Sunday school activies - April 10, 2022

Theme Discussion

This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week in the church. It begins with Palm Sunday, a time when we wave our palm branches to remember Jesus’ exciting entrance into Jerusalem. On that day, the people welcomed Jesus like a hero or a king. They lined the road, waving their branches and shouting “Hosanna!”, which means “Save Us!”  They were sure he was about to save them from the oppressive Roman power. It was an exciting and hopeful day. 

Because we usually attend church only on Sundays, it’s easy to skip over the rest of Holy Week and jump right to Easter – but there are other important stories we should hear, stories about the things that happened that week. They are not happy stories, but they are important to our understanding of our faith.

The week that Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem was a very special week in the Jewish calendar. It was the celebration of Passover. Thousands of people travelled to this big city that week because the Temple was there – the most important place of worship for the Jewish people. It was a big festival and Jesus took this opportunity, like many others, to visit with friends and celebrate together.

One day, Jesus went to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship, an important part of the Jewish celebration leading up to Passover. When he arrived, however, he found that there were many vendors there selling things the people need - but cheating them to make a big profit. He thought this was a terrible thing to do in such a holy place! He got very angry, turning over their tables and chasing them away. It started a big fight and that made the leaders angry with Jesus.

On Thursday, - the day we call Maundy Thursday, Jesus had a special Passover meal with his disciples. Remember that in those days, people wore sandals and their feet got very dusty. Usually, when people entered a house, a servant would wash their feet. Well, this time, Jesus did something very strange! He put a towel around his waist and washed the feet of his friends. He wanted to show them that we it is important to be servants to each other. He had many important things to tell his friends that night. It is at this dinner that he shared the wine and the bread with them and tells them to remember him each time they do this. It is the story that we remember each time we celebrate Communion in church. This special dinner is the last time Jesus was with his disciples because he was betrayed and arrested that night. The Temple leaders were afraid that Jesus is causing too much trouble with the Jewish people. They feel they need to stop him.

On Friday, Jesus was crucified. It is a very dark day in the church calendar. Jesus died on a cross. His followers thought this was the end of all the wonderful work that Jesus has been doing.

It was a hard week for Jesus and his followers – full of both celebrations and very scary events. It is hard for us to read about too - but we know that Easter Sunday is coming! Jesus will be alive again in the world!

You can watch some of these stories in this video:

Wondering

How do you think the disciples felt about having Jesus wash their feet?

How do you think you might feel if someone important wanted to wash your feet?

How can we show love for each other by serving them?

What surprises you about these stories? 

Music

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolbox: Footprints

Each week, we’ll be making different things to add to the toolkit that remind us of how we can come closer to God.

This week, cut out and decorate footsteps to remind you of the wonderful ways Jesus taught us about loving and caring for others. When you’re having a tough time - feeling lonely, scared, or worried - you could put your feet on the footprints, and think about feeling connected and comforted by God, always walking along with you.

Footprints

Click to print PDF

Palm Sunday – Palm Craft

Materials: printout of template, glue, scissors, assorted green paper (tissue, construction, wrapping, etc.), fabric, or felt cut or torn up into little pieces.

Make a palm branch!  On the BACK of the template, cover the whole area where the leaf is (on the reverse) with a collage of green paper pieces overlapping each other.  When the area is completely covered, and the glue dry, flip over to show the template.  Cut out around the lines carefully.  Now the green side is in the shape of the palm leaf.  Attach a stick or dowel to the stem, if you wish, and wave your palm branch high!

palm leaf

Click to print PDF

Maundy Thursday – Foot Washing

Check out this video: Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet by Saddleback Kids

Jesus performs an action that was usually done only by servants: washing away the dust and dirt from a person’s feet. But Jesus showed his friends that no one is more important than anyone else. This is what it means to love like Jesus: to serve each other willingly.

Many churches include a foot washing ritual as part of their Maundy Thursday service. During the service, people are invited to come up and wash each other’s feet, remembering Jesus’ command to do the same. Gather basins, cloths, towels, and warm water to wash each others’ feet at home.

Good Friday – Origami Cross Activity

Follow the instructions in the video below to make paper pieces for Calvary:

Ukraine Crisis

United Church Mission and Service partners are responding to the rapidly unfolding crisis in the Ukraine. Shelter, clean water, food and medical attention are urgently needed. You can help by donating online at united-church.ca , by phoning 1-800-268-3781 ex. 2738 or by sending a cheque to The United Church of Canada, Philanthropy United - Emergency Response, 3250 Bloor Street West, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4. Please mark "Emergency Response - Ukraine" on the face of your cheque.

HYMN-SING is back!

Would you like your favourite hymn sung in memory of a loved one or in celebration of a joyful occasion? With a suggested minimum donation of $30, your hymn request will be featured in one of the Sunday services from March 13 until June 5. Proceeds from this fundraising will be used for a “Welcome Back Family Picnic” sometime in June! Please send your name, hymn request and dedication to the office via email. Donations can be made by e-transfer, cash or cheque, payable to BCUC with the note: “Hymn-Sing”. Thank you for supporting this initiative.

Sunday Worship Service - April 3, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

April 3, 2022

Lenten 2022 Theme: “The Way of Being” 

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: What is this Lovely Fragrance?
Adapt: BCUC Choir June 2016

Old French Carol translated: Ysobel, Arrangement © 1942 Healey Willan, Oxford University Press
Song #80984 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Acknowledgement of the Territory 
Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Peter Chynoweth, Gathering Lent /Easter 2022, p30. Used with permission.)

This land on which we gather is the unceded territory and traditional land of the Algonquin and Anishnaabe people. We worship Creator on this land and acknowledge with respect the thousands of years of ceremony and relationship that are etched in footprint, fire, and faithfulness on the soil and rock that surrounds us.

Welcome & Centering
Rev. Kim Vidal

Good day everyone! My name is Rev. Kim Vidal and on behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this Fifth Sunday in Lent with the theme of “Being Bold”. We are glad that you have joined us today.

In-person worship service at 10 am continues to be offered so if you are comfortable attending the service, you are more than welcome. As a faith community called to love and serve others, we highly recommend getting fully vaccinated and still being mindful of the health protocols like masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

Holy week begins on Palm Sunday, April 10th. Please take note of the Holy Week schedule and mark it on your calendar. We hope that you can join us as we gather on those significant Lenten and Easter services.

A friendly reminder to 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. There many opportunities to participate and offer your support to the various Lenten initiatives: the Lenten SOSA appeal to support FAMSAC; Hymn-Sing and Memorial Flowers to remember your loved ones. Details are posted in the announcements.

Friends, in this season of Lent, we know what God desires for us:
To remind ourselves that the message of Jesus is all about unconditional love. To remember that now is the right time to put this kind of love into action. With grateful hearts, let us gather in worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle
Acolytes: Ellen & Bob Boynton

(Rev. Gord Waldie, worship offerings.blogspot.com)

We light this candle as a sign of
God's Spirit at work in the world.
May its light brighten our spirits.
May the light of Christ shining through us
brighten the world. 

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90
Susan Feb 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

*Call to Gather (Responsively)
Rev. Lorrie Lowes

This is the gathering place of God and all God’s people.
We give thanks to God for God’s extravagant love.
Come all who need comfort.
God weaves in us a sure, fragrant hope.
Come all who need love.
God recreates in us the unconditional love of Christ.
Come all who need God.
God offers us the heart of the Divine. 
With boldness and daring hope, let us worship God. 

Prayer of Confession (In Unison
Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Carol E. Bayma, Gathering, Lent-Easter 2014, Used with permission.)

We are loved by God – with a love that goes beyond anything we could imagine.
Let us then turn toward God with our prayer of confession:

Holy God, we are quiet in your presence. Perhaps we are too quiet, still and lifeless. We make our excuses that we do not understand what you want from us. Our throats close up as we wait to be sure of what you want us to say. Our hands wither while we wait for you to tell us how much we should give. Our feet stiffen waiting for you to tell us how much far to walk. Our hearts grow cold as we wait for guidance about whom we should love. Forgive us, forgive our sin of hopelessness, we pray.

Moment of Silence

What can sustain us in the days to come, what will nourish us on our Lenten journey? Look, here is all the sustenance we need: God's love, God's word, God's hope.
God’s never-ending mercy washes over us, making us new, again and again.
Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

Hymn: Said Judas to Mary - Voices United #129
Grace Notes & BCUC March 2016

1 Said Judas to Mary, 'Now what will you do
with your ointment so rich and so rare?'
'I'll pour it all over the feet of the Lord
and I'll wipe it away with my hair,' she said,
'wipe it away with my hair.'  

2 'Oh Mary, oh Mary, oh think of the poor -
this ointment, it could have been sold,
and think of the blankets and think of the bread  
you could buy with the silver and gold,' he said,
'buy with the silver and gold.'

3 “Tomorrow, tomorrow I’ll think of the poor,
Tomorrow”, she said, “not today,
for dearer than all of the poor in the world
is my love who is going away”, she said,
“my love who is going away.” 

4 Said Jesus to Mary, 'Your love is so deep,
today you may do as you will.
Tomorrow you say I am going away,
but my body I leave with you still,' he said,
'my body I leave with you still.'  

5 'The poor of the world are my body,' he said,
'to the end of the world they shall be;
the bread and the blankets you give to the poor
you'll know, you have given to me,' he said,
'you'll know you have given to me.'

Words & Music © 1964 Sydney Carter, Stainer & Bell
Song #38707 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Storytime
Rev. Lorrie

Have you ever been given a really extravagant gift by someone – something so amazing and crazy that you can hardly believe they gave it to you? I have! On my birthday, when I turned 40, I stopped at the post office on my way to work because there was a card in my mailbox telling me that I had a parcel. That’s exciting, right? Everyone likes getting parcels on their birthday! So, I decided that I would pick it up that morning rather than wait till I was on my way home. What a great start to my day!

When I got to the post office, I couldn’t believe what was waiting for me! It was a BIG box – and it was from my friend Mary who had moved far away to Alberta. I missed her a lot and I could hardly wait to open that parcel. What on earth could it be? I imagined all kinds of things on my drive to the school – maybe it was something she made… or maybe it was a joke gift (she had a great sense of humour and always liked to make me laugh… Maybe it was a birthday cake! I was so curious!

I think I opened that parcel even before I took my coat off! And you wouldn’t believe what was inside! There was a whole pile of little presents, each one wrapped individually, in lots of different birthday papers! Know how many there were? 40! One for every year of my birthday!

It took me all day to open those presents because I just opened one little gift at a time. My students were excited, the other teachers in the school were excited… those gifts kept us all smiling all day long! It was incredible! Mary had been planning this present for a whole year! Every single one of those little gifts said something about our friendship, about things she knew made me happy or were interesting to me, or reminded me of something we had done together. It was amazing! My students and my colleagues thought it was crazy that Mary did this! What a lot of work for one birthday!

This is the most extravagant gift I have ever been given – not because it was worth a lot of money, but because it was something that Mary had planned for a whole year! It told me how much my friend loved me – so much that she thought about me often, even though she lived so far away. When she saw little things that reminded her of me, she wrapped them up and tucked them away for this special day. It was a gift I will never forget – a gift more extravagant than anything I could imagine. A gift that told me how much love my friend has for me.

In our scripture reading at church this Sunday, we hear about another extravagant gift. Jesus’ friend Mary pours an expensive perfumed oil on Jesus’ feet –something so expensive that it would take a whole year for someone to earn enough money to buy it. The other people who were there at the table that night thought she was crazy to do this! One even said that it was a waste! She could have sold that oil for a lot of money and used it to help the poor. But, you know what? I think I can understand why she chose to do this instead. She loved Jesus so much that she had to find a way to express that love with something so special that he would know just how deep it was, something no one would ever forget.

I think God’s love for us is like that – incredibly extravagant. We see it in the beauty around us that just never ends. We feel it in the love we share with those around us. We hear it in the messages the Bible writers give us when they tell us that God is always with us, that God loves us and always will, that God wants the very best for each one of us…special little gifts that God gives us to open every day of our lives. What an extravagant gift-giver God is!

Join me in a little prayer:

Extravagant God, thank you for showing us how much you love us, in so many ways, every day. Help us share your extravagant gift with everyone we meet. Amen

Hymn: A Prophet-Woman Broke a Jar - Voices United #590   (alternate tune 716)
BCUC Choir

1 A prophet woman broke a jar
By love's divine appointing
With rare perfume she filled the room
Presiding and anointing
A prophet-woman broke a jar
The sneers of scorn defying
With rare perfume she filled the room
Preparing Christ for dying

2 A faithful woman left a tomb
By love's divine commission
She saw she heard she preached the word
Arising from submission
A faithful woman left a tomb
With resurrection gospel
She saw she heard she preached the word
Apostle to apostles

3 Though woman wisdom woman truth
For centuries were hidden
Unsung unwritten and unheard
Derided and forbidden
The Spirit's breath the Spirit's fire
On free and slave descending
Can tumble our dividing walls
Our shame and sadness mending

4 The Spirit knows the Spirit calls
By love's divine ordaining
The friends we need to serve and lead
Their powers and gifts unchaining
The Spirit knows the Spirit calls
From women men and children
The friends we need to serve and lead
Rejoice and make them welcome

Words © 1991 Brian Wren; Music © 1869 Robert Lowry (alternate tune: keep from singing)
Song #83036 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination (In Unison)
Reader: Tamara Glanville

Through your life-giving Word, O God, fill us with the presence of your Spirit,
and help us grow as your disciples of extravagant love. Amen.

The Reading:   John 12: 1-8 (NRSV)
Mary Anoints Jesus

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

May God’s Love and Wisdom dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Sermon: “Being Bold” 
Rev. Kim

Prayer:  God of extravagant love, speak to us through your Word, so that we may know your truth, grow in faith and break spiritual jars of perfume in the name of Jesus. Amen.

It has been proven by scientists that while words and numbers travel to the thinking part of the brain, smells and fragrances connect to the emotions. The smell of the salty breeze, for instance, reminds me of the beach where I grew up. That aroma of fish stew being cooked brings me back to my mom’s kitchen in the Philippines. A whiff of the Old Spice cologne reminds me of my dad.  But there’s this one smell that vividly reminds me of my childhood - that of a rubbing ointment called Vicks Vaporub. This topical ointment is made from camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol. I was about 7 years old and I was very sick with nasal congestion. It was hard for me to breathe. My mom tended to me with a small blue bottle of this ointment and rubbed it on my chest, my back and my throat. Doctors say that it doesn't relieve nasal congestion. But the strong menthol smell may trick our brain, so you feel like you're breathing through an unclogged nose. And it worked for me. So, every time I smell that strong odour of Vicks, it transports me back to that particular episode in my childhood.

Our gospel story today is a story of fragrance - a story that connects not to logic or rationality but to the emotional part of our brain. Jesus and his disciples were invited for dinner at the home of his friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany. A few days prior to this table gathering, according to John’s account, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. This dinner might be a time of celebration – a moment of thanksgiving – a day to savour the gift of a second life for Lazarus reuniting with his sisters and his friends. Martha was at her usual best self – in the kitchen, scurrying around, preparing food and mixing drinks for the guests. And Mary, for sure, is getting herself ready for a big surprise of the night.

As the dinner progressed, no one noticed that Mary slipped from the dining room until she came back holding a jar of costly perfume in her hands.  The jar was filled with costly nard – a very expensive fragrant ointment used for burial made from the spikenard plant found in the Himalayan regions of India.  Without saying a word, she kneels at Jesus' feet, breaks open the lid of the jar, pours out a large portion of that perfume onto Jesus’ feet and the house is filled with fragrance. The strong scent of nard is everywhere - in every nook of the room, filling everyone’s nostrils. It must have been almost hard to breathe. Smells can overpower us like no other sense can. The fragrant smell in our story cannot be taken lightly or be overlooked.

To the surprise of the guests, mostly males, Mary loosens her long hair. It was a taboo in Jesus’ time for an honourable woman to loosen her hair in front of any man who is not her spouse.  In those days, it was acceptable to anoint the head of kings or emperors with oil or perfume.  But to pour the fragrant perfume on the feet of Jesus is considered a scandalous act. The mere touching and wiping of Jesus’ feet with Mary’s hair raised eyebrows and gaping mouths among her audience. A moment of awkward silence. And for us today who listen to this story, we might even interpret this as a disturbing, intimate act. Come to think of it – a woman wiping the feet of a man with her long hair and the fragrant smell of the perfume filling the room—it certainly creates havoc in one’s senses. It would certainly cause a stir, particularly among churches today, with a no-scent policy!

What do we do with this story? Mary loves her friend Jesus and believes in him. She had listened to him preach the good news and had a direct conversation with him. She had witnessed him raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. Mary’s act is undoubtedly a moment of thanksgiving for the gift of life. But Mary’s actions also allude to something more significant – a prelude of what’s forthcoming for Jesus. This story, for sure, is not about economic justice, but rather a prophetic statement, a lavish demonstration of the meaning of true love. Mary knew, more than any of the disciples, that Jesus’ death was near. The nard perfume poured on Jesus’ feet is to disguise the smell of a decaying body while it waits to be buried. The perfume becomes the smell of death. Jesus does not miss the symbol. Mary has anointed Jesus with the smell of death, the scent that is slowly building in our nostrils as we get closer to Good Friday.

This was Mary’s moment – her opportune time. It is in the present that she must show her true love for Jesus. Mary’s action foreshadows not only Jesus’ death on the cross but also Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples at the last supper- symbolic of Jesus’ servant leadership. Like Mary, would you offer a most priceless possession to someone whom you utterly trust and believe in, especially when that someone is facing an untimely death? Would you give your best attention to that person, even if it would cost a year’s wage? 

And even before we answer these questions, Judas reads our minds and notices everything that some of us are about to say. "Why oh, why wasn't this perfume sold for a whole lot of money and given to the poor? That perfume costs about 300 denarii! How many hungry or sick or homeless people could have been helped with that money? To pour it all out at one time on one person does not make sense. This is too much.  This giving has gone overboard. It's excessive.  We cannot afford this. This is totally unacceptable!” That's what the pragmatic, practical inner voice would tell us to say.  

Mary boldly responds to the call of love at the moment. Knowing what Jesus was about to face; knowing that he was in urgent need of companionship, comfort, and solace; knowing that the time was short to express all the gratitude and affection she carried in her heart, Mary showed her love extravagantly. Given the choice between an abstracted need to help the poor and the concrete need that presents itself at her own doorstep, around her own dinner table, Mary chooses Jesus.  In doing so, she ends up caring for the one who is denied room at the inn like the present-day refugees fleeing from war and violence. For the one who has no place to lay his head during his years of ministry like the homeless in our communities.  For the one who knew hunger and pain and humiliation like the marginalized people in our midst. For the one whose crucified body will be laid in a borrowed tomb like those who were displaced because of greed.  In other words, it is the poor Mary serves, when she serves Jesus.  Just as it is always Jesus we serve, when we love and care for those who need our attention, those whom God places in front of us, here and now.

Mary embodies a new way of being a woman for her time. She was bold! She was courageous! She was vulnerable! She broke a code of conduct and liberated herself with a new way of seeing and doing things. Mary took a big leap of faith and risked losing herself amidst cultural barriers of her time.  So did Judge Emily Murphy who fought for the rights of Canadian women to be acclaimed as “qualified persons”; so did Nellie McClung who rallied for women’s right to vote and to hold public offices; so did the black activist Rosa Parks who refused to move to the back of the bus. So did Rev. Lydia Gruchy, the first woman to be ordained in the United Church of Canada. All of these women have tremendous extravagant love for humanity especially those who are vulnerable and whose voices are ignored by society.  Sometimes the way of risky, outpouring of extravagant love is the best way to turn the world upside down.

The extravagant love displayed by Mary’s bold action - that is how God loves.  Wildly, Excessively. Wasteful.  God’s love is a love that breaks free from all barriers, dogmas and creeds that try to contain it. For Mary, extravagant love goes above and beyond a price tag—indeed, it is priceless, like God’s love for all of us. 

Friends, what is the jar of perfume you are holding at this moment?  What precious, good and beautiful thing are you being called – as individuals, and as a community of faith, that is particular to this time and place? Will you break that jar of perfume that you are keeping? For whom and for what purpose?

The cheap Vicks Vaporub that my mom used to comfort me had little earthly value, compared to the costly perfume Mary anointed Jesus with. But the gesture was the same: it was an act of bold but tender, unconditional, extravagant love. May your fragrant jars of love be opened, offered and used for good, extravagant reasons, emptied to the last drop! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer (written by Ted Dodd)
Rev. Lorrie Lowes

Holy One
We are living with threats of going nuclear.
Refugees are on the move,
The most recent, more contagious strain is disheartening.
Tornadoes and other wild weather touch down on the planet.
And divisions and polarities add to the feeling of scarcity and isolation.
Dear and good God, I could do with a little extravagance.
Someone open a bottle of costly perfume and fill the house with fragrance and beauty,
generosity and love.
Remind me, and everyone else, that you anoint us with so many good and golden things.
Your creation filled with such blessing --
the first signs of spring,
the smell of cedar,
the colour of cornflowers,
the song of the loon,
the crashing of waves on the shore,
the tides going in and out, each and every day.
Your creatures bless us with their creations –
the sound of the violin in Lark Ascending,
the lyrics that capture Both Sides now,
the way a Rothko painting can get you to see red for the first time,
the leap of a grand jeté,
the stand-up that kills cynicism and despair,
cinema and theatre that stretches and illuminates,
books.
Your people bless one another –
the spirit of giving from donors,
heartfelt messages of support at a loved one’s end,
dinners hosted with grace and kindness,
the aunt who sent money in birthday cards,
the chaplain at the end of the bed,
challenges from friends to be our best selves.
In a weary world, your gospel anoints us -- reminding us
that our teacher preached about upending the status quo,
that the kin-dom vision is not about power grubbing,
that crucifixion is not the last word.
And we give thanks for all that anoints us,
for it is more than time to remember these gifts.
Hear our prayers as we recite together the words Jesus gifted to his followers:

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. Kim

I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

Holy One, accept these gifts we offer as a token and a symbol of the offering of ourselves in Christ’s service. May all that we offer of ourselves and our resources, be acceptable, and blessed by you, Gracious God. Amen

Sending Forth
Rev. Kim

Let us go forward into our community, our homes, our lives,
living as God would have us live, with joy and daring faith,
offering abundant love.

May we find blessing in living as Jesus taught us,
with kindness, gentleness and a bold spirit,
that all whom we meet might know God’s extravagant love. Amen.
 

Hymn: My Love Colours Outside the Lines – More Voices #138
BCUC Band (May 2020)

1 My love colours outside the lines,
exploring paths that few could ever find;
and takes me into places  
where I’ve never been before,
and opens doors to worlds outside the lines. 

2 My Lord colours outside the lines,
turns wounds to blessings, water into wine;
and takes me into places
where I’ve never been before
and opens doors to worlds outside the lines. 

Bridge: We’ll never walk on water
if we’re not prepared to drown, body and soul
need a soaking from time to time.
And we’ll never move the grave-stones
if we’re not prepared to die, and realize
there are worlds outside the lines. 

3, 4 My soul longs to colour outside the lines,
tear back the curtains, sun, come in and shine;
I want to walk beyond the boundaries
where I’ve never been before, throw open doors
to worlds outside the lines.   Bridge

Words and Music © 1995 Gordon Light; arr. © Andrew Donaldson            Common Cup Company
Song #119027 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music:  Alabaster Box
Recording © 1999 CeCe Winans, PureSprings Gospel

Words & Music © 1997 Janice Sjostran, Pure Psalms Music All rights reserved

Sunday school activites - April 3, 2022

Modified from resources provided by: The UCC GO Project 2022

Theme Discussion 

In our worship service this morning we heard a story about an extravagant gift that Mary gave to Jesus. It was an unexpected way that Mary showed just how much love she had for him. There are many stories in the Bible about ways that God shows us love. Often they are not stories about God directly, but about other people showing that love in a way that seems unexpected. One of those stories is the one Jesus tells about the Lost Sheep. You can watch it here:

Going deeper with the story

Jesus shares with us a vision of a great community of people where everyone is welcome, where God loves each and every person – even people who have made mistakes! God celebrates when people who have made mistakes admit them and work to do good things instead. This is cause for great rejoicing among all of God’s people. To rest in God’s presence is not only to find love, peace, delight, and hope. It is also to experience the overwhelming joy of people gathered together in the life-giving presence of God. This is what we experience in the resurrection of Jesus at Easter when God reveals that there is always new life in the midst of hardship.

