Read-along Service for Sunday, November 24, 2024 – Reign of Christ Sunday

Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
Sunday, November 24, 2024 – Reign of Christ

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
Welcome to this house of prayer, where God’s love is shared. Welcome to this gathering, where friends and strangers meet. Welcome to this table, where saints and sinners are fed. Welcome to this time together, where our joys and our sorrows are shared. In this house, we welcome those who have faith and those who are searching. In this house, we welcome all who hunger and thirst for justice and peace. In this house, the love of God, the healing grace of Jesus and the companionship of the Holy Spirit are shared so all might be blessed. Come, let us worship God together.

Hymn Crown Him with Many Crowns VU 211

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne:
hark, how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own!
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless King
through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o’er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save.
His glories now we sing
who died and rose on high,
who died eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of peace,
whose power a sceptre sways
from pole to pole, that wars may cease,
absorbed in prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end;
and round his piercèd feet
fair flowers of Paradise extend
their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
rich wounds yet visible above,
in beauty glorified.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
for thou hast died for me;
thy praise shall never, never fail
throughout eternity.

Prayer of Approach
Loving God, may your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. We know that Jesus promised we would be part of it, but it often feels like it’s a million miles away instead of being part of who we are. Jesus demonstrated its grace and showed its power, but the signs often appear faded or absent in our world. So we need Your Kingdom to come, O God, in all its fullness, in all its glory. This waiting, this “now and not yet” experience of Your reign is hard and frustrating.

And so we pray for Your Kingdom to be revealed in our lives. Help us to turn our sickness and sin, our brokenness and fear into friendship and compassion, wholeness and joy. Help us to turn our division and suspicion, our judgement and our competition into fellowship and care, compassion and service. Help us to turn our war and our disparities, our consumption and our self-interest into peace and collaboration, stewardship and reverence. We know your Kingdom is already here, in each of us and it is coming, O God. Help us to find the courage we need to live as part of your kingdom today. Amen.

Scripture Reader:       Peter Raaphorst
First Reading:             Revelation 21:1-4, 22:1-5
Gospel Reading:        John 18:33-37

Hymn What a Friend we Have in Jesus VU 664

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Christ the Saviour is our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do our friends despise, forsake us?
Are we tempted to despair?
Jesus’ strength will shield our weakness,
and we’ll find new courage there.

Sermon “Thy Kingdom Come”
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
Loving God when we offer our gifts to your purpose, we give you our hearts. We seek to show how central you are to how we live our lives. We give you thanks for all you have given us, and all we able to give. Use these gifts for the work of your church, for the good of your people. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Hymn Shall We Gather at the River VU 710

Shall we gather at the river,
where bright angel feet have trod;
with its crystal tide for ever
flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we’ll gather at the river,
                   the beautiful, the beautiful river;
                   gather with the saints at the river
                   that flows by the throne of God.

Ere we reach the shining river,
lay we every burden down;
grace our spirits will deliver,
and provide a robe and crown. Refrain

Soon we’ll reach the shining river,
soon our pilgrimage with cease,
soon our happy hearts will quiver
with the melody of peace. Refrain

Pastoral Prayer,
The Lord’s Prayer

Hymn I See a New Heaven VU 713

I see a new heaven.
I see a new earth
as the old one will pass away,
where the fountain of life flows
and without price goes
to all the people who abide in the land.

There, there on the banks of a river bright and free,
yielding her fruit, firm in her root,
the Tree of Life will be. Refrain

There, there where death dies and our lives are born again,
body and soul, struggling but whole
like flowers after the rain. Refrain

There, there where the darkness brings visions from above.
There where the night, bearing new light,
reveals the promise of love. Refrain

There, there where we work with the love of healing hands.
Labour we must, true to our trust
to build a promised new land. Refrain

Benediction
It is not enough to acclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord and King with words alone. Our mission in life is to make his kingdom a reality among us. Christ sends us out to bless this world by our words and deeds. We are to follow the way of Jesus, by seeking healing and peace for others. Go now in peace to love and serve the Lord. Amen.

Choral Amen Amen, Amen, Amen VU 967
Postlude

Thy Kingdom Come. John 18:28-38 Revelation 21:1-4, 22:1-5
Reign of Christ Sunday.
By Rev. James Murray at Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church, Renfrew. November 24, 2024.

Many years ago I served a church where the local Member of Parliament was an active member of the congregation. Bob had been born and raised in the congregation, so he was very well known and well loved. When the UCW held their annual fall supper, Bob always volunteered with the other men to wash the dishes. On one occasion, the fall supper fell one week after the federal election where Bob had been re-elected. Coming just a week after the big election campaign, many of us were surprised to see that he was back in his usual place in the kitchen washing the dishes. Over the course of the dinner, a number of people stopped in to the kitchen to congratulate Bob on his victory. If they chatted too long, Bob would hand them a dish towel so they could dry a few pots and pans while they talked. Meanwhile, out in the dining room, a crisis was quickly developing. The town’s mayor had also come to the dinner. The mayor was running for re-election, and was going around to every table glad handing everyone. The crisis was that the mayor was getting in the way of the servers. It all came to a head when the President of the UCW went up to the mayor and told them “Either you put on an apron and help serve or get out of the way!” The mayor quickly left in a huff.

