ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2022
REFORMATION SUNDAY
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 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
Reformation ends not in contemplation, but in action.
~George Gillespie
BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…
Lutheran reflections on God’s grace sometimes focus so intently on the God-human relationship that creation fades into the background, like mere scenery for a bigger drama. Yet if we lose sight of creation, do we diminish our capacity to know the truth and so to be set free? The truth is, all creation is called into being and held in life by God’s grace. The truth is, human beings are one part of the six-day creation story God calls good from beginning to end. The truth is, human beings are given the blessed charge of stewardship. The truth is, in sin we neglect this sacred trust. The truth is, Jesus desires to restore us to loving communion with God, one another, and all creation. We will know the truth, and the truth will set us free.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Creator, thank you for your truth and wisdom, and for inviting us to travel the healing path with you; we offer you our hearts and minds so that we might embody your grace and share your blessings with all who live upon the earth. Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP
In the midst of storm and chaos, God is with us.
Let us rejoice!
In a world of violence and fear, God shatters spears and brings peace.
Let us rejoice!
The God of our ancestors will never abandon us. Be still, and know that God is here.
Let us rejoice!
Let us worship God.
Come, let us worship God, giving thanks for the abundance of our lives.
CHILDREN’S SONG: The Church Song
CENTERING PRAYER
Gracious God, we pray for your holy catholic church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 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
I have been wearing glasses since I was 4 years old. My eyesight was so bad, and the lenses so thick, that I had to wear a strap around my head to keep my glasses from flipping off my face! When someone who had good eyesight held up my glasses, it was like looking through a magnifying glass!
Without my glasses, my left eye would turn in and I would see two of everything. The closer something was to my face, the blurrier it became. My glasses allowed me a better way of seeing!
God also offers us a new way of seeing, a better way of seeing. No, God isn’t going to start handing out eye glasses! Rather, God wants us to look at each person we meet as if Jesus was standing in front of us. We are to look for Jesus in each person. When we look in the mirror, we are to look for Jesus in us! Everything has been created by God. When you look around you, remind yourself that “God has touched this flower.” “God has touched the sky.” “God has hugged this person!” “God has hugged me!” It will help you to see in a new way, a better way.
MINUTE FOR MISSION: Falling In Love With Earth
An awakening. That’s how Sarah Arthurs describes what she experienced just before she came up with the idea for “Green Exodus”—gatherings of people who find themselves falling deeply in love with Earth and want to help it flourish.
“Back in 2008, partly due to the influence of former Moderator the Very Reverend Bill Phipps, my family and I moved into Prairie Sky Cohousing Cooperative to maintain a smaller footprint on the earth,” explains Arthurs. She figured that with that, she had done her part.
“With the move, it was as if I said to the Earth, ‘Don’t call me—I’ll call you,’” she says. Then, in 2019, she read articles in The Tyee magazine by William Rees, originator of the carbon footprint model. “He described how technology was not going to save us from the destruction of climate change, and it was as if the Earth came calling! I was left with new awareness and big questions,” she says. Those questions evolved into the idea for Green Exodus gatherings.
With help from an Embracing the Spirit grant supported through your Mission & Service gifts, the support of EDGE Network, and an advisory team,* Green Exodus meetings were born.
Throughout the pandemic, the group met online to explore the spiritual questions raised by climate change and the theologies and spiritual practices that were emerging as a result.
“We used various practices to realign our relationship with Earth. Things like meditation, poetry, contemplative photography, deep time walk, community conversations and hospitality,” she says, adding, “Tony Snow guided us in attention to land acknowledgment and the four elements (Fire, Air, Water, and Earth) as a way to ground ourselves in the Earth.”
Some of the practices used are highlighted on the website GreenExodus.ca. A key probing question runs through all of them: How can we be good soil for the love of Earth?
“You can only see as sacred what you love. You can only save what you love. We need to practise falling in love with Earth again,” says Arthurs.
Your gifts through Mission & Service support unique, transformative ministries like Green Exodus. Thank you for your generosity.
*Tony Snow, Indigenous Lead for Chinook Winds Regional Council; Beth Lorimer, Ecological Justice Program Coordinator at KAIROS; and Greg Wooley, minister of Ralph Connor Memorial United Church
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Merciful God, teach us to be faithful in change and uncertainty, that trusting in your word and obeying your will, we may enter the unfailing joy of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
The renewed covenant will not be breakable, but like the old covenant it will expect the people to live upright lives. To know the Lord means that one will defend the cause of the poor and needy (Jer. 22:16). The renewed covenant is possible only because the Lord will forgive iniquity and not remember sin. Our hope lies in a God who forgets.
31The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm 46
R: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. (Ps. 46:7)
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved,
and though the mountains shake in the depths of the sea;
3though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be shaken; God shall help it at the break of day.
6The nations rage, and the kingdoms shake; God speaks, and the earth melts away. R
7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
8Come now, regard the works of the Lord, what desolations God has brought upon the earth;
9behold the one who makes war to cease in all the world;
who breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire.
10“Be still, then, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”
11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. R
Second Reading: Romans 3:19-28
Paul’s words stand at the heart of the preaching of Martin Luther and other Reformation leaders. No human beings make themselves right with God through works of the law. We are brought into a right relationship with God through the divine activity centered in Christ’s death. This act is a gift of grace that liberates us from sin and empowers our faith in Jesus Christ.
19Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
27Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.
