ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2020
ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Due to copywrite limitations, we are unable to print the words to the songs. However, our musicians have chosen music to fit the scriptures. We invite you to look up the words in your worship book and ponder them. If you do not have a worship book, ponder the words to one of your favourite hymns and listen for God’s voice. Those who have internet may find the songs on YouTube.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…
A rock polishing machine is used to smooth the rough edges off of rocks, making them shiny and allowing their true beauty to show. Sometimes the process of learning can be a lot like that too. Sometimes learning can be a struggle as we bounce against each other, rubbing off our rough edges, allowing our true selves to emerge. Learning is a life-long pursuit, never rosy, but always an exciting journey. Through Christ, our goal is to find harmony with God, each other and all creation.
Living together as the human family has never been easy, right from the days of the Garden of Eden. Even living together in small families, within the human family, has many difficulties and challenges. Daily we are re-forming new relationships in a global faith context, and perceiving old barriers that need to be broken down, in order that God’s vision of wholeness (Shalom) comes to all the earth. Our world still has much to learn about how to treat each other and about how to live in harmony. Our hope lies in Christ who has shown us the way.
Call to Worship
No matter who we are, God calls us together.
We’re glad to be part of God’s family!
Even when we disagree, we are still part of God’s family.
We’re glad to be part of God’s family!
It’s God’s hope and desire that we will get along with one another.
We’re glad to be part of God’s family!
As the people of God, let us unite our hearts in worshipping God.
CHILDREN’S SONG: More Voices #145 Draw The Circle Wide
CENTERING PRAYER
God of all peoples, your arms reach out to embrace all those who call upon you. Teach us as disciples of your Son to love the world with compassion and constancy, that your name may be known throughout the earth, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
A NEW CREED
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.
CHILDREN’S TIME
Have you ever said something, and the second the words leave your mouth you wish you hadn’t said them? I have. Usually it is because I am angry. When I am REALLY angry, it is hard for me to get my brain to work properly and stop my mouth from saying things I will regret. I suppose I could wear duct tape on my mouth, but then how would I eat, drink, talk or yawn? What if I caught a cold and my nose got stuffed up?! I wouldn’t be able to breathe!! Nope, duct tape is out. So, what do I do?
Well, first, I try to stay calm. Getting angry and yelling or saying hurtful things doesn’t help. And, if the words do come out, then I apologize and really work hard at not doing the same thing again. Some days it is easier to stay calm than others.
Also, I pray to God for the strength and wisdom to hear all sides of a story and not get caught up with just one side.
Bottom line, talk to God, take deep breaths, and walk away if you need to so those hurtful words don’t come out! Yet if they do, apologize, ask for forgiveness and work as hard as you can to find better ways to express your feelings. Thankfully, we have a God who is very forgiving, and people who love God who also forgive. Without love and forgiveness, this world would be a sadder place in which to live.
Let us pray: God, help us to speak words that are kind, honest and helpful. Keep us from speaking in anger and regretting our words. Help us to put love in every word we speak so that we honour you and your love for us. Amen.
MISSION AND SERVICE
Larry Chang Centre provides safe space for LGBTQIA2S+ youth.
Our gifts for Mission & Service support partners around the world where being LGBTQIA or Two-Spirit is punishable by death or imprisonment. Here is a story about one of those partners.
In Jamaica, the Larry Chang Centre provides housing to young adults who would otherwise be homeless. The youth shelter provides a safe space and supports mental and physical health and well-being; it also provides access to education and skills training and helps the young people get essential documentation and ID. Outreach to youth at risk is critical, as well as working to increase sensitivity among providers of related health and education services. Church support for the shelter has had a positive impact on the developing ecumenical and public conversation on the importance of dignity, rights, and inclusion.
Your gifts to Mission & Service have made a real contribution in the global work of LGBTQIA and Two-Spirit rights and care for individuals facing oppression, discrimination, and risk because of their sexual orientation.
If Mission & Service giving is already a regular part of your life, thank you so much! If you have not given, please join me in making Mission & Service giving a regular part of your life of faith. Loving our neighbour is at the heart of our Mission & Service.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Draw us close, Holy Spirit, as the Scriptures are read and the Word is proclaimed. Let the word of faith be on our lips and in our hearts, and let all other words slip away. May there be one voice we hear today — the voice of truth and grace. Amen.
Readings and Psalm
First Reading: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
The prophet calls upon Israel to do justice in view of God’s imminent intervention to save. Righteousness and obedience define who belongs to the Israelite community—not race, nationality, or any other category.
1Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
6And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
7these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
8Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.
Psalm 67
R: Let all the peoples praise you, O God.
1May God be merciful to us and bless us; may the light of God’s face shine upon us.
2Let your way be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.
3Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
4Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations on earth. R
5Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
6The earth has brought forth its increase;
God, our own God, has blessed us.
7May God give us blessing, and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe. R
Second Reading: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
God has not rejected Israel. Rather, the call and gifts of God are irrevocable so that, while all have been disobedient, God has mercy upon all.
1I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2aGod has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
29For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
Gospel: Matthew 15:10-28
Jesus teaches his disciples that true purity is a matter of the heart rather than outward religious observances. Almost immediately, this teaching is tested when a woman considered to be a religious outsider approaches him for help.
10 called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
SERMON: (Click here for Video)
HYMN OF THE MONTH: More Voices #98 River Of Tears
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION:
Confident of your care and helped by the Holy Spirit, we pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need.
A brief silence.
Lord, you gather the church to be part of your mission as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. As Jesus acknowledged the great faith of a woman from outside his people, help your church discover and find blessing in the faith of people we might reject.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You have blessed us with the bounty of the earth. Grant your grace to all your creatures, that the earth will flourish. Relieve waters choked by garbage, renew soils stripped of nutrients, and refresh the air all creatures need to live.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You call the nations to be glad and sing for joy. Let your way be known among all the nations of the world, now divided by competing interests, contending alliances, and consumed by enormous worry. Bless us and make your face shine upon all.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
You show unexpected mercy, kindness, and generosity. We pray for those who do not have enough, for outcasts in our villages, cities, and town, and for those who need your healing: Myrtle & Art Ganske; Mike Froese; Brooke Alexiuk; Abbie; Tracy Skoglund; Carolyn & Douglas; Amber; Nicole; Gordon Dreger; Diane Dreger; Debbie & Dwayne; Elizabeth & David.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
In you we live and move and have our being. Grant our congregation grace to find our life refreshed in you. Accompany us in the rhythms of late summer. Give us rest and renewal, and strengthen us for mission in your name.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Your eternal promises are more than we could ever imagine. As you gather all the saints, join us also with them on the great day of your salvation.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
In the certain hope that nothing can separate us from your love, we offer these prayers to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
BENEDICTION:
May God of the welcome table, who unites us and feeds us, empower us to go forth to share God’s neighborly love with all, through Jesus Christ, the giver of abundant life.
Amen.
SENDING SONG: Voices United #337 Blessed Assurance