Read-along Service for Sunday, October 20, 2024

Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church
Order of Worship
October 20, 2024 – 22^nd 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
Welcome to this time of prayer and praise. We open our hearts as we come into God’s presence. We join the song of praise sung through out the heavens, for our God is very great! God shares the gift of life with us. God serves the world tirelessly for our God is very great! