ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER / ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH 2 / CHRISTIAN FAMILY SUNDAY
Due to copyright 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.
Selections of our worship service this week are taken from Worship Resources for the Centennial Anniversary of the March 1st Independence Movement (1919) in Korea and Kin To One Another, a worship service celebrating Christian Family Sunday.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
I feel like we need to be aware of the ways we use and misuse religious dogma: whether it takes us deeper into love and inclusion or it separates us.
~Sue Monk Kidd
BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…
We use visible and invisible boundaries to determine who is part of a group and who is not. Boundaries provide protection and a sense of security, but they can also cause distrust and discrimination. When a boundary is crossed, it is often surprising and overwhelming to the person doing the crossing, the people witnessing the crossing, or both. In today’s reading from Acts, the Holy Spirit crosses—actually breaks—a boundary that defined the early church. The Spirit’s gracious action astounds the believers, who see that “the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles” (Acts 10:45). As we draw closer to Pentecost, name the ways that the Holy Spirit has surprised you and/or your congregation during our time of physical distancing.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Creator, parent of the human family,
we gather to worship you.
In baptism, we are called beloved children of God, as such,
we gather to worship you.
Friends, neighbours, siblings in faith,
we gather to worship in song, in prayer, in readings from your story/our story, in thoughts and reflections. Let us worship God.
CHILDREN’S SONG All God’s Critters Got A Place In The Choir
CENTERING PRAYER
Loving God, we gather to celebrate your presence in our history, your peace in our community, and your love in our lives. We also celebrate the sacrifice for the nation, the courage and wisdom for the oppressed, and the resistance against the tyranny. As we enter into this time of worship, let us feel your light and your truth guiding us into your justice and hope. Thanks be to God. 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 CHAT
It started with a bowl of homemade mango salsa! I was invited to my friend Sandy’s house for lunch. Before I left after our visit, she gave me a bowl of her salsa. It was very good.
The next time I went to visit, I prepared a steak dish, filled her bowl and gave it back to her. The love and food fest was on!
I was invited to Sandy’s for lunch. She had made homemade French Canadian pea soup! I LOVE French Canadian pea soup! I left with a container of soup for my supper. The next time I go to visit, I will make something and bring her some in her bowl. That is what friends and family do – they share. They make the effort of doing acts of kindness for each other. They don’t have to do these things, they do them out of love.
Today is Mother’s Day. Families celebrate moms today. But what if, like me, someone’s mom has died? Then what does one do? Well, I will phone my mom’s sister, my aunt Ruth, and wish her a “Happy mothering aunt day!”
What about moms whose children have died? Then what does one do? Well, my friend, Carolyn, several years ago, had both her sons die within a year of each other. She feels sad every Mother’s Day. So, I call her, get her to tell me her memories of her sons, let her cry if she needs to, yell if she needs to, and remind her that she is still a mother and a grandmother, and her love still needs to be shared. That is what I do for my friend, out of love.
Jesus has said we must love one another. Perhaps, on this Mother’s Day, we can think up some creative ways to show love to others – family, friends, neighbours. How much more beautiful would the world be if everyone did that! We won’t know until we try.
MISSION AND SERVICE
MAKE MOTHER’S DAY MORE MEANINGFUL, INCLUSIVE AND COMPASSIONATE
Are you a mother who wants to make a difference? Is there a mother or someone like a mother you want to honour? Do you know people who have lost mothers or mothers who have lost a child? Does anyone you know find Mother’s Day hard? Are there people in your life whose untraditional family unit deserves recognition and celebration?
This Mother’s Day, Mission & Service is providing a special opportunity to not only help families in need but also reach out to honour and support our loved ones.
Make a special Mission & Service gift this Mother’s Day/Christian Family Sunday. Your gift will help families in need at home and abroad, supporting things like prenatal and parenting classes, respite care for families with children, medical clinics for babies and mothers, safe shelter, and education for children.