Wondering

I wonder if you can imagine the lost sheep being found. Can you name that sheep?

I wonder if you have ever felt like you were lost? What was it like to be found?

I wonder if there are people in your life who have helped to “find” you?

I wonder what other things God celebrates in our life?

I wonder how we can experience the loving presence of God in our everyday life?

Music

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolbox: Oil

This week, add a small bottle of moisturizer to your toolbox!  If you don’t have one, fill a small container with cooking oil (olive, coconut, etc.) and include that instead.  When you need a self-care moment, take a small amount of lotion or oil and gently and mindfully massage your hands (or feet).  Think with gratitude about the work your hands (or feet) do for you day after day.

Postcards

Materials: postcards, notecards or cardstock cut to 4x6 or 5x7, markers, stickers and writing supplies, stamps.

God loves each and every person and we are called to share love and connection with all of God's creation! Everyone loves to receive a card or letter in the mail. Sending love via a card or letter is a great way to remind someone they are loved.  Use a pre-made postcard, or make a beautiful design or picture to decorate the front.  Write a brief message, then fill in the address, stamp it, and send it off!

Shepherd Detective Game (young children)

In this activity, everyone else leaves the room while a stuffed sheep (or other toy) is hidden. They are then called back in and race to find the missing sheep. Whoever finds it first gets to hide it for the next round.

As you play, think about God’s deep love of all people and how excited God is to find a person who was lost. Think about how energized you were to search for the missing sheep — God is just as excited!

The Lost Sheep Puzzle Activity (older children)

Materials: Puzzle (This activity is best if it can be prepared ahead of time, by removing one piece from the puzzle, unseen by the kids/youth, and hiding it somewhere in the room) 

Work together to complete the puzzle. Once it becomes clear that one piece missing, work together to go and find it — and celebrate when it is returned!

This activity reinforces the fact that everyone matters in God’s love. All of us together make a rich community and we must support one another. We celebrate when we are all together, and that we are all needed.

Sunday Worship Service - March 27, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

March 27, 2022

Lenten 2022 Theme: “The Way of Being” 

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: Prayer for Today
BCUC Choir 2022, flute: Erin Berard

A choir anthem for Joan & Geoff Gale in memory of loved ones

God in heaven, I make my prayer for all the people everywhere
who live in fear or pain or doubt; Whose homes are gone, and hopes run out.
God in heaven, I make my prayer for all the children everywhere
Who live in terrible, warring places; Who live with hunger and strange sad faces.
God in heaven, I make my prayer for all good people everywhere
who live in comfort, love and peace; And pray sincerely for strife to cease;
But who do not always hear the call of those who live with nothing at all.
God in heaven, hear my prayer! Help all people everywhere
To come closer together in plenty and need,
And to make our world your home, indeed.

Text, Tune & Accompaniment: 1988 Mary Coulson, Margaret Tucker, Choral arr. Michael Kemp
Song #CGA855 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Welcome
Rev. Kim Vidal

Good day everyone! My name is Rev. Kim Vidal and on behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this Fourth Sunday in Lent with the theme of “Being Prodigal”. We are glad that you have joined us today.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service at 10 am. 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 fully vaccinated and still being mindful of the health protocols like masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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. Please take note of the many opportunities to participate and offer your support to the various Lenten initiatives: the Lenten SOSA appeal to support FAMSAC; Hymn-Sing and Memorial Flowers to remember your loved ones. Details are posted in the announcements.

Minute for Social Action
Ellie & Clarke Topp

A Guaranteed Livable Income is Society Expressing Unconditional Love

Guaranteed Livable Income:
– recovers and secures human dignity
all are valued - no ‘undeserving poor’
– unleashes human potential
allows life changes with education and retraining
– improves health and well-being
better food and housing reduce stress on healthcare
encourages better communal participation and relationships
– supports those who lose jobs
from technology, climate change and outsourcing
Support Guaranteed Livable Income for All! 

Centering for Worship 
Rev. Kim

Friends, in this season of Lent, we know what God desires for us:
To remind ourselves that the message of Jesus is all about unconditional love.
To remember that now is the right time to put this kind of love into action.
With grateful hearts, let us gather in worship. 

Lighting of the Christ Candle
Acolytes: Peck-Jones Family

As we journey through Lent, 
as we move towards Holy Week,
we light this candle as a symbol of our trust in Jesus Christ. 
May its light remind us that God is with us and we are not alone. 

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90
Susan Feb 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

*Call to Gather (Responsively)  (www.ministrymatters.com) 
Erin Berard

From darkness and despair, from being lost and lonely, God calls us home.
Even though we have been selfish and let God down, we are still called beloved.
Remember the welcoming love of God which has been poured out for us.
Our hearts rejoice at the wondrous ways in which God loves and forgives us.
Remember that in all your ways you can trust in God’s compassion. Welcome home! 

Prayer of Confession (In Unison)
Erin

In this season of Lent when we contemplate the path Jesus walked,
let us seek God in this prayer of confession. Together, let us pray.

God, sometimes we wander into far countries of the soul without ever thinking where we are going. We take your love for granted; we presume that we can always find our way back to you, when we’re not busy, when it’s more convenient. And then we find ourselves in places where we do not want to be, and we wonder how we got there. Lonely and afraid, we do not know where to turn. Speak to us, O God, help us find the way to the place where we always belonged. Welcome us back home with your love. Amen.    

Moment of Silence

As we walk with God, we are transformed day by day.
God’s never-ending love journeys with us,
making us new, again and again. Thanks be to God!

Hymn: Come Touch Our Hearts - More Voices #12 (verses 1-4)
BCUC choir June 2020

1.       Come touch our hearts that we may know compassion,
          from failing embers build a blazing fire;
          love strong enough to overturn injustice,
          to seek a world more gracious, come touch and bless our hearts. 

2.       Come touch our souls that we may know and love you,
          your quiet presence all our fears dispel;
          create a space for spirit to grow in us,
          let life and beauty fill us, come touch and bless our souls. 

3.       Come touch our minds and teach us how to reason,
          set free our thoughts to wonder and to dream;
          help us to open doors of understanding,
          to welcome truth and wisdom, come touch and bless our minds. 

4.       Come touch us in the moments we are fragile,
          and in our weakness your great strength reveal;
          that we may rise to follow and to serve,
          steady now our nerve, come touch and bless our wills. 

5.       Come touch us now, this people who are gathered,
          To break the bread and share the cup of peace;
          That we may love you with our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, our all,
          Come touch us with your grace.

Words Music © 2002 Gordon Light, arr © 2002 Andrew Donaldson  Common Cup Co.
Song #118062  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Storytime
Erin Berard

My kids let me borrow their crayons so I could colour this page from my Lenten Journal. 

(Erin colours then drops and breaks several crayons).  Oops… Well maybe I can borrow a gel pen…  Can I use your gel pens?  Thanks!  (Erin colours then snaps the pen).  Uhh.. Could I use your markers now?  "NO!"  Hmm…  I guess it was "Wreck this Journal" not "Wreck your pens"... I guess I'm not really taking care of their things….

Jesus tells a parable to his followers about a son who is given a lot of money from his father, and goes off on his own.  The son is careless and wastes all the money, just like I was careless with the kids' crayons and pens.  The son has nothing left, but feels too embarrassed to go back home to his family - he really messed up.  He's scared about how much trouble he'll get into and how angry his parents will be.  But really, he hasn't got a lot of choice, because he has nothing at all, so he goes home hoping his parents could maybe pay him to do chores and stuff.

But as the son is walking up the lane, and before the son can even apologize, the father is running out, cheering at the sight of him, and calling people up to throw a huge party!

(Music) "Let's have a party!  Let's make a racket! I'm as happy, I'm as joyful as ever I can be! Let's have a party!  Let's make a racket, 'cause the lost has returned to me!"

Whoa! That was unexpected!  The son couldn't believe that his dad could still love him after all he had done.  (Maybe the dad did sit down later with the son and talk about money management and responsibility, but the most important thing was that the son was home and wanted to make amends and try again!)  Having his son back and having a good relationship with him again was more important than the money.

We can look at things like that in our own lives, too.  Maybe a fight or argument over something somebody broke or took isn't really worth it anymore - maybe it's time to move on and try to have the friendship, the person, back again.  (I think my kids will forgive me and still love me even though I broke some of their stuff… ) We can remember that God loves us, and is happy to forgive us when we mess up, and have us try again to make kind, loving choices.  

In today's Sunday School materials, we hear about how we are God's masterpiece, and that God is delighted by us, just like the Father in the parable rejoiced when the son came back.  Doesn't that give you a great feeling to be called delightful, and that someone thinks we're a masterpiece?

Let's have a prayer:

Loving God, thank you for welcoming us and loving us with your arms wide open. 
Help us to forgive those around us who have made mistakes,
and to celebrate the people we love. Amen 

Hymn:  O God, Send Out Your Spirit - More Voices #25
Erin & Abe March 202

Refrain: O God, send out your Spirit; renew the face of the earth. (2x)

1.       We bless you, O God, for you are so great.
Your Spirit uncovers hidden beauty and grace.
Though times we deny all the pain and the tears,
Your Spirit empowers us and soon we face our fears. Refrain: 

2.       Ev’ry prayer we pray, sacred word, sacred rite,
is for the ones who are left waiting outside.
Ev’ry sermon we preach, ev’ry Spirit-filled tune;
Love says, “Remember why we do the things we do.” Refrain: 

3.       Ev’ry time a person reaching out is turned away
by the racist prejudicial attitudes of hate,
We are called to break the silence, sanctioning the shame,
stepping cross the lines of this sometimes unholy game. Refrain:

4.       Sources of oppression that we haven’t really faced;
Human inhumanity upon the human race.
Spirit ever faithful, Spirit ever true,
Rain down all around, and ev’ry heart renew. Refrain

Words & Music © 1996 Jesse Manibusan; Ref: The International Commission on English in the Liturgy
Song # 83176 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination (In Unison)
Reader: David Stafford

Wise and forgiving God,
we pray that our speaking and living will reach out to others
and bring your Word honour and gratitude. Amen.
 

The Reading: Luke 15: 11-32 (NRSV)
The Parable of the Prodigals

11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with[b] the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[c22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31 Then the father[d] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

May God’s Love and Wisdom dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Sermon: “Being Prodigal”
Rev. Kim

Prayer: Holy God, may we welcome your holy presence
among us and within us as we listen and reflect on your Word today. Amen.

“…he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.”

I remember quite well that day when Justin was in Grade 1. Because we live less than one kilometer from the school, we did not have the option of having him being picked up by the school bus and bringing him home. I have to drop him off and pick him up from school. On that particular day, I went to school to pick Justin up but he was not there. I went to check with his classroom teacher but I was told that he had already left. I checked the playground and no sign of him. I went around the school building – still no sign of him. I started to panic. Where could he be? I drove around the street and he was not in sight. My body, at that point, started to shake. What happened to Justin? Where was he? 

Thinking of the worst-case scenario, I decided to go home and planned to call the police. To my relief, Justin was not lost or had been kidnapped or was in danger. He was already home. He told me that he walked with his friend, took the longer way, and was so proud that he was able to find his way home with his beaming expression “I did it, Mom!”. Instead of getting upset at him, I just gave him a big hug with tears flowing from my eyes.

It must have been soul-crushing for a parent when a child is really gone.  But the half an hour I experienced losing Justin - an experience shared by many parents when they cannot find their child at an amusement park or a shopping mall or when they can’t find their child in school, were some of the most frightening moments of my life.

Because, when it comes down to it, losing a child makes one vulnerable and heartbroken.  This might be the reason why today’s parable speaks to most of us, because we know how it would feel when someone we love is lost. But it will also cause us to celebrate in joy when what we have lost is found! 

“…he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.”

Teachings from Sunday School and traditional preachers taught us that the word prodigal is associated with a wayward son who has left his family and community to reckless living, squanders his inheritance but returns home to find that his father welcomes him with love and forgiveness.  But the word “prodigal” really means “extravagant, wasteful, reckless and lavishly abundant.”  To call this story the parable of the prodigal son is a misnomer. I would rather call it the parable of the prodigals. The three major characters in this parable were all prodigals.

Come to think of it - the younger son wasted his resources on reckless living; the older son abundantly used his time and energy to get himself upright with comfortable living; and the father extravagantly poured out his love to both of his children. This parable is rich and best captures all the important elements of life in relationships--grief, betrayal, trust, forgiveness, compassion, loneliness, jealousy, generosity, pride, and best of all, a welcoming love. It's the kind of story that goes deep and wide all at once and it should be revisited throughout life, since it has a tremendous capacity to look at relationships from different angles and heal our wounds over and over again. Susan Young offered the word inter-dependency. These three characters are interdependent with each other. Without one character, this parable would not have the same message we would like it to have.

Let’s admit it – family issues of sibling rivalry, favouritism, “I’m in-you’re out” dynamics – all play a part in this rich parable.  The younger son is driven by curiosity and a desire for independence to undertake a quest in a faraway country. He is anxious, impulsive and precocious, wanting to leave home early even though he risks his father's life and health in order to taste that glorious freedom. No doubt, his decision profoundly disturbs his father and his community. In those days, for a younger son to leave home and demand his inheritance upon leaving was as if he was wishing his father dead. The ancient readers would have seen this as a violation of the commandment to honour their mother and father. What we are dealing with here is something more than an adolescent rebellion, or defiant behavior, or rejection and betrayal of all that has been freely given--family, parenthood, community, life. So he took off with a fat sum of money, but when he squandered all of his inheritance, the younger son lived and fed the pigs. NT Scholar Bernard Brandon Scott calls this “apostasy” – the abandonment or renunciation of his religion. Pigs were deemed unclean in the Jewish law and to eat with them meant the younger son drifted away from Torah and religious traditions. He became the lowest of the lowest.

Think, for a moment, about the dutiful older son who stayed at home. He did everything his father told him to do, was probably a little glad to see his annoying brother leave in the first place, and was more than upset to see him come back.  We know that he was resentful when his younger brother returned home. Is it possible that he remained home not out of duty but because he was afraid of risks? And that he envied and resented his more adventurous and freedom-loving brother? Could some of us be like the older son – always doing the “dutiful” thing but scared of what’s out there, therefore putting on a persona of resentment and pride? I can see myself in the older brother. Not because I resent my siblings and wish they would go away. But I am not a big fan of high life – the adventurous, frivolous life out there. I don’t want to hurt the feelings of my parents. I love being home.

Accept it or not, we have been like all three prodigals in the story. We are like the younger son in so many ways – we have run away from various issues in life – we have tarnished our relationships with people we love; we have wasted our resources and talents on reckless living. 

At times, we could be like the older son. We put our time and effort in being perfect but also erecting walls of indifference and callousness; we have given ourselves into unwanted pride and we cannot even make ourselves “forgive and forget”. The question now is, how do we go home again? 

And here is where some of us resonate with the father. I like Bernard Brandon Scott's interpretation of the father. In Jesus’ time, fathers were authoritative figures who were distant and remote from their children. To wait for a wayward child means that this father, in the eyes of the audience, is a fool and has little honour. When he saw the son coming home, the father ran to meet him. Scott says that this action is so unorthodox for the ancient people, especially for fathers. To run means to hike up his robe to knee length, showing his legs, which is an act of disgrace. To make matters worse, the father kisses his son – again another act that is so not fatherlike. Scott concludes: “this father behaves in ways that are typical of a mother who has to maintain close ties with her sons…This image of the father in the role of the mother challenges the fundamental male hierarchy as the model for understanding the sacred.”

Which character are you in this parable? Have you left home? Or your comfortable life because of family differences or because you just want independence and want to experience some adventure out there? What would it mean for you to return, to come home again, to love, forgiveness, acceptance? A return to home is a return to love and a state of being loved. We come home, by first returning to ourselves and then returning to a life filled with compassion even as we recognize the compassionate embrace of God.

What about our church family here at BCUC? Where are we in the parable? Have we got that sense of welcoming love here at BCUC? What would it mean for us here to take this risky, boundary-less love into our lives? What grudges would we feel compelled to give up? What prejudices and biases would start to melt? What healing of relationships might be born? What self-hatred could be disarmed and forgiven?

Did you notice too that the parable is open-ended? The parable abruptly ends, leaving the conflict between the brothers unresolved. How would you write its ending? For me, I always like a happy ending where the main characters will find a way to sort their conflicts and differences and then live happily ever after.  I would like the sons to follow the father’s script. I would like the older son to be moved by his father’s compassion and forgiveness and, in return, his bitterness and anger towards his younger brother will be replaced with acceptance and he will become buddies with his brother, even though it’s a hard choice to make. I would like the younger son to truly repent, to be accountable for his wayward actions and humbly admit to his older brother and his father that he committed mistakes and that he will promise to be more responsible, to change into a better person. I would like the father to continue to love both sons unconditionally as if they were his best friends, to have open communication with them, to listen to them, to guide them to the right direction and to teach them to surrender their male honour. 

Phillip Yancey, author of What’s So Amazing About Grace? concludes in his book that Jesus’ parables of extravagant grace include no catch, no loophole disqualifying us from God’s love.  Yancey declares that when we decide to “come home” to God it feels like the discovery of a lifetime.  We were lost and we were found! And God rejoices of our return! Now it’s time to celebrate! Amen.

Sources: Inspired by the Sermon of Nadia Bolz-Weber, Re-Imagine the World, a book written by Bernard Brandon Scott, and the BCUC Lectionary Group

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Rev. Kim

Open our hearts...Open our minds... Open our lives to you, O loving God... Hear our prayer.

Holy and Gracious One, the one of prodigal grace, we give you thanks for the gift of life and for the blessings of this life, for family and friends and love abundant. In this season of Lent, lead us through the challenges and struggles, the tired times, moments of despair and bleak places. Be with those who weep or cannot sleep, those who have no peace or those who seek release and comfort them with your welcoming, unconditional love.

The parable today talks about the love shown to us in the teachings of Jesus. God is like a waiting parent for prodigal children ready to welcome and restore them to life.  God is like the host of the lost, the least, and all who long for home, those who wander from life-giving ways and waste the gifts they have been blessed with.  Welcome us back, we pray, so that we may celebrate and rejoice in your presence forever;

Let our hearts, our homes and BCUC be welcoming places - places of return built by a love that bends towards those who return here. Let us be a place where the only appropriate response to love that has come to the end of its longing, is to serve the fatted calf, feast and celebrate, send up balloons, and prepare the party for that which has been lost and has returned to be among us. We pray for all those from whom we are estranged. Bring healing to strained or broken relationships. Forgive us for the times we have wronged others, whether by ignorance, neglect, or intention. We pray for those who are sick, the lonely, the grieving and the people of Ukraine in the midst of war.

Fill the world with hope and peace, sustained by God’s mercy. Let us be transformed in all our broken ways so that we can be made whole. And in wholeness, may we be the hands and heart of Christ.  We ask these in the Spirit of Jesus Christ who gathers us in this prayer:

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. Kim

God’s love has always been abundant, in every time and place. We are grateful to a generous and loving God for every sign of new life.

I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

God of great wonders, we join with you in the joy of giving.
You give us life and breath, you fill the world with beauty,
our hands with bounty, and our hearts with the desire to give.
Accept these gifts, and ourselves in your service. Amen. 

Sending Forth
Rev. Kim

Time and time again,
God waits for us with a welcoming love.
With open arms we return to God.
Go out into the world to be God’s loving embrace for others.
We will go with God’s blessings. Amen. 

Hymn:  O God, How We Have Wandered - Voices United #112
BCUC Choir 2022

1 O God, how we have wandered and hidden from your face;
In foolishness have squandered your legacy of grace.
But how, in exile dwelling, we turn with fear and shame,
As distant but compelling you call us each by name. 

2 And now at length discerning the evil that we do,
By faith we are returning with hope and trust in you.
In haste you come to meet us, and home rejoicing bring,
In gladness there to greet us with calf and robe and ring. 

3 O God of all the living, both banished and restored,
Compassionate, forgiving, our peace and hope assured.
Grant now that our transgressing, our faithlessness may cease.
Stretch out your hand in blessing, in pardon and in peace.

Words © 1980 Kevin Nichols, Music 1836 Henry Smart
Song reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Departing Music: Bring Him Home
Men’s Chorus March 6, 2016

© Schönberg/Boublil/Natel lyrics: Kretzmer arr.Brymer (from Les Misérables) All rights reserved

Sunday school activities - March 27, 2022

(Materials Copyright: The UCC GO Project 2022)

Theme Discussion

The theme for this Lent through our Sunday School resources and our Lenten ‘Wreck This Journal’ has been rest and self care following Jesus’ example.  Check out this week’s video with another example of Jesus teaching the disciples to take time away.

The new reading for today is:

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God created an amazing world and we are God’s delight: God’s piece of art, God’s masterpiece. We are made so that we might do the good things God planned for us long ago... which Jesus says is to love our neighbour in the same way that God loves us.

We don’t know exactly how Jesus played but we do know Jesus talked about love a lot. Jesus often ate meals with his friends and welcomed people in. He gave thanks. He seemed to notice and delight in the things around him. He noticed birds and plants and told stories about everyday things. He was present in his environment and present in his relationships. This suggests he delighted in the world around him and joyfully gave thanks for it.

Wondering

  • I wonder what a work of art is?

  • I wonder what it feels like to be God's work of art?

  • I wonder what delights you? Or makes you feel full of joy?

  • I wonder what delights God?

Music

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolbox – Blowing Bubbles

Basic Homemade Bubble Solution
1 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup or 2 tablespoons glycerin
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid.

Mix up a batch of bubbles, by combining the above ingredients in a small jar.  Create a bubble wand by curling one end of a pipe cleaner around in a circle or using a large straw.

Play with bubbles can be a meditative prayer activity.  Take deep breaths in and blow the bubbles with a slow, steady exhale.  Think about sending a prayer to God in each bubble as they float around the room or outside.

Tightly cover the jar of bubbles and place in your toolbox for another time.

Delight in Nature

Try sprouting a seed!  You could use dried beans, seeds from inside a fruit or veggie you have in your fridge, or from a seed packet.  Place a few in a ziptop bag with a damp paper towel.  Close the bag and tape it to a sunny window to make a mini-greenhouse.  Be patient… then delight in the new life growing right before your eyes!

Delight in Laughter

Did you know that laughter boosts your immune system?! The goal of the following exercises is to encourage more laughter in our time together and lives - to delight in God's laughter!

  • Make laughter milkshakes: Mix your own laughter milkshakes. Have everyone hold a pretend glass in their hands. Say, "Imagine all the funny thoughts you are going to put into the milkshake... think of the funniest things you’ve done, times when you’ve had the giggles and of things that really made you laugh. Put all of those thoughts into your milkshake. Shake it all around and drink it up. Feel your body start to laugh. Let the laughter bubble up... laugh and let it all up and out. Drink three laughter milkshakes!" Delight in watching everyone drink from theirs and as everyone begins to laugh.

  • The ‘Copy My Laugh’ Game: Stand in a close circle. One person can start off with a laugh that will then be copied by the next person, and so on. The goofier, the funnier!

  • No Smile Game: Pair off and see who can withhold from smiling the longest – sure to make everyone laugh pretty quickly.

Delight in Colour – Milk and colour experiment

Materials: Milk, liquid food colouring (not gel), dish soap, q-tips, a shallow pan or plate, towels or paper towels in case of mess.

