Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
Sunday, November 17, 2024 – 26th after Pentecost
Prelude
Words of welcome, announcements
Lighting the Christ Candle
We light this candle as a sign of God’s Spirit that is still at work in the world. May its light brighten our spirits, and may the light of God shine through us to brighten the world.
Call To worship
When we pass through stormy waters,
God is with us.
When we suffer and feel hopeless,
God is with us.
When we are joyful,
God is with us.
Whether we feel triumphant or defeated,
God is with us.
Come, let us worship together,
For God with us.
Hymn In Christ There is No East or West VU 606
- In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great family of love
throughout the whole wide earth.
- In him shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find;
his service is the golden cord
close binding humankind.
- Join hands, then, people of the faith,
whate’er your race may be;
all children of the living God
are surely kin to me.
- In Christ now meet both east and west,
in him meet south and north;
all Christ-like souls are one in him
throughout the whole wide earth.
Prayer of Approach
God of new possibilities, fill us with your hope so we might face this coming week with confidence. Grant us the grace to be your people and to live your teachings. Speak to our fearful hearts, for all around us are wars and rumours of more trouble to come. You know our anxieties, our worries, our hopes, and our dreams. Breathe in us the spirit of forgiveness, that we may receive your grace. Fill us with your spirit, that we may arise with hope and walk in love. Amen.
Scripture Reader: Chuck Ross
First Reading: Hebrews 10:19-25
Gospel Reading: Mark 13:1-8
Hymn Love Is the Touch MV 89
- Love is the touch of intangible joy;
love is the force that no fear can destroy;
love is the goodness we gladly applaud:
God is where love is, for love is of God.
- Love is the lilt in a lingering voice;
love is the hope that can make us rejoice;
love is the cure for the frightened and flawed:
God is where love is, for love is of God.
- Love is the light in the tunnel of pain;
love is the will to be whole once again;
love is the trust of a friend on the road:
God is where love is, for love is of God.
- Love is the Maker and Spirit and Son;
love is the kingdom their will has begun;
love is the path which the saints all have trod:
God is where love is, for love is of God.
Sermon “Stormy Weather On The Horizon”
Anthem
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. 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 God is So Good
God is so good, God is so good,
God is so good, He’s so good to me
Offering Prayer
God of all hopefulness, strengthen us this day so we might live in a spirit of hope and gratitude. Give us the courage to live as people of generosity. Multiply our gifts, that the hungry might be fed and the poor might find abundance. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Hymn There is a Time MV 165
- There is a time that we must rise.
There is a time that we must stand.
There is a time that we must come together.
Refrain: For blessed are our lives,
blessed our love,
and blessed the promise gathered now.
- There is a time that we must leave,
go from the place where hatreds breed
and, turning, feel the spirit breathe us together, Refrain
- There is a time we know the way,
there is a time we watch and pray,
in living faith we make our way together, Refrain
- Upon the dry a cloud will rise,
and truth will shine among the lies
and wisdom sing as we arise together, Refrain
- There is a bow within the rain
and it will come and bend again
and colours shine where we have been together. Refrain
Pastoral Prayer,
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee VU 560
- O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
teach me thy secret, help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.
- Help me the slow of heart to move
with some clear, winning word of love;
teach me the wayward feet to stay,
and guide them in the homeward way.
- Teach me thy patience; still with thee,
in closer dearer company,
in work that keeps faith sure and strong,
in trust that triumphs over wrong,
- in hope that sends a shining ray
far down the future’s broadening way,
in peace that only thou canst give,
with thee, O Master, let me live.
Benediction
May the God of hope give you courage for the week to come. May the Peace of Christ help you face every difficulty head on. May you be filled with the gentle power of the Holy Spirit so we can lovingly encourage one another to keep the faith. Go now in peace. Amen.
Choral Amen Amen, Amen, Amen VU 967
Postlude
“Stormy Weather On The Horizon” Text: Mark 13:1-8. November 17, 2024
By Rev. James Murray at Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church, Renfrew.
One day when Jesus was walking with his disciples the temple in Jerusalem, one of his disciples asks him what he thinks of the beautiful architecture. The temple in Jerusalem was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Jesus shocks his disciples by saying a day will come when the temple will be destroyed. This certainly puts a damper on their appreciation of the moment. To lose the temple would mean the loss of the very heart of their religion. It was the symbolic centre of their universe. It was where God lived. Without the temple, there would be no way to connect with God. If the temple did fall it would to shake the foundations of their entire religious system. As disturbing as this idea is, Jesus is not afraid of those foundations being shaken in this way. For he has a deeper connection with God that can withstand it all.
It was some thirty years after Jesus offered that apocalyptic warning that Mark finally sits down to write his gospel. Mark writes down the gospel because that terrifying prediction had come true. A massive civil war had raged for six long years. At the end of it all, millions were dead. The temple had been burned to the ground. The city was in ruins. The survivors were all taken as slaves to Rome. The world as Jesus had known it had come to an end.
Such apocalyptic predictions are difficult things for us to listen to. Some people use such dire warnings in the Bible about the end of the world to frighten people. They use the threat of the end times to scare people into believing in God’s almighty power. But the apocalyptic words of Jesus and the other prophets we find in the Bible aren’t there to traumatize people into believing. The words of Jesus and the prophets are given to offer us hope when we are caught up in such difficult moments. Apocalyptic prophecies are given to remind us that another better world is possible, even when the wicked have power and spin their lies. In the face of evil tyrants and corrupt kings, their words assures us that God is still at work in the world. When we feel powerless and hopeless, these fiery words can give us courage for the living of these days.
There was a time when we could listen to these dire predictions without much feeling and without understanding. There were decades and even centuries when we did not take them seriously because we felt they didn’t apply to us. Those days are now gone. Today we must take them seriously. For we are living in apocalyptic times. The words of Jesus describe with great power what the majority of human beings in our time are experiencing. As the prophet Isaiah puts it, “The foundations of the earth do shake, the Earth is broken into pieces.” This is no mere poetic image. It is the religious meaning of the age we are living in. We live in an age where our society has lost touch with its spiritual centre. We live in an age where there are tyrants and charlatans. We live in a time where corruption and lies are more powerful forces than a belief in truth and justice. Where the wealthy are free to seek their own advantage at the expense of the common good. As a result we have lost our sense of order and purpose. We live in an age where the foundations do shake, and we wonder if we have a deep enough connection with God so we might withstand it all.
When Mark sat down to write his gospel, the capital city of Jerusalem was living through a long civil war which resulted in starvation and economic collapse. The war ended when the Roman army destroyed the temple. In doing so, they destroyed the very fabric of the society. Mark was living through the end of the political and religious world as he knew it. In Mark’s gospel, his existential question is “How shall we live according to the ways of God in such difficult times?”
We too know all about difficult times. The world has changed so much economically and socially in the last few decades. No one is happy with the state of the world today, and no political party has the answer on how to fix it. The Christian church is scattered, fractured and demoralized. The issue of global warming is quickly becoming a global crisis that no government can deal with. Like Mark, we also wonder “How shall we live according to the ways of God in such difficult times?”
Perhaps this is why Jesus follows up his apocalyptic prediction by telling us “Watch out for the doomsday deceivers.” Jesus warns us that “Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One.’ They will deceive a lot of people. When you hear of wars and rumoured wars, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history, and no sign of the end. Nation will fight nation and ruler will fight ruler, over and over. Earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. But these things are just the birth pangs. They’re nothing compared to what’s coming.”
So what is coming? Following the election in the United States, we know there is stormy weather on the horizon. Regardless of what political affiliation you have, we know there is going to be more change, more uncertainty and more chaos headed our way. We are being confronted with a world that is in such a state of flux we don’t know what even the next six months are going to bring.
In the face of such uncertainty, there several ways we can respond. The first option is one of Apathy. It is a real temptation to simply wash your hands of the situation and turn off the news. You can say ‘this is not my monkey, not my zoo’. It’s easy to pass the buck and say this is not my problem to solve. Apathetic people often say “I am just one person, I can’t make a difference, so why bother?” The problem with Apathy is that it cuts us off from each other. It means we don’t care about what others are going through. Where there is no connection and no concern for others, the bonds of society quickly become frayed.
A second way we can respond to this uncertainty is to be afraid. Fear is a primal defence mechanism.
It is the emotional equivalent of going into hiding when danger is near. It is a paralyzing force that shuts down rational thinking. Fear is a mind killer. It prevents us from trusting others. Fear drives us to put our own self interests ahead of the common good of the community. Fear prevents us from hearing what is being said. That is why when God’s angels show up, first thing they say is “Fear Not.” Only then can we hear the good news those angels are offering us.
A third way we can respond to these challenging times is with Anger. Anger is an uncomfortable emotional response to a feeling that you’ve been wronged, offended, or denied your due. You don’t have to look very far to see there are a lot of angry people in our world today. Unfortunately, Anger is a negative force that cannot resolve the problem we are reacting to. The Buddha once said that “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal that you want to throw at someone else; but you are the one who gets burned.” Anger cannot solve a problem. Anger cannot right a wrong. It steals our creative energy and prevents us from loving.
Because of his deeper connection with God, when Jesus speaks about the troubles in the world, he is not apathetic. He dares to care about these difficult times. He isn’t fearful either. He isn’t telling us to panic and to build a bomb shelter. Jesus also doesn’t get angry. He doesn’t dump a load of condemnation on the world for letting all these troubles continue to fester. Instead Jesus chooses to speak with a deep sense of peace. He can look beyond the troubles of this moment because he is in harmony with God. He knows that in the midst of these terrible times, God’s Kingdom is still coming, because the Kingdom of God is already present in our hearts.
So this stormy weather we are facing is but the birth pangs of something more. Out of these troubled days Jesus sees something good beginning to grow up. It’s something transcendent. It’s something beautiful.
You see Jesus believes God’s kingdom comes precisely in the middle of our darkest and most apathetic moments. In the places where we care the least, a spirit of compassion will be born. God’s kingdom will come, right in the place where we are the most afraid. In the very situations where we wish to run and hide, God’s gift of salvation gives us the courage to stand up for what is right. God’s kingdom will come, right in the place where we are burning with righteous anger. The things we despise and hate the most in this world are the very place where Christ’s forgiveness is seeking to blossom.
God’s kingdom will come, because Jesus is here building it with us. In the middle of the wars and natural disasters and disappointments of life, he is offering us his salvation. His forgiveness. His grace. His peace.
So no matter what terrible things the world throws at you, know this: God is present.
So don’t stop caring.
Don’t be consumed by fear.
Don’t give in to useless anger.
Dare to love.
Dare to build the kingdom in all you do.
For God’s peace is with you.
