WEEKLY MESSAGE Nov. 28, 2021                                                                                                   Thank you to Steve Stellingwerff for leading us in worship today.

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Greeting

I wish that your holiday season starts with lots of smiles, happiness and blessings for you and your loved ones. Warm greetings on the occasion of Advent Sunday to you.

 

Lighting the Advent Candle

Hope is a flame that is given by God.

Hope for a new world burns in our hearts.

Hope burns in the message of the Law and the teaching of the Prophets.

Hope is revealed in Jesus Christ.

Let us pray:

Source of light, burn in our lives and in your world with your renewing hope. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Call to Worship

 Advent is a time for waiting.

We wait for God, who appears like a tender branch growing from a stump.

Advent is a time for hoping.

We wait for God, who comes with justice and righteousness.

Advent is a time to worship.

We wait for God, praising the One who comes to fulfil promises.

 

Opening Prayer

God of Mystery, sometimes we, like children, are full of excitement and anticipation. We worship, wondering what new insight will set upon us as suddenly as a thief in the night.  What part of the worship experience will touch us in a profound way? Open our awareness that we might discover the nuances that point us to the Bethlehem stable. Open our hearts that we might be receptive to your good news. We pray in the name of the much-longed-for Christ. Amen.                                                                                                          Taken from Nov. 29, 2020

           

*Opening Hymn  VU # 339: “When Morning Gilds the Skies”

            When morning gilds the skies,
           my heart awakening cries:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!
           When evening shadows fall,
           this rings my curfew call:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!

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            To God, the Word on high,
           the hosts of angels cry:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!
           Let mortals, too, upraise
           their voice in hymns of praise:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!

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            Let all of humankind,
           in this their concord find:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!
           Let all the earth around
           ring joyous with the sound:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!

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          Be this, while life is mine,
           my canticle divine:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!
           Be this th'eternal song,
           through all the ages long:
           may Jesus Christ be praised!

 

Prayer of Confession

            Surprising God,

Forgive our sleepiness in the presence of your splendour.

Forgive us if we yawn when you present us with life-changing possibilities.

Forgive us for abandoning hope so quickly,

and expecting the same old thing in the same old way.

Forgive us for underestimating your power to do a new thing.

Awaken us to your holy, hopeful presence.

Awaken us so we may watch and wait for you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.

 

Assurance of Grace

The One who comes with justice also comes with mercy. The God of Judgment is truly the Christ of compassion. God offers you forgiveness today, in the hope you will receive it gladly. Do not be afraid but rejoice in the God who comes to us.

           

Scripture Readings

Hebrew Scriptures: Genesis 37: 5-11

Hear what the scriptures are saying to the church.

Thanks be to God!

 

*Hymn VU # 226: “For The Beauty of the Earth”

            For the beauty of the earth,
           for the glory of the skies,
           for the love which from our birth
           over and around us lies,

            [Refrain:]
           God of all, to you we raise
           this our hymn of grateful praise.

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            For the beauty of each hour
           of the day and of the night,
           hill and vale, and tree and flower,
           sun and moon, and stars of light, [Refrain]

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            For the joy of human love,
           brother, sister, parent, child,
           friends on earth and friends above,
           for all gentle thoughts and mild, [Refrain]

           

           For each perfect gift sublime
           to our race so freely given;
           graces human and divine,
           flowers of earth and buds of heaven. [Refrain]

 

New Testament Reading: Philippians 2: 1-5

This is the Good News of Jesus the Christ.

Praise be to God!

 

Prayer of Illumination

            Spirit of God, move within us and among us today,

to open God’s Word, read and proclaimed, for us.

Shine a clear light to guide us to your truth.

Just as we read the signs of the seasons,

help us to discern and understand the signs that are in your Word,

pointing us to Christ, your Living Word. Amen.

 

Message       ‘Big Dreamers”

I don't know what you know about competitive long-distance running but in any given year there are maybe half-a-dozen long distance runners competing at the top. Any one of them is capable of being champion. Any one is capable of setting new records. In 1954 Roger Bannister was one of that half dozen. Almost no one thought he was the best; but he was close.

 

 At that time "everybody" knew the human body had certain limits. No one would ever jump higher than seven feet, or pole vault higher than 14 feet. And no one, no one could ever, ever run a mile in under four minutes. "Everybody" knew it was impossible!

 

But Roger Bannister had a dream. He was going to break that four-minute barrier. And on May 6, 1954, at Oxford, England, Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. And with that, a man previously unknown to the world, changed the world forever.

