June 14, 2020 Service

ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020

SECOND 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.

BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…

Moses tells the Israelites that they are called to be a priestly kingdom and a holy people. Jesus sends out the disciples as laborers into the harvest. In baptism we too are anointed for ministry, sharing God’s compassion with our needy world. From the Lord’s table we go forth to proclaim the good news, to heal the sick, and to share our bread with the hungry.

Call to Worship

Come, let us walk together in the presence of God.

Let us praise God who listens, and who loves us, who protects us and forgives us, and sends us forth to serve.

Come, let us worship God together.

GATHERING SONG: Voices United #264: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

CENTERING PRAYER

God of compassion, you have opened the way for us and brought us to yourself. Pour your love into our hearts, that, overflowing with joy, we may freely share the blessings of your realm and faithfully proclaim the good news of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

CHILDREN’S TIME

Do you have crayons in your house? More to the point, do you have a container of crayons that are “misfits”? Crayons that have broken, are too small, too hard to hold, or the wax doesn’t stick well to the paper and blobs instead. Do you have such a container of misfit crayons and don’t know what to do with them? Well then, have I got good news for you!

Think of those misfit crayons as the people of God. We have different colours and shades of skin, some of us are taller, wider or more intense than others. Still, we are all God’s children and all are deserving of love, kindness and respect. Some of us are broken – perhaps some people were abused as children, or as adults by their partner; maybe the family was poor and so the person is undernourished; maybe a person struggles with a disease; there are people who have become addicts; some are homeless. Whatever the situation, we are all in the container that is labeled “God’s children”!

What do you do with these misfit crayons? True, some people throw them away. My sisters and I, however, had a purpose for those misfits. We made candles! Oh, never try making candles without your parents present! Kelly, Carrie and I used to melt paraffin wax, which is clear, and then we would add the bits of crayon into the mold and once the candle was solid, we would pull it out of the mold and have beautiful, multicoloured candles!! Suddenly, those misfit crayons became part of something beautiful and practical – a light in the darkness!

God does the same thing with people. God will take those whom others call “misfits”, and use them to share the love of Jesus with others! EVERYONE is important to God. The problems come when we try to tell God how to think. If God loves and accepts everyone, who are we to tell God not to do that?!

Instead of throwing away those misfit crayons, try to find another use for them, or give them to someone who makes candles. Either way, finding another purpose for those misfits reminds us that we are all in God’s crayon box, so to speak, and each of us is loved, has a purpose, and is deserving of kindness and respect.

Thank you, God, for making us all different, so that the world is a more wonderful, colourful and interesting place! Amen.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Gracious God, give us humble, teachable and obedient hearts, that we may receive what you have revealed, and do what you have commanded. Amen.

Readings and Psalm

First Reading: Exodus 19:2-8a

At Sinai God assured Israel, “You shall be my treasured possession,” and commissioned them to serve as mediating priests for the nations. The people commit themselves completely to God’s will.

Psalm 100

We are God’s people and the sheep of God’s pasture. (Ps. 100:3)

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-8

We are no longer God’s enemies but have peace with God because we were brought into a right relationship with God through Christ’s death.

Gospel: Matthew 9:35–10:8-23

The mission of Jesus’ followers is to continue the mission of Jesus himself. Here, he instructs his first disciples as to how they might proclaim the gospel through their words and deeds.

SERMON:

Human beings are a strange breed. A fearful breed. We are afraid of just about everything: loneliness, poverty, love, fear, pain – especially pain – death; the list goes on and on. So, in order to protect ourselves, we invent cure-alls. What is a cure-all? They come in many forms and shapes. For example, in young children’s cure-alls, we have the night light. Children are often afraid of the dark. In order to help cure their fear of the dark we give them a little light. Not bright enough to disturb their sleep, just enough to chase away the monsters.

As children get older, parents try to protect them from getting sick. They are afraid that their children may catch something. In my parents’ generation some parents gave their children a variety of cure-alls, including cod liver oil, to strengthen the immune system and fend off viruses.

