiful like a potter with each one of us. You may wish to share the words from II Corinthians 4:7 We have this treasure in clay jars. Another suggestion would be to reflect on the Five Finger Prayer. Looking at our hand, begin with your pinky; remember the little ones of the world. The third finger, the ring finger, is the weakest finger on our hand; pray for those who are vulnerable, victims of injustice, health concerns, limited in some way. Looking at the middle finger, the tallest one; pray for those who are leaders in business, government, community groups, churches. Look at the index finger and pray for those who teach, instruct, and facilitate learning they may be teachers, older people in the congregation, advocates working for justice, ministers. Lastly, look at the thumb, and pray for ourselves, that we may grow in the ways of Jesus. In all of this, remind people of how connected we are in the world and as part of the Body of Christ. Pray with the children and ask if they have anything they would like to pray about or something they would like to pray for? I m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me #575(VU) Lord Prepare Me #18(MV) Know That God is Good #104(MV) Page1
Scripture Readings Psalm 66:8-20 (see Voices United p.785) A Psalm asking for God s blessing, remembering God s presence over time with the people. What will our response be? God listens to our prayers and remains with steadfast love. II Corinthians 4:7-11 This is the Scripture passage that is at the heart of the Hamilton Conference Annual Meeting. Some points to consider the extraordinary power of God working in the treasure in clay jars.the strength that comes from God when we are hurt, lonely, afraid, or vulnerable. How is the life of Jesus made visible with our bodies? With our Body (Church, Pastoral Charge, Conference). You may wish to explore different ways we understand the body/body? Sermon Starters Read the passage several times in a row placing yourself in the passage as an eye witness, a distant observer, someone hearing it in another country (Haiti, India, Tanzania, Philippines) imagining what it might be like for them to listen to these words. Read the passage several times until you become familiar with it. Then close your eyes and let your imagination lead you through the passage. What do you notice? What do you hear? Who do you see? Is there a certain image that emerges by being there in your imagination? If you have a screen, you may wish to project images that reflect the theme of worship. You may wish to bring in an object that can act as a visual aid to build on the theme. See the reflection on page 4 as a possible resource from Hamilton Conference. Response - A New Creed said in unison Spirit Open My Heart #79(MV) Blest Be the Tie That Binds #602(VU) Jesus, You Have Come to the Lakeshore #563(VU) When Hands Reach Out Beyond Divides #169(MV) Invitation to Offering God creates with abundance. God loves extravagantly. These are gifts we receive in faith. Our response to God occurs throughout our lives and in this moment in our offering. Offering Offertory Prayer (in unison) We give with gratitude because You have given first, loving God. Out of Your abundance we discover life and love. Grow in us a generous spirit. May we be transformed through giving, for the sake of this community and others in Your world. Amen. Prayers of the People and the Lord s Prayer Consider events from the news and praying for situations around the world. Read the Minute for Mission and include that ministry in your prayer. Watch a video clip from the M&S work the United Church is involved with and pray for those partners (see www.youtube.com/unitedchurchofcanada ) Page2
Consider praying for Hamilton Conference and our Annual Meeting. We will be praying for you. Consider prayer for the ministries within Hamilton Conference. Did you know we have a prayer cycle in our Conference? St. George United Church in Erie Presbytery is the Pastoral Charge we are praying for on May 25 th. Check out www.hamconf.org - go to the Resource tab and scroll down to Prayer Cycle to find the list. Here is a prayer you may use God of life and hope, we give thanks for this day. For Your ongoing work in the world, we are grateful. For the ways you continue to reveal Yourself, we thank you. You have made all things in love and for love. Help us grow in our trust of You. God of creativity and compassion, Your ministry gives life to others. You create and give life and we are the recipients. You extend Your compassion and we have come to know how much You care. We are mindful of Your world (name places, situations that are known). We especially remember places where there is violence and we pray for peace; where there is despair, we offer hope; in areas where hunger and thirst are daily realities, we pray for justice and encouragement to be with them; where there is loss, we pray for good companions; for those who are lonely, we ask for Your presence to be near; for those who are afraid, we pray for Your tender strength. God, we are also aware of the prayers of this part of Your Body. The hopes and dreams we bring to worship today. The longing of our hearts. The joys we celebrate this week. The gifts freely shared and given, we give thanks, loving God. The faith You have inspired within and around us. For those who come today with hurt, we pray for Your healing; for those here who live amidst broken relationships, we pray for hope to be a companion; we remember those who have died and pray for Your comfort to be with those who live with this loss. We also pray for Hamilton Conference as it gathers in Port Elgin this weekend. Be with them; inspire them; encourage them and help us grow together as part of Your Body. We pray for those who are committing their lives to ordered ministry today. Bless them with Your Spirit, we pray. Thank You for the gifts that emerge through Your Church. Thank You for all of the gifts we bring as part of Your Body in Christ. We join in prayer with St. George United Church in Erie Presbytery, part of the Hamilton Conference Prayer Cycle, and give thanks for their witness in faith. Gathering all of these prayers, we unite them with the prayer Jesus offered a few of his friends when we pray, Our Father Deep In Our Hearts #154(MV) I Have Called You By Your Name #161(MV) Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah #651(VU) Will Your Anchor Hold #675(VU) Sending Forth and Blessing May God s love for all of creation, Jesus compassion for the people of this world and the Spirit s friendship be with each one of you, now and always. Amen. Page3