 

Within a matter of weeks several other runners also beat the four-minute barrier. They didn't suddenly all get extra muscles. In fact they were physically the same as before. The only difference was that now they knew it could be done! Suddenly they saw themselves differently. All over the world attitudes about sports, athletic achievement and general human physical ability were changed forever in 1954 by one man with a dream. When that kind of massive shift in attitude takes place, it's called a paradigm shift. Nothing physically changes, but the whole world sees itself differently. A paradigm shift.

 

The world is changed by ordinary people dreaming impossible dreams. In this case the world changed from being aware of our physical, bodily limits to feeling that we have no athletic limits. Now the facts didn't change. Our human bodies didn't change (this was

before the widespread use of steroids). But each year human beings run faster and perform better than the year before. Thanks to one man in 1854, the world has changed, and now we behave as if there are no athletic limits at all.

 

The Hebrew tribes were going through a time of moral decay and lawlessness when the boy Samuel heard the call of God. Was it a dream or reality? Or was it a dream that changed the reality? At any rate, a prophet was born, and a collection of warring tribes became a nation.

 

Philip runs to tell Nathanael about finding the answer to prophecy, and Nathanael says, "What?! This guy's from Nazareth? Can anything good come from Nazareth?" All Philip can say in response is, "Come and see!" Later, when Nathanael sees Jesus for the first time, Jesus tells him, "You remember Jacob's dream about the ladder to heaven? Well, you're talking to the ladder! You're going to see a hole right through the sky, and angels climbing up and down on me!" Now there's an impossible dream!

 

Let's face facts for a minute. One of the greatest crises facing rural Canada today is urbanization. Large portions of once rural populations are heading for the cities. Rural Middlesex County has been barely holding its own since a huge chunk of it was annexed by the City of London. Here in Lambton, places like Watford are barely holding their own. Every year the village gets just a bit smaller as people leave to the cities to find work or other opportunities. Our church is tiny. Two-thirds of Canada's churches are bigger than we are. But on the bright side I guess that means that we're actually bigger than one-third of Canada's churches!

 

You see, facts say one thing, but the way you interpret those facts makes all the difference. We are tiny. But there are thousands of churches smaller than we are. Thousands! That's a paradigm shift. The facts stay the same, but the way we look at the facts changes. The facts stay the same, but WE change. We aren't nearly as small and helpless as we thought.

 

"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Can anything good come out of Ravenswood? The facts are that Nazareth was a nothing town, not known for-anything except for one of their local kids who left town. But that local kid sure put Nazareth on the map! The facts seem to be against us. But are they really? Or is it only the way we look at the facts? The physical reality will still be the same. WE will change! Ordinary people dreaming impossible dreams, and changing the world.

 

All the experts look at the facts and say a church this size can’t program for excellence. All we can be is mediocre. But we can be excellent in worship, excellent in our outreach, excellent in our giving, excellent in our care of each other. “It can’t be done,” say the experts. I believe we are going to do it anyway!

 

How are we going to do the things we can't possibly do? If we dream the impossible dream, how do we make it reality? The answer is grace, God's grace. One-time Jesus tells the disciples that it's easier to pull a camel through a needle's eye than to pull a rich man into heaven. For just a minute Simon Peter feels good, seeing himself as a mouse compared to the rich man's camel. Then he suddenly realizes how hard it is to pull a mouse through the eye of that needle, and he gulps and asks, "How will anybody ever make it?" What is Jesus' reply? Humans can't do it, but God can!

 

We already know what we can't do. It's time to start thinking about what God Can Do!

 

Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Nathanael - these were ordinary guys. The rich and famous weren't following Jesus, politicians weren't following Jesus, Nobel prize winners weren't following Jesus. Just ordinary people. Ordinary people who heard the call, who saw the vision, who dreamed the extra-ordinary dream. Ordinary people like you and me. Ordinary people who believed that God's grace could accomplish anything! Ordinary people dreaming.

 

And God doesn't want any piddling, little dreams. God's not looking for a 1 % improvement. God wants big, bold dreams. Unrealistic dreams. Humongous dreams. Impossible dreams. God wants us to dream dreams only God can fulfill.

 

But God wants us to grab onto the dream and get going. God's message to Andrew is to stop hanging around with John the Baptist. God's message to Peter is to stop tinkering with the boat. God's message to Nathanael is to stop goofing off under that tree. Get a move on! Get out there and start changing the world!

 

The same is true for us. It's time we decide our future. We can have a future that's more of the same, totally controlled by our limits. Or we can have a glorious future, a future filled with the grace of God. We have a barrier to break. Let's get out from under our tree, out from under our boat, and let it happen.

                                                                                                      Rev. Dr. Christine O’Reilly

                                                                                     Knox Presbyterian Church, Thedford

 

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.