Pour a thin layer of milk in a shallow pan. Add drops of food colouring all around in the milk.  Dip the q-tip into the dish soap, then press the cotton swab into the drop of colour. Press it down in one spot and hold it for about 15 seconds. Continue to play in all the colours and see what shapes you can get!

What’s happening: For a very basic explanation, milk is made up of minerals, proteins and fats. The dish soap starts to break up the milk. The soap molecules move around, trying to attach to the milk. We can see it because of the food colouring. Normally, we wouldn’t see it happen.

Delight in Play – for Youth/Young Adults

Check out this information sheet about play styles. Read it and think about these questions:

  • Which one(s) feel the most like you?

  • What ways that you play feel most refreshing or energizing?

  • Do you have similar play styles to your friends or family?

  • Do you have enough play in your life? If not, where it is missing? How could you can add more play?

Sunday Worship Service - March 20, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT

March 20, 2022

Lenten 2022 Theme: “The Way of Being” 

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: Fairest Lord Jesus – Voices United #341
Duet: Ellen & Bernice Nov 2020

Bill & Nora McGee In memory of loved ones  

1 Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature,
O thou of God to earth come down:
thee will I cherish, thee will I honour,
thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2 Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
who makes the troubled heart to sing.

3 Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
and fair the twinkling, starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4 All fairest beauty heavenly and earthly,
wondrously, Jesus, is found in thee;
none can be nearer, fairer or dearer
than thou, my Saviour, art to me.

Arr © 1958 Stewart Landon, Words 1677 German Crusader’s Hymn, Music 1842 Silesian Folk Melody 
Song #1050509 & 97906  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Welcome & Centering for Worship 
Rev. Kim Vidal

Good day everyone! My name is Rev. Kim Vidal and on behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this Third Sunday in Lent with the theme of “Being Truthful”. We are glad that you have joined us today.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service at 10 am. 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 fully vaccinated and still being mindful of the health protocols like masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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. Please take note of the many opportunities to participate and offer your support to the various Lenten initiatives: the Lenten SOSA appeal to support FAMSAC; Hymn-Sing and Memorial Flowers to remember your loved ones. Details are posted in the announcements.

Friends, let us take this moment to reflect what truth God is calling us to embrace in this season of Lent. Let us now worship together in spirit and in truth.

Lighting of the Christ Candle
Acolyte: Elly Crow, Conor Morris & Cian

Christ candle, burning bright, 
Guiding our way in this season of Lent.

Christ candle, glowing light, 
The blessing of God, giving new sight. 

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90
Susan Feb 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

*Call to Gather (Responsively)
Erin Berard

God will surprise us with kindness.
Our lives will be carried beyond the horizons of
human mercy and enrich us with overflowing love.
Pause, turn around on the Lenten road and see a new reality.
On this road we may find in faith, the gifts of God through Christ.
Then in celebration we will refresh the world,
with generosity beyond the ordinary.
Let us worship the God of second chances. 

Prayer of Confession (In Unison)
Erin

In this season of Lent when we contemplate the path Jesus walked,
let us join together to seek God in confession. Let us pray together:
There are times when we do not walk in God’s ways,
when we do not grow the way God wants.
Sometimes our actions do not help others to grow:
we laugh at them, we put them down, we are mean.
Sometimes we hurt people by telling them that
bad things “are God’s will” and making them feel worse.
Sometimes we give up on others,
and write them off as bad, useless, hopeless, worthless.
Sometimes we reject the care that God offers us:
we think we can grow without Jesus,
without the guidance of God who lovingly prunes us and guides our growth.
Forgive us, O God when we forget what you offer us.  

Moment of Silence

Erin: Each of us is known to God, each of us is forgiven by God, each of us is made whole by God.
Praise be to our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen

Hymn: In the Bulb, there is A Flower - Voices United #703
BCUC Choir Feb 2021

Ian & Ruth Howes In loving memory of family and friend

1.In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

2.There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
there's a dawn in every darkness bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see. 

3.In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

Words and Music © 1986 Natalie Sleeth
Song #52456 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Storytime
Erin Berard

I’ve got some seeds here that I want to get started so they’ll be ready for the garden later this Spring.  I’ve got some basil, peppers, and tomatoes.

What do I need to do to help these seeds grow?  

Yes, water, sunshine and warmth, and soil for support and nutrients. 

(plants some seeds in an egg carton with dirt and water)

They will need space to grow, too - they can’t be too crowded.  I’ll have to thin them out by pulling up some of them so they don’t block the sun for the others, and allow them to grow to their full size.

In the parable for today, Jesus tells a story about a tree in a garden that wasn't making fruit.  The owner of the garden wanted to get rid of it - it was just taking up space.  The gardener, however, asks for more time - to give it another chance to do its job - to make fruits for people or animals to eat.  Maybe the gardener wanted to give it extra water, or prune it differently, or give it more nutrients, or find a way to give it more or less sun.

What if we imagine we were like fruit trees or bushes (I'd be a raspberry - yum! What about you?) But seriously, we don’t make real fruit for people and animals to eat… what could we produce or make for other people… How about love, kindness, peace, patience…. Those sound like the kind of things God would want us to do.  

So what do we need to grow and be the best we can be?  Good food, water, a home, for sure.  What about loving adults - parents, grandparents, teachers, babysitters?  Loving caregivers, like the gardener in the story, tend to us, guide us, and help us to grow.  God is also helping and encouraging us all the time, just like God helps trees to grow good fruit.

I love that in this story, the gardener doesn’t give up when the tree doesn’t do exactly as it is supposed to.  We’re all still learning and God and those around us can give us a chance to be forgiven and try again when we’re not at our best.

Let us pray:

Loving God, you have blessed us with a beautiful world, food to eat, and opportunities to learn and grow. Thank you for those around us who nurture and care for us in body, mind, and soul.

Help us to share our fruits - kindness, patience, gentleness - with all those we meet.

Amen

Hymn: There is Room for All – More Voices #62
BCUC Choir May 2021

English:
There is room for all
in the shadow of God’s wing;
there is room for all, sheltered in God’s love.
And I rejoice and sing,
“My refuge and my rock, in whom I trust.”
There is room for all, there is room for all!

French:
Chacun a sa place 
á l'abri sous l'aile de Dieu;
Chacun a sa place en l'amour de Dieu.
De joie, je chanterai:
"Mon refuge en lequel je me confie”.
Chacun a sa place, chacun a sa place.

Words and Music © 2004 Bruce Harding evensong.ca         French © 2006 David Fines
Song # 127055  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination (In Unison)
Reader: Ellen Boynton

God of plenty and of open doors,
you feed the deep places in our spirits
and speak the words that evoke turning for the good.
Send your Spirit to illuminate us with your Word of Life.  Amen.
 

The Reading: Luke 13: 1-9 (NRSV) Repent or Perish

13 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

May God’s Love and Wisdom dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Sermon: “Being Truthful” 
Rev. Kim

Prayer: Create in us a clean heart, O God,
so that your Word may renew and transform us in Jesus’ name. Amen.
“Why do people suffer?”
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“Where is God in these situations?”  

The Rev. William Sloane Coffin was senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City, when his son Alex was killed in a tragic car accident. Alex was driving in a terrible storm; he lost control of his car and careened into the waters of Boston Harbor. Rev. Coffin thanked all the people for their messages and acts of condolence. But he also got upset at those who had hinted that Alex's death was God's will. "I knew the anger would do me good," he said. "Do you think it was God's will that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper...that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm? Do you think it was God's will that there were no street lights along that stretch of the road and no guard rail separating the road and Boston Harbor? The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, 'It is the will of God.' Rev. Coffin closed his homily with these words: “My own consolation lies in knowing that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all hearts to break.”

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is being pulled into a conversation about two tragic stories in Galilee - two events that were probably familiar to first century people. The first one was a politically sanctioned murder, of how Pilate ordered Roman soldiers to murder some Galileans in the temple alongside their animal sacrifices. This act was not only offensive and revolting, but also sacrilegious and ungodly. The second one is a random accident of 18 construction workers who were crushed when the Tower of Siloam fell on them. Jesus’ questions were direct: “Do you think those Galileans who were killed under the hands of Pilate were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Do you think the labourers were worse sinners than those whose lives were spared from the crash?” Jesus went on to say that just because people suffer a nasty, horrible death does not mean they were worse sinners than anybody else. He reminded his hearers that they should not think for one moment that the murdered Galileans and the victims in Siloam were responsible for their fate… any more than those who died in Ukraine or those who died and are still suffering from the COVID pandemic or those in tragic car accidents. Jesus implies that the victims did nothing wrong, nothing that caused their deaths. Both events tell the truth that our human life is unsteady, imperfect and short.

I grappled with two theological issues from this text. One is the understanding of sin and sinfulness, and two, the connection between suffering and punishment. The common understanding of sin at the time of Jesus was that of a cause and effect. Most people in those times believed that when tragedy strikes, it was a punishment from God because of human sinfulness. They believed that good things happen to good people. And when bad things happen, it is the result of the person’s sinfulness or alienation from God. Instead of saying that the Galileans were murdered because they were seen as posing a threat to the existing regime, people think they were killed because they must have done something terrible to anger God. What about those who were crushed by the tower? Instead of looking at construction mishaps, people say it was time for them to die.  This was the conventional wisdom in Jesus’ time, and I know some of us today have the same line of thinking. However, Jesus implies that we must not equate tragedy with divine punishment. 

We in the modern world are not far from the ancient people in interpreting tragic news. Those murdered school children? Well, it happened because we’ve banned prayers in schools. Those two towers that collapsed in New York City on Sept. 11?  Oh - it was God’s punishment on a corrupt and immoral society. Those people who died from the fire? That must be their fate. If someone is ill, if someone dies, or if someone suffers, some of easily point fingers at God – to explain the situation as “God’s will” or “God’s turning away from us” or even “the absence of God” in our lives. We often conclude that sufferings are God’s punishment. But I disagree with this view – do you? Jesus says, “no.” That’s not how this works. The sun continues to shine and the rain falls on both the just and the unjust.

You may or may not agree with me, but I believe that suffering is caused by our human condition. We make bad choices that lead to our own failures. We are a flawed humanity. We are not perfect – and so is the world we live in. In addition, there are natural disasters and tragedies beyond our human control. Suffering is not a form of punishment. Suffering comes to us because we make choices irresponsibly or because of things beyond our control. Suffering is also caused by personal and systemic sins. The murderous acts of terror – as well as those horrific actions of today’s tyrants that we read about in the news – are sins that alienate us from God’s love. Sin has consequences, and there are all kinds of bad behaviour that contribute to much of the misery in the world, and the more we can stand up and confront these sins, whether personal or systemic, the less suffering there will be.

Jesus taught his listeners this profound truth: “unless you repent, you too will perish.” I think Jesus doesn’t mean to say that if you do not change or turn around or transform from your evil ways and turn to God, that you’ll stop breathing or physically die. I think what Jesus was trying to say here is that if you do not repent, you will never experience the fullness or abundance of life God has in store for all of us. Matt Skinner calls it “the destruction of one’s soul.” One can never be satisfied and content with what one has. They will always be consumed by emptiness or restlessness, or bitterness, anger, fear or anxiety.

Despite the fact that life sometimes may appear to be tragic and harsh, Jesus is calling us to a transformed life - to repent from embracing doctrines or ideologies that teach of a God who punishes and sends violence, tragedy, illness and death to people and the whole of creation; to repent from pointing fingers at someone for your own mistakes and wrongdoings; to repent of believing that retribution is accepted to get even;  to repent of one’s acts that harm others. Jesus calls us to repent. To turn around. To change for the better. 

Unless we are about the truth that leads to change, we’re just going in circles, unproductive and fruitless, like the fig tree in the parable Jesus told his followers. The fig tree was not doing what it’s supposed to do. It does not produce fruits. The owner’s response to the tree’s lack of productivity is to cut it down. But the gardener, full of hope and compassion, stood up for the tree. The gardener begged the owner to give the tree another year to live. A second chance. A year of reprieve, a year of grace. It is limited time, but it is a time to turn around, to heal and to grow. With good loving care, the gardener knows that it’s worth the wait.

How do we interpret this parable? What if the owner is not God but those of us who value productivity the most? Those who take rigid rules seriously? Those who measure human value by good works and achievements? The vineyard owner is one who measures human value by how good people are, if they are following all the rules, if they are doing what they are supposed to do? Or those that do not meet the owner’s standards. It is this kind of owner that sees an unproductive tree and demands that it be cut off.

The gardener could be God or Jesus or the practitioners of unconditional love that proclaims the value of the fig tree not in terms of the fruits or works or accomplishments - but hopes in good faith that this tree, once given a second chance, might turn around and bear fruit. 

I believe the fig tree is all of us. Sometimes we are unproductive, malnourished or unable or unwilling to nourish others.  Other times we are achievers, we bear fruit. Sometimes we feel helpless or hopeless, ignored or dismissed.  Sometimes we feel on top of the world and ready to take another step. Sometimes we mess up. Other times we are OK. The gardener steps forward and challenges the opportunistic owner to quit his judgmental character and offer the fig tree a second chance, another season, another year, some more space to begin again.

Jesus is saying through this parable that in the midst of tragedy or unfortunate events, don’t blame the victims of violence, the victims of hunger, the victims of poverty, the victims of grief, the victims of suffering. Don’t try to explain away the tragedy by blaming it on God or on others. Instead, Jesus wants us to repent. That is the truth of this difficult gospel.

Dear friends, we have heard some basic truths as people of faith. Many of us do not bear the fruit in our lives we would like to bear. But take heart. There is still time to turn our lives around. Why not make this your commitment in this season of Lent? It’s never too late. Your second chance is awaiting your response. Amen.

Sources:
BCUC Lectionary Group; Inspired by the commentaries, sermons and reflections of Barbara K. Lundblad,  Bill Coffin,  David R. Henson, and Alyce Mackenzie, Debie Thomas and Matt Skinner.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Rev. Kim

God of us all, as the winter season changes to spring, help us to remember to look beyond our own busy-ness to both the beauty and the needs around us.

Jesus challenges us to look at the world with new eyes, to put our egos aside and consider the deeper meaning of repentance to which you call each of us, as we strive to become the people you need us to be, in the world as you envisioned it:

We pray: For BCUC that we may listen and pay attention to one another, particularly to those in need, and that this church be an example of love lived out in the world.

We pray: For greater awareness, that we may recognize our common humanity in spite of differences in race or culture, or status, and that we strive to accompany one another along the journey of life.

We pray: For a spirit of truth and humility, that we may recognize all our gifts as gifts from God, gifts to be used and shared. And we pray that we may recognize our need for one another in our quest to become our fullest selves.

We pray: For a clearer recognition of healthy and unhealthy ambitions, that we may be aware of the motivations that stir our hearts, and respond to those that lead us closer to God and toward greater wholeness in ourselves, our communities, and the world.

We pray: For the people in Ukraine as they seek to find refuge in this time of war. We ask for your spirit of peace to prevail and to embrace them in your love. For the protesting people in Russia who are not in favour of this war, for their voices to be heard. For the world leaders to find solutions to stop this war in the name of peace and the freedom to live.

For the poor and powerless in our society, that we may hear their voices, understand their pain, and humbly walk alongside them through life’s challenges, that we use our privilege to empower others rather than to lift ourselves. 

We pray: For healing and strength, that the Good News of Jesus may bring hope to the sick and strength to those who care for them. We pray especially for those in our faith family who are facing illness, injury, and grief. Let them feel the love with which we hold them.

We pray: For all of the burdens in our hearts, voiced or held in silent thought, and through these ancient words we repeat together with followers of Jesus throughout the world...

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.
(With inspiration from Joe Milner, St. Louis University, https//liturgy.sluhostedsites.org and Rev. Lorrie Lowes)
 

Invitation to Offer
Rev. Kim

God’s love has always been abundant, in every age. We are grateful to a generous and loving God for every sign of new life. We come together to thank God and to offer our gifts so that the ministry of this church will continue to grow and be a blessing to the world.

I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

Holy One, accept these gifts we offer as a token and a symbol of
the offering of ourselves in Christ’s service. May all that we offer of
ourselves and our resources, be acceptable, and blessed by you,
Gracious God. Amen

Sending Forth
Rev. Kim

As you walk through the world,
look up, look out, look all around,
seeking those who need love;
love that you may show them,
love by which they may know of God’s love.
We are called to be God’s people.
Let us follow in love, hope and trust. Amen.

Hymn: Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love - Voices United #593
TeGrot family Nov 2020

Refrain: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love,
show us how to serve
the neighbours we have from you.  

1.    Kneels at the feet of his friends,
silently washes their feet,
master who acts as a slave to them. R 

2.    Neighbours are rich and poor,
varied in colour and race,
neighbours are near and far away. R

3.    These are the ones we should serve,
these are the ones we should love,
all are neighbours to us and you. R

4.    Kneel at the feet of our friends,
silently washing their feet,
this is the way we should live with you. R

Words & Music Arr. © 1969 Tom Colvin    Ghanaian Folk Song         Hope Pub.         
Song #00047 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling – Voices United #333 
Choir Mar 2022

Desna Sulway In honour of Vernon’s Life

1.    Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heav’n, to earth come down,
fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art.
Visit us with thy salvation; enter ev'ry trembling heart.

2.    Come, Almighty, to deliver, let us all thy grace receive.
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore they temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray, and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

3.    Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee.
Changed from glory into glory, till in heav’n we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.

Words: 1747 Charles Wesley & Music 1831 Rowland Pritchard.   
Song #84255 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Sunday school activities - March 20, 2022

(Materials Copyright: The UCC GO Project 2022)

Theme Discussion

Check out this week’s cartoon:

We know how God loves us, and because of that, we know how God wants us to love others. Jesus taught us to love God with all our heart and soul. Jesus also taught us to love others as God loves us and as we love ourselves.

God’s dream (God’s vision of shalom, the kingdom of God) reminds us of God’s hope for us and the world. When we are overwhelmed by things or full of worry, it can be hard to know if we should take care of ourselves or be there for others. Sometimes we just want to take care of ourselves or ignore everybody else.

When we rest in God’s love, we know we are cherished and cared for. When we rest in God’s peace, we can be fully present in the moment. When we rest (and play!) in God’s delight, we can find joy all around us. When we rest in these ways, we fill up our spirits and we can also rest in God’s hope and be part of making God’s dream come true.

It’s not just taking care of others and it’s not only taking care of ourselves. When we care for ourselves, we care for others. We can be good friends to all people. We can love beyond boundaries, we can care for our neighbours and ourselves because we know God loves us all.

Wondering

  • I wonder what God’s love feels like?

  • I wonder what it would be like to love and care for others like God cares for us?

  • I wonder if it’s easy or hard to do that?

  • I wonder what it would be like if everyone was welcome and cared for and had everything they needed? I wonder where God is when we are welcoming and caring for our neighbours?

Music

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolbox: Love Your Neighbour Jar

We are called to love our neighbours as God loves us and as we love ourselves. Think of ways we can love our neighbours, and think about who our neighbours are, expanding from a neighbour being just the ones next door to everyone we meet.

Materials: Jar, stickers, coloured paper, glue, scissors

Start by decorating your “Love Your Neighbour” jar with a colourful label, stickers, coloured paper shapes, or any other designs you wish. 

Next, brainstorm ways that you can love your neighbours and write them down on a big list, adding a drawing if you want. Cut them apart and put them in the jar.

At home, try to do something to help people every day or every few days. Pull an idea out and try to do that. The jar can also go in the Lenten tool box, although we can help our neighbours all the time.

Self-Portrait

Create a self portrait, reflecting on the physical aspects of identity. This activity relates to the Greatest Commandment to love ourselves as God loves us and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves. It begins to explore who we are, and how what we look like can affect how others see us. It also celebrates diversity.

Look in the mirror and describe the shape of your face; skin colour and complexion; eye shape and colour; hair colour, texture, length and style; nose shape; and other characteristics like birthmarks, freckles, glasses, braces, etc.

Using whatever art supplies you have available – paint, crayons, markers, etc. – take your time and create a detailed self-portrait.

Discuss:

  • What do you notice about your self-portrait?

  • How does your self-portrait reflect aspects of your identity in terms of race, ethnicity and other identity characteristics?

  • How do you look similar to and different from people in your family, friends and classmates?

God’s Dream Village

Watch the video for If the World Were a Village:

Discuss:

  • What does it need to make sure everyone has what they need?

  • What does your world look like?

  • What does it need to be God’s dream for the world?

Design a village for 100 people, imagining what the world would be if God’s dream was lived in the world today.

You can draw this world, sculpt it out of clay or play dough, build it out of blocks or loose parts, or create it in other ways. 

As you work think about:

  • What do you like the best? What needs improvement?

  • What aspect is most important?

  • What the world be like if God’s dream were here now…

Lord’s Prayer Rewrite – Youth activity

Think about the Lord’s Prayer as a vision for Shalom.

Read traditional and contemporary versions of the Lord’s prayer then see if you're up for writing your own. As you read different versions explore what imagery comes to you for God's Shalom. Think about what you like, don't like, agree with, disagree with, etc.

Traditional (Breaking it down):

Our Father, (A greeting)
who art in heaven, (how we know God)
hallowed be thy name (Acknowledge the mystery)
thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth (A Shalom Vision)
as it is in heaven. (to come to life on earth)
Give us this day our daily bread; (take care of our daily needs)
and forgive us our trespasses (forgive us)
as we forgive those who trespass against us; (help us forgive others)
and lead us not into temptation, (what is temptation?)
but deliver us from evil. (What is evil?)
For thine is the kingdom The power and the glory (may your love last always)
Forever and ever
Amen. 

Contemporary:

Eternal Spirit, Source of all that is and ever shall be,
Loving Parent in whom we discern heaven,
May knowledge of your holiness inspire all peoples,
And may your commonwealth of peace and freedom flourish on earth
Until all of humankind heed your call to justice and compassion.
May we find the bread that we need for today,
And for the hurts we cause one another
May we be forgiven in the same measure that we forgive.
In times of trial and temptation, help us to be strong;
When life seems overwhelming, help us to endure;
And thus from the yoke of sin deliver us.
May you reign in the power of human love, Now and forever.
Amen.
(Adapted from the prayer book of the Anglican Church of New Zealand) 

Now try writing your own! 

Sunday Worship Service - March 13, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

March 13, 2022   

Lenten 2022 Theme: “The Way of Being”

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: When Peace Like A River
BCUC Choir Mar 2021

In loving memory of Young Hoon Kim (Kim Family)

1 When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul."

Refrain:
It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.

2 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate
And has shed His own blood for my soul. R

3 O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall
be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend; even so, it is well with my soul. R 

Words: Horatio Spafford, 1865, Music: Philip Bliss, Arr. © 1985 Dale Grotenhuis
Song # 97950 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Welcome & Centering for Worship
Rev. Kim Vidal

Good day everyone! My name is Rev. Kim Vidal and on behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this Second Sunday in Lent. We are glad that you have joined us today.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service at 10 am. 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 fully vaccinated and still being mindful of the health protocols like masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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. Please take note of the many opportunities to participate and offer your support to the various Lenten initiatives: the Lenten SOSA appeal to support FAMSAC; Hymn-Sing and Memorial Flowers to remember your loved ones. Details are posted in the announcements.

Friends, in this season of Lent, we know what God desires of us:
That we do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
We gather this morning to remind each other about that,
To remember that now is always the right time to do these things.
So with thanks in our hearts, let us worship God.

Lighting of the Christ Candle
Acolytes: Wendy Morrell & Dan Lanoue

We give thanks for the light of Christ,
our guide in this season of Lent.
As we light this candle,
may it remind us of our hope in Jesus Christ,
to teach us again how to love,
how to break down walls and to build bridges.
May this light enflame our hearts with God’s love. 

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90
Susan Feb 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

*Call to Gather (Responsively) 
Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Jim McKean, Gathering, Lent/Easter 2022. Used with permission.)