I sometimes wonder if there was ever a time when it was easy being the leader of the people. I even wonder if there ever was a perfect leader that everyone was happy with. Probably not. And so we are left to dream and hope that our leaders will make the right choices and do what is best for the good us all. In the Bible there are many verses that do speak to what a good leader should look like. Some of them even speak of God being like a king. Many of the traditional Jewish prayers say God is king of the universe. Jesus even gets called a king a few times. But during his lifetime, every time someone suggests that Jesus should be crowned as their king, Jesus runs the other way. Jesus is an important figure for us. But he is not what we usually think of when we talk about a king. When we think of kings, we usually picture them wearing a golden crown and sitting on a majestic throne. For Jesus, the symbols of his kingly status speak of a different kind of power. Instead of a royal sceptre, Jesus holds a shepherd’s staff. Instead of a crown of gold, Jesus is usually pictured with a crown of thorns from his crucifixion. Kings like crowns of gold, because the power of gold sways many lives. We live in a world which defines our worth by our power and our gold. Kings rule over others, controlling the fate of their people. By contrast, Jesus says if anyone wants to be like him, we have to be least of all, the servant of all who cares for others. The shepherd’s staff and the crown of thorns shows it is the way of the suffering servant, the compassionate fellow traveller who truly understands, who truly rules in our hearts.

For Jesus, the most unique symbol of his power is a wash basin and a towel. At the last supper, Jesus begins the evening by washing his disciples’ dirty feet. In that society, the low man on the totem pole got the job of washing everyone’s smelly feet when they entered the house. Important people didn’t run around washing other people’s feet. And no one expected the Son of God to be washing anyone’s stinky feet. The main lesson of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet is that of humility. Jesus said that his role is to serve the needs of others, and not for us to be looking up at him. Jesus humbly washed his disciples’ feet to show us how to care for each other.

All through his ministry, Jesus uses common practices like foot washing to really turn the idea of what a leader should be like upside down. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, he is speaking of a very different way of living in the world. By using the term The Kingdom of God, he is making a direct comparison to the Kingdom of Rome, who were a global super power. He is asking what the Roman Empire would be like, if God ran the Empire and not Caesar.

This message challenged and frightened those who were in power. When Jesus faces the Roman governor Pilate, Jesus says the Empire of God is not about raising armies. It is about living out the truth of God. The Empire of Rome worshipped power, and used its armies to sustain its power at all costs. In the quest for power, the truth is often the first thing to be sacrificed. The way Jesus lived his life shows us how the kingdom of God is based on truth and justice for all people.

For all his talk about the Kingdom of God coming here on earth, Jesus never imagined that Christianity would actually be used to take over the world. Jesus’ goal was to show us how to resist the coercive control that governments all have over us. He wants us to care for and support each other, in ways that our economic and political systems never can.

This morning we heard from the Apocalypse of John. It is also known as the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is a guide on how to stay faithful even in difficult times. It is a complex book most of us have not read, many have feared, and few have understood. It warns of the consequences when we fail to live by God’s truths and ignore the Way of Jesus. It teaches us how we can resist the corrosive forces that dehumanize us. It lets us know that even when empires rise and fall, when life gets difficult and messy, God is still working for our salvation. That God is still working to create a world where everyone is fed and cared for. That God is still standing up for what is good and true. That even when our world seems to be headed in the wrong direction, God is still working to create a world where ‘death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more”. God is working with us to build a new heaven and a new earth where everyone gets to experience life in abundance.

And the best part of God’s Kingdom is that we don’t have to wait for this to happen.

We don’t have to wait for a perfect leader who will put things right because Jesus is already showing us how to do the right thing. Simple acts of caring do make a world of difference. We don’t have to wait for God’s kingdom to come for we are already part of Jesus’ beloved community. This is a place where we can be known and loved for who we are. We don’t have to wait for the right time for truth and justice to prevail because that work is happening every time we lend a hand to help others in their time of need. And best of all, we don’t have to wait for the victory of good over evil, because it has already been won through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

So even though the world around us is full of conflict and trouble, a new heaven and a new earth are still possible. For God is inviting us to join with Jesus to make it happen. And how do we make it happen? Sometimes all it takes is a wash basin. Simple acts of caring do make a world of difference. Sometimes all it takes is dish towel. We all have the power to make a difference, as we help the light of God’s love shine for all to see.

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine”

Read-along Service for Sunday, November 24, 2024 – Reign of Christ Sunday

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