BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH
25th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Youth and Children Sunday
November 14, 2021
The video recording of this service can be found here.
You can also dial-in by phone to listen to the audio recording at 613-820-8104
Gathering Music: “Praise the Lord with the Sound of Trumpet” VU245
1. Praise the Lord with the sound of trumpet,
Praise the Lord with the harp and lute,
Praise the Lord with the gentle sounding flute.
Praise the Lord in the field and forest,
Praise the Lord in the city square,
Praise the Lord anytime and anywhere.
Praise the Lord in the wind and sunshine,
Praise the Lord in the dark of night.
Praise the Lord in the rain or snow or in the morning light.
Praise the Lord in the deepest valley,
Praise the Lord on the highest hill,
Praise the Lord, never let your voice be still.
2. Praise the Lord with the crashing cymbal,
Praise the Lord with the pipe and string,
Praise the Lord with the joyful songs you sing.
Praise the Lord on a weekday morning,
Praise the Lord on a Sunday noon,
Praise the Lord by the light of sun or moon.
Praise the Lord in the time of sorrow,
Praise the Lord in the time of joy,
Praise the Lord every moment, nothing let your praise destroy.
Praise the Lord in the peace and quiet,
Praise the Lord in your work or play,
Praise the Lord everywhere in every way!
Welcome & Announcements Rev. Lorrie Lowes
Good Morning! Welcome to this service of worship on a day when we especially spotlight the children and youth here at Bells Corners. We sure miss their voices and their energy here in the building! This year and a half of YouTube and hybrid services has been good in many ways, but most difficult when it comes to feeling that wonderful sense of family that we enjoy as a congregation. So I hope this time of worship will help to lift your spirits and remind you that we are together in our hearts, even if we are not all together in the sanctuary.
We do continue to offer in-person worship in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings at 10 am. It is a modified hybrid of video recordings and live participation. If you wish to attend the service, you are more than welcome. As a faith community called to love and serve others, we highly recommend getting vaccinated as one of the best precautionary measures to protect yourself and others. Let us continue to be mindful of the health protocols such as masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell.
During this time of pandemic, the work of the church carries on. Please take time to keep in touch with each other through prayers, phone calls, emails or via Zoom. Check also the many announcements on our website including Sunday School resources for your children at bcuc.org to keep you informed and give you opportunities to respond.
Friends, in the knowledge that, even when we can’t all be together in one place, we know we are embraced in a wide circle of love. We begin our service this morning with a Minute for Mission highlighting one of the many ways the United Church of Canada takes this love out into the world.
Minute for Mission
Every Person Is a Superhero: Esbikenh’s Story
A story about a teacher using Superheroes to teach indigenous languages.
Lighting of the Christ Candle Acolytes: Virginia & Sadie Davidson
(Scott Martin, inspired by Godly Play, Gathering Pentecost 2 2021, p30. Used with permission)
There once was a wonderful man who did wonderful things and they said, “He is the light of the world.” In his light, the light of Christ, we gather.
Call to Gather Bree & Jack Kelly
(Selina Mullin, Gathering Pentecost 2 2021, p30. Used with permission)
All are welcome in this place, all are welcome in God’s space.
Young and old and in between,
Short and tall, large and lean.
Those who are lonely, tired, and hurting,
Or giggling, smiling, or practically bursting.
Each as we are, wonderfully made,
We join in God’s house together, today.
Prayer of Approach
(Jim McKean, Gathering Pentecost 2 2021, p33. Used with permission.)
Strong and Tender One,
We approach you today, filled with childlike wonder and a willingness to express ourselves beyond our comfort level. Open us so we may soar beyond the comfort of the present. Move us into your presence, more and more, day by day. Amen.
Hymn: “Small Things Count” VU361
1. Small things count so Jesus said:
Cups of water, crumbs of bread,
Small things done because we’re kind
Count as big things in God’s mind.
2. Small things make the big things grow:
Grains of yeast inside the dough,
Puffs that fill a big balloon,
Notes that make a happy tune.