God calls us each and every moment of the day.
God calls us through the tears of sadness.
God calls us through the tears of joy.
God calls.
How we acknowledge this call is up to us.
Our choice to gather to worship is one way we accept God’s call.
Come, then, let us gather in worship. 

Prayer of Confession (In Unison)
Rev. Lorrie

(Christine Leblanc, Gathering, LE 2022. Used with permission)

Let us offer to God our prayer of confession. Together, let us pray:
Our God is a God of love. All goodness.
An ever-present Presence in our lives who guides and directs us.
We take a moment to reflect upon our lives, knowing that God holds tenderly all that causes broken relationships in our lives.
Our shortcomings.
The moments we did not act out of love toward others or ourselves.
The times when we were hurt by the actions of others.
 

A Moment of Silence

Our God is a God of love.
All goodness.
An ever-present Presence in our lives who guides and directs us.
We take a moment to reflect upon our lives, knowing that God holds tenderly all that causes broken relationships in our lives. Amen. 

Hymn: Throughout These Lenten Days and Nights – Voices United #108
BCUC Mar 1 2015

1 Throughout these Lenten days and nights
we turn to walk the inward way,
where, meeting Christ, our guide and light,
we live in hope till Easter Day.

2 The pilgrim Christ, the Lamb of God,
who found in weakness greater power,
embraces us, though lost and flawed,
and leads us to his Rising Hour.

3 We bear the silence, cross and pain
of human burdens, human strife,
while sisters, brothers help sustain
our courage till the Feast of Life.

4 And though the road is hard and steep,
the Spirit ever calls us on
through Calvary's dying, dark and deep,
until we see the coming Dawn.

5 So let us choose the path of One
who wore, for us, the crown of thorn,
and slept in death that we might wake
to life on Resurrection Morn!

6 Rejoice, O sons and daughters!
Sing and shout hosannas! Raise the strain!
For Christ, whose death Good Friday brings
on Easter Day will rise again!

Words © 1996 James Gertmenian; Music 1864 W.H. Havergal
Song #12108 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Storytime
Rev. Lorrie

How would you describe Jesus to someone who had never heard the Bible stories about him? Would you describe the way he looked? That would be hard because there are no descriptions of him like that in the Bible. We never hear what colour his hair was, or his eyes, or his skin… nowhere does it tell us if he was a tall man or short. I bet you have a picture of him in your mind though – maybe because of the illustrations you’ve seen in Children’s Bibles, or in paintings by famous artists, or maybe from your own imagination.

The interesting thing is that everyone seems to have a different idea of what he looked like. Next time you are in the church, take a look at the poster on my office door. It has many pictures of Jesus and every single one is different. Each artist has painted the picture of Jesus in their mind, the face they imagine when they think of him. Isn’t it strange that with all the stories written about Jesus, not one mentions what he looked like? I wonder if maybe that’s because his appearance was not the important part of who he was. Maybe that’s because he looked like an ordinary man, one who wouldn’t stand out in a crowd.

The Bible might not describe what Jesus looked like, but there are lots of names the writers use to describe who Jesus was. Can you remember some of them? The Son of God… Teacher… Healer… Shepherd … Sometimes those names describe him as a leader - the Prince of Peace… King of the Jews… or Saviour. There are so many different ways he is described… Well, in today’s scripture reading Jesus describes himself - but in a very different way. He says he is like a mother hen who wants to gather her baby chicks under her wings to protect them. Isn’t that an interesting image? Not a rooster, as we might expect a man to say, but a mother hen… 

Have you ever spent time around chickens? My daughter, Katie, has a barn full of chickens at our house – mostly hens, but a few roosters too. And, you know what, they are very different from each other. They don’t just look different, but they behave differently too. Both roosters and hens tend to be very protective. A rooster protects the hens by being aggressive – flapping his wings, making a lot of noise, and even pecking at anyone or anything that he thinks is a danger to his hens. Hens protect their chicks in a very different way. If they sense some danger, they make a special clucking noise that tells the babies to come quickly and then she covers them up with her wings and sits there quietly with them tucked underneath her.

Can you imagine what it might feel like to be a little chick underneath your mother? I think it must be a very warm, safe place to be. When I have reached under a hen to collect an egg, I can feel how warm and soft and cozy it would be. All those fluffy feathers feel like a big soft blanket that can wrap those babies up and still give them room to breathe. Even if there is lots of noise or trouble around, under those wings it’s quiet and warm and it must feel safe. 

It’s an image that we might not think of when we are asked to describe Jesus – but I think it is an important one. I think that Jesus is telling his listeners that fighting isn’t the only way to provide protection and safety, that there is a softer, gentler way that is just as effective – maybe even more effective. I think he is telling them, that with him, they can feel safe.

This week in the news we are hearing a lot of scary stories about the attack that Russia is making on the people of Ukraine. I can’t imagine how scary and dangerous the situation is for the people who live there. The children must be so scared! When the bombing and shelling comes close, they all run to bunkers and subway stations underground. I’m sure they are still scared, but I have seen a lot of stories and videos of people huddled together in blankets, of mothers reading stories to their children, and even of a little girl sweetly singing the song from “Frozen” to everyone. They seem to me a lot like those chicks tucked under the mother hen – finding a little bit of comfort and safety in a very dangerous situation.

I think that, maybe, that’s what Jesus is trying to tell us:

“Listen when I call you and follow quickly… Even when the world seems scary or dangerous, if you do these things, you will be safely tucked under my wings, wrapped up in God’s love.”

Let’s pray:

Gentle Jesus,
Help us to listen for your call to us.
Help us to follow that call to the way you want us to go,
And when life gets scary, help us remember that you will keep us
Tucked warm and safe like a chick under its mother’s wing.
We pray for the children in Ukraine, and all those children who are facing war and violence in today’s world. Please keep them wrapped up safely in God’s love.
Amen. 

Hymn: “Listen, God is Calling” - More Voices #97

Listen, God is calling, through the Word inviting,
Offering forgiveness, comfort and joy.

Words & Music © Traditional Tanzania song, translation: Olson, Arr. © More Voices 2007
Song #01607 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Prayer for Illumination (In Unison
Reader: John Boivin

(Allister Rose, Gathering, LE 2015. Used with permission)

Loving God, as our faith grows through the study of your Word,
may we share that Word with others so they may come to know you as well.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
 

The Reading: Luke 13: 31-35 (NRSV) 
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 
32 Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 
33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ 
34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 
35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

This is the Word of God.

Anthem: God See the Children
CGS/Bell Canto – Director: Erin Berard

God sees the children playing in the dirt,
God hears the children -- crying when they're hurt.

It hurts God too, to see the despair,
when we've been given enough to share,
and hearts to care, and love for ev'ry one.

God sees the children run away in fright;
God hears the children -- crying in the night.
It hurts God too, to see the despair,
when we've been given enough to share,
and hearts to care, and love for ev'ry one.

Give us the strength to be poor with the poor,
to be happy though our selfish hearts cry out for more
when we've been given enough to share,
and hearts to care, and love for ev'ry one.

God sees the children from all different lands,
God hears the children -- trying to understand.
It hurts God too, to see the despair,
when we've been given enough to share,
and hearts to care, and love for ev'ry one.

Words © Sandy Boyce & Music © Kathy Pike
Song Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Sermon: “Being Vulnerable”
Rev. Kim

Between 1953 to 1955, a Roman Catholic Franciscan church was built on the foothills of Mount Olives, facing the old city of Jerusalem called Dominus Flevit, which is Latin for “The Lord has wept”, symbolic of Jesus’ lamenting over Jerusalem. The church building is shaped like a teardrop which embodies Jesus’ lament and sorrow for the city that he loved. Inside the sanctuary of the church adorning its altar was a circular mosaic artifact believed to be created in the 7th century. The most dominant image in the mosaic is that of a hen – standing tall and courageous, her wings stretched wide. Under the wings are chicks gathered at her feet. Along the circumference of the mosaic is a Latin inscription of Jesus’ words: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Those last words— “you were not willing” — are intentionally placed at the bottom of the mosaic, in an area where all the tiles are red, perhaps like spilled blood, at the hen’s feet. Besides the hen and the chicks, there is another character in this picture. Although it is not visible in the mosaic, you might imagine it lurking out of sight, waiting to strike. That other character is the fox that threatens the chicks. 

Our journey towards the Holy Week is just a few weeks away and we are now beginning to feel the tension. Jesus is slowly moving out from his ministry in Galilee and traveling towards Jerusalem; the place where he would encounter his political and religious enemies and eventually his death. In this passage, we see Jesus pouring out his vulnerable self. We hear of the Pharisees acting like local sympathizers and have warned Jesus to “get away from Jerusalem because Herod wants to kill him.” But instead of heading for the nearest hole to hide, Jesus sends the Pharisees to relay a message to Herod that he called The Fox that Jesus has business to complete in Jerusalem and it will be on his timetable, not Herod’s. 

I wonder why Jesus chose hen as a metaphor for him? Why not a lion or a bear or even a mighty eagle? The lectionary group believes that lions, bears, eagles - all portray power, prestige and affluence – three things that symbolize what a typical Messiah would be. Jesus, on the other hand, was the opposite. He was humble and non-violent, yet strong and compassionate like a mother hen. Barbara Brown Taylor said at one point that: “A hen is what Jesus chooses, which is pretty typical of him. He is always turning things upside down, so that children and peasants wind up on top while kings and scholars land on the bottom… Jesus is like a mother hen who stands between the chicks and those who mean to do them harm. She has no fangs, no claws, no rippling muscles. All she has is her willingness to shield her babies with her own body. If the fox wants them, he will have to kill her first.”

In Hellenistic thought, the fox is regarded as clever but sly and unprincipled. Foxes are generally seen as cunning and sneaky animals. My concept of foxes comes primarily from Aesop’s Fables, particularly the story of the fox and the crow, where the fox flattered the crow who found a piece of cheese. The fox sweet-talked the crow by saying that the crow has a beautiful voice. The crow took the bait and let out a squawk, the cheese, of course, falls straight to an open-mouthed fox and eats it. A fox could also be someone who is cruel, arrogant and one who shows no mercy, like in the story of the fox who enticed the gingerbread man to cross the river, ending in the tragic devouring of the gingerbread man. In that same manner, we sense Jesus' anger and disgust with "that fox" Herod—sly, cunning and manipulative. Who is Herod in this story?

In 2014, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem premiered the first ever exhibition of Herod "the Great", including 250 artifacts from his tomb.  Herod the Great was an ambitious builder, and a few recent biographies have tried to rehabilitate his reputation, but most historians remember him as a paranoid and ruthless madman. He murdered one of his ten wives, two of his sons, and numerous opponents.  But the Herod in this particular story in Luke is Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas is the same Herod spoken of by Matthew - the one responsible for slaughtering the infants; the one who tricked the Magi to inform him where the infant Jesus was; the one who beheaded John the Baptist out of a whim. Foxes like Herod Antipas are the ones who create mistrust and fear, betrayal and confusion. Yes, even the deaths of innocent people.

Jesus ignored the warnings of his death and did not back down. In those moments of self-reflection and encounter, Jesus had an outburst of emotions. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!"  It was in that moment that Jesus showed his vulnerability. He wept for the people of Jerusalem. He showed his true emotions by shedding tears for the city that God loves. Oftentimes we think of Jesus as devoid of human emotions. Sometimes it is difficult for some of us to see these maternal and emotional sides of Jesus.  Like a mother who is anguished by the wrongdoings of her children, Jesus wept. Jesus wept for Jerusalem. He wept for the people who had gone astray. He cried for the prophets before him, slaughtered in the name of God. He cried for the oppressed people, living in misery and economic poverty. Jesus wept. Jesus showed his vulnerability with frustration and expressed it with tears.

We too, sometimes, are afraid to show our true selves – our true emotions. We are afraid of being seen as weak or incompetent or less than. So, we cry in the closet or in the bathroom. We put on a mask or pretend to be strong or someone else. We don’t want to look silly – we don’t want to show that we are vulnerable. We act like a fox but deep inside us is a hen wanting to reach out with love and compassion. A famous quote from American author Brené Brown kept me thinking about vulnerability. She said that “Society has taught us that vulnerability is synonymous with weakness—but it’s just the opposite. Vulnerability is the willingness to show up and be seen by others in the face of uncertain outcomes. There’s not a single act of courage that doesn’t involve vulnerability.” It is this kind of vulnerability and openness that God calls us to follow.  Being vulnerable requires strength and it requires courage. Jesus taught us the power of vulnerability. That we can be who we are in front of God and others. Being vulnerable is strength in itself. Showing your authentic, true self is being honest about who you are. Remember that God loves you in your weaknesses and in your strengths. 

Foxes and hens – sadly, this is still the world’s reality. Foxes kill chickens because they are hungry, and chickens, flightless birds who are fenced into people’s yards, are an easy meal. We can name situations involving foxes and hens in the world today. Like the ongoing war instigated by a Russian dictator against the people in Ukraine. Like the hate crimes targeting Muslims, Jews and Black people. Like those children in our schools being bullied because of their looks or stature. Like the unresolved cases of the missing and murdered indigenous women. Foxes are all around us. That’s why the way of Jesus is to follow the way of the hen, which provides refuge, security, safety, freedom and shalom.

If Herod is a fox and Jesus is a hen . . . well, you don’t have to be a farmer to know how this story turns out, leading us into the next episode of the Lenten story—that bloody mess of violence and crucifixion coming up on Good Friday. But we’re not there yet. And this I know – as long as you and I and many out there commit to being vulnerable mother hens that gather chicks under their wings – mother hens who champion the rights of others, mother hens who fill the world with love, peace, justice and compassion, mother hens who choose to stand their grounds and say no to injustice and acts of violence, the foxes out there will not win. The foxes will not be in control as much as they think they are. Let us embrace the Way of the Hen — the way of Jesus that follows the road of inclusion, acceptance and reconciliation. So that it won’t be a tyranny of fear and anger that dictates the course of our future, but love, peace and justice.  Let God enfold you in the tender, passionate love of a mothering hen. Amen.

Sources that helped me with my sermon:

  • BCUC Lectionary Group

  • The writings of St. Anselm, Barbara Brown Taylor & Mardi Auld Glass, Ray Medeiros

  • Aesop’s Fables – The Fox & The Crow; The Fox & the Gingerbread Man

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Rev. Lorrie

God of love, God of compassion,
We come to you in prayer today in gratitude for the joys in our lives and with concern for the things that weigh heavy on our hearts.
We pray for all those in our families, our church, our community, and the world, who are suffering from illness or injury… grief or loneliness… hunger both physical and spiritual…for those living with fear and violence…
Today we pray especially for the situation in Ukraine that both saddens and angers us, a situation that sparks fear in our hearts and in the hearts of our brothers and sisters around the globe. And so, we share this prayer from:

(Rev Sharon Hollis, President, Uniting Church in Australia)

God of peace, God of mercy
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
We lament the violence that has come to their country
We ask for comfort for those who mourn,
hope for those who despair and compassion for all who suffer.
We plead for an end to violence and aggression in their land
We pray for the people of Russia,
We give thanks for those who protest for peace and pray for ongoing courage
We ask for a change of heart in those who commit acts of aggression and war against their fellow citizens and neighbours
We pray for Russians who will suffer because of sanctions and war
We pray for leaders around the world
We pray that world leaders might work for an end to war and for establishing of peace
We seek wisdom for those who are making life and death decisions about how to respond to violence and threats of violence
We ask for courage for those who campaign for peace.
We pray for aid workers and journalists
We give thanks for the willingness of aid workers to work in situations of war and unrest in order to meet the needs of others
We ask for safety, wisdom and compassion for all working to alleviate suffering and heal the wounded
We pray for journalist and media organisations reporting the situation in Ukraine and Russia, may they report truthfully and compassionately.
We pray for peace
We lament violence around the world
We plead for the ceasing of violence and the establishment of peace
We pray that you might give us a desire for peace and a willingness to work and hope and pray for peace each day.
Holy One, hear our prayers both the spoken and those hidden in our hearts as we pray together the words that Jesus taught:

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. Kim

The image of Jesus as a mother hen who gathers the chicks under her wings is with us in amazing and powerful ways, bringing new hope and healing into the world. May we participate in the ministry of our church with that great hope, trusting in the promises of God.

I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer (In Unison)

Lenten God, like Jesus, we look toward the Holy City
and wonder what is before us.
We know that, for some,
it is a journey of hunger and loneliness.
So it is that we share these offerings.
Receive them and transform them into your love. Amen. 

Sending Forth
Rev. Kim

(Rt. Rev. Richard Bott, Gathering, LE 2020. Used with permission)

Every breath that is breathed,
every beat of the heart,
every smile and tear,
is a prayer.
May we find healing,
may we find hope,
may we find God,
in the tears, in the smiles, the beats and the breaths,
in every moment that was,
every moment that is,
every moment to come. Amen. 

Hymn: Spirit God, Be Our Breath – More Voices #150
BCUC Feb 2021

1.Spirit God: be our breath, be our song.
Blow through us, bringing strength to move on. Our world seems inward, defensive, withdrawn. Spirit God, be our song. 

2.Patient God: soothe our pride, calm our fear.
Comfort us. When we know you are near
we grow more certain, our vision is clear.
Patient God, calm our fear.

3.Loving God: be our voice, be our prayer.
Reaching out, joining hands as we share, we seek your guidance through friendship and care. Loving God, be our prayer. 

4.Spirit God: be our breath, be our song.
Blow through us, bringing strength to move on. Through change, through challenge, we’ll greet the new dawn. Spirit God, be our song.

Words & Music © 1997 Bruce Harding
Song # 117764 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music: Just a Closer Walk
BCUC Choir Oct 1 2017

In loving memory of Efraim Vidal Sr. (Kim Family)

1 I am weak but Thou art strong,
Jesus keep me from all wrong.
I’ll be satisfied as long as I walk,
Let me walk, close to Thee. 

Refrain:
Just a closer walk with Thee
Jesus grant my humble plea!
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be. 

2 Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter Lord who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee. R 

3 When the journey here is o’er,
Time for me will be no more.
Guide me to Thy distant shore.
To thy shore, oh dear Lord, to Thy shore. R 

Anonymous Arr. © 1975 Ed Lojeski
Song #
272080 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Sunday school activities - March 13, 2022

Copyright @ The UCC GO Project 2022

The Story

This one time... Jesus fell asleep during a major storm!

Here's the story:

Jesus Stills a Storm (Mark 4:25-41, NRSV)

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Wondering

I wonder what it feels like when you feel worried?

I wonder what it takes for you to feel calm in times of stress?

I wonder why Jesus was sleeping during a storm?

Music

Watch the music video from our friend Josh:

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolkit – Option 1: Gratitude Journal

Gratitude and mindfulness are healthy for our brains and help us connect to the abundance of life and bring us closer to God. Often we get stuck on what we have to do, or the pressures we feel or stuck in a rut of complaining. Gratitude and mindfulness can transform our day to day activities.

Make a journal to keep in your toolkit!  Materials needed:  Cardstock, plain or lined paper, stapler (or hole punch and string), writing tools

Fold a piece of cardstock and paper in half to make a cover. Cut the plain or lined paper in half and insert it into the cardstock cover.  Staple the book together or use yarn and a holepunch to create a booklet.  Decorate the cover if desired.

Each day, find a time to think about what you are thankful for, or what brings you peace. Print out the list of Gratitude Prompts if you need some ideas to get started. You may might want to write or draw what they are grateful for, or use it as a bedtime reflection with parents.

Lenten Toolkit – Option 2: Mindful Breathing/Grounding

Noticing things with our senses helps us be more fully present in our bodies instead of worrying about what might happen later or what has already happened. Jesus reminded Martha to be present in the moment. When we are feeling all over the place or worried about stuff, this can help us to rest in God’s peace, and to be present right now.

We have five senses in our bodies - sight, taste, touch, smell, and sound. This grounding activity can help to calm us with our five senses when we are anxious, nervous, impatient, sad, or any other emotion we're working through.

Take two deep breaths, then name:

  • 5 things you can see around you

  • 4 things you can touch around you

  • 3 things you can hear around you

  • 2 things you can smell around you

  • 1 thing you can taste

Draw your own cue card with the 5-4-3-2-1 mindful grounding technique instructions to include in your Lenten Toolkit!

Movement: Yoga

Yoga is a great practise to help bring calm and mindfulness and settle our mind, body and spirit. When we do yoga or other mindful practises, we can rest in God’s peace. Try one of these routines together.

(5 min sun salutation)

(15 min - kids)

(15 min – teens)

Movement: Music/Dance

Make up your own dance moves (or a whole routine!) to this song and think about the things you’re grateful for!

Sunday Worship Service - March 6, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT / AGAPE MEAL

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

March 6, 2022

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: Sweet Hour of Prayer – Bradbury arr. Matt Hyzer    Abe Feb 2021

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Acknowledgement of the Territory         Rev. Lorrie Lowes

As we begin our worship today, we remember that in this congregation, we live and work on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin and Anishinaabe Peoples. We give thanks for their stewardship of the land and the water, the plants and the animals, through many generations. We also acknowledge their story, and our place in it, with sorrow. As we continue to live on this land with respect for it and for its people, may we commit to working toward truth, justice and reconciliation. All my relations.

Welcome & Centering for Worship      Rev. Kim Vidal

Good day everyone! On behalf of BCUC, I welcome and greet you in the name of Jesus Christ on this First Sunday in Lent with an Agape Meal. We are glad that you have joined us today.

We are now in the Lenten season – this 40-day period is an opportunity to reflect inwardly, a time of renewal, a time of confession and repentance and for others, a time of contemplative fasting or giving up of something. May this Lenten journey bring you closer with God, with others and with yourself.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service at 10 am. 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 fully vaccinated and being mindful of the health protocols like masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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.

Our Annual General Meeting will take place today via Zoom at 11:15 AM.  Check your email for the Zoom link.

Friends, let us centre ourselves in the Spirit of God as we begin our journey in Lent. Let us now gather in worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle        Acolytes: Fowler Family

We give thanks for the light of Christ,
our guide in this season of Lent.
Strong and unafraid, persistent and unrelenting.
May this light enflame our hearts with God’s grace and love. 

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90       Susan Feb 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

*Call to Gather         Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Lorraine MacKenzie Sheppard, Gathering, Lent/Easter 2017. Used with permission)

Lent is a time of returning,
returning to God, our first love.
Lent is a time of turning away,
turning away from sin that wastes us.
Lent is a time of lifting,
lifting guilt’s heavy burden.
Lent is the time of renewing,
renewing heart, mind and soul.
Now is the time:
Lent’s hard, joyful pilgrimage begins. 

Prayer of Confession         Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(An excerpt from Wendy Maclean’s “Inspiration”, Gathering, LE 2022. Used with permission)

During Lent, silence is our desert.
We are sent by the Spirit to encounter temptations.
We are ministered there in our exhaustion, to provide for our souls,
by the mercy that arises in the emptiness…
We are formed by many kinds of silence:
silence that wounds and betrays,
silence that blesses and renews.
May our silence be a spacious invitation for lost voices in forgotten languages
to share the gospel of mountains and rivers.
Holy One, Great Spirit, Creator of Life:
Meet us where we stand, tempted by bread and pinnacles,
and give us words, if words are what you need for justice,
and silence, if that is the way to resist the temptation
to hear only what we want to hear,
to receive only what we want to receive…
Pray your wisdom into our famished desert hearts
Until our words and silence dance together
And feast in the wonder of being heard and loved. Amen.  

A Moment of Silence

Hymn:  Jesus Tempted in the Desert - Voices United #115  BCUC Quartet  Feb 2021

1.Jesus, tempted in the desert;
lonely, hungry, filled with dread:
“Use your power,” the tempter tells him, 
“Turn these barren rocks to bread!”
“Not alone by bread,” he answers, 
“Can the human heart be filled.
Only by the Word that calls us
is our deepest hunger stilled!” 