As children become young adults, they are afraid that their bodies are not as healthy as they should be. Some teenagers and university students take a cure-all called vitamins, to make up the depleted nutrients in their body, or the unhealthy cure-all, an energy drink, to keep them awake and moving due to their erratic and driven life-styles.

Adults are the worst members of the human race for being afraid and the number of cure-alls they have is impressive – but not in a good way!

As I mentioned before, pain is the most feared among humans–next to death–and so in order to arm themselves against it, adults possess massive amounts of cure-alls with names such as:

ASA, ibuprofen, oxycontin, morphine: the cure-alls that eliminate pain

Antihistamines or homemade chicken soup: the cure-all for colds

Alcohol: that numbs the pain of the world

to name a few.

The sad part about all these cure-alls is that they don’t cure all. You may take an aspirin for pain, but when the aspirin wears off, the pain returns. But then, you never really got rid of the pain, you just suppressed it for a while. You may drink alcohol to overcome your fears and make you feel better, or to help you cope, but when the effect wears off, the pain and loneliness come back. But then, they were never really gone, just suppressed.

If you read the labels of the cure-alls, you will discover that cure-alls state that they don’t cure all. They don’t really promise to cure anything. They just suppress for a while. And then you have to take them again and again and again.

However, today is your lucky day. I have here the ultimate in cure-alls. What makes this cure-all the ultimate of all cure-alls? The difference is that this cure-all has a promise attached to it. This cure-all is so unique there isn’t another one like it. This cure-all is—a glass of water? Ah, but that isn’t the cure-all. The cure is not what you see, but what you don’t see. For instance, what you see is a glass of water. It doesn’t do much except quench your thirst and keep you alive. Yet, if you take this water and pour it into a baptismal font, for example, and connect this water with God’s Word, this mere glass of water becomes the ultimate cure-all.

But wait. I hear some of you thinking, “You said that a cure-all doesn’t cure all. That it just suppresses pain and suffering, it doesn’t cure it.” You’re right. So, when this water is poured into a baptismal font, and the words Christ commanded us to say are spoken, we are not “cured”, we are baptized. It becomes a sacrament, not a cure-all.

Unfortunately, there are some who believe that being a Christian means that you will not suffer the pain of the world any more, or that all you have to do is pray and you will be healed of your physical ailments, and if that doesn’t happen, well, then you just don’t have enough faith! It’s all YOUR fault!!! Perhaps these people need to re-read the story of the man born blind, and learn how Jesus responded to the question, “Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Notice the instructions Jesus gives the disciples and how it connects with his own way of doing ministry. FIRST, go out and proclaim the good news, ‘the realm of heaven has come near’, or in other words, “the presence of Christ is with you in me. Know then that you are not alone. Repent and renew your relationship with God!” THEN, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons. The point being that the Word is often more important than the healing, for faith continues throughout a person’s life, whereas healings are often temporary, until the next ailment comes along. Jesus knew the power of faith in helping people overcome pain and suffering. Notice, too, whom he sends out to do the healing–a group of rough and inexperienced fishermen; one of whom, Matthew, has the unfortunate stigma of having been a tax collector, the other, Judas Iscariot, who gained the everlasting reputation of being the one who betrayed Jesus. And yet, knowing this, Jesus gave them the command and the power to heal others. One does not necessarily need formal training to help heal others. There are times when even the most experienced of healers will throw education to the wind and fly on the wings of the Spirit. When in doubt, trust in God to guide you. You see, faith comes first, for without it, one cannot begin to help others heal or believe. Therefore, proclaim the good news first. Declare the presence of God, first, and then healing will begin.

Baptism is not a cure-all. It does promise us the gift of faith, forgiveness and being part of the body of Christ for life. It promises that no matter what happens, God is with us in others so that we do not have to suffer alone. It promises that when we ask for the strength to endure our pain and suffering, or we ask for the courage to face our fears and all that keeps us from wholeness and healing, that it will be granted. Baptism fills us with the power to proclaim the good news! This proclamation of the Word, in and of itself, will heal and give wholeness. Amen.