MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2025
BLACK HISTORY MONTH 1
GLOBAL MISSION SUNDAY
PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD
Due to copyright limitations, we are unable to print the words to many of 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 of one of your favourite hymns and listen for God’s voice. Those who have the internet may find the songs on YouTube.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
In the Bible there are many people who are called to great acts in older age, long after they thought they were even capable. God shows us time and again that age is not the problem, faithfulness of heart is all that matters.
Before we worship, we reflect…
The Presentation of Our Lord is referred to in some corners of the church as Candlemas because of an ancient tradition of blessing all the candles to be used in the church in the coming year at the mass celebrated on that day. It was a way of underscoring the truth of Simeon’s confession that this baby Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” and a light for glory to Israel. Let the light of every candle in church be a little epiphany of the love of God for all people in the person of God’s son, Jesus, the light of the world.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & PRAYER
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Anishininew, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation.
Holy God, Source of Love, you are the Creator of all things. Help us to share justly the resources of this land. Help us to bring about spiritual and social change to improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, especially the disadvantaged. Help young people to find true dignity and self-esteem by your Spirit.
May your power and love be the foundations on which we build our families, our communities and our Nation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
– Wontulp-Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group, 13 March 1997, Brisbane
CALL TO WORSHIP – Jesus in the Village: A Service for Black History Month
Jesus enters our village today to the laughter of our children
The graciousness of our elders
The excitement of our friends
The songs of the choir
He has come to us, to the burdens that we carry,
Bringing the peace that we seek and the hope to which we cling.
Jesus enters our village today,
and we receive him gladly.
GATHERING SONG: Voices United 84 O Radiant Christ, Incarnate Word
CENTERING PRAYER
Almighty and ever-living God, your only-begotten Son was presented this day in the temple. May we be presented to you with clean and pure hearts by the same Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
CANADIAN LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF: Aboud’s Story
WHEN HE WAS ONLY 16, Aboud was imprisoned and tortured for taking part in Syria’s Arab Spring protests. His home in East Aleppo was destroyed, forcing the family to flee to the countryside in order to survive. Aboud ended up fleeing to Lebanon, where he lived as a refugee for nearly a decade.
In December 2020, while working for pennies a day at a chicken farm in rural Lebanon, Aboud was able to connect with Gerry Steinke and his wife Bonnie in Alberta, Canada.
Gerry and Bonnie eagerly share how they were led by the Holy Spirit toward a journey with Aboud and his family. “Our lives changed after meeting Aboud. The miracle of instant messaging and translation apps brought two families together,” says Gerry.
Energized by his contact with the Steinkes, Aboud started preparing his family for the journey of a lifetime. Then began the lengthy process of bringing them all to Canada, first Aboud and then eventually the others. The Steinke’s congregation at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Valleyview, AB, became the sponsoring organization, with the support of CLWR’s Refugee Resettlement team. Members of the church and others in the broader community built strong online relationships with the Syrian family, which resulted in generous contributions towards the trust fund and provision of daily needs. Gerry, Bonnie, and church chairman Henry Krueger even journeyed to Beirut in 2022 to bring the family supplies and give them hope. Aboud eventually arrived in Canada in late 2023.
Aboud enjoys a close bond with his church family. And his family in Syria joins in worship on Sundays by video. Yet, as Lebanon’s situation worsens, he longs for the arrival of his relatives. “I love Canada. This is my home now,” says Aboud. “I have a new loving family and church. I know I am free. God has rescued me.” Yet, as the situation in Lebanon worsens, he longs for the arrival of his relatives.
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.
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: Malachi 3:1-4
This reading concludes a larger section (2:17—3:5) in which the prophet speaks of the coming of the God of justice. Malachi looks for that day when the wondrous power of God will purify the priestly descendents of Levi who minister in the temple at Jerusalem.
1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Psalm 84
1 How dear to me is your dwelling, O Lord of hosts!
2 My soul has a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, by the side of your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.
4 Happy are they who dwell in your house! They will always be praising you.
5 Happy are the people whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.
6 Those who go through the balsam valley will find it a place of springs, for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
7 They will climb from height to height, and the God of gods will be seen in Zion.
8 Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob.
9 Behold our defender, O God; and look upon the face of your anointed.
10 For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is both sun and shield, bestowing grace and glory; no good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk with integrity.
12 O Lord of hosts, happy are they who put their trust in you!
Second Reading: Hebrews 2:14-18
Jesus shared human nature fully so that his death might be for all humans a liberation from slavery to death’s power. Here the writer uses the image of priestly service in the temple as a way of describing the life and saving death of the Lord Jesus. He is the high priest who offers his life on behalf of his brothers and sisters.
14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
Gospel: Luke 2:22-40
This story is a study in contrasts: the infant Jesus with the aged prophets; the joy of birth with the ominous words of Simeon to Mary; the faithful fulfilling of the law with the presentation of the one who will release its hold over us. Through it all, we see the light of God’s salvation revealed to the world.
22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, brought up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.
HYMN: With One Voice 638 Holy Child Within The Manger
SERMON
In St. Luke’s account, it is now forty days after Jesus’ birth. After eight days, Jesus had been circumcised and named in accordance with Jewish law. Now, thirty-two days later, his parents are again performing their duty as pious Jews by returning to the Temple, this time in order to offer a sacrifice and to consecrate their child to the Lord.
