Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
Sunday, March 30, 2025 – 4th Sunday in Lent
Prelude
Words of welcome, announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
As we journey towards the darkness of the cross, we light a candle to remind us of the Light that can not be put out. May this light remind us that we are not alone, in all the changing scenes of life. We do not make this journey from death to resurrection alone, for God is with us.
Choral Introit
Call To Worship
The church is a place where all are welcome, for this is where we can turn to when our lives need to be turned around. God has been waiting like a candle in the window that lights the way back home. That light shines as a testimony to the hope that every lost soul will return home. May you find the grace, the forgiveness and the peace you seek here, as you are welcomed home into the arms of God’s eternal love.
Hymn Blessed Assurance VU 337
- Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretastes of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of the spirit, washed in Christ’s blood.
Refrain: 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.
- Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. Refrain
- Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blessed;
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with God’s goodness, lost in Christ’s love. Refrain
Prayer of Approach
Compassionate God this world you have created provides for all our needs. You continue to hold it together, even as we threaten to tear it apart. God you are the source of justice and righteousness, so we look to for the truth we need to live by. You are the ultimate judge. Your wisdom cuts through all of our lies.
God you are full of grace and mercy. The love you have shown us in Jesus is freely given to all who search for you. Your arms are open wide, like a waiting father for his lost children. You are always ready to welcome us and restore us.
We come to you just now seeking your wisdom. Guide us so we might follow your ways. Our world desperately needs your justice and righteousness, your grace and your mercy. Welcome us, forgive us, strengthen us, so we may be renewed for our continuing journey with Jesus.
This we pray in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, Mother of us all. Amen.
Scripture Reader: Joy Curry
First Reading: Joshua 5:9-12
Responsive Psalm Psalm 32, VU 759
Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Hymn Called by Earth and Sky MV 135
Refrain: Called by earth and sky,
promise of hope held high.
This is our sacred living trust,
treasure of life sanctified,
called by earth and sky.
(Last time only)
called by earth and sky, called by earth and sky.
- Precious these waters, endless seas,
deep ocean’s dream,
waters of healing, rivers of rain,
the wash to love again. Refrain
- Precious this gift, the air we breathe;
wind born and free.
Breath of the Spirit, blow through this place,
our gathering and our grace. Refrain
- Precious these mountains, ancient sands;
vast fragile land.
Seeds of our wakening, rooted and strong,
Creation’s faithful song. Refrain
- Precious the fire that lights our way,
bright dawning day.
Fire of passion, sorrows undone,
our faith and justice one. Refrain
Homily “Prodigal Grace”
Special Music
The offering
We give thanks for everyone who continues to support TSA and our many ministries. Your gifts of support and encouragement mean a lot to us. You can get more information about making a donation by contacting the church office or by visiting our website. There are also many opportunities to volunteer in our different ministries. For all the gifts you share, for all the people you bless by your serving and giving as a disciple of Jesus, we give thanks.
Offering Song Know That God is Good MV 104
Know that God is good, (3x)
God is good, God is good.
Offering Prayer
Almighty God, you made us who we are, so we offer all of ourselves to You. Take our talents, our energy and our joy, and use us to share Your love. Also please take our mistakes and our pain, so we might bring Your healing. May the gifts we offer before You today, help to spread Your peace in the world. Amen.
Hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling VU 333
- Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven 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 every trembling heart.
- Come, almighty to deliver;
Let us all thy grace receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy 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.
- 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 heaven we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord’s Prayer VU 910
Hymn It Is Well with My Soul
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
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
Though Satan should buffet, tho’ trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
My sin – oh, the bliss of this glorious tho’t
My sin – not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
And, 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
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul
Benediction
In Spring the winter passes away, and new life begins again. In Christ, you are a new creation. Everything old has passed away, and everything has become new. All of this is a gift of God. So go forward into this new season of rebirth. Be one with God, and one with the world. May the love of God guide you and bless you this day and always. Go now in peace. Amen.
Choral Amen Go Now in Peace VU 964
Go now in peace, go now in peace.
May the love of God surround you everywhere,
everywhere you may go.
Postlude
“Prodigal Grace” Text: Luke 15:11-32 Fourth Sunday of Lent.
Preached by Rev. James Murray at Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church, March 30, 2025.
When I was ordained back in 1989, it was the custom of the United Church to assign you to serve a church. We didn’t really have a say as to where we went. It all depended upon where the need was greatest. In my case, they were very kind to me, as they sent me to serve a congregation in sunny Pasadena. That’s Pasadena, Newfoundland. It was a very strange feeling being an outsider in Newfoundland. They even had a saying to describe people like me. I was called a “Comes from away” or a CFA for short. To Come from Away is not a term of endearment. When one of my parishioners met me for the first time she said “Oh, you don’t belong here, do you?”. And they were right. We didn’t belong there. There was a real divide between native Newfoundlanders and the people from upalong who had come to work in the province.