At the same time, when you make a gift online, you can do even more good by sending any number of free e-cards. The cards say things like “Mother’s Day can be so hard. I made a gift to support families in need as I thought about you today. I hope knowing you inspire me to make a difference is a comfort” and “The world needs all kinds of families! You are a blessing!” If you are giving offline, feel free to borrow the wording for print cards. Don’t forget to credit your congregation when you make a gift!
“Mother’s Day is a time when we celebrate mothers. Which is awesome, but not for everyone. For some, the holiday can be a sad or challenging time. We want to do more good by helping families in need and make the holiday itself more inclusive and compassionate,” says Sarah Charters, Acting Director of Philanthropy.
Charters is encouraging her family to make a gift instead of giving her the usual chocolate and flowers. And she’s honouring her mother by making a donation.
“Imagine if the church came together to give life-changing gifts, pray, and provide pastoral care and encouragement at the same time,” she says. “What an amazing difference!”
You can help make Mother’s Day more meaningful, inclusive, and compassionate. Make a gift and send a card today! Your support changes lives!
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
O God of story, in the beginning you created humankind. The Bible contains your story of love and encouragement and challenge, to your creation, to your children, and to us. Today, may our hearts and minds be open to hear what your Spirit is saying to us, we pray. Amen.
Readings and Psalm
First Reading: Acts 10:44-48
While Peter shares the good news of Jesus with a Gentile soldier and his family, the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Recognizing that the Spirit works inclusively in the lives of both Jews and Gentiles, Peter commands that these Gentiles also be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
Psalm 98
Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands. (Ps. 98:4)
1Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done marvelous things,
whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.
2O Lord, you have made known your victory,
you have revealed your righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3You remember your steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
4Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing. R
5Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the voice of song.
6With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy before the king, the Lord.
7Let the sea roar, and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell therein.
8Let the rivers clap their hands,
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord, who comes to judge the earth.
9The Lord will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity. R
- Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6
God’s children believe that Jesus is the Messiah and love God by keeping God’s commandments. Thus the world is conquered not through military might but through love and faith.
1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey God’s commandments. 3For the love of God is this, that we obey God’s commandments. And God’s commandments are not burdensome, 4for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
- Gospel: John 15:9-17
On the night of his arrest, Jesus delivers a final testimony to his disciples to help them in the days ahead. Here, he repeats the most important of all his commands, that they love one another.
9“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
SERMON:
What is happiness, exactly? When do we know we’ve found it? Perhaps happiness is the by-product of worthy activities. Perhaps happiness is the feeling you get from a job well done, or from achieving a goal, or from being honest and trustworthy, or from helping someone out. In this sense, happiness is less a commodity to be pursued and possessed than it is a by-product of noble efforts or, even more, simply a gift to be received.
I think the same is true – perhaps even more so – when it comes to joy, the close cousin of happiness that Jesus talks about in today’s reading. One of the helpful mantras of the yoga world is the invitation and imperative to “choose joy.” I regularly remind myself of just how many times I actually do indeed have a choice about how I view something, react to something, focus on one thing or another, knowing that each of these things can be an instance of “choosing joy” over frustration, anger, hopelessness, and more.
At the same time, and in light of Jesus’ teaching here, it seems like joy is also beyond our choosing and comes to us, often unawares, as sheer gift. Jesus commands his disciples to remain and abide in him and his love for them. True enough. But he also just plain loves them…enough to give his life for them. Moreover, he is pretty clear that, whatever they may have thought, they didn’t actually choose him, or decide to follow him, or consciously become his disciples. Rather, he chose them. He chose them.
Which will be critically important to the disciples in the hours to come. Keep in mind that this conversation takes place on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion. In just a few hours he will be arrested, tried, convicted, and executed as an enemy of the state. He endures all of this in order to demonstrate the love he has for his disciples and, indeed, the profound love God has for the whole world. But that action will not only witness to Jesus’ love for the disciples, it will also leave them feeling bereft, alone, and frightened. Which is why Jesus both urges them to abide in him and reminds them that what is more important is that they know he will abide in them. That is why he tells them that they did not choose him; rather, he chose them.
