MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY

ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2025

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

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

Fortunately, God made all varieties of people with a wide variety of interests and abilities. He has called people of every race and color who have been hurt by life in every manner imaginable. Even the scars of past abuse and injury can be the means of bringing healing to another. What wonderful opportunities to make disciples!

~Charles R. Swindoll

Before we worship, we reflect…

In a world where we are constantly being told that we are insufficient—that we do not have enough, know enough, or matter enough—God’s trust in our capacities seems imprudent, even irrational. But notice, Jesus precedes a call to discipleship with a miracle pointing to God’s abundant provision, signaling that we will be given all we need.

Jesus meets us at the shorelines of our own lives, going about our daily work, and calls us to lifelong discipleship. Caught up in God’s abundant grace, and fed out of that bounty, we are commissioned to go catch others.

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 –  https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/liturgy-resources-for-black-history-month-worship

My Lord, what a morning!  You have raised up a mighty nation and a mighty people.

And we are strong, proud, and yours.

My Lord, what a morning!  You have brought us through the dips and hollows, up and down the streets, over the hills and mountains and through the valleys.

And we are strong, proud, brave and yours.

My Lord, this morning, we have come to celebrate you, to affirm ourselves as images of you in all your glory

and to say “Yes, Lord, we are strong, proud, brave, and yours in every way.”   We count it all joy!

GATHERING SONG:  Voices United  509  I The Lord Of Sea And Sky

CENTERING PRAYER –  https://www.churchofengland.org

Compassionate God, who sent Jesus Christ to deliver us from all manner of injustices and inequalities, create in us new hearts and enlarged visions, to see the image of God in every person irrespective of background, race and ethnicity. May we be generous in our love of others as we work towards ending misunderstanding, racism and injustice; creating communities of human flourishing, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

MISSION AND SERVICE

In the rugged hills of India’s Badabasko village, Jaiprakash Paharia, a determined 60-year-old farmer, and his wife, Rami Paharin, have battled against nature’s odds. Their land, stony and dependent on increasingly unpredictable rains, yielded meagre crops of maize, cowpea, pigeon pea, and sorghum each year. Their family had literally hit rock bottom.

Faced with declining harvests, they turned to goat rearing in search of a more sustainable livelihood. Left with no other choice, Jaiprakash invested all he had in what seemed to be a promising venture. However, these efforts were marred by heartbreaking losses. Year after year, diseases claimed up to 20 of their precious goats, threatening their hope for a steady future once again. It was as if they were back at the foot of the hill; they were desperate.

As they were counting their losses, through Mission and Service partner Canadian Foodgrains Bank, member Tearfund Canada brought life-changing support to their village through The Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR).  The project team provided thorough training on livestock management practices and taught about essential deworming and vaccinations to best sustain livestock.

Jaiprakash was skeptical at first about giving these treatments to his goats. However, as he learned how they could safeguard his livestock’s health, he took on these practices graciously and achieved transformative results. For the first time since they had started keeping livestock, their goats remained healthy throughout the season, with zero losses! This newfound stability secured their livelihood and revitalized their hope for the future.

Jaiprakash and his family are endlessly thankful to Tearfund Canada and EFICOR for their radical support. Their training not only improved the health and well-being of their livestock but also equipped them with the tools and understanding to sustain themselves through future adversity.

Thank you for supporting our Mission and Service partners and people around the world, as they walk toward a more sustainable future.

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

Faithful God,  who fulfilled the promises of Easter  by sending us your Holy Spirit,  and made known to every race and nation the way of eternal life;  open our lips by your Spirit,  that every tongue may tell of your glory,  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

READINGS AND PSALM

First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-13

Through a vision in the temple, the eighth-century prophet Isaiah is called by God to announce judgment against Israel. Aware of his sinfulness and shortcomings, Isaiah is initially hesitant. But when God calls, Isaiah responds, “Here am I; send me!”

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” [⁹ And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’

¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.”
¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said:  “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; ¹² until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.

¹³ Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.”  The holy seed is its stump.

Psalm 138

¹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.

² I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your name, because of your steadfast love and faithfulness; for you have glorified your name and your word above all things. 

³ When I called, you answered me; you increased my strength within me.

⁴ All the rulers of the earth will praise you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth.
⁵ They will sing of the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶ The Lord is high, yet cares for the lowly, perceiving the haughty from afar. 

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies; your right hand shall save me.