That sense of not belonging to the community is a very old feeling. It was even a real issue back in Jesus’ time. On one occasion, a group of religious scholars came to hear Jesus speak. They were scandalized to find him eating with a bunch of sinners. Back then being sinner was not just a moral judgement. It was also their way of saying these people were outsiders. The sinners Jesus was hanging out with were social misfits. They were outcasts who didn’t belong to polite society. Jesus was eating with people whose relationships were broken. Their lives had become separated from the community. Some of them had dirty jobs. Some of them were just foreigners who had moved to the area in order to find work. The scholars felt they knew what the right way to live was, and they believed Jesus was doing it wrong.
Jesus responds to their judgmental stares by telling them some stories. He tells them parables about the lost sheep, and the lost coin. In both stories, the hero goes to great lengths to find that which was lost, and rejoices over its safe return. These stories just set them up for the punch line. Jesus then tells them a story about a father and his two lost sons. This is a hard story for them to hear, because in this story about finding the lost sons, everyone is wrong. It’s a story about getting right with God, even when everyone is wrong.
Now the younger son in this story has to take the award for the most ungrateful son in the world. He tells his father “I wish you were dead!” He is treating his father as if he was already dead. He demands that his father give him his inheritance today so he can leave this farm for the bright lights of the big city. No one in a thousand years had ever heard such a disrespectful insult. This brat then abandons his family, his community, his very identity to chase after the good life. Now the word prodigal means extravagant, not lost. He leads a very prodigal extravagant life, which was all about him. He was in complete control of this life of pleasure. He did it all his way. Even when things turn sour, and he has to look for a place to hide, he tries to control the process. He knows exactly what to say, how to beg, in order to get his father to take him back. He wants to be right, to be in control, every step of the way.
The older brother is not much better than his wayward sibling. In the face of such a conflict, it would be the older brother’s job to step in and mediate the conflict. The fact he stands there and does nothing shows he is as disrespectful as his younger brother. Both of these sons are lost. When his father settles the estate, the older brother should have refused to be part of such an improper act. When his little brother comes grovelling home, the older brother refuses to recognize his father’s act of reconciliation. He goes one step further off the rails when he refuses to offer hospitality at the party which would have been a snub of all the guests. He even refuses his father’s assurances of love. He shames his father by publicly asking him “Why did you never throw me a party?”
The older brother has hidden behind this wall of self-righteousness, and just when he is needed to do the right thing, he shows how he has no sense of loyalty to anyone. He wants to be right, standing in judgement over both his brother and his father.
Then there is the father. The poor, sad, deluded, half mad father. His crazy actions disgraces the family name and destroys their good reputation. All the father has ever worked for is now gone. It didn’t have to come to this. There isn’t a court in the land that would have convicted him if had tried to beat some sense into his ungrateful younger son. The courts would not have hesitated to overturn the settling of the estate since it was done under such obvious duress. The fact the farm was sold in a few short days shows what kind of a shady dealing that was going down.
Sadly, there isn’t a court in the land that can undo the damage the father has done to his own reputation by greeting his wayward son the way he did. Now important men know how to act in public. Always be strong. Never let your vulnerable side show. Always look dignified. This man throws it all away. Running down road at his age makes him the laughing stock of the town. Accepting his son before the little runt can even start his well rehearsed grovel makes the father look very weak. Everyone knows that real men don’t cry and kiss other men in public. No one will ever be able to look him straight in the eye ever again. He is as socially lost as his two very dysfunctional sons. This family tragedy is worthy of a soap opera. No one is right in this family.
And yet. And yet the prodigal love of the father, this overdone, unmerited, uncalled for, unjustifiable display of extravagant forgiveness, it is so wrong, it’s right. Nothing else would have worked. The grovelling manipulations of the younger son will never be enough to undo what he has done. The cold judgementalism of the older son will never be enough to repair the tears he has made in this relationship.
Only someone who knows they are part of the problem can become part of the solution. Only someone who knows they are wrong can make things right. For this reason God works through Jesus Christ in order to make things right with us. God will not hold our faults against us or stand in judgement against us. In this way we can become right with God even when we are still imperfect.
The story of the Prodigal Son is a moving example of the transforming power of forgiveness. The father goes far beyond what the culture of the day expected of him. He forgives his lost son. While this upsets the older brother, the Father has compassion for him as well. This father wants to be reconciled with both of his sons, so he can have a healthy relationship with both of them.
The story of the prodigal son shows us how forgiveness is one of the hardest things we ever have to do. Forgiveness is also one of the most necessary things we will ever have to learn how to do. Without forgiveness, family relationships cannot stand. Without forgiveness, a marriage cannot last. Without forgiveness, no human relationship can endure. We all need to learn how to change, so we don’t keep repeating our errors. We all need to be able to reconcile our differences.
In this way, forgiveness is a very spiritual discipline. It is not something you do for power or profit. Forgiveness moves us from thinking just about ME and what I want. We forgive, because this is how healthy life-giving relationships are born. It is the prodigal grace, the extravagant love of God that makes such forgiveness possible. It is the prodigal extravagant salvation we find in Jesus Christ that makes such new life possible. And best of all, God is offering this prodigal, extravagant grace to you, because you do belong. You do belong to God’s family, as imperfect as you are. And God is inviting you to share this prodigal grace with everyone you meet. Amen.