2.Jesus, tempted at the temple,
high above its ancient wall:
“Throw yourself from lofty turret,
angels wait to break your fall!”
Jesus shuns such empty marvels,
feats that fickle crowds request:
“God, whose grace protects, reserves us,
we must never vainly test.”

3.Jesus, tempted on the mountain
by the lure of vast domain:
“Fall before me! Be my servant!
Glory, fame, you’re sure to gain!”
Jesus sees the dazzling vision,
turns his eyes another way:
“God alone deserves our homage!
God alone will I obey!” 

4.When we face temptations power,
lonely, struggling, filled with dread,
Christ, who knew the tempter’s hour,
come and be our living bread.
By your grace, protect, preserve us
lest we fall, your trust betray.
Yours, above all other voices,
be the Word we hear, obey.”

Words © 1990 Herman Stuempfle; Music 1844 The Sacred Harp; Harmony © 1978 Ronald Nelson
Song # 09669 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved 

Storytime          Rev. Lorrie

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent, the time leading up to Easter. We usually think of Lent as a kind of sad time, a time that you think about things you want to change about yourself, a time to confess things you’ve done that might not be what God wishes for you and, for many people, it’s a time of fasting - of giving up something they really like – like chocolate, or coffee, or social media…

There’s a place for all of that, for sure. We are human after all and sometimes we make mistakes - but after two years of living with a pandemic, I think we need to think about Lent a bit differently this year! So, this year, we are going to focus on self-care. I think we all need to take some time to remember that we were created in love and that God loves us forever and wants us to love ourselves too.

Erin and I have put together a package for you. Hopefully you will have received it this week. It’s a journal with a twist! It’s called “Wreck this Journal” – sounds like fun already!

Each week has a very short Bible verse and then a fun activity for you to do each day, right on the page, an activity that will make sure that journal is a wreck by the time Easter comes – but here’s the interesting thing… each one of those activities is something that will help you take care of yourself. So, at the end, your journal will be a wreck but you will feel even better than you did when you started.

I bet some of you have already done the first few activities because they were meant to start on Wednesday, but if you haven’t started yet, that’s ok. It will be easy – and fun – to catch up.

If we missed getting your package to you, or if you would like a copy to share with someone else (or even if you are an adult who wants to feel like a kid again!), please call the office or drop by. There will be a few extra copies there or I would be happy to make some more.

Let’s make this Lenten season a time to feel good about who we are, to be grateful for our blessings, and to take care of that special person God loves so much – YOU!

Let’s pray:
Thank you, God, for all the love you put into making me who I am.
Help me remember to take care of this special person you created,
And to love myself as much as you love me. Amen.

Hymn: Guide My Feet – trad. African-American  - CGS/Bell Canto – Erin – Mar 2021

1.    Guide my feet while I run this race (x3)
For I don’t want to run this race alone. 

2.    Hold my hand while I run this race (x3)
For I don’t want to run this race alone.

3.    Stand by me while I run this race (x3)
For I don’t want to run this race alone. 

4.    Search my heart while I run this race (x3)
For I don’t want to run this race alone.

Traditional African American Reprinted under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination        Reader: Jan Pound

Gracious God, be with us now as we turn to the pages of your Word.
We ask for your Spirit of Wisdom, to help us understand your will for us in this season of Lent. Amen. 

The Reading: Luke 4: 1-13 (NRSV) The Temptation of Jesus

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.’”

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’

11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 
13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

May the Spirit of Love and Wisdom dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Sermon:  “Being Human”     Rev. Kim

Prayer: Loving God, let your wisdom guide our understanding. Grant us clarity in proclaiming the truth of your Word. Amen.

We begin our Lenten journey with Jesus being led by the Spirit in the wilderness. Did Jesus realize that the temptations he was about to experience were a power struggle to choose between good and evil? one that would test his humanity to the fullest? Did Jesus know beforehand that he would wrestle with the devil?  Walter Brueggemann defines the devil not as a red-eyed figure with a pitchfork but as “that sneaky quiet voice of seduction who offered Jesus three alternatives to consider.” Each of these temptations lures Jesus to contradict his identity as an advocate for love and justice – to abandon the connection as God’s beloved child. In the lectionary group this past Tuesday, there was a discussion about the tension between the good and evil, which is a basic human condition. This whole temptation story revolves around this tension. Every time that voice of seduction offers something – be it food or political power or security, Jesus responds with his deep faith and trust in God by quoting words in the Hebrew Scripture. 

First, the devil tells Jesus to turn stones into bread. “Bread” here is not just something that appeases physical hunger. It is also a symbol of physical comfort - an integral part of what it means to live as a human being. We know how Jesus loved attending social gatherings, particularly where food is involved. In testing Jesus to magically appease his hunger, the devil invites Jesus to deny the reality of Jesus’ human weakness.  Instead of waiting, paying attention to his hunger, and leaning into God for his lack of strength, the devil asks Jesus to cheat his way, to disrespect and manipulate creation for his own satisfaction. But Jesus responded with a better option: “One does not live by bread alone”, which means that there are other human hungers that need God’s presence in our lives.  Debie Thomas said this: “…we can trust that when God nourishes us, it won’t be by magic or quick fix. It won’t be manipulative and disrespectful.  It won’t necessarily be the food we’d choose for ourselves, but it will feed us, nevertheless.”

Second, the devil offered Jesus political power by showing him all the empires and wealth of the world. With Roman occupation causing so much fear, Jesus could use his political power to free the people from oppression. The political world in Jesus’ days was one that was violent, cruel and oppressive. Jesus stood his ground and said: “worship the Lord your God – this God who is loving and just and merciful – this God who is non-violent.” Jesus chose to be non-violent rather than becoming a subject to a violent political power. This is happening now in Ukraine. People were invaded and murdered in the name of empire expanding. And what evils tyrant dictators have done in the name of greed and power? The non-violent Jesus calls us to participate in the political realm, by truly loving our neighbours in a non-violent way: offering compassion and radical hospitality whenever it’s needed; to love and welcome others without seeking remuneration; doing acts of justice that is restorative, not retributive; to stand for what is true and what is right.

Finally, the third temptation targets Jesus’ safety net. Being human is to seek safety and security. We long to be safe from physical and emotional harm; safe from frailty and disease; safe from accidents; safe from death.  To believe that we are free from all kinds of danger targets our deepest fears about what it means to be human in a broken, dangerous world.  Jesus teaches us that having faith in God will not guarantee safety and security all the time. We will still suffer, feel pain and die. But one thing is for sure - we are loved and embraced in our human limitations.  Not out of it. God does not have a magic wand to punish the evil and reward the good! Instead, God calls us to be responsible and accountable in making the world a better place.  Our humanity is tested all the time. This is a fact of life. Whether it comes to us in the guise of illness, a thorny relationship, a troubled child, a sudden death, or a crippling addiction, we are tested all the time. This is part of our human existence.

Friends, how do you deal with temptations in life? How do you respond to that voice of seduction when it lures you to move away from God and from those values that Jesus taught us?

Lent is a time to wrestle with the hard questions that we avoid or put on hold for the rest of the year. Questions like: "How can I be fully human?  Can I say no to temptations that move me away from my relationship with God, with others and with myself?   Am I able to accept fear and death as part of life?  What is my call as a person of faith in the world? Some of us may think that we cannot do anything to solve or put a stop to all the evils in the world. But we know that this is an understatement. We don’t have to think big.  Jan Pound reminded the lectionary group to start small. She shared a story about three sisters and their spouses who took a day trip to a park in Nevada. Following a deserted trail around the back side of the cave, one of the men found the most incredible gift: a little quilted heart with a tag reading, “I need a home.” No one knew who placed that quilted heart in the desert of Nevada, but that beautiful little heart started a whole movement for the global quilting community known as “I Found a Quilted Heart” to cheer up a stranger or to bless someone with a simple act of love. Quilted hearts were left in many public places around the world for that random person to find one. It’s a small act of kindness with a big purpose: to spread love and joy among people.

These past few days, our television screens and social media have been full of images of Ukrainians in the wilderness of war! An unnecessary war of choice instigated by a Russian dictator. Ukraine is Russia’s neighbour with a shared history, traditions and people.  The results of this war are familiar to many of us: deaths, particularly of civilians and children, the displacement of people, the destruction of nature and infrastructure, human agony, fear and rage! Whether we like it or not, as people of faith, we are tremendously affected by this war. We cannot but think of and lament with the people of Ukraine, who are enduring yet another violent chapter in their communal life. We also think of those courageous Russians who risked their lives in protesting against this war. Many people all over the world are standing with the people of Ukraine. Various church communities have planned vigils and calls to prayer of support. And we do so not because Ukraine is the invaded nation or because we admire the Ukrainians’ resilience and strength, but because we know that Ukraine’s cause is just and because they, like us, are vulnerable human beings facing imminent danger and death. We may not be able to stop the war in our own way, but one small thing we can do is to pray. Pray for peace. Pray for the people in Ukraine. Pray for the Russians who are against this war. Pray for the leaders that they may seek God’s wisdom and respect the sanctity of life. It might be a simple, small gesture to pray, but prayers when gathered together make a big difference in the lives of the people and the world.

On this Annual General Meeting Sunday, when we gather in communion as the body of Christ, remember that we are called to persistently resist that which endangers humanity. We are called to embody God’s love, compassion and justice in the places we are called to be. Be bold. Be vigilant. Express your humanity with integrity and make the world tremble with love, compassion and justice. As we share the bread and cup, ponder what part of your Lenten journey needs this nourishment. And may our faithful God not only lead us into the wildernesses of our lives but also journey with us.  Amen.

Sources:

  • BCUC Lectionary Group Nancy Rockwell, The Politics of Temptation, Patheos.com

  • Walter Brueggemann, Remembering Who We Are, Collected Sermons.

  • Debie Thomas, Journey with Jesus.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer    Rev. Kim

Our prayer today was written by diaconal minister, the Rev. Ted Dodd.

Let us gather our hearts in prayer.
You who refused to turn stone into bread,
yet fed the hungry;
You who rejected a grab for far-reaching political authority,
yet preached a realm of peace and justice;
You who rebuffed the temptation to test God by jumping off a roof,
yet went to the cross trusting in new life and God’s grace;
we come to you in our own wilderness:
sanctions and brazen assaults,
war and nuclear threats;
we come to you in the midst of harshness and hostility:
blockades and debates about the meaning of freedom,
lifting restrictions and lingering anxiety;
we come to you surrounded by despair and difficulty:
environmental gloom and climate change desperation,
species loss and forest clearing.
In the myriad of personal and societal trials, troubles, and tests,
lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil.
In this season of Lent may the Spirit lead us.
Renew our faith.
Restore our vision.
Return us to hope.
All these we ask in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray… 

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. 

The Agape Meal          Rev. Kim & Rev. Lorrie

“Agape” is the New Testament Greek word for “self-giving love”. The kind of love that comes from God and models God’s loving choice for our well-being and all of Creation. In the Christian tradition, agape is also the name for informal meals and times of togetherness and mutual sharing which remind us of all those meals Jesus shared with his friends and the unity that his Spirit continues to give us even today.

Invitation (Kim)     (Peter Chynoweth, The Gathering, ACE 2019-2020. Used with permission)

Sharing food is an important part of our holy celebrations and gatherings with friends and family. We know that eating at table is one of the ways we experience companionship, share love and stories, nurture our social connections and satisfy our physical needs for sustenance. On this first Sunday in Lent, we are invited by God to gather at this table where we share bread and drink as important symbols of our existence as a faith community, symbols of welcome to those who come to worship and eat at table with us. This is God’s table! These are God’s gifts. May we know and experience the welcome that is intended.

Prayer of Consecration (Lorrie)

Loving friend and companion, we welcome your presence with us. May these gifts of bread and cup, nourish our bodies, hearts and minds. And may our spirits be refreshed as we live in the light of your presence, with us now, and at all times and places. Send now your Holy Spirit upon this bread and this cup, O God that they might be our remembrance and our proclamation of the presence of Jesus Christ with us, through us and in us.  Amen.

The Sharing of the Bread and the Cup (Kim)

Let us now share and partake the bread and the cup reminding us of God’s unconditional love.
This is the bread – food for the Lenten journey. Take, eat and be nourished by God’s love.
This is the cup – drink for the Lenten journey. Take, drink and be sustained by God’s grace.

Prayer after the Meal (Lorrie)

For the bread we have eaten, for the wine we have tasted, for the life we have received, we thank you, loving God. Empower us to live as Jesus has lived, to bring new life to others and to give light to the world. Amen

Invitation to Offer          Rev. Lorrie

The Holy Spirit that led Jesus on his wilderness experience is with us in amazing and powerful ways, bringing new hope and healing into the world. As we remember our own moments of wilderness, may we participate in the ministry of our church with that great hope, trusting in the promises of God. In our giving this morning, our love overflows in generosity.

I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer

(Karen Boivin, Gathering, LE 2022. Used with permission.)

Loving God, may these gifts be a catalyst for truth
about how we are blessed
and how we are broken
and how we are given to your world for hope and healing. Amen.

Sending Forth    Rev. Kim

Go and seek hope in the wilderness of your life.
Go forth with open hearts, confident of God’s love.
Go and seek relationships of wholeness with others.
Go forth knowing that God will be with you.
May the peace of God,
the hope in Jesus Christ
and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
transform and strengthen us in our wilderness encounters
today and always. Amen. 

Hymn: When We Are Tested - More Voices #65 (tune:Slane)   BCUC cong Feb 14 2016

1        When we are tested and wrestle alone,
          famished for bread when the world offers stone,
          nourish us, God, by your word and your way,
          food that sustains us by night and by day.

2        When in the desert we cry for relief,
          pleading for paths marked by certain belief,
          lift us to love you beyond sign and test,
          trusting your presence, our only true rest.

3        When we are tempted to barter our souls,
          trading the truth for the pow’r to control,
          teach us to worship and praise only you,
          seeking your will in the work that we do.

4        When we have struggled and searched through the night,
          sorting and sifting the wrong from the right,
          Saviour, surround us with circles of care,
          angels of healing, of hope, and of prayer.

Words © 1996 Ruth Duck, Music Traditional Irish Melody
Song #29480 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music: Amazing Grace - arr. Schrader      BCUC choir Jan 28, 2018

Words John Newton, Music Virginia Melody, arr. © 1998 Jack Schrader
Song #106127 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

11:15 am – BCUC Annual General Meeting

Sunday school activities - March 6, 2022

(Materials Copyright @ The UCC GO Project 2022)

Theme Discussion

Watch this little cartoon video about a passage from the book of Matthew, or read it below:

Or read the passage. This version is taken from a modern translation of the Bible called “The Message”.

Matthew 11:28-30

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Going Deeper With the Story

Jesus knew the importance of balance in his life. He never rushed or seem hurried. He took his time, even when he had so much ministry to do! He often took time by himself to rest and recharge. He models to us spiritual rest, physical rest, and mental rest. He told us over and over to love others as we love ourselves, and to love others as God loves us. This week we're going to explore what it looks and feels like to love ourselves abundantly through resting in God's love for us - to see how that allows us to love others well.

Wondering:

  • I wonder what love is?

  • I wonder how you know or feel that you are loved?

  • I wonder how you tell or show other people that you love them?

  • I wonder what unconditional love feels like? (To receive it? To love others that way?)

Optional – Go Even Deeper…

Read these passages:

Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

John 13:34-35 “Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”

  • Do you notice any differences in these ideas of love?

  • I wonder what difference it makes when we say love others as we love ourselves and when we say love others as God loves us?

  • What happens when we don’t love ourselves?

  • I wonder what messages you get about yourself? (From social media? From peers? From advertising?)

  • How do you keep a positive relationship with yourself and your confidence?

Music:

MV77 – “Be Still and Know”

Response Activity Ideas

Lenten Toolbox and Emotions Tool

Each week, we’ll be suggesting different things to add to a toolkit that can remind us of how we can come closer to God, strengthen our relationships, and to know ourselves better. If you wish, find a shoebox or similar container and decorate it with coloured paper, paint, stickers, or any other art supplies you have available to hold all the items.  While decorating, brainstorm ways you identify and express your feelings. How do you know you are happy, sad or frustrated? How can you read other people's emotions? Do you sometimes not know how you feel?

Today’s tool is an emotions wheel, to help you find a name for the feelings you are having.  It could be printed and posted in a common area or a place in your home where people go to cool off when they’re upset. 

Challenge:  Instead of printing it out, try drawing simple faces for all of the words on the emotions wheel, maybe using a mirror to help you capture the different expressions!

Emotion wheel

Click to print PDF

Bookmark Craft

Make a bookmark with an affirmation that you can look at each night, that reminds you that you are a beloved child of God.

Cut a piece of cardstock or thin cardboard into a bookmark shape of your choice.  Decorate it using paint, or fabric and modge podge, or stickers, or adding a ribbon, etc.  Next, write out an affirmation that reminds you that you are always loved by God, no matter how your day went, what you’ve said or done, and that you’ll get a fresh start the next day!  Attach this to your bookmark.  Alternatively, type out an affirmation in a fancy font and print it out to glue on.

Ideas for affirmations:

  • I am a beloved child of God.

  • God loves me, no matter what.

  • God’s love wraps around me like a blanket.

  • God knows me and loves me.

  • God’s love for me is forever and always.

  • God’s love for me is bigger than a mountain.

Love List

Make a list of all the people you love and people who love you. You can write down their names, draw their picture or collect pictures of them. You could keep it simple (e.g. pencil on lined paper) or decorate and colour the page.  You can look at this and remember all the people who care for you. Remember that love is limitless: no matter how many people we care for, there is always room for more love in our hearts. Through loving others, we have a small glimpse of how God loves us.

Did you receive a Lenten “Wreck This Journal” package, with fun, easy activities to do on each of the 40 days of Lent, yet?  If not, and you would like one, please contact the church office!

Ash Wednesday Service - March 2, 2022

ASH WEDNESDAY SERVICE

March 2, 2022 – 6:00 PM

(Tap/click on the triangle below to listen to the full service while you follow the text)

 
 

PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY

Gathering Hymn: In the Quiet Curve of Evening – Voices United #278 Lorrie, Kim & Susan

1 In the quiet curve of evening, in the sinking of the days,
in the silky void of darkness, you are there.
In the lapses of my breathing, in the space between my ways,
in the crater carved by sadness, you are there.
You are there, You are there, You are there.

2 In the rests between the phrases, in the cracks between the stars,
in the gaps between the meaning, you are there.
In the melting down of endings, in the cooling of the sun,
in the solstice of the winter, you are there.
You are there, You are there, You are there.

3 In the mystery of my hungers, in the silence of my rooms,
in the cloud of my unknowing, you are there.
In the empty cave of grieving, in the desert of my dreams,
in the tunnel of my sorrow, you are there.
You are there, You are there, You are there.

Words & Music © 1993 Julie Howard
Song #
67797 reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Opening Invitation & Welcome      Rev. Kim Vidal

As we enter into this sacred space,
put away the pressures of the world that ask us
to perform,
to take up masks,
to put on brave fronts.
Silence the voices that ask you to be perfect.
This is a community of compassion and welcoming.  
We bring all that we are and all that we yet can be,
to this safe and ordinary place.

Welcome to our Ash Wednesday service -  a time to begin the season of Lent, a time to remember that from the dust of the earth, the ashes of stars long burnt out, we were created, and to the earth we return. Ash Wednesday invites us to come back to earth, to wonder at the gift of life, my life, our life with the earth, the shared body of our existence. Ashes were once trees and shrubs, and places where life was lived to its fullest. Once they were full of life. Now they are black and grey. Dry. Lifeless. But mixed with the waters of our baptism make good fertiliser: it will help the seeds of the gospel take deeper root in us and bring forth the fruits, the harvest of justice, peace, and generosity. These are ashes worth wearing. May we accept this gift.  And be blessed. And be assured we will be different at the end of this season. Our faith journey rises and falls with each season, as we experience our own times of joy and pain, wellsprings full and wilderness deserts. On Ash Wednesday, we recognize our own season of wandering from God, where we feel distant, aloof. God desires to draw us back into God’s embrace. In this time of Lent, we reflect on our faith journey, we confess and repent of our own shortcomings, what we have done to separate us from others and from God, and we seek forgiveness and reconciliation with God and others. We seek healing and hope. We seek renewal of our faith life. Just as spring is waiting deep in the ground beneath us, so we know that what seems lost will be found, and will be restored. Come, let us gather in worship.

The Invocation         Rev. Lorrie Lowes     

We come, God.
We come as we are. We can come in no other way.
Our heart holds our joys, our burdens, our hopes,
our dreams, our successes, our failures.
We come to meet you and have our hope renewed.
We come to you seeking life in all of its fullness.
Grant that the symbol of ashes, the dust of once-joyous palms,
may remind us of our mortality,
but more than that, may they remind us of the life toward which you call us.
Bless us and help us prepare ourselves for the journey.
As we sing the next hymn, I invite you, if you wish, to light a candle as a symbol of Christ journeying with us in the season of Lent. 

Hymn: “Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face”  Voices United #105    Kim, Lorrie & Susan

1 Dust and ashes touch our face,
mark our failure and our falling.
Holy Spirit, come,
walk with us tomorrow,
take us as disciples,
washed and wakened by your calling. 

Refrain:
       Take us by the hand and lead us,
       lead us through the desert sands,
       bring us living water,
       Holy Spirit, come.

2 Dust and ashes soil our hands --
greed of market, pride of nation.
Holy Spirit, come,
walk with us tomorrow
as we pray and struggle
through the meshes of oppression. R 

3 Dust and ashes choke our tongue
in the wasteland of depression.
Holy Spirit, come,
walk with us tomorrow,
through all the gloom and grieving
to the paths of resurrection. R

Words © 1989 Brian Wren & Music © 1995 Ron Klusmeier
Song #
00436 & 80229 reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Invitation to Confession      Rev. Lorrie Lowes

Lent is a journey of deepening reflection and renewal, an opportunity to make new commitments in faith. We now prepare for the journey by setting aside burdens that would weigh us down. Let us turn to God in confession.

Prayer of Confession

O God, in this quiet place of prayer and humility before you, the tears of our regrets fall on the ashes of truth. We listen to the grief in the sighing of your longing people reaching hopefully towards compassion and justice. And we hear, in our minds’ memories, reminders of many missed moments for the announcing of prophetic truth, when our courage and commitment failed us. (Silence)

As life reaches out to hold us into good, we often let it pass and turn our faces from the costly road on which Christ walked. (Silence)

And now, O God as your children, our hearts weep, when we remember the divine dreams and visions shining before us in Jesus the Christ. We remember our claiming of your name as God’s people and the many betrayals of the great hope in which we are called as your children this day. (Silence). 

We look at the cross and the light of your life in all the world. We acknowledge that this longing is often reduced to ashes, and becomes a burnt sign of our lost aspirations. In sadness we know who we wanted to be and who we really are. (Silence)

Words of Assurance

God who loved you in the beginning loves you still.
Be assured that God stays with you,
in all the twists and turns of life. Amen. 

 
 

CALL TO THE JOURNEY

Sung Response: Don’t Be Afraid - More Voices #90              Susan TeGrotenhuis 2021

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Words © 1995 John Bell & Graham Maule; Music © 1995 John Bell, IONA GIA Pub
Song # 98424 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Reading 1:  Selected Verses from Isaiah 58 (NRSV)             Reader: Ross Mutton

Is not this the fast that I choose: 
to loose the bonds of injustice, 
to undo the thongs of the yoke, 
to let the oppressed go free, 
and to break every yoke? 

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, 
and bring the homeless poor into your house; 
when you see the naked, to cover them, 
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn...

The Lord will guide you continually, 
and satisfy your needs in parched places, 
and make your bones strong; 
and you shall be like a watered garden, 
like a spring of water, 
whose waters never fail. 