3. Every hair that’s on our head,
Every sparrow, Jesus said,
God takes care of, counts and knows,
God loves us from top to toes.
Storytime for the Young at Heart Noah & Nicholas Berard
“Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed” by Emily Pearson
This is the story of an ordinary girl named Mary who changed the world by one act of kindness that inspired others to do the same.
Music: “Peace in My Fingers” – The CGs (Christian Generation Singers)
Prayer for Illumination Reader: Raven Miller
Holy One,
These ancient words, so carefully preserved, are sometimes difficult for your children to understand today. Open us to the messages you want us to hear. Help us see our path in this world, through the wisdom of our ancestors. Amen.
The Reading: Hebrews 10 :11-25 (NRSV)
11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13 and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds,”
17 he also adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
From this letter, written so long ago, may we find guidance for our living today.
Sermon: Superheroes and Ordinary Marys Rev. Lorrie Lowes
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… Superman!
Superheroes capture our imagination, don’t they? I’m not just talking to the kids here, we adults love the stories, the comics, and the action films too. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman… we love them all – and we all have times in our lives when we wish one of them would suddenly appear to save the day.
I think many of us can identify with that feeling these days. After a year and a half of fighting against this pandemic with its restrictions and protocols, months without being able to gather with friends and family, worry over every cough or sneeze, and confusion over what is safe and what is not, we just want life to be normal – whatever normal will look like at the end of this.
In our Lectionary Group this week, we noted that it’s not just Covid 19 that has our minds in turmoil. There is a climate emergency to deal with as well, and both of these things affect our own sense of security – economic security, job security, food security, the hope for a secure future. And, as if all that isn’t scary enough, it seems that other evil things are raising their heads – things we thought we were making progress on – things like racism, violence, conspiracy theories, and all the phobias that keep us from being part of a loving community. We hear so many differing opinions and theories that we can’t tell what is true anymore. We don’t feel safe in the world and so we build walls around us.
There are days when the idea of a superhero swooping in to save the day seems like the only solution.
Our reading today is from a letter written to a Hebrew community that, it appears, might have been feeling the same way. The audience is not specifically named but it seems to be a community of Jewish people who were followers of Jesus. What is clear is that they are being persecuted for their beliefs and that their faith is wavering. They are ready to abandon what they have been taught in order to make life easier…safer. Things were bad before Jesus… and they really hadn’t gotten better since he died, in fact, in many ways, they were worse.
We know that the people of Jesus’ day were hoping for a Messiah – a kind of superhero who would swoop in like Superman and destroy the oppressive Romans. But who they got was more like Clark Kent, a man like them. He was human. He wasn’t wealthy or powerful in the expected way. He didn’t come with a huge army or powerful weapons. He was a humble man who came with love in his heart and a sense of justice.
This letter to the Hebrews is not an easy one to understand. I have to say, it grates a little on my own theology with its message of Jesus being the sacrifice for the world, as if his death was all that was necessary to make things right, that the work was done and now Jesus was just waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” I can imagine that the people who received this letter were feeling a bit abandoned by Jesus. Miracles had happened, progress was being made, and then, like Superman, he disappeared. Where was Jesus now when life was so difficult? Had he really been just a human being after all?
Where this reading redeems itself for me is in the new covenant, a direct quote from Jeremiah – so not really new to this community of Jews – “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
This, to me, sums up Jesus’ messianic mission… to present the laws in a new way, a way that gives both hope and responsibility to each person for creating a better tomorrow, a way of life that becomes a part of who we are, so strong that it is indelibly written right on our hearts and minds.
The letter writer points out that, with the death of Jesus, much of life has gone back to the old normal. The priests still make sacrifices every day, avoid unclean foods and clothing, and people. They follow the laws to the letter – at least their interpretation of those laws – but nothing changes. The world goes on in its same corrupt way. There seems to be no magic in these laws carved in stone. These laws have no life. What’s missing is the understanding that God’s laws are not arbitrary actions to please a supernatural being, but an internalized way of living that ensures the health and growth of this world and everyone – everything – in it.