⁸ You will make good your purpose for me; O Lord, your steadfast love endures forever; do not abandon the works of your hands. 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Paul delivers in a nutshell the story of the gospel that was given to him. In the lineage of the Christian faith, we have received the good news of God’s love from generations of believers before us, and we continue to tell this story to the world.

¹ Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ² through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

³ For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

Jesus’ teaching of God’s word has begun to draw great crowds. For Simon, James, and John, Jesus’ teaching inspires hospitality, then obedience, and then risk. After Jesus’ creative power is revealed, fear and amazement leads these three fishermen to leave everything behind to become apostles.

¹ Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ² he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

HYMN:  Voices United  563  Jesus You Have Come Down To The Lakeshore

SERMON –  Desire Beyond Desire – A Sermon On Luke 5:1-11

Published by Michael K. Marsh on February 10, 2019

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

I am going to begin by giving you a few guideposts that I hope will help you understand and follow where I am going with this sermon.

• First, while today’s gospel is a story about fishing, it is not about fish.
• Second, even though Peter and the others came to the lake to catch fish, there was something else they wanted (even if they didn’t know it).
• Third, this is a story about life and how we live, and by that I do not simply mean what we do.
• Finally, I think this is a story about desire; a desire beyond fish, a desire beyond even Jesus, what we might call a “desire beyond desire.”

Those are my guideposts for you. And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you might be thinking to yourself, “What in the world is he talking about?” That’s a good and legitimate question but stay with me because I am asking you and myself to “put out into the deep water” where we can neither see nor touch the bottom, where we can’t know what might be down there or what might be coming to us from the deep. Peter and the others surely had no idea what would happen when they let down their nets, neither do we.

On the surface it would be easy to hear today’s story as one in which Jesus fulfills the desires of Peter and the others; the desire to catch fish, the desire to be successful, the desire to make a living. I don’t think that’s a correct reading of this story. I don’t think that’s what happened. I think there is more to this than fish, success, and making a living. Here’s why I say that. What did they do with the fish, their success, the money they would have made at the market, once they got back to shore? “They left everything and followed .” They walked away. Those things were not the end of the story but the beginning of the story. Their initial desires took them to the lake but it was a “desire beyond desire” that called them beyond the lake.

We know what that’s like. We’ve experienced that too. You’ve probably had times when you said, “If only I could …” and then fill in the blank with whatever it is you thought would fulfill you; “go here, do this, get that, find the right woman or man, have a child or grandchild, get that job or promotion, buy a new house, be given a particular opportunity.” And then one day you went, you did, you got, and maybe it turned out exactly like you wanted or not at all like you expected, but either way you were left with a yearning, a feeling there was something more, a desire for something else. Hasn’t that happened to you?

That doesn’t mean those things we desired were bad or that we were wrong. It just means that even within those there is a “desire beyond desire.” I can’t really define for you what I mean by that so let me give you three examples.

• I remember graduating from law school and thinking that if I could just pass the bar exam, get a good job, and make partner then I would be set. About six years later I was the newest and youngest partner in that firm. Things were going well and all I wanted to know was, “Is this it? There’s got to be something more than this.”
• My marriage has never been better than it is right now. I can’t imagine how it could get any better or be more complete and at the same time I feel a restlessness, not for someone else, but for more of Cyndy and what we have.
• I have wanted to be a priest since elementary school. I like being a priest and I am happy in this parish. It’s a dream come true, and yet I feel a tugging, a calling, not away from but beyond my priesthood.

Those are just some of my experiences of “desire beyond desire.” You could probably tell of similar experiences, times you felt that deeper desiring, something calling and pulling you.

You and I also know, however, that not every desire comes true, gives us what we want, or leaves us happy. That’s not how life works. You’ve experienced that side of life and so have I. Most of you know that I’ve been divorced. Most of you know that Cyndy’s and my son died about ten years ago. I get it when Peter says, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.” And I’ll bet you do too. It was the “desire beyond desire” that kept me going, that would not allow me to say, “This is it. It’s over. Let’s just wash the nets and go home.”

It was the “desire beyond desire” that let Peter answer Jesus, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” Jesus knew Peter had a deeper desire. Jesus did not magically fill Peter’s nets. He touched Peter’s deeper desire. And that’s what he does for us. We all have that deeper desire.