Sung Response

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Reading 2:  Blessing the Dust  (Jan Richardson)   Reader: Barbara Bole

All those days you felt like dust,
like dirt, as if all you had to do
was turn your face toward the wind
and be scattered to the four corners
or swept away by the smallest breath
as insubstantial— did you not know
what the Holy One can do with dust?

This is the day we freely say we are scorched.
This is the hour we are marked by what has made it through the burning.
This is the moment we ask for the blessing that lives within
the ancient ashes, that makes its home
inside the soil of this sacred earth.

So let us be marked not for sorrow.
And let us be marked not for shame.
Let us be marked not for false humility
or for thinking we are less
than we are but for claiming
what God can do within the dust,
within the dirt, within the stuff
of which the world is made
and the stars that blaze in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge we bear.

Sung Response

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Reading 3: Marked by Ashes (Walter Bruegguemann)   Reader: Jan Pound

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .
This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
     halfway back to committees and memos,
     halfway back to calls and appointments,
     halfway on to next Sunday,
     halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
     half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
   but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
     we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
       of failed hope and broken promises,
       of forgotten children and frightened women,
     we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
     we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with
   some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
   anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
   you Easter parade of newness.
   Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
     Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
     Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
   Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
     mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Sung Response

Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger, my love is stronger than your fear.
Don’t be afraid. My love is stronger and I have promised, promised to be always near.

Moment of Intentional Silence           Rev. Kim Vidal

"Silence is God's first language," wrote the 16th-century mystic John of the Cross. And silence is the normal context in which contemplative prayer takes place. But there is silence and then there is silence. There is an outer silence, an outer stopping of the words and busy-ness, but there is also a much more challenging interior silence, where the inner talking stops as well. I invite you at this moment to open yourself to God through an open intentional silence, as we let go, as we lay down what is past and look to the future. In silence, we take into our daily life signs of hope and healing. In silence, we reach beyond ourselves to share the lives of others and touch a wider world. Let us take a few moments of intentional silence.

Affirmation of Faith:  As we share this day of commencing our Lenten journey, let us affirm our faith together. We believe in Jesus Christ who, even on the lonely way towards Jerusalem, holds us fast, as we dare to enter and stay with our realities. Here, within the ashes of our lost hopes, the Holy Spirit will be found, inviting us again to a true encounter with our past and present and joining us as we face what has been and moving us toward a new day. Amen.

Hymn: “Stay With Us”  Voices United #182      Erin, Kim, Lorrie & Susan

1.    Stay with us through the night.
Stay with us through the pain.
Stay with us, blessed stranger
till the morning breaks again.  

2.    Stay with us through the night.
Stay with us through the grief.
Stay with us, blessed stranger
till the morning brings relief.  

3.    Stay with us through the night.
Stay with us through the dread.
Stay with us, blessed stranger
till the morning breaks new bread.

Words © 1988 Walter Farquharson & Music © 1989 Ron Klusmeier
Song #80489 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

 
 

PLANNING FOR THE JOURNEY

Blessing of the Ashes & Prayer for the Journey   Rev. Lorrie Lowes

May these ashes be blessed. May they be for us a symbol of our return to the earth.
May we be blessed. May we be earthed in your everlasting love, as forgiven and forgiving people.
Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return.
Know that God’s love will bless you in your journey.

Let us pray.

God our Creator, you have formed us out of the dust of the earth. May these ashes be to us, a sign of our humanity so we may remember that only by your gracious gift are we given abundant life; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who taught us this prayer…

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.

 
 

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Hymn: “Bless Now O God the Journey”   Voices United #633    Abe, Susan & Lorrie

1      Bless now, O God, the Journey
that all your people make,
the path through noise and silence,
the way of give and take.
The trail is found in desert
and winds the mountain round,
then leads beside still waters,
the road where faith is found.  

2      Bless sojourners and pilgrims
who share this winding way,
whose hope burns through the terrors,
whose love sustains the day.
We yearn for holy freedom
while often we are bound.
Together we are seeking
the road where faith is found.  

3      Divine Eternal Lover,
you meet us on the road.
We wait for lands of promise
where milk and honey flow.
But waiting not for places,
you meet us all around.
Our covenant is written
on roads, as faith is found

Words © 1989 Sylvia Dunstan, GIA pub,  Music: 1898 Basil Harwood
Song #08081 reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Sending Forth    Rev. Kim Vidal   

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
Let the memory of your incomplete humanity
awaken you to the wonders, joys, sorrows, and pain of life.
Let the ashes we wear be the ashes of transformation;
of awakening to the beauty and love of seizing the moment
and living it to the fullest.
Let it be said of you that here in this little part of eternity
that you lived fully, loved extravagantly and helped humanity evolve into all that God dreamed we can be!
We affirm that we are fearfully and wonderfully made
In the image of God: Creator, Christ and Spirit One. Amen.

Sunday school activities - February 27, 2022

Theme Discussion

Our Bible story today is called “The Transfiguration”. When something is transfigured, it means that it is changed to look completely different. A word we might use more often is “transformed”. In this story, Jesus, Peter, James, and John have climbed up to a mountaintop to get away from the crowds. While they are there, they have an experience that makes them feel God’s presence with them and they see Jesus in a whole new way. Jesus seems to be talking to Moses and Elijah, two very important prophets in the Old Testament.

Have you ever had an experience that made you feel that God is right there? Sometimes it might happen when we are in nature – standing on a mountaintop always gives me that feeling! Or it might happen when you see new life – a chick hatching, a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, meeting a brand-new baby brother or sister… That feeling is often hard to explain to someone else. It just fills you up and sometimes makes you feel like crying. It’s a good feeling, almost a magical feeling, and sometimes we wish we could just hang on to it.

That’s how Peter felt that day in our story. He wanted to build some shelters and stay right there on the mountaintop. But, those feelings don’t last forever and we have to get back to everyday living. Jesus and his friends had to go back down the mountain and carry on with their work.

This kind of experience is powerful! It gives us energy. The symbol that is often used for this experience is light. Light makes things easier to see and this kind of experience makes it easier for us to see the wonders in our world, the blessings in our lives, and the places where we need to share our love.

Can you think of time when you have felt this way, when you felt the love of God around you?

When we talk about being a light to the world, what are we hoping to transform?

Can you think of places or times in your life where we could be a light but don’t step up to the task?

Response Activity Ideas

Shine Like the Sun Craft

In today’s Storytime, Erin talked about how God’s love is like sunlight giving warmth and energy to everything around.  Make a shining sun to remember that message.

Cut out a large circle from yellow or orange paper and write “Let your light shine!” on it.  Glue it on a plain piece of paper. Make rays coming out from the sun using yellow or orange sticky notes (or regular paper) cut into thin strips.  On each, write a way you can pass on your loving light to others: complimenting someone, helping a neighbour with shoveling, writing a note to a distant relative, helping a friend at recess, etc.  Stick or glue these rays all around the sun, shining for everyone around!

Sun craft example

Be the Light Switch Cover

Make yourself a reminder to ‘be a light’ for others every time you enter or leave your room!  With parental permission, carefully remove your light switch cover.  Using paint and/or permanent markers, decorate the cover with a message like, “Be the Light”, or “I can shine brightly!”, or “Light-up someone’s day”, etc.  When dry, reattach to the light switch.

Lightswitch examples

Illustrated hymns

Read the lyrics for the hymns/songs used in today’s church service found in today’s service bulletin. Choose one and make an illustration of a particular verse or the whole song.  Older children/youth could consider why these songs were chosen to go along with the scripture passage and themes of the service, and try to include that meaning in their pictures.

Sunday Worship Service - February 27, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY

February 27, 2022 

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: Open the Eyes of My Heart    BCUC cong. Feb 7, 2016

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You, I want to see You

            repeat

To see You high and lifted up
Shinin' in the light of Your glory
Pour out Your power and love
As we sing holy, holy, holy

© 1997 Paul Baloche
Song #5806 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Welcome & Centering for Worship        Rev. Lorrie Lowes

Welcome to worship with Bells Corners United Church on this Transfiguration Sunday. We are pleased that you are joining us today!

It is with sorrow that I share the news that Marion Routledge has passed away, peacefully at home. We offer our sincere condolences to her family as they deal with this loss. She was a huge part of our faith family here at BCUC. We will miss her warm smile and her gift of music. At this point, no plans have been finalized for the celebration of Marion’s life but we will keep you informed as they come to light.

Beginning last Sunday, we have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service at 10 am. 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 fully 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. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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.

The BCUC Annual General Meeting will take place on Zoom on Sunday March 6th at 11:15 AM.  The purpose of this meeting is to review and receive the 2021 Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements and to approve the 2022 Annual Activity Plan, Budget and Nominations Report, and various other items of importance.

As our M&S moment this morning, I will call on John MacFarlane to share news of our 2022 Lenten Appeal in support of Famsac, our local Food Bank:

FAMSAC food cupboard has been helping supplement groceries for families in our community since 1969. Last December FAMSAC assisted 262 families during the Christmas Campaign. 

Many thanks to all that have helped out over the years, and a special thank you to Glenna Jackson and Helen Spearman. 

Donations are always welcome and there is a list of items particularly appreciated in the bulletin. Also in the bulletin are phone numbers and websites if you would be interested in learning more about FAMSAC, volunteering, or making a financial contribution to help cover costs related to our move this year.

We are going to the new Housing Project beside Christ Church in Bells Corners, partnering with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre.

Friends, I now invite you to centre yourself in God’s presence as we gather in worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle      Acolytes: The Berard Family

(Fern Gibbard, Gathering A/C/E 2020/21, p 52. Used with permission.)

The light of Christ shines on us and in us.
The light of Christ leads us.
The light of Christ transforms us.
We light this candle in the certainty that Christ’s presence is here with us today. 

Call to Gather            Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Taylor Croissant, Gathering A/C/E 2021/22, p51. Used with permission.)

We come from busy lives to this place of sanctuary and peace, to pray and be renewed for the week ahead.

We come to the foot of God’s holy mountain.

The totality of God’s glory is obscured, but in God’s presence our lives are illuminated, and we receive instruction on how we should live. Here we seek connection, even if just for a moment, to the divine source of our life and all that is in our universe.

It is good for us to be here.

Let us make in our hearts a dwelling place for Christ. Come let us worship God.

Prayer of Approach

(Jim McKean, Gathering A/C/E 2021/22, p51. Used with permission.)

O God, we come today to refresh and restore all that is within our hearts and minds. Like the disciples climbing the mountain with Jesus, we come expecting nothing yet prepared to experience your love. During this time together, may we find our true selves just as Jesus’ true self was revealed on the mountaintop. May we find your wisdom, and its strength, for we know that your love restores and refreshes us in mysterious ways. O God, fill us anew. Amen.

Hymn: My Lighthouse        Music Team June 2020

1.    In my wrestling, and in my doubts,
in my failures, You won't walk out.
Your great love will lead me through;
You are the peace in my troubled sea, whoa oh, You are the peace
in my troubled sea.

2.    In the silence, You won't let go.
In the questions, Your truth will hold.
Your great love will lead me through;
You are the peace in my troubled sea, whoa oh, You are the peace
in my troubled sea.

Chorus:
My Lighthouse, my Lighthouse
shining in the darkness, I will follow You!
O-O-Oh, My Lighthouse, my Lighthouse,
I will trust the promise: You will carry me
safe to sho…….re (4x)

3.    I won't fear what tomorrow brings.
With each morning, I'll rise and sing.
My God's love will lead me through;
You are the peace in my troubled sea, whoa oh, You are the peace
in my troubled sea. (chorus)

Bridge 3x
Fire before us, You're the brightest.
You will lead us through the storms 

© 2014 Rend Collective (Chris Llewellyn / Gareth Gilkeson)
Song Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Storytime Erin Berard

(Shows a solar powered light) Do you know how these work?  Solar cells collect the energy from the sun's rays and converts it into electrical current.  This gets saved in a battery for when it gets dark outside.  All day the sun shines on it, charging up the battery, but then when this little photoreceptor detects that it's dark out, it switches on the light using the saved energy from the battery. 

Have you ever sat out in the sun to warm up after a summer swim in a cool lake?  In the winter, my kids like to 'sun themselves' by standing in the window where the afternoon sun shines into the house. Turtles and other reptiles pull themselves up on logs and rocks to warmed and energized by the sun, too.  

What if we think about God's love being like the sun?  We can soak up and gather that light and love from God, and enjoy the good, warm, happy feelings like sunshine.  Ahhh….  But we can also save up some of that warmth and energy, too, just like to solar cell on this light.  Then we share that love and warmth and kindness with others, especially those who might be having some dark times - feeling sad, lonely, worried, and so on. (Shows it with the lamp - look at it shine!)

In today's Bible passage we'll hear about how Jesus went up the mountain with his disciples to find a quiet place to pray.  While they were up there Jesus' face changed and his clothes shone dazzlingly white, they saw visions of old prophets, and they even heard the voice of God!  The disciples must have so amazed and impressed by the power of God!  But, even if they wanted, the disciples couldn't just stay up there to pray and hang out with Jesus and God.  They had to go back down to the real world. The passage tells us they didn’t say anything right away to others about this big experience.  But they saved up that experience, just like the battery here, they took some time to try to understand it, and went on with new energy to share and teach others about God's love.

Let's share our light and love with others, too!

Let's pray:
Loving God,
Your constant love falls on us like warm sunshine on a beautiful day.
Help us transform your love for us into kind words and good deeds for others.
Help us to shine our light and share your love in the world.
Amen 

Hymn:  This Little Light of Mine (Traditional)     BCUC congregation Feb 7, 2016

This little light if mine, I’m gonna let is shine (3X)
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

Hide it under a bushel, no! I’m gonna let it shine (3X)
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. 

Everywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine (3X)
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Traditional Spiritual
Song #84048 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination         Reader: Liam Eaton

Holy One,
May we be curious visitors in long-ago times, visualizing early hearers of these words.
In company with Jesus, may we come with open minds and open hearts,
And may we find gifts of the Spirit for our own time. Amen. 

The Gospel Reading:  Luke 9: 28- 43 (NRSV)

28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen.] listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

May the Light of Christ dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Anthem: High Upon a Mountain – Larson/Jordan         BCUC choir Feb 26, 2017

High upon a mountain, in a quiet place,
They were prayin’, prayin’, prayin’.
Peter, James and John with Jesus in that place,
They were prayin’, prayin’, prayin’ 

When there came forth from the face of Jesus
A brilliant light gleaming like the sun.
His raiment all aglow, and white as the whitest snow with radiance brightly shining.
Then appeared Elijah with Moses at his side,
Speaking to Jesus of the coming days;
Speaking of Jerusalem and of great sorrow;
Speaking of destiny. 

High upon a mountain Peter, James and John
Heard the pow’r of Christ proclaimed:
“This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased.”

Words © 2005 Trilby Jordan, arr. © 2005 Lloyd Larson Lorenz Pub. Co.
Song #04911Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Sermon: “Mountaintops and Valleys”          Rev. Lorrie Lowes

What a contrast in the two parts of our reading this morning! We begin with a Spirit-filled, dream-like experience of being in the presence of the Holy and then are immediately brought back to the harsh reality of the day-to-day life of Jesus and his disciples.

That experience on the mountaintop is a difficult one for us to unpack, I think. Did it actually happen? Or was it just a dream? Was it a story meant to be read as a metaphor for something else? What are we supposed to do with it?

This week, in our Lectionary Study, I opened our discussion with this challenge: Can you describe a time when you felt you were in the presence of the Holy?

There followed a long pause, an awkward silence. Karen bravely waded in because it is something she has asked others to do in her PhD research. Susan began by saying that this kind of spiritual experience is so intense and so personal that it’s really hard to share it with others – that we worry that people might scoff at us, or think we’re crazy.

Interestingly, not one person said “No, it has never happened to me.”

So, was that experience on the mountaintop really so far-fetched? What really happened there?... and why did they climb that mountain in the first place?

Life with Jesus must have been very intense, don’t you think?

… month after month wandering around the countryside, with no place to call home, no familiar bed and comfort at the end of each day, not even knowing where their next meal would come from.

… days filled with pushing crowds, people desperate for healing and desperate for hope, sometimes people who were there to criticize or curse

… evenings spent listening to the teachings of Jesus, desperately wanting to understand but often feeling overwhelmed

It’s no wonder that they all – Jesus included – sometimes just needed a break and a chance to get away from it all, a chance to rest and to sort out all those swirling thoughts and impressions, a quiet place away from the hustle. I’m sure you can all relate to that feeling. I know I can. I also know that I’m not always wise enough to acknowledge that need – and sometimes my body takes over and forces me to stop, to rest and to allow my heart and my mind to catch up.

Jesus knew that he needed these breaks to refresh himself and to reconnect spiritually with God – to listen for that still, small voice that gave him his sense of direction and purpose, the stamina and drive to continue, even when the journey was difficult and the work stressful. He also knew when it was taking a toll on his disciples, perhaps especially how difficult it must be for his closest friends, his leaders. We often hear of him going off on his own to pray – but this time he took Peter and John and James as well. He was right, it seems, that they needed this too. The scripture writer tells us they were “weighed down with sleep” – but, even so, they stayed awake – still wanting, I suppose, to learn and to understand what they had been called to do. Not wanting to miss a moment with Jesus, especially this unusually intimate opportunity to be just the four of them together, away from the distractions of noise and crowds and away from their responsibilities in this community of disciples.

Because they stayed awake, the writer tells us, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him – Moses and Elijah. This is unusual in our stories and I’m sure it was a shock for the disciples who accompanied him as well. When Jesus went off by himself to pray, we imagine him in private conversation with God. So, what are Elijah and Moses doing here? This was unexpected! I read this differently this week. This time it seemed to me like an epiphany moment. That moment of “aha!”, of understanding what Jesus was all about. It was suddenly right there in front of them. Here was Jesus, in the company of the most respected prophets of their faith. Here he was, called by God to a mission so profound it could change the course of humankind. I can imagine that sense of clarity at last, for those men struggling so hard to understand what their own ministry was all about:  This is what God has wanted all along. This is what the prophets have always said. This is not so much something completely different, but something that has always been an essential part of God’s dream, and Jesus is here to take that message further, to show those essential truths in action. This was a moment that went beyond the “now I get it” experience of clarity. Here, on this quiet mountaintop, Peter, John, and James experienced a moment so profound, so sacred, that they were acutely aware of God’s presence with them.

Can you imagine it? Can you imagine how they must have felt?

When I think of it in this way, I get a better understanding of why Peter wanted to stay – to build a shelter that would protect this experience and make it permanent. Who wouldn’t want to feel the presence of the Holy – a tangible, all-encompassing feeling of awe and at the same time of being wrapped up in God’s love? Who wouldn’t want to hang on to that?

How do you explain an experience so profound, something that is both inspiring and terrifying at the same time?

This feeling, this intensely spiritual, personal experience isn’t something that can be captured. It can’t be kept in a box – or a dwelling – or a church… It seems to slip away before we can really grasp what is happening. And so, just as Peter was trying so hard to cling to it, they were overshadowed by a cloud. The moment passed and there was Jesus, the very human and familiar Jesus they knew, standing in front of them – no glowing vision, no ethereal companions.  In the words of the poet Andrew King:

The figure that shone
is Jesus again: the sun-browned skin
And the carpenter hands
And the feet, like yours, grimed with earth.
Gone the others you thought you saw.
Silent now the voice, the words
A memory like the calm
That follows a strong wind. 

These three men who had shared this incredible experience were suddenly brought back to the real world. The moment was gone, but the voice of God still rang in their ears. “This is my son, my Chosen. Listen to him!” … Our scripture tells us they kept silent and told no one any of the things they had seen. I wonder if they even shared it amongst themselves…

Perhaps they all just went to sleep at last. Minds cleared, a feeling of being held secure in God’s love… finally a time to close their eyes and take that needed rest their bodies craved. They weren’t ready to face the real world just yet. Our story tells us they went down the mountain the next day…

Back to reality… from the bright mountaintop to the dark valley… from a glimpse of the kin-dom of God, to the harsh reality of the human world, the place where evil still exists in ugly contrast.

It must have been a jolt for them to arrive and find the great crowd there waiting. A crowd oblivious to the amazing moment they had just experienced.

My late Uncle Alec, had a saying that comes to mind for me. After a wonderful vacation, away from all the bustle of day-to-day life, where you eat foods you never cook at home, when your suitcase contains only your favourite outfits, where you sleep as much - or as little - as you want, where the days spread out before you with no must-do list… when that time would come to an end, he would say, “Well, it’s back to porridge and old clothes!” A preparation for going back to reality.

Back from the dream, back to the real world, back amongst people who have no idea what you’ve just experienced. It’s always a bit of a jolt – so imagine that feeling after something as life-altering as what these four men had just been through. Everything has changed – but nothing has changed.

The crowd is still pushing, the people are still needy and crying out for help. A father, desperate to save his son, is losing hope…

We look at the situation of this poor boy and think of the modern diagnosis of epilepsy. What the people in that mountain valley saw was the very manifestation of evil. He is the only child of this man. I can’t imagine his fear. He came to the disciples, begging for help, but was not given any. He is at the end of his rope.

They can’t help him. He’ll have to wait for Jesus.

Jesus himself goes from conferring with the major prophets of his faith to the realization nothing has changed. You can hear the frustration in his response, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?”

From conferring with the ancient prophets, from connecting with God, from the clarity of what needs to change to save the world, from all the assurance and confidence he needs that he is on the right path, that he is doing God’s work… he comes face-to-face with the realization that he is standing alone, that even his own disciples are missing the point. One miracle worker isn’t what the world needs for heaven’s sake – every follower must have the courage to take the risk, to stand up to the evil they see, to wipe it out, not with magic words or special powers, but with the boldness and the confidence that says “this is not welcome here”.

We may have gotten rid of the notion that evil spirits move in and cause epilepsy, or autism, or Tourette’s syndrome but we still face demons. What are the demons the world faces today? Where do we come face to face with evil? We don’t have to look far… Peaceful protests being twisted with symbols of hatred and holding bystanders hostage in their own neighbourhoods, horns blaring to drown out the calls for reason… Armies with tanks and weapons of destruction poised at the borders of Ukraine, ready to pounce at the first signs of vulnerability… Rhetoric that serves to pit us against each other, even when we are all fighting the same pandemic… hunger in the midst of plenty… suffering in a world where solutions surround us.

As followers of Jesus, we gather together as a community of faith – faith that the demons of this world can be rebuked, that manifestations of evil can be healed. If we truly understand what Jesus taught, then we cannot say, “We can’t help. Better wait for someone with more power.”

So, what can we do? We can begin by keeping our spiritual connection with God and with each other. We use the strength that gives us to be part of the solution. We take the risk to say, “Evil is not welcome here.” We show that the power that comes from loving your neighbour is more enduring than violence and beating others into submission.

It is hard work… more than that, it is terrifying work at times. So, how on earth do we find the strength we need to be up to the task?

I liked Erin’s analogy this morning about the solar powered light. The sun can power as many of those receptors we can put out there – and it doesn’t diminish its ability to shine. More receptors, more light… more light, the clearer our vision becomes…

We cannot dismiss the strength we gain from being connected to that higher power – the one we refer to as God in this faith tradition… nor can we dismiss the strength we gain from being together in community. I believe the strength we gain when we combine the two can be exponentially more powerful.

Susan was right in our Lectionary Study this week; we rarely talk about our spiritual experiences – not even with those closest to us. I think it’s probably also true that we don’t take the time to seek out those moments when we can be present enough to experience the Holy. We don’t step away from the world; we don’t climb the mountain. I wonder what would happen if we did…

What Peter, John, and James experienced on that mountaintop transfigured the man they knew as Jesus – but did it transform them? Did they trust it? Like us, they kept it locked inside. Even they stepped back and counted on Jesus to heal the boy of the unclean spirit.

Peter couldn’t keep that moment from slipping away, no matter how much he wanted to try. Even Jesus knew he had to turn around and head down the mountain to what was waiting for him there. The moment was gone, the prophets had disappeared, Jesus was the familiar man they loved, fully human once again – but, surely, they could still hear that clear voice saying, “Listen to him!”