Gospel: John 8:31-36
Jesus speaks of truth and freedom as spiritual realities known through his word. He reveals the truth that sets people free from sin.
31Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
HYMN: VU 601 The Church Of Christ In Every Age (alt. tune)
SERMON:
The book of Jeremiah is dominated by doom and gloom, condemning the people of Judah for their great sin and announcing the imminent destruction of the nation and the exile to Babylon that would come in 587 BCE.
In the midst of this dark valley of despair and judgment in the book of Jeremiah, however, are a series of promise oracles. They offer promises of hope, comfort and restoration. They proclaim that after the judgment of exile is over, God will indeed bring God’s people back to the land of Judah and restore them as a new and faithful people once again. The new covenant passage from Jeremiah 31:31-34 is key for the new future that only God can create. “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah”.
God promises that this new covenant “will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors”. The old covenant was the one made on Mount Sinai after God had led the people out of the slavery of Egypt. Its basis was the Law, the Ten Commandments written on stone, which parents were to teach diligently to their children. Some features of the old will remain. God will continue to be the initiator of the covenant rooted in God’s gracious action on behalf of the people. The Law will remain as the norm for living as God’s people. The goal will be the same: to love God and to love neighbor as God’s chosen people in the world.
What then is new about the “new” covenant? First, the new covenant involves a surgical procedure, re-writing the human heart. The biblical understanding of the “heart” is that it is the center of human intellect and will, knowing what is right and having the desire to do it. Under the old covenant, the Ten Commandments were written on tablets of stone and posted for all to see.
The trouble with such external guidelines is our old heart’s desire to resist them as outside interference and imposition upon our own internal yearnings to go our own way. The old heart, Jeremiah proclaimed, is deeply engraved with an evil inclination to rebel against God and God’s law: “the sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of the heart”.
Jeremiah promises that God will replace this deeply engraved sinful heart with a new heart engraved with God’s law, written in God’s own handwriting. People will obey not because they are supposed to obey but because they naturally want to obey. Obedience will become habitual and second-nature. We will love God and neighbor because we willingly choose to do so
In the new covenant is the elimination of religious education: “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, . . . says the LORD”. The old covenant stressed one person teaching the faith to another. The new covenant stresses God’s action in getting inside our hearts and reprogramming our words, actions, habits and feelings to conform naturally to become the faithful servants of God we were created to be.
Of course, we still have religious education programs in our congregations. The church remains a people on the way but not yet fully there. But one day we will not need human teachers to mediate God’s growth. In the interim, however, we require creative and energetic teachers and preachers to be instruments of God’s work.
In God’s new covenant is a generous forgiveness that wipes the slate of the past totally clean. From the least to the greatest, “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more”. We often place tight limits on forgiveness, just as Peter asked Jesus how many times we forgive those who wrong us–“seven times?” Jesus, reflecting a new covenant kind of forgiveness corrected Peter, “No. Seventy times seven”. This forgiveness is generous and extended to all, from the wretched and despised to the great and the honored.
In the Christian tradition, Jeremiah’s new covenant becomes the basis for naming the second part of the Christian canon as the “New Testament” or “New Covenant.” However, the most powerful actualization of Jeremiah 31 is in the person of Jesus and in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus eats the old Passover meal and re-creates it into a new covenant meal. Jesus lifts the Passover cup of wine and proclaims on the eve of his death and eventual resurrection: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins”. The sacramental meal internalizes the body and blood of Christ into our hearts and bodies, breaks down barriers, levels the field as all are welcomed, and offers forgiveness even to those disciples who betray, deny or abandon Jesus when he most needs them.
Although we confess that Jesus fulfilled the new covenant in his life and ministry, the promise of the new covenant has not been fully realized in us. We continue to wrestle with our old sinful hearts. We still need our teachers and preachers. We struggle to distribute forgiveness beyond our small and limited doses. Jeremiah’s new covenant remains a hope, but it is a hope that is underway and a hope that is certain to arrive fully in God’s good future. Amen.
HYMN: VU 217 All Creatures Of Our God And King
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
In gratitude and humility, let us join together in prayer on behalf of all of God’s creation.
God our fortress, we pray for the church. Write your law of love on the hearts of your people, that we remain steadfast in our witness to your grace. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God our liberator, we pray for your earth. Bring new life to overused land and contaminated rivers. Reform and reorient our relationship with the environment, that we faithfully care for all of your creation. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God, our refuge and strength, we pray for the nations. Where they are in an uproar, bring wise leadership and comfort for those in distress. Make wars to cease and peace to enter every land. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God, our very present help in trouble, we pray for those in need. Show mercy to refugees and all fleeing from danger. Shelter any without homes. Calm all who are facing illness, surgery, or a new diagnosis. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God our redeemer, we pray for our congregation. Bless all who are preparing for baptism or affirmation of baptism. Open their hearts to your Holy Spirit, teach them your word, and give them courage to proclaim their faith. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
God our stronghold, we give thanks for those who have gone before us in faith, especially Martin Luther and all reformers. Renew and reform us as we strive to continue in your word. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
With grateful hearts we commend our spoken and silent prayers to you, O God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SENDING SONG: VU 262 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
BENEDICTION – words attributed to John Wesley
Go out into the world, living in the light of Christ!
By the power of the Spirit do all the good you can,
by all the means you can, in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can, at all the times you can,
to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
In the name of Christ. Amen.