Jesus also experienced that “desire beyond desire.” I think that’s what he was talking about when he told the disciples, “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (John 4:32). It’s what was going on when “he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). It was what he was seeking in the Garden of Gethsemane when he said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

We want to connect with and be known by something beyond what we can acquire, gain, or accomplish for ourselves. We want meaning and fullness in our lives. We want our lives to matter and count for something. We want to feel alive. We want to be whole and complete. We want to experience and live in the good, the true, the beautiful. We want life abundant. Isn’t that how you want to live and what you want for yourself and those you love? That’s our “desire beyond desire.” Jesus is not our “desire beyond desire.” He is the voice and the calling of our “desire beyond desire.” He points to, guides, and accompanies us to our “desire beyond desire.” He is continually wooing us into our “desire beyond desire.”

What if those places in which we feel stuck, frustrated, empty, restless, disappointed, as if we’ve missed the boat, are the deep waters into which we are to let down our nets? Jesus did not let Peter and the others run away from their exhaustion, their disappointment, their empty nets. He sent them back to the deep water to let down their nets for a catch and they “were amazed at the catch of fish,” “so many fish that there nets were beginning to break.”

Are you exhausted and frustrated with your life? Good. You’re hearing the “desire beyond desire” calling you. Do you feel unfulfilled and restless? Congratulations. You’ve recognized that there is something more. Do you feel stuck and like you’ve missed the boat? Great. That’s another chance to “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Do you feel amazed at and blessed by your life, and wonder how it could ever get any better? Perfect. That’s an invitation to “desire beyond desire.”

So instead of washing the nets and going home let’s open our eyes, our ears, our hearts to the deep waters of life. Let’s be attentive to what lies below the surface. Let’s make ourselves open and available to the “desire beyond desire.” It is always unfolding before us and it is never just one thing. It comes to us in a thousand different ways. It changes throughout the seasons and circumstances of our lives.

That “desire beyond desire” is why we still cast our nets even after a night of having caught nothing. It’s why we struggle to do the right thing and to live with integrity. It’s why we forgive and make amends. It’s why we speak for justice and the dignity of every human being. It’s why we open our hearts and risk loving. It’s why we get up each morning and “put out into the deep water.”

I don’t know what this “desire beyond desire” is for you. And I don’t know what form or shape it might take for me. But I know this. There is always something coming to us in what we desire, something more than what we know or can name as our desire, something that will stir the pot of our present desire and take us beyond our usual fishing grounds. That something is our “desire beyond desire.” And it’s happening in your life and my life.

Every day something new is coming to us. And we better be ready. That’s not a threat. That’s about the promise of new life, the gift contained in our “desire beyond desire.” Let’s not miss it. Let’s stay awake and alert, expectant and hopeful. I don’t want to miss it and I don’t want you to either. Let’s “put out into the deep water” of our lives and “let down nets for a catch.”

What do you say? All aboard!?[1]

This sermon was inspired by John Captuo’s writing on “desire beyond desire” in The Insistence of God, A Theology of Perhaps (Bloomington, IN.: Indiana University Press, 2013), 82-85.

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 surprising abundance, you call your people to enter deeply into the world. Equip us to respond to your call, gather up what we have, and offer it to all. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

God of creation, provide protection from the elements and other hazards to all whose work brings them outside: for fishers, ranchers, line workers, and construction crews. Guide us to live carefully alongside the wonders of the land and waters. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Open the hearts of all leaders, especially those who serve in the armed forces, that they respond to their commission with wisdom and patience. Ensure that all who serve are kept safe in body, mind, and spirit. We pray for an end to all war and armed conflict. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Fill with your compassionate presence all who are suffering from addiction, mental illness, injury, or illness of any kind. Draw helpers to their side so that they find relief from their burdens. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Call our faith communities to do marvelous things. Bless the labor and efforts of this congregation, that we may be a sign of your presence in the world. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

We thank you for those who have courageously gone before us in the faith. May we too show a deep trust in you throughout our lives. 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 612  There Is A Balm In Gilead

BENEDICTION

Today is all we have.  We will rejoice, we will be renewed and we will learn from the past, cherish today, and welcome the future because you have given us a powerful and sacred history.  We will teach and learn, speak and listen, and grow strong every day of every month.   Amen.

Copyright © 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS011617.

© 2011 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncsa/2.5/ca.

[1] https://interruptingthesilence.com/2019/02/10/desire-beyond-desire-a-sermon-on-luke-51-11/