We cannot hold on to our mountaintop moments either, but maybe we can start by seeking them. Maybe we can be open enough to sense when God is near, when God wants us to listen. Each one of us will experience these moments in our own personal, intimate way for sure. They might not include the appearance of ancient prophets; they may not transfigure our faces or make our clothing glow, but I am certain they can transform us in some way if we are open to accepting them, if we trust what they bring. Perhaps the important message for us is to realize the power in those moments, to store the energy they give us so that, together, when we find ourselves in the valley once again, we can use that strength to light the world.

May it be so. Amen.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer       Rev. Lorrie

God of Loving Presence,
We give you thanks for the wonders of each day,
For the celebrations, big and small, that brighten our lives,
For the love of friends and family and the support they bring.
We give you thanks for crisp bright winter days,
For the lengthening of the daylight hours that bring the hope of spring.
Keep us mindful of the joys we experience each and every day. 

God of Compassion,
We pray for all those in our midst who are suffering:
Those faced with illness or injury,
Those struggling with difficulties of worry and stress,
Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
Today we pray especially for the Routledge family in the loss of Marion,
And we pray for all those in this faith family who loved her.
Comfort us in our pain and in our sorrow. 

God of Peace and Justice,
We pray for the leaders of our city, our country, and throughout the world,
That they may put the common good ahead of personal ambition,
That they lead with compassion and work toward peace.
We pray for an end to war and violence.
We pray for healing; we pray for justice;
We pray that everyone has what they need.
Help us see our role in bringing this dream to life. 

Transforming God,
We pray that we make time to be open to your presence,
That we seek the time to open our hearts and minds to you.
We pray for clarity of vision and awareness of the work you call us to do,
And the strength and courage we need to follow that call. 

Holy One,
Transform our hearts
Transform our will,
Transform us that we may help transform the world. 

All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, the transfigured one, who inspires and guides us, using the prayer he taught his disciples…

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

The transformation that we feel in those mountaintop experiences when we know God is with us, can only transform the world if we move down from that lofty height into the reality of the world ready to lift others by sharing that love where it is needed most.

 Let us offer our gifts of time, talents and treasures so that the ministry of this church will be a growing, vibrant witness to God’s healing love. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the mailbox by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer

(David Sparks, Gathering A/C/E 2014/15, p48. Used with permission.)

You take us to the holy place, O God,
You’re inspired presence lifts us up and gives us new life.
You bring us down to earth, O God.
Through your eyes, we see what needs to be done and find the strength to begin.
Bless these gifts, O God,
Through which the ordinary shines with holiness. Amen. 

Sending Forth   Rev. Lorrie

(Susan Lukey, Gathering A/C/E 2021/22, p53. Used with permission.)

Inspired and transformed on the mountaintop with Jesus, we now journey with Jesus back into the ordinary and everyday, knowing that this is where we must share God’s love.

Go with renewed inspiration and the confidence that God accompanies us each step of the way. Amen.

Hymn: How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place (Better is One Day) - More Voices #29

BCUC Music team October Homecoming 2016
(Abe - piano, Kim & Will - guitars, Erin - flute, Leslie - violin, Dan - Cello, Sue & Wendy – drums) 

1.    How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.
For my soul longs and even faints for you.
For here my heart is satisfied within your presence.
I sing beneath the shadow of your wings. 

Refrain:
Better is one day in your courts, better is one day in your house,
Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere. (2x)
Than thousands elsewhere. 

2.    One thing I ask and I would seek:
To see your beauty,
To find you in the place your glory dwells. (2x)

Refrain

© 1995 Matt Redman Thank you Music
Song Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music: Song of the Transfiguration       BCUC Choir Feb 11 2018 - Soloist: Keith Bailey

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Stood a part on Tabor's height.
Lead us up our sacred mountains,
Search us with revealing light.
Lift us from where we have fallen,
Full of questions, filled with fright.

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Once spoke with those holy ones.
We, surrounded by the witness
Of those saints whose work is done,
Live in this world as your Body,
Chosen daughters, chosen sons.

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Would not stay within a shrine.
Keep us from our great temptation
Time and truth we quickly bind.
Lead us down those daily pathways
Where our love is not confined.

Words © 1991 Sylvia Dunstan, arr. © 2001 David Haas
Song #04911 & 87552 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Bonus: Shine Jesus Shine      BCUC choir Feb 7 2016

© 1987 Graham Kendrick, choral arr. © 1992 Jack Schrader
Song #27324 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Join us for Zoom Fellowship at 11:00 am

Sunday Worship Service - February 20, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

7th SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

February 20, 2022

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: Nobody Knows the Trouble/Angels Watching Over Me     arr. Hayes

Welcome & Centering for Worship         Rev. Kim Vidal

On behalf of BCUC, I greet and welcome you to our worship service in the name of Jesus Christ on this 7th Sunday after Epiphany. We are glad that you have joined us today.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship. 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 fully 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. Please take note that our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

A friendly reminder to 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.

The BCUC Annual General Meeting will take place on Zoom on Sunday March 6th at 11:15 AM.  The purpose of this meeting is to review and receive the 2021 Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements and to approve the 2022 Annual Activity Plan, Budget and Nominations Report, and various other items of importance.

To ensure the congregation is informed and ready to discuss, and that new business items are given an adequate amount of time for deliberation, members are encouraged to notify the Board of their intent to introduce any new items of business, or new motions (on topics outside of annual plans, budgets, nominations and items arising from the minutes of the previous meeting), by e-mailing Jordan Berard before noon on Friday February 25th.  A mover and a seconder for motions, as well as any background material that can be distributed to the congregation at least one week before the meeting, will also be appreciated.

Friends, I now invite you to centre yourself in God’s presence as we gather in worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle        Acolyte: Angela Starchuk

(Fern Gibbard, Gathering, ACE 2021-2022, Year C. Used with permission.)

We light this Christ candle – the light that shines in the shadows of life.
The light that bursts like sunshine through clouds of sadness.
The light that changes gloom into gladness.
We light this Christ candle rejoicing that the presence of God is with us.

Call to Gather           Rev. Lorrie Lowes

Friends, we gather once more at the feet of Wisdom;
we come to learn, we desire to be changed.
These are not easy teachings, for they would have us go
beyond familiar horizons of belief and action;
we come to be challenged, we desire to grow.
Come, then, let us journey on this road together,
open to new insight and willingness to enter
God’s vision for a renewed and just world.
We have come together, we desire to uplift others.
Come, let us worship God in spirit and in truth.

Prayer of Approach

Life-giving God, whose love knows no limits
and whose embrace extends to all,
stir within us a deepening thirst for the teachings of Jesus.
Make us aware that being in right relationship
pushes us to respect and honour others
without expecting much in return.
Bend our hearts to your teaching and not selfish gain;
renew us to your promise of love
when we move away from your healing presence.
In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: Spirit, Open My Heart  - More Voices #79     BCUC trio with violin: Leslie

Refrain
Spirit, open my heart
to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love,
in receiving and in giving,
Spirit, open my heart.

1. God, replace my stony heart
    with a heart that’s kind and tender.
    All my coldness and fear
    to your grace I now surrender. R 

2. Write your love upon my heart
    as my law, my goal, my story.
    In each thought, word, and deed,
    may my living bring you glory. R 

3. May I weep with those who weep,
    share the joy of sister, brother.
    In the welcome of Christ,
    may we welcome one another. R

Words © 1996 Ruth Duck, arr. © 1997 Arthur Clyde  The Pilgrim Press.
Song #20093 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved.
 

Storytime       Rev. Lorrie

In our scripture reading this morning, there is a verse that probably sounds familiar to you:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

I’m sure you’ve heard those words or something very similar before. This is something we call the “golden rule”. I have a book to share with you that talks about this:

“The Golden Rule” written by Ilene Cooper and Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska

(In this story a young boy and his grandfather come across a billboard that quotes the golden rule and the boy asks what it says. The conversation that follows talks about why it is called “golden” – because it’s so valuable, that the idea is common in many different faiths and cultures, that it is a rule that applies to all people – grown-ups and kids alike. The boy wonders how to start practicing that rule and his grandfather tells him that it starts by imagining how another person might feel and imagining what you’d want someone to do for you if you were feeling that way. He also tells him to think of ways he doesn’t like to be treated and wonder what he could do to make sure he doesn’t make anyone feel that way. The boy comes to realize that following the golden rule can sometimes be hard but that it is a really big thing because if everyone actually behaved that way it could change the world. The final message in the book is that “it begins with you.”)

Hymn: Draw the Circle Wide – More Voices #145  - Erin Berard with choir members

Refrain
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone,
standing side by side, draw the circle wide.

1.       God the still-point of the circle,
‘round whom all creation turns;
nothing lost, but held forever,
in God’s gracious arms. R

2.       Let our hearts touch far horizons,
so encompass great and small;
let our loving know no borders,
faithful to God’s call. R

3.       Let the dreams we dream be larger,
than we’ve ever dreamed before;
let the dream of Christ be in us,
open every door. R

Words & Music © 1994 Gordon Light, Common Cup, arr © 1998 Michael Bloss, Wood Lake Books
Song # 117657 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Prayer for Illumination         Reader: Marion Dugas

(Karen Boivin, Gathering, ACE 2018-2019, Year C. Used with permission.)

Here we are, once again, loving God, looking to locate Jesus in the pages of the Bible and then in the hours of our days. Your Spirit has shown us the honour and responsibility of being a follower. Now today, and in the weeks ahead, reveal to us the nuances of living as a disciple day by day. Amen.

The Gospel Reading: Luke 6: 27-38 (NRSV)       Love for Enemies

27 “But I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 
29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 
30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 
33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 
34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 
35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 
36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 
38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

May the Light of Christ dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God! 

Anthem: We Will Bring Your Peace into the World     CGS - director : Erin Berard

Refrain
We will bring your peace into the world
With a loving hand do the best we can.

1.    Jesus you ask us to be gentle, Jesus you ask us to be kind,
to take good care of each other, then your peace will be here for all to find.

2.    Jesus, you ask us to be friendly. Jesus you ask us to be fair,
to take good care of each other, then your peace will be here for all to share.

Words © 1998 Maria Millward, Music © 1998 Damien Halloran, Willow Pub
Song #41651 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Sermon: “Jesus Wants Us to Do What?”       Rev. Kim

Prayer: Let your spirit of wisdom flow through us, O God, as we reflect on this difficult teaching. Amen.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” I knew this verse since I was young. I tried my hardest to apply it in real life, but one thing I can say is this: these words from Jesus are more easily said than done!

Something happened one night in 1995. I was working in a retail store as my part time job to support my studies at St. Paul University. A drunk man came into the store and demanded me to sell one of the dresses. All he had was a few coins in his pocket and I politely told him that his money was not enough to buy the dress. To which he responded in a loud voice with his fingers pointing at me – “You little Chinese girl– I must have this dress and will not leave the store!” Then he lied down on the floor waiting for my next move. Fear crept in but I stood my ground and I told him that his behaviour was not acceptable and asked him to leave the store or else I’d call the police. As soon as he heard the word police, he became agitated and stood up in front of me and called me all kinds of offensive names. He was about 6 ft tall and a bulky man and I know that if I hurled back at him the way he treated me with offensive language and racial slurs, he might have hurt me, or worse, that could have been the end of my life. I called the store manager in the back room to come right away. When the manager came, the drunk man was again lying on the floor and he said he would not get up until we gave him the dress that he wanted. I called 911 and told the dispatcher about the incident. When the man heard that police officers were coming to the store, he got up, pointing his finger at me and left the store.

“Love your enemies…” Who are the enemies that Jesus talks about in this passage? I believe the “enemies” in this text relate to anyone that may cause someone harm, injury, or death in many ways. How could Jesus tell us not only to love them but also to pray for them and bless them? I don’t know about you, but this text doesn’t make sense to me at all. It runs against the normal way of human relationships. 

“If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.”
"…if anyone takes away your coat give them also your shirt.
"… if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

How could Jesus set forth a list of values that are so difficult or even unrealistic to strive for? I think that’s exactly the point of this text. To live by Jesus’ standards is to live above and beyond human standards! But in reality, there are enough bad and opportunistic people running loose out there who would take Jesus’ words literally and run-down on people. These words encourage the bullies of the world to abuse, hurt or put down people. They could be words of invitation to the non-stop ringing of the phone or knocking on your door from those wanting to ask for donations. These are words to justify being trampled and hated by those who do not know how to love. I am just overwhelmed beyond words that Jesus would suggest such things for good living. But is this really what the Lukan Jesus intends for us to hear? 

How can we love our enemies? How can we bless them and pray for them when they are causing us harm? Jesus offers 3 illustrations that I think are relevant in the context of the first century world. The first illustration: “If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.”  

In the ancient Jewish culture, it was an offensive gesture to be slapped with the back of the right hand. The back of the hand was given by a master to a slave or by a husband to a wife or by a parent to a child or a Roman to a Jew in that period. The only way one could hit someone on the right cheek would be with the back of the hand. What Jesus was trying to tell his listeners is this: When someone tries to humiliate you and put you down, turn your other cheek. If you turned your head to the right, that person could no longer backhand you. Your nose is now in the way. By turning the other cheek, you are defiantly saying to the assailant, I refuse to be humiliated by you any longer. You have stood your ground courageously.

The second illustration: "…if anyone takes away your coat, also give your shirt." In those days, if a person had a loan, normally they would use animals or land as collateral, but the poor could use their coat or outer garment. It was the coat that they used to sleep in at night and used as an overcoat by day. For the debtor to give both his coat and shirt means a cold, sleepless night and worse, he could be totally naked. It is obvious that Jesus' audience is made up of very poor debtors. They are never going to win a case, since the law is mostly on the side of the wealthy. So, Jesus says to them, "Okay, you are not going to win the case. So, take the law into a point of absurdity. When your creditor sues you for your outer garment, give your undergarment as well. That meant taking off the only stitch of clothing you had left on you and standing literally naked, in court. The shame of nakedness fell not on the person who was naked, but on the person, who observed their nakedness. The creditor is being put in the position of being shamed by the nakedness of the debtor. Imagine the debtor leaving the courtroom, walking out the street and all of the people coming and seeing him in his nakedness and saying, "What happened to you?" He says, "That creditor has got all my clothes," and starts walking down to his house, with head held high. The debtor certainly has won the case.

The third illustration: “Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.” Come on, folks, let's be realistic. If someone takes away all my goods without my permission, that for me is theft or robbery and the person who took my goods is legally accountable by law. However, these texts should be understood in the context from which they were drawn. These words were directed at the rich and wealthy among the crowd. You do not need any explanation to understand this. It is simply saying share what you have and do not demand back anything taken from you because you have more than enough.

Let’s admit it - loving your enemies by turning the other cheek, or gift-wrapping your coat and shirt, or giving unconditionally, will not make us get ahead in this world. Jesus knows too well the rules of this world where, most of the time, only the powerful and the fittest survive.  Jesus isn’t trying to change the rules of the world. Rather, he’s starting a new movement by calling the rules of this world into question and offering an alternative - an entirely subversive or even a ridiculous way to relate to each other, inviting everyone into relationships governed not by the power to destroy but by the power to love.  This is not just an ordinary kind of love. This is agape love in action. A love that is unconditional, self-giving, non-violent and life-giving! 

This power of this agape love is echoed by the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa who was remembered as a man of faith, social justice and wisdom who suffered under the violent regime of apartheid. His commitment to follow Jesus, particularly “loving one’s enemies”, can be found in some of his famous words:

“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate.”

“A person is a person through other persons; you can’t be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.”

Sadly, the effects of the old order are still prominent in the world: poverty is still rampant, people still settle disputes with fists and firearms, wars are still out there, people still think with pride and seem intent on creating a world of division and discord. Some still practice the vengeful way of “an eye for an eye” and some communities are hotbeds of fear and violence.

What is the good news about this passage for us today? Jesus is not teaching us to be doormats. Jesus teaches that God’s love is unconditional. Therefore, we must also love unconditionally. Jesus is inviting us to stretch our boundaries, to raise our sights on creating a more compassionate world, and to create among us a true community of respect based on self-giving. Agape love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend because it has “creative” and “redemptive” power. Jesus is offering a way of life in which the victim and the powerless can act from a position of strength - to take an initiative which confronts the perpetrator and puts the wrongdoing into question. Jesus does not suggest that this is an easy option but a radical alternative. It is very easy to be kind to those who are nice to us - and to love those who love us in return. Jesus’ challenge is to go further. To love the unlovable, to notice and pay attention to the invisible, to give to the needy without expecting anything in return. Jesus paved the way for a new order that does not simply make the weak strong and the strong weak, but one that will transform the nature of a community. 

What does it mean for you to be in this new community? Are you able to love your enemies? To bless them and pray for them? Jesus has said so far: you are to love as God loves - wholly, completely, consistently, unconditionally. That for sure is agape love!  Difficult, yes - but not impossible. Acting on such love is quite a challenge, but it can change the world radically.

That unforgettable night in 1995, I have never felt so afraid in my life - but instead of succumbing to my fears and hating that man who insulted and offended me, I prayed. I prayed for that man – that whatever circumstances he had lived through, may he find his true inner self, transform his life and become a better person. I pray to myself that when things get rough, and when people put me down or harm me, may I remind myself that resisting creatively and non-violently is the way to peace. I prayed that God’s agape love would empower and strengthen me. And yes, and I thanked God that I was able to get home safe that night!

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Note: Thanks to the members of the BCUC Lectionary Group for their wisdom and insight shared in helping me craft this sermon.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer      Rev. Kim

I offer this prayer, some of which were parts of a prayer written by Rex Hunt and our Moderator Richard Bott, for strength and for hope and blessing these days. Let us pray.

This moment of quiet is an invitation to be calm in the midst of the noise of the world and our over-busy lives, to bring together thought and feeling, mind and spirit, and to find some center, some still point, of perspective and peace. 

Holy God, we come to you with hope and promise. We thank you for the stories which have empowered your people through the ages and given them hope. You remind us that through the teachings of Jesus, the world will be transformed anew if we do our part to love unconditionally. May we know your promise of transformation, of hope and of your agape love among your people. May we know the promise of Jesus, whose spirit invites us to become people of the Way. 

We draw near to each other in the presence of a Holy Weaver. That we may see afresh. That we may hear anew. That we may act again with vigour. May there be many new patterns woven among us: patterns of peace between strangers, patterns of love between friends, patterns of hope among the hopeless, patterns of joy among the sorrowful. 

We pray, O, God, for those who seek to speak good news in a hostile world. We lift up those who are confronted with illness, grief, anxiety, fear and uncertainty. Help us to be resilient and hopeful. We continue to pray for those whom aging is a trial and a burden; for those who are lonely and those battling mental illness. 

Let your agape love continue to guide us as we pray for the world where violence and persecution abound. Let our voices join those who have raised their voices to stop wars in all forms and other acts of injustice, violence and human sadness here in Canada and in many parts of the world. 

In light of the ongoing truckers protest, may we echo the words of our Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Richard Bott: “Loving God…Protest I understand, even if I feel the reasons, are sometimes misguided and wrong.

Those symbols of White Supremacy, representations of a desire to enslave and eradicate— those flags of hatred's horror— they should never be flown in a way that honours them and the principles for which they stand.

God, help us to put those symbols in the places that will make us remember what they represent, with horror and grief, and fight against them ever being raised up as possibilities for the future.

God, help us to challenge the unthinking hatred, the fear and the greed that give it power, the anti-Semitic hatred, the idea that "White is Right."

God help us. Because we can't seem to do it on our own.”

All these we ask in the name of Jesus, who calls us to recite this prayer together. 

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

Jesus offered compassion for the people he met and taught us to do the same. This day, you and I are called to respond to Jesus’ example to offer healing, love and compassion as the need arises. Let us offer our gifts of time, talents and treasures so that the ministry of this church will be a growing, vibrant witness to God’s healing love. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the mailbox by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer

(Karen Boivin, Gathering Advent/Christmas/Epiphany 2021/22, p48. with permission.)

Gracious God, the desire of our hearts for these gifts today
is that they be a source of healing:
Bringing together what is broken,
Soothing what is painful,
And allowing people to move forward
in the abundance of life with which you bless us. Amen.

Sending Forth   Rev. Kim

Our worship has ended and let us now go as God’s faithful people.
Go and be the compassion of God.
Go and be the love of Christ.
Go and be the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
Go and do God’s business in the world. Amen!

Hymn: Take My Life and Let it Be – Voices United #506 v1,2,5          BCUC Feb 25, 2018

1 Take my life and let it be
consecrated, all for thee; 
take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.

2 Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love,
take my feet, and let them be
swift and purposeful for thee.

3 Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee;
take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

4 Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine;
take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.

5 Take my love: and I will pour
at thy feet its treasure store;
take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

Words 1874 Frances Ridley Havergal, Music: unknown, desc. © 1980 John T. Wilkinson
Song Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Departing Music: Go Now in Peace – Besig/Price        BCUC Choir Jan 27, 2019

Go now in peace, never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of ev’ry day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.
Know God will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there watching from above
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love. Amen

Words © 1988 Besig & Price, Music © 1988 Besig
Song #78821
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Join us for Zoom Fellowship at 11:00 am

Sunday school activities - February 20, 2022

Theme Discussion

Today’s scripture passage (Luke 6:27-38) includes a verse that we call “The Golden Rule”:

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

The “Golden Rule” is one of the most important lessons that Jesus taught. Why do you think it is called “golden”?

Take a look at the poster below. Isn’t it interesting that this lesson is also taught in almost every other religion in the world? Why do you think that is?

Is this an easy rule to follow? … with your friends?... with your family?... with people you don’t know?... with people you don’t like?

Jesus tells us to love our enemies. He wants us to do good things for them, to bless them, and to pray for them. This is pretty hard! How do you think your “enemy” would react if you treated them this way? 

Response Activity Ideas

Family Get-Along Plan

In the story Rev. Lorrie read in the service video for today, the boy and his grandfather think about the meaning of the Golden Rule and what it means to follow this rule. Talk about the boy and his grandfather's ideas about how they like to be treated and how they do not like to be treated. Record these ideas on the chart below in the appropriate column. Brainstorm other ideas to add to the columns.

Do you sometimes argue with your siblings?  Discuss together with your parents/siblings about what the Golden Rule means for your family.  Write out some ways you are going to show respect to each other that you agree on using the ideas from the chart.

How We Like To Be Treated chart

Click to print PDF

Kindness Video

Watch the video below:

Can you think of a situation where you or someone you know made a poor choice in how they dealt with someone who was unkind to others? How could you have dealt with that person with kindness? Draw about it.

Love is Something if You Give it Away

Love is something if you give it away,
You end up having more.
It’s just like a magic penny:
Hold it tight and you won’t have any.
Lend it, spend it and you’ll have so many,
They’ll roll all over the floor.

Using clipart, lyrics, and animations, make a Powerpoint slide with to go with the song The Magic Penny which talks about the blessings of love. Use the ‘Download’ link above to download the CGS and Bell Canto recording of Magic Penny and add it to your Powerpoint!

Sunday Worship Service - February 13, 2022

BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

6th SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

February 13, 2022 

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: Blessed – Valerie Crescenz (adapted from Matthew 5)   BCUC Choir recorded Sunday Jan 29 2017

Blessed the poor in spirit are, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs;
And those who mourn will be comforted, for their sorrows will be shared.
Blessed are those who are gentle and meek, for the earth shall be their prize;
And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall they receive;
And blessed are the pure in heart, for the Lord himself they will see.
Blessed are the makers of peace, as God’s children they shall be known;
And those who suffer for the sake of righteousness,
For the kingdom of heav’n is their own. 

Blessed are you when men revile you, when they taunt and denounce,
And say all manner of sland’rous things against you on My account.
Rejoice and be glad, your reward is great, in heaven will you find rest;
With all the prophets and all who have gone before, forever shall you be blessed.