They must have been in a solemn mood that day, full of reverence and expectancy, the way many young parents in our congregations feel when their first child is to be baptized. It’s not hard to imagine the quiet procession they must have made to the great Temple, their awe at entering its holy courts, their nervousness as they prepared to sacrifice according to the law.
Nor is it difficult to imagine their reaction as an old man comes forward out of the shadows to scoop up their child into his arms and prophesy about him. Startled at first, perhaps, even a bit frightened by the old man’s ecstatic face, Mary and Joseph yield to him because they sense the Lord’s Spirit upon him. Hearing Simeon’s prophecy, they are reminded of the events of the previous weeks and months when angels and shepherds had intruded into their lives to foretell the greatness of their Son.
How puzzled they must have been, though, at what we now call Simeon’s “song”: “Lord now let your servant go in peace.” The words are familiar to many Lutherans who remember the old red worship book, and the communion settings in the LBW. Some may even know them better as the Nunc Dimittis, Latin for “now send away”. The hymn is sometimes sung after Holy Communion. Simeon’s words also conclude the service of Compline, the order for prayers at the close of the day, and they are regularly said or sung at the end of a funeral. Expressing Simeon’s pious thanksgiving to God for the Christ child and his earnest plea for peace, his song has become one of the most familiar and beautiful hymns of the liturgy.
Listen to the full song: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” Beautiful words, to be sure, but also troubling. Let’s not kid ourselves, when Simeon asks that he be allowed to go, he’s asking to die. And so, I wonder, why does Luke record this strange scene and song. Why would he move from the beauty and light and joy of the nativity straight to Simeon’s morbid request for death? And why must we focus on that request, and therefore on death.
But there it is. Death doesn’t take a holiday, does it? Simeon is an old man. He has tasted love and loss, joy and despair, hope and fear, just like us. And so, he sings of death simply because he can’t help it; because he, like us, lives with it everyday.
There is more here than merely stark realism. St. Luke is clear that Simeon is able to speak of death so honestly only in the light of the coming of the promised messiah, only, that is, by the confidence that in this helpless child God has come to redeem Israel and save all the world.
“Lord,” Simeon, sings, “now you can let your servant go in peace; for your word has been fulfilled.” Simeon perceives that in the Christ-child God has kept God’s promises; that in this babe, set for the rising and fall of many, God has acted once and for all to address the question and specter of death with the promise of life.
I would like to clarify — Simeon does not ask for death; rather, he accepts it courageously and confidently in the light of God’s promised salvation. And he does so, only upon seeing and holding God’s promise in his hands, only after touching and feeling the promise of life which God granted to him through Christ… and which God grants also to us.
This, then, is why we, in the old Lutheran worship book, and in many congregations today, would sing Simeon’s song after receiving Holy Communion. For at the table, in the meal, we too, like Simeon, not only hear, but also see, touch, and feel the promise of life God makes to us. And after receiving this promise from God in the bread and wine, we too are propelled to confident and courageous lives even in a world so marked by death and loss. This explains, too, why we sing Simeon’s Song in the evening and at funerals, for as darkness overtakes the world, be it the darkness of evening or death, we commend ourselves, all of our lives, and our loved ones to the God made known through the manger and cross, the God who has promised us life eternal in Holy Baptism. Anchored by this promise we can go to our night’s rest in confidence and entrust even our beloved to the God we know in Jesus.
We continue singing Simeon’s song, all these many years after the events St. Luke records, simply because it tells of God’s great love for us, a love that even death cannot destroy. For, like Simeon, we also need to hear and see and touch and feel God’s promise, the promise that God will be with us and for us forever, the promise announced in the birth of that innocent babe.
So why do we sing about death just over a month after our Christmas celebration of life? So that by naming death it may no long terrify or diminish us, as with the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, we need no longer fear…anything. For in the birth of the Christ-child so long ago, and now whenever we gather around word and meal, we too have seen and heard, tasted and felt, God’s steadfast and tenacious commitment to be both with us and for us…forever! Amen.
HYMN OF THE MONTH: Voices United 354 In Old Galilee When Sweet Breezes Blew
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
With the Spirit of Christ shining upon us, let us boldly pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.
God of generations, you instilled in Anna and Simeon faith, dreams, and the welcome of a child. Bless elders who embody faith and hope; bless the newly baptized. Energize us to share faith from generation to generation. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of creation, in you the sparrow finds a home and we find lush valleys and living water. Bless the birds of the air, the animals of the valley, and renew our stewardship of this bountiful creation. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of the nations, strengthen our resolve to care for all children and strive for peace among nations. Refine our nation where we have failed to root out racism, especially as we honor Black History Month, and guide us in truth-telling and reconciliation. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of hope, many long to see your presence revealed amid challenging circumstances. We hold in prayer all longing for sustainable housing, secure employment, access to medical care, and health and wellness. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of the people, you are made known in caring ministries. Bless those who serve as communion servers, homebound visitors, baptismal sponsors, confirmation mentors, and as prayer support. Reveal yourself in the neighborly care we give and receive. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
God of life, we thank you for Jesus’ life and for his death that has destroyed death. We remember the dearly departed, as they dwell with you in your holy courts now and forever. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
We entrust our prayers to you, O God, in the sure and certain hope that your promise is revealed among the people. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
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, forever and ever. Amen.
SENDING SONG: Voices United 903 Song of Simeon
BENEDICTION
The Spirit of the triune God ☩ bless you with joy, anoint you with compassion, and send you in love. Amen.