Reflection: Trust God; Trust the Body II Cor.4:7-11 L Arche (French for the word The Ark ) is an international federation of communities that seeks to create home with people with intellectual disabilities and those who come to assist them. L Arche was founded by Jean Vanier, the son of the former Governor General Georges Vanier and his beloved Pauline. Jean welcomed two men Raphael and Philippe into his home in Trosly, France, a small village about an hour north of Paris. It was 1964. They cooked cleaned, shared chores and life together like many people do in their families and among friends. L Arche began to grow and spread throughout the world. Since that time, fifty years ago, L Arche has grown to over 145 communities across 40 countries. In Canada there are twenty nine communities with L Arche Hamilton being in our own Conference. There is a story that comes from L Arche that goes like this. Terry is a man who came to live in L Arche many years ago after his mother died. Terry would be labelled as a man with an intellectual disability. Aaron is a man who came to live in L Arche with his spouse Sally many years ago. Aaron is the supervisor at the woodworking shop. He and Terry work together each day. Fridays is a special day each week because they go to a local restaurant to eat lunch. Fish and Chips are the favourite each week for Terry. Aaron has been having a difficult day. He is stressed and tired. It isn t even lunch yet. So, just before lunch, Aaron decides to go out to the car and have some time alone. He needs a few minutes of peace and quiet before lunch. As he slides into the driver s seat, he feels hands come upon his shoulders and start to massage them. Aaron notices these hands as Terry s. Aaron says to Terry, if you keep going Terry, I might have to give you a raise. Terry says, Ah, Aaron, I don t want a raise, I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. This is all God wants to say to us. Can I be with you? Can we spend some time together? We come together each week for worship and God is here. God is here before we ever arrive and when we come as a congregation, God comes closer. God longs to be with us, to share life with us, to work for justice with us, to give life and love to others through us. God is with us in each breath we take and in the spaces between breaths. Can we trust this gift from God? Paul writes to the Church in Corinth, But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. This treasure we have been given in clay jars is a reminder of God s extraordinary power. We belong to God and discover that through this treasure. God is with the world in a very particular way and wants to reveal more to us. God says I just want to be with you. How can we grow in our trust of God? Trust God. There is a story that comes from a maximum security prison. A chaplain wants his child to be baptized inside the prison. After the baptism, he holds the child in his arms. The prisoners are sitting in a circle around him. The man sitting next to the chaplain asks if he can hold the baby. He takes the child with Page4
great tenderness and looks directly into the baby s eyes. As he smiled, she smiles back at him. The prisoner begins to cry. Trust the Body. Trusting the Body is not always easy to do, is it? Life together in the Church can be wonderful and exciting as well as heartbreaking and hurtful. We have hopes and dreams. We also know the limitations and brokenness that are part of belonging to a Church community. Paul writes to the community in Corinth, aware of their gifts and limitations. He writes to offer encouragement, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. Jesus life is made visible through our bodies. Jesus life is made visible through our life together. It is about 8:30 in the morning when a woman in her 80 s arrives to have stitches removed from her thumb. She says that she is in a hurry as she has an appointment at 9:00. The nurse takes her vital signs and has the woman take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before the doctor would be able to see her. The nurse notices the woman is quite anxious, looking at her watch frequently. So, she reevaluates the woman s wound, talks to one of the doctors and gets the instruments required to remove her stitches. The two begin to talk together. The woman tells her that she needs to go to the Care Centre to eat breakfast with her husband. She goes on to say that her husband has Alzheimer s disease. The nurse continues working on her thumb and asks if her husband would be worried if she was a bit late? The woman replies, No, he no longer recognizes who I am anymore. He hasn t recognized me for 5 years. The nurse says, And you are still going every morning, even though he doesn t know who you are? The woman replies, He doesn t know me but I still know who he is. The life of Jesus is made visible in our relationships. How we care for each other. In the ways we speak with one another. The work for justice that we do. When our voices unite in song. The way we pray together. In moments of silence and quiet. Through the hospitality we extend someone who is different from us, Jesus life is made visible. Trust the Body. Jesus life is made visible. It happens frequently in our Church. Perhaps a challenge for us is to take time to notice. To make space to remember the deep unity we share. To remember the grace that comes in belonging. And to trust that Jesus life is made visible in ways we might not initially expect. Trust God; Trust the Body. God is active and alive in the world. It is a privilege to share in that ministry. Thank you for your part in God s activity. May we be open to the tangible ways God s work in Jesus Christ is revealed. Amen. Page5