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved 

Welcome           Rev. Kim Vidal

Greetings and welcome to our worship service in the name of Jesus Christ on this 6th Sunday after Epiphany. We are glad that you have joined us today.

As we continue to be under pandemic restrictions, 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.

We have reopened the sanctuary for in-person worship service starting today at 10 am. 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 fully 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.  Our Sunday worship service continues to be offered via Youtube, by email and by telephone.

The 44th General Council of the United Church of Canada commences today. Here’s Nicole Beaudry, one of the elected lay commissioners representing the Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council to give us more information about the General Council assembly.

GC 44 News        Nicole Beaudry, Lay Commissioner

I was a Commissioner the last time General Council met in Oshawa in August 2018; that was my third General Council and the first time we were issued a digital workbook, instead of the thick brick we used to receive in the mail prior to the week-long meeting. The workbook helps us to get familiar with the reports and the issues and get ready to vote on the many, many propositions that will come before the Council.

At that meeting, a 3-phase decision-making process was put in place: Listening- Discussion - Decision.  This gave everyone access to as much information and conversation as possible before voting on the proposals.  The Right Rev. Richard Bott was elected as the 43rd Moderator of the United Church of Canada.  GC 44 was scheduled to meet in august 2021 in Calgary.

But…..COVID happened. In June 2020, GC43 reconvened via Zoom and the Commissioners voted in favour of postponing the 2021 meeting hoping to meet in Calgary in the summer of 2022 instead.  Since COVID stuck around, GC reconvened again and approved a motion for a virtual GC44 to take place in 2022 . It would be spread out over a six-month period. I was again, elected Commissioner by the Region.

And so we have come to the time of our very much anticipated GC meeting with the opening on February 13th. The theme of this GC is: Who do you say that I am?

The great 3-phase decision-making process is still in place and this means that all commissioners must attend seven 90-minute Learning sessions during March and April; six 2-hour Discussion sessions during June and July; and nine 2-hour Decision making sessions in July. The closing worship and installation of the new moderator, elected the week before, will take place on Aug. 7.

A Commissioner has tasks to fulfill during the whole 3-year period until the rise of the next Council with yearly meetings and correspondance and duties to keep informed on all the issues. One of my duties is to share the news of General Council, so I’ll try to do my best to keep you informed.  I will share the places where, on line, you can access all the proceedings, reports and decisions of all the meetings, and the budget and financial reports, as well as all the news from General Council.  I believe you will also have access to the Opening and Closing Worship services on the Youtube channel.

Thank you for your support.

Centering for Worship       Rev. Kim

Friends, in our gathering today remember these words from A Song of Faith: “We sing of God’s good news lived out, a church with purpose: faith nurtured and hearts comforted, gifts shared for the good of all...” Let us now gather in worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle       Acolytes: David Stafford & Barbara Bole

This sacred light is a wonderful gift. 
It clears our minds and calms our hearts.
It illuminates the space we are in. 
We light this Christ candle to remind us that God’s presence
is with us now and in the days to come.
Let us welcome this sacred light in our midst. 

Call to Gather       Rev. Lorrie Lowes

(Louise Hart, Gathering, ACE 2019-2020, Year A. Used with permission.)

For those who are tired,
may this sacred space be a place of rest.
For those who are hurting,
may this holy place be a place of healing.
For those who are seeking answers to difficult questions,
may this be a place where questions are accepted.
We come for different reasons.
We come from different places.
Here, we are all embraced by the same Spirit.
Let us worship God. 

Prayer of Approach

(Rt. Rev. Richard Bott, Gathering, ACE 2019-2020, Year A. Used with permission.)

Your love calls us to live in new ways, Gracious God:
Working for justice;
living kindness;
walking with you, humbly, every day.
Help us to be your blessing to the world.
Help us to notice your blessing in the world.
Help us to live your love.
Today, tomorrow, always!
In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hymn: Blessed Assurance - Voices United #337    Erin, Kim & Angela

1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his love.

Ref: This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.

2 Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love.  

3 Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with God’s goodness, lost in Christ’s love.

Words © 1873 Fanny Crosby; Music © 1873 Phoebe Palmer Knapp         
Song # 94239 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved

Storytime      Rev. Lorrie

In our Bible reading today, Jesus is talking to his followers. Many of the people in the crowd are poor and are suffering from all kinds of problems. He tells them something that seems very strange. He tells them they are blessed! I don’t think they were feeling very blessed that day, though, if they were hungry and thirsty or blind, or being attacked by people who didn’t agree with them. It’s a hard message to understand.

There were also people in that crowd who were wealthy, well-fed, happy, and popular. And he told them to not be so full of themselves because this wasn’t going to last and they’d soon be in trouble.

Does it make sense to celebrate when you’re having a really hard time and be worried when things are going well? What a strange thing for Jesus to say! I’ve been struggling with this idea all week and wondering how on earth this can be seen as “Good News”.

Then, just this morning, something happened that made me think I might understand a little better. One of my grandkids was having a hard morning. It started by getting mad at his snow pants and deciding he needs a new pair. The more he talked about what was wrong with his snow pants, the more upset he got. Then he got mad at his sister because she wasn’t getting ready for school – so we told him she was going later because she had a doctor appointment this morning. That made him even more mad and he didn’t like any of the masks that were clean by the door, and then the bus went by before he got outside. The angrier he got, the worse his morning became. Nothing we said could make him smile. It started with the snow pants, and because that put him in a bad mood, everything else seemed bad too. Normally he would have just asked his sister why she wasn’t getting ready for school, normally he would have been able to find one of his favourite masks in the pile, and if he had been his usual self, he would have been ready and out the door long before the bus came. One bad thing made everything else seem bad too – like the world was ganging up on him. He couldn’t see anything good about the morning. I sure hope it didn’t ruin his whole day!

I imagine that the people in Jesus’ crowd who were suffering felt much the same way – not just for one morning, but day after day. But Jesus told them they were blessed, that they should be happy! And what about those wealthy, happy people in the crowd? Was Jesus telling them that being happy and healthy, and popular were bad?

This morning, if my grandson’s snow pants hadn’t still been damp from yesterday, he probably wouldn’t have disliked them so much, and then he would have been curious about why his sister was still sitting at the table instead of getting dressed. He might have been more willing to look through the pile of clean masks to find one of the ones he likes and he would have been ready and out the door before the bus came by. Getting upset about one thing led to another and, pretty soon, everything about the world was terrible in his mind.

So, how could this have been made better? I don’t expect him to be happy about those snow pants – but, if he had realized that he could talk to Mommy about it when she gets home and that she loves him and so would make sure he had clothing that was warm and comfortable – maybe then he would have carried those snow pants to school and hung them up to dry before recess. Maybe then he wouldn’t have let his bad mood ruin his whole morning – he might not have yelled at his sister and all those things that usually go smoothly in the morning would have been smooth today too.

Maybe that’s what Jesus was talking about that day. When things are really hard or scary, not just small things but even huge things like the pandemic and the honking horns of the demonstration downtown this week – take time to look for things that are still good, like people helping each other and keeping each other safe. I think Jesus was also telling us to remember, that even when things seem really bad, God loves us and is with us to help us through it.

And when things are going great? Should we be scared that someone is going to steal it all away from us? Does it mean that God won’t love us anymore if we have a good life? That doesn’t make sense! Maybe, Jesus is reminding us that sometimes we forget about God when we are comfortable and happy. I think that maybe Jesus’ message here is to not forget that God still loves us and is still with us in good times to guide us in ways to use our blessings to help others.

We know that Jesus’ messages are always about love. So, I think this one is too. If we look at our lives knowing that we are loved, then we will also be able to show love to others. If we remember that we are always walking with the God who loves us, our eyes and hearts will be open to ways we can share that love with others.

Let’s finish with a prayer,

Thank you, God, for always being with us.
Help us remember that when things are tough, you walk with us.
Help us remember that, when life is great, we are still walking with you.
Amen. 

Hymn:  “Christ Has No Body Now But Yours”  -  More Voices #171  George, Lorrie, Keith

Refrain
Christ has no body now but yours
no hands but yours.
Here on this earth, yours is the work,
to serve with the joy of compassion.

1.    No hands but yours to heal the wounded world,
no hands but yours to soothe all its suffering,
no touch but yours to bind the broken hope of the people of God. R

2.    No eyes but yours to see as Christ would see,
to find the lost, to gaze with compassion;
no eyes but yours to glimpse the holy joy of the city of God. R

3.    No feet but yours to journey with the poor,
to walk this world with mercy and justice.
Yours are the steps to build a lasting peace for the children of God. R

4.    Through ev’ry gift, give back to those in need;
as Christ has blessed, so now be his blessing,
with ev’ry gift a benediction, be to the people of God. R

Words St. Teresa of Avila adapt. © 2003 by Stephen C, Warner; Music © 2006 Rick Gunn  
Song # 36222 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved.

Prayer for Illumination        Reader: Neil Lowes

(David Sparks, ACE 2019-2020, Year A. Used with permission.)

This is the time of reflection.
This is the time of inspiration.
This is the time of determination.
This is the time to set out in a new direction.

May God bless our receiving of the Word. Amen.

The Gospel Reading:  Luke 6: 17-26 (NRSV)       The Beatitudes on the Plain

17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
    for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you[a] on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now,
    for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

May the Light of Christ dwell where the Word is spoken. Thanks be to God!

Sermon: “Upside Down!”       Rev. Kim

Prayer: Loving God, may your words be my words and may your truth be our truth, as we reflect on your Word of Life. Amen.

Like many of you, I have been listening to the news about the ongoing Freedom Convoy truckers protest in downtown Ottawa, now on its second week. Initially, the protest was about the vaccine mandates for truckers crossing the Canada-US border, but now it has expanded exponentially to protest all sorts of issues including all kinds of pandemic-related measures and politics. I agree that freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest is very much part of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But I’m just baffled when exercising freedom disturbs peace and does not consider the welfare of others. Imagine living in downtown Ottawa when at night you hear the blaring honking horns from hundreds of trucks causing sleeplessness? Or the unruly behaviour of some of the protesters displaying hate symbols, hate remarks and acts of vandalism? 

What kind of freedom is this I asked myself when it’s not being exercised with due diligence, respect and with love? I understand that many of us are frustrated, tired and upset with the seemingly endless COVID pandemic after almost two years of living through it. The negative impacts of the pandemic especially for the vulnerable sectors of our community are alarming.

Would it really help to stage a loud and unruly protest in order to call the attention of those in power to stop all the pandemic restrictions? Personally, I trust our government, the medical officers and the scientists who are doing their best to have the pandemic situation under control. I support implementing health guidelines such as vaccinations and booster shots for those who are not exempt from taking it, adhering to 2 metre social distancing, the wearing of appropriate mask and hand sanitation. I believe that these measures will help get us through this pandemic, not only to protect ourselves and those we love, but also to help us continue living in a “new normal way”. But having said these, I also cannot ignore or turn a blind eye nor condemn those who would choose to take the other side. I may not agree with their personal decisions and actions but I will not stop treating them as human beings. As the saying goes: “Question the actions but still love the person!”

What would Jesus do in a situation like this? Which side would Jesus take? The protesting truckers? The government in power? Or the people whose lives and livelihood were affected by this protest? Knowing how Jesus had taught us that God’s love is for everyone, whether one is unworthy or righteous, or whether one is for or against the protest, I think Jesus will listen to each group’s response. Jesus will say a joyful “yes” with two thumbs up if the action or choice is life-giving, compassionate, just and loving, but he will also proclaim a resounding “no way!” to any action or decision that may cause havoc or violence or death. 

Our Gospel story in Luke begins with the most powerful words : 17 Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 

Jesus came down with the people and stood on a level place, not on a mountain, but on the ground with people from many different places - from every walk of life. Not only did he stand among them, he spoke to them, touched them and healed them. He acknowledged their intrinsic value and human dignity. Jesus paid attention to them in a personal way. Only after he healed those who needed care, after he showed everyone what it feels like to be on a level place – to be equally loved and valued in God’s kin-dom did Jesus offer his sermon known as the beatitudes on the plain.

The word “beatitude” comes from the Latin beatus, meaning blessed, happy, or fortunate and the Greek word, makarios meaning revered or honoured. The other version of the Beatitudes is found in the Gospel of Matthew. They are codes of behaviour for shaping a community in ways that call conventional wisdom into question, subvert the status quo, and intend eventually to re-shape it. One preacher said that beatitude is supposed to ‘be’ your ‘attitude’ for rightful living.  Luke’s beatitudes identify the present human conditions and divides the community into two categories: the poor and the rich; the haves and the have-nots; the powerful and the powerless. Luke portrays Jesus as a universal teacher and Luke includes Jesus’ concern for the Gentiles, the social outcasts and the economic poor of his world. 

I don’t know about you, but when I read these verses for the first time, they gave me a sense of discomfort. How could someone who is poor, or hungry, or weeping, or those who were put down and hated be blessed? Was Jesus condoning poverty and suffering? Was Jesus pushing people to experience oppression, marginalization and mockery in order to be blessed? I think of war-torn countries or a mother burying her child. I think of those dying and suffering from dreaded illnesses and leaving their families too soon. I think of those who are in abusive relationships or those who are discriminated against because of their gender, race or creed. How could Jesus say that they are blessed?

And what about those who were on the other side of the fence? The affluent and wealthy, those who were filled with food and drink, the powerful and the joyful ones –why were they cursed and woed instead? Were they not supposed to be the lucky ones? Don’t they deserve some sort of congratulations and blesisngs too from Jesus? What an upside-down world Jesus is proclaiming in this passage!

When Jesus preached that day, he was speaking to those similar to the “Occupy Movement” of our time. Jesus saw people in trouble, people who were deeply grieved because of economic poverty. These were the people who were victims of social and economic inequality and empire oppression in general. While Luke was believed to have also preached to wealthy elites in the crowd, the vast majority of the people who came to listen to him that day were literally poor. Majority of the people who listened to Jesus that day were bogged down by an oppressive system of Roman taxation, with little food, no health care and little to no opportunities to get ahead. The poor would also, likely apply to the "disciples" to whom Jesus is also speaking. They had, after all, "left everything" to follow Jesus, thereby becoming poor themselves.

Luke’s Jesus gathers all of these people who are completely bereft and without honour in their culture's world, and he turns their world upside down. He gives them honour and blessings which more than compensate for what they lack in life. And his message to the poor and the downtrodden is a message of hope. As if telling them that they will not be poor forever.

Jesus also preached a punchline to the affluent – a warning or a challenge if you want to call it, because Jesus wants to level or equalize people. He was trying to tell everyone that life is not constant. Life is like a wheel. Some days you’re on top of the world and other days you will be in the bottom. Life will change. Status will change. Human conditions will change. If you’ve ever heard of phrases like “from rags to riches” or “from famous to forgotten”, these are what I think Jesus was trying to impart. Things will change but real transformation for a better world will only happen when people change their ways. The rich must share what they have with the poor. Systems will need to change in order for the community to be a haven of love and life.  I imagine Jesus was saying, “Do not think you deserve this. Do not think this is what God wants for you. You who are blessed and you who are woed, do something about this situation. Act now before it’s too late because one day your fortunes will be reversed.”  

So, what is the good news of Luke’s beatitudes on the plain? Those blessings and woes are words of hope and challenge to the people and to us. It is a message of both encouragement and a word of caution. They are certainly words to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. They are words from Jesus, a master leveler who embraces everyone equally with love.

When I think of a modern beatitudes’ proponent, I think of the late Paul Dewar. His last words in his final letter before his death addressed to Canadians made a strong impact on me. Let me share you some of his words: “In my time on this earth, I was passionate about the power of citizens working together and making a difference. I wanted a Canada where we treat our fellow citizens with the dignity, love and respect that every one of us deserves. I wanted a world where we reduced suffering and increased happiness. A world where we took better care of each other... True change can only come when power is transferred to young people unburdened by cynicism. Let’s make more art. Let’s play more. Let’s embrace each other in these days of cynicism and doubt. Let’s welcome those who need a safe home. Let’s empower those who have been left behind. Let’s nurture and grow with peace, love and unity. Let’s join hands and hearts to see the beauty in ourselves through the soul of our city...May you keep building a more peaceful and better world for all.”

This whole protest movement taught me a lesson. I learned that the freedom of expression can be done in many ways. It could be peaceful or it could be unruly. It could be done with mutual respect and paying careful attention or it could be violent and deadly. Listening to Jesus’ words today made me think that freedom of expression that is rooted in Canadian values, must be done with love - a heartfelt, genuine concern for each other with an intent of building a life-giving relationship. A better world for all – where the poor and the rich, the powerful and the powerless live peacefully on a level place - that is the message of Jesus for us today.

Dear friends, life is not easy. Life is not perfect. But remind yourself that whatever situation you are in, in the midst of poverty or hunger or grief, or even in the midst of joys and celebrations, you are loved by God who was and is and will be. Today, we stand on a level place right here, right now. Jesus calls us to reach out, to heal, to respect, to treat others with love. And that is the true meaning of freedom. That is God’s kin-dom. Amen.

Sources: BCUC Lectionary Group, Alyce Mackenzie – patheos.org; Dewar’s goodbye letter posted in his facebook page Scott Gilmore, MacLean’s magazine, 2019.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer     Rev. Lorrie

Our prayers of the people this morning is based on one of the Dalai Lama’s favourite prayers. The original was written by Shantideva, a Buddhist master from the monastic university of Nalanda, India, and composed in the eighth century of the Christian era. I have changed some of the words to make it fit our context and our faith today.

May all beings everywhere
Plagued by sufferings of body and mind
Obtain an ocean of happiness and joy
By virtue of our actions.  

May no living creature suffer,
Commit evil, or ever fall ill.
May no one be afraid or belittled,
With a mind weighed down by depression.

May the blind see
And the deaf hear,
May those whose bodies are worn with toil
Be restored on finding repose.  

May those who see injustice find peaceful ways to open dialogue,
May those who feel unheard find listening ears and open minds,
May all our words be founded in love and compassion,
And never with the intent to hurt or attack. 

May the naked find clothing,
The hungry find food;
May the thirsty find water
And delicious drinks.  

May the poor find wealth,
Those weak with sorrow find joy;
May the forlorn find hope,
happiness, and prosperity.  

May there be timely rains
And bountiful harvests;
May all medicines be effective
And wholesome prayers bear fruit.  

May all who are sick and ill
Quickly be freed from their suffering.
Whatever diseases there are in the world,
May they never occur again.  

May the frightened cease to be afraid
And those bound be freed;
May the powerless find power,
And may people think of benefiting each other.

For as long as space remains,
For as long as all living things remain,
Until then may the efforts of our lives remain
To help dispel the miseries of the world.  

We bring these prayers to you in the name of Jesus and in the words he taught his followers…

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. Kim

Jesus draws us from the margins to a welcoming love. He draws us out of a crowd, to healing;
from hopelessness to new life. Each day, God finds the way that we need to be loved and challenged, and then calls us be stewards of warm hospitality, healing mercies, and the promise of abundant life. We respond to this call through our offering this day.
I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings.  If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the mailbox by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.

Offertory Prayer

Source of Love and blessings,
for the gifts of time, talents and treasures
delightfully given to us,
we bring you our offering.
May we use them to spread your love and hope for the world. Amen. 

Sending Forth    Rev. Kim

(ministrymatters.com)

Go forth, celebrating faith.
Go forth, celebrating hope.
Go forth, celebrating love.
Go forth to be the transformed people
that God calls you to be.
Go to transform the world.
Go forth with the knowledge
that you are always surrounded and blessed by God,
the Source of Love. Amen.

Hymn:  Blest Are They – Voices United #896     BCUC congregation Jan 2017

1      Blest are they, the poor in spirit,
        theirs is the kingdom of God.
        Blest are they, full of sorrow,
        they shall be consoled.       

Refrain
Rejoice and be glad!
Blessed are you, holy are you!
Rejoice and be glad!
Yours is the kingdom of God.

2      Blest are they, the lowly ones,
they shall inherit the earth.
Blest are they who hunger and thirst,
        they shall have their fill.   R

3         Blest are they who show mercy,
           mercy shall be theirs.     
           Blest are they the pure of heart,
           They shall see God! R 

4        Blest are they who seek peace;
          they are the children of God.
          Blest are they who suffer in faith,
          the glory of God is theirs.  R 

5        Blest are you who suffer hate,
          all because of me.
          Rejoice and be glad
          yours is the kingdom;
          shine for all to see.  R

Words & Music © 1985 David Haas GIA Pub
Song #00022 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
 

Departing Music: The Rose – McBroom         Abe:organ recorded Aboriginal Sunday June 19, 2016

(over announcements)  


Join us for Zoom Fellowship at 11:00 am

Sunday school activities - February 13, 2022

Theme Discussion

In the Bible passage we are reading in church today (Luke 6: 17-26), Jesus is telling the people gathered around him, “Blessed and happy are the poor; Blessed and happy are the hungry”.  Seems a bit odd, doesn’t it?  It must be hard to feel blessed and happy when you are poor and hungry. I think, perhaps, he is giving hope to people who are going through a lot of hardship. He is telling them that God loves them and things will get better.

Jesus goes on to say “Woe or sadness to those who have everything”. This is a strange message too! It sounds at first like Jesus is saying that it’s bad to be successful or to have an easy life – but that doesn’t make sense! The Bible tells us that God loves us and wants us to be healthy and happy. I think that, perhaps, this isn’t a criticism but a challenge to them to share their blessings.

The story of Rainbow Fish written by Marcus Pfister is a good one to show that having lots of possessions is nice but they won’t necessarily make you happy. You can see this story in the video below:

How did the Rainbow Fish feel at the beginning of the story when he had all his beautiful shiny scales? Did he have many friends?

What do you think the others thought of him?

When he gave away his pretty scales, how did things change for the Rainbow Fish?

Sometimes it’s really hard to share the things we have - especially when they are things that no one else has and that we love. In the end we need to decide if it’s better to have lots of things or happy friends to share them with

Think about what Jesus was telling the people in our Bible reading today. He wasn’t telling the rich to give shiny things to the poor, he was asking them to share their blessings with others. Jesus knows that, just like Rainbow Fish was able to create a happy community by sharing his treasures, sharing our blessings helps to create a better community too.

One of the big lessons that Rainbow Fish learned was that when he shared with others, he felt happier too. Have you had that experience?

Sharing our blessings with others is a way to show God’s love. What do you think Jesus would like you to share with others?

Response Activity Ideas

Rainbow Fish Craft

Materials: tissue paper or construction paper squares in various colours, tin foil, fish template

Print out the fish template.  Glue on the various coloured paper squares as scales for your fish.  Include some shiny tinfoil scales, too. As you add those special ones in, think of them as representing a blessing you have that could be shared with others.  To whom (how, when) will you ‘give those scales away’?

fish template

Click to print PDF

Actively Giving Love this Valentine’s Day

Make a set of coupons or card inserts to not only wish someone a Happy Valentines Day, but also to offer an actual gift of your time, skills, and blessings!  Maybe you can offer to read someone a book, or baking a treat, or shovel the driveway… Maybe you could sharpen pencils for the class, or give your sibling an afternoon where they get to choose all the games/activities you do together, or free babysitting…  It could even be as simple as a free hug!

Print out the heart-shape templates, or make your own design.  On each write down a service you could do for another person or a blessing you could share, then cut them out.  Decorate if you wish!  You could attach the hearts together as a coupon book for your parents or teacher, or give them out individually to siblings, neighbours, grandparents, etc.

Celebrate ‘Have a Heart Day’!

Some of your blessings are the opportunity for adequate education and access to healthcare.  This is isn’t so for everyone in the world or even in Canada.  Learn more about the Have a Heart  Day, celebrated on February 14, which draws attention to the inadequate resources available to many Indigenous children in Canada.  Visit https://fncaringsociety.com/have-a-heart to see what you can do! 

heart templates (2 pages)

Click to print PDF

Wordsearch

word search

Click to print PDF