This matters, I think, because if it’s finally up to us – to choose Jesus, to remain in him, to obey his commandments, to pursue happiness, or to choose joy, then we are lost. We simply don’t do it. Maybe we can’t. We can try, and there is something valiant and noble and important about trying. But when push comes to shove, whether you’re telling someone to “accept Jesus” or “choose joy,” you may be giving good advice, but you’re not proclaiming the Gospel.
So this week, just proclaim the Gospel. The good news that God chose us. That God loves us. That God plans to use us to make this world God loves a better place. That can be hard to remember, especially in the midst of a pandemic, financial and food instability, a struggling economy, racial and gender tensions, in short, in the midst of a scared, hurting and broken world.
Not that God’s choosing us is going to suddenly make everything perfect! Rather, knowing that God has chosen us, loves us, and will use us gives us the courage to face the challenges and renews our strength to do something about them. Ultimately, we cannot fix, let alone redeem, this world. That’s why that is God’s work. Yet knowing that God has promised to do so can provide us with the strength and energy to work to make the little corner of the world in which we live a better place.
When someone asked church reformer, Martin Luther, what he would do if the world were going to end tomorrow, he replied that he would plant a tree today. The future is God’s, a gift given, like joy, to God’s beloved children. Let us live this week in that word and promise so that, while we are invited to abide and obey and choose and all of that is certainly good advice, we also hear and receive the good news that God has chosen us…once and for all. Amen.
HYMN OF THE MONTH MV 40 Never Ending Joy
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Our faith blesses us with stories of others who have sought to live in life-giving relationships. As we remember these siblings in faith, remind us of your guidance and presence with us. Let us pray—
God of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; God of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus; God of siblings who cared for one another, offered support and challenge, celebrated together, worked together, argued together, and grieved together. We are thankful for their witness. As they have done may we also seek to live in life-giving relationships with those we would name as siblings.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of Eli, Hannah, and Samuel, cross-generational colleagues, mentors, and trusted leaders in faith, remind us of the opportunities we have to nurture and care, mentor and discern with one another in this faith community. May we embrace the trust that is offered and shared with respect, care, and humility.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of Ruth and Naomi, who embraced each other despite differences of race and cultural traditions and chose to be family for one another. For all who choose to be family, may your love and hope be sustained day by day.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of Simon and Andrew and James and John, who left the familiar to build new community with Jesus and his followers. Though faithful, they had moments of doubt, of fear, of denial. In our moments of doubt, fear, and denial, may we remember to trust and to take one step at a time.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of Hagar, Abraham, and Ishmael; God of Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac; God of the complicated, and the jealous, and the broken, remind us that this too is real and that you walk with us through these troubling times.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of Mary and John, called to relationships that stretch beyond blood, to care for one another. You invite us too to reach out in welcome, support, and care for one another.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
Family by blood, family by choice, family by faith – we pray for them all: Lil Schieman, Larry McCrady, Mike Froese, Brooke Alexiuk, Dwayne, Tracy Skoglund, Matthew Grossman, Lorraine & Walter Pokrant.
Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
God of the past, God of the present, God of tomorrow, help us to live in relationships that seek justice, love kindness, and ground ourselves in your love for us. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SENDING SONG WOV 795 O Sing To The Lord
BENEDICTION
Go into the world
May we all live as disciples of Jesus so that love is practised.
Go into the world
May we all live as prophets of the Word so that people feel God’s presence.
Go into the world
May we all live as the people who gathered in the square a hundred years ago so that justice and righteousness are overflowing.
Prepared and submitted by the Rev. Hoeun Lee, the Rev. SunDo Hyun, and the Rev. Yongseok Baek.