 

*Hymn  # 400: “Have Thine Own Way Lord”

            Have thine own way, Lord!
           Have thine own way!
           Thou art the potter,
           I am the clay.
           Mold me and make me
           after thy will,
           while I am waiting,
           yielded and still.

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            Have thine own way, Lord!
           Have thine own way!
           Search me and try me,
           Savior today!
           Wash me just now, Lord,
           wash me just now,
           as in thy presence
           humbly I bow.

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            Have thine own way, Lord!
           Have thine own way!
           Wounded and weary,
           help me I pray!
           Power, all power,
           surely is thine!
           Touch me and heal me,
           Savior divine!

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 Have thine own way, Lord!
Have thine own way!
Hold o'er my being
absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit
till all shall see
Christ only, always,
living in me!

 

Offering Invitation

            We make our offering today with hopeful hearts, trusting that the Holy One who comes to us will bless our gifts and our lives, to make us signs of hope in the world God loves.

 

Offering Hymn VU # 543: “We Give Thee But Thine Own”

We give thee but thine own,
whate’er the gift may be:
all that we have is thine alone,
a trust, O God, from thee.

 

Prayer of Dedication

            Holy and Righteous God, we offer our gifts with humble hearts, knowing the need in your world is great and our gifts alone will never fill that need. We offer our gifts in hope that you will bless them and use them to help fulfil your purpose revealed in Jesus Christ, Saviour of us all. Amen.

 

Prayers of the People

            O Spirit of Hope,

When the world is confusing and bleak,

you pierce the despair with your Word,

and renew our vision of God’s possibilities for our lives.

Thank you for lessons learned,

for changes of heart,

for new discoveries made and hope restored,

even as the pandemic stretches on.

As the world around us prepares for the long, cold sleep of winter,

we pray for those who feel the burden of loneliness and isolation.

We remember those without homes to shelter in,

and those forced to leave their homes

through conflict, natural disaster or political upheaval.

      (Keep a brief time of silence)

 

Spirit of Hope, shelter all these under your wings.

Lord, in your mercy.

Hear our prayer.

 

O God of Peace,

There is strife and disagreement all around us these days,

sometimes in our own lives and relationships,

and in many nations and neighbourhoods in the news.

We pray for places where violence and cruelty appear to win the day,

thinking especially of Afghanistan and Haiti,

and situations closer to home that we carry on our hearts.

      (Keep a brief time of silence)

 

God of Peace, work for just and peaceful resolutions to prevail.

Lord, in your mercy.

Hear our prayer.

 

O Creator of Joy,

We give you thanks for moments of joy and celebration in our lives,

for pleasure given and received,

for quiet times of reflection and conversation,

and for the many ways that allow us to keep in contact with those we love.

As the days grow colder,

we remember those who feel bitter while others rejoice,

those who grieve the loss of loved ones,

and those who face a bleak winter for any reason.

     (Keep a brief time of silence)

 

Creator of Joy, bring them light and warmth in the season ahead,

and let your joy shine through us as compassionate companions.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

 

O Love divine made flesh in Christ,

You call us into communion with you and community with one another.

We pray for your church and our congregation,

that love will guide all your people as we plan for our life and mission.

We remember before you our families, whether we are close or estranged;

for our friends, whether nearby or far away.

     (Keep a brief time of silence)

 

Love divine, bless each one with your love

and help us express our gratitude and concern for each other in word and action.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

We sum up all our prayers, spoken and unspoken, in the words Jesus taught us to say:

“Our Father…”

 

*Closing Hymn  VU # 342: “You Servants of God”

            You servants of God, your Master proclaim,
           and publish abroad his wonderful name;
           the name all-victorious of Jesus extol;
           his kingdom is glorious and rules over all.

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            God rules in the height, almighty to save;
           though hid from our sight, his presence we have;
           the great congregation his triumph shall sing,
           ascribing salvation to Jesus our King.

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            "Salvation to God, who sits on the throne!"
           let all cry aloud, and honor the Son;
           the praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
           fall down on their faces and worship the Lamb.

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  Then let us adore and give him his right:
  all glory and power, all wisdom and might,
  all honor and blessing with angels above
  and thanks never ceasing for infinite love.

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Commissioning/ Benediction  - Colossians 4: 2-5

“Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful.

Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ, even though I am in jail for doing this.

Please pray that I will make the message as clear as possible. 

When you are with unbelievers, always make use of the time.”

 

 

                                                     Sections taken from The Presbyterian Church of Canada

                                                                                 Message by Rev. Dr. Christine O’Reilly

                                                                                            delivered by Steve Stellingwerff