When these laws are part of our very selves, written on our hearts and minds, we see the world in a different way. We see the world in the way that Jesus did where everyone is worthy of love whether they are like us or not, where we don’t classify people as friends or foes but realize all people are trying to figure out the best way forward. A world where we stop avoiding or fighting each other but rather engage with each other in love, have those hard conversations and really hear what is being said. A world where we truly want the best for everyone, the best for all of creation.
It’s hard work! Work that takes courage and perseverance. This is the kind of work that takes generations to even come close to making a difference. It would be so much easier if all it took was a superhero … or a sacrificial lamb.
And so, the author of this letter implores the people to not give up now. Jesus began the hard work but we need to carry it on. The Hebrews who received this letter were told how this needs to be done… “to provoke one another to love and good deeds.” Some translations say “to encourage one another” but I like this word “provoke” – it seems to have more intention, more purposeful power.
And just how do we do that – provoke each other to love and good deeds? Do we do it by writing it into law and then creating a system to enforce it? We know that isn’t the answer. There will always be some who will break those laws; our justice system is full of them. We do it by continuing to show love, by continuing to help others – even when we are feeling pretty beaten ourselves.
The characters in the story Noah and Nicholas read for us today were all doing just that. The little acts of kindness didn’t solve all of their problems, Louise still didn’t have a home, Joseph was still poor, Sophia was still grieving…They could have simply been grateful for a little happiness in their day and left it at that. But they didn’t leave it there, they did something nice for five others. They provoked others to love and good deeds. No big, flashy miracles or displays of power, just small acts of kindness. The power was in the sheer number of little kind actions.
We aren’t asked to be superheroes. We are simply asked to love, even when it’s hard, even when we aren’t feeling very lovable ourselves.
This letter gives us one more nugget of wisdom. It comes right on the heels of provoking one another to love and good deeds… “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
It’s advice that seems written for us in this time when we are all isolated in our homes, advice that speaks to the power of community. The harder it gets, the more we need each other. We weren’t able to gather as a congregation for so long and we still aren’t back to the full house we were used to. I think we were all good at keeping in touch when this pandemic first reared its ugly head. Phone calls to check in… running errands for those who couldn’t risk going out even with a mask and a bottle of sanitizer… emails, cards and letters… but we’re getting tired now. We’re getting used to being at home in our own cocoons. We keep up with those closest to us, but we’ve started to forget the neighbour down the road or the people we would only see once a week at church. We keep our loved ones close, in our own small bubbles. Our personal sense of family or community has gotten smaller as this time has gone on. And those connections are more important now than ever. Don’t neglect them, warns the letter writer.
I have used the analogy with the kids that going to church is like taking your car to a gas station to fill the tank so you can keep going. We get filled up on Sunday morning with love, with learning, with purpose, with all the things that encourage us to go out into the week as good followers of the Way. Let’s not let each other’s tanks run dry now. Watching the service on YouTube is great and certainly keeps us connected to our faith but we also need the wonderful community that has been built here at BCUC. It’s a reminder to reach out to those we miss…to keep the Circle Wide.
To connect to the children’s story this morning, what would happen if you contacted five people and they each reached out to five people…
We are all hoping for a miracle – or a superhero. We just want one perfect vaccine that will wipe out all the variants and is accessible to everyone in the world… We just want one wise and benevolent government leader who can make everyone happy, everyone in the world… We just want someone to stop the wars, stop the hatred, stop the global temperature from rising…
The people of the Bible were a lot like us. They were looking for a Messiah to solve the problems of their world. They wanted Jesus to be a superhero. Was he?
If Jesus had raised a heavenly army and defeated the Roman Empire, would that have changed the situation forever? Or would another power have taken its place?
What does it really take to change the world?
Long before Jesus was born, Micah told us… “Seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.
Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Imagine if we all truly lived that way, not because these laws were written in stone, not because breaking them would lead to punishment or eternal damnation, but because they are part of who we are, because they were good laws written on our hearts?
Here’s a trivia question for you…What is Superman’s motto?
Well, according to Marvel Comics, for a very long time it has been “Truth, Justice, and the American Way”.
However, I read this week that it has just been changed. Now it is “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow”.
A motto worth remembering, one to write on our hearts.
Amen.
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer Rev. Kim Vidal
Let us gather our hearts in prayer.
Miracle of life,
may we honour your presence
in the promise of the chilly morning,
in the dancing brightness of the sun,
in the music of our spirits,
in the laughter and joy of all.
We are grateful for our youth and children whose voices we hear and whose presence we celebrate.
We are thankful for our young adults and elders whose wisdom and faithfulness move us to acts of kindness and love.
We are struck in awe before the great mystery of I Am who calls us to take heart. We are powerfully moved by a deep concern for our world and our care for one another.
May ours be a faith that is more than words and ideals.
May ours be a faith of vitality and compassion.
(Silence)
We lament that there are many people especially youth and children in the world who are burdened
by hunger and pain,
by sorrow and anxiety,
by violence and loss.
May they find comfort and peace, and may their burdens be lifted from them by our actions as peacemakers and doers of justice.
For we are the body of Christ on earth.
(Silence)
May we find it in ourselves today to work toward a better world.
May we make use of that energy to take part in the lifting of burdens.
May our gratitude find expression in the care of others, both near and far.
May we find ways to live and grow on the margins.
May we leave behind us a trail of encouragement and hope.
To make all things new: to restore peace where there has been hatred, to reduce tension where there has been anger, to rekindle friendship where there has been enmity, to relieve suffering where there has been violence and to recreate a community; for the good of the people and for the peace of the world.
These we pray in the name of our superhero, Jesus Christ who brings us to God’s reign as we recite this prayer that he taught his friends.
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kin-dom 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 kin-dom, the power and the glory, Forever and ever, Amen.
Invitation to Offer Rev. Lorrie
We may not be able to save the world with super powers, but we do have the power to make a difference in many humble acts of love. Let’s take this time now to share our gifts of time, talents, and resources. Every gift we give, big or small, is a message of God’s love sent out into the world.
Offertory Prayer
(Rev. Dr. Karen Boivin, Gathering Pentecost 2 2018, p40. Used with permission.)
Here are our offerings of faith, O God: to provide resources for ministry and tools and education for abundant living. We share your gifts in hopes this will encourage others to gather and share your love and bounty. Amen
Sending Forth Rev. Lorrie Lowes
God’s call is not for the faint of heart,
God’s call is not for the timid or weak.
We worry that we do not have the courage, the strength, or the will required to follow.
But God’s call is not for superheroes.
God’s call is for ordinary people like us, people with extraordinary powers of love and hope for this world.
Go out into the world, knowing that the God who calls us to make the difference the world needs, accompanies us every step of the way.
Go in love, go in hope, and go wrapped in God’s blessings. Amen.
Hymn: “May the God of Hope Go With Us” VU424
May the God of hope go with us every day
Filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.
May the God of justice speed us on our way,
Bringing light and hope to every land and race.
Refrain:
Praying, let us work for peace, singing, share our joy with all,
Working for a world that’s new. Faithful when we hear God’s call.
May the God of healing free the earth from fear
Freeing us for peace both treasured and pursued.
May the God of love keep our commitment clear
To a world restored, to human life renewed. Refrain
Departing Music: “Pass It On” VU289
1. It only takes a spark to get a fire going
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing
That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it:
You spread God’s love to everyone, you want to pass it on.
2. What a wondrous time is spring when all the trees are budding,
The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it:
You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring, you want to pass it on.
3. I wish for you, my friend, this happiness that I’ve found –
On God you can depend, it matters not where you’re bound.
I’ll shout it from the mountain top; I want my world to know:
The Lord of love has come to me, I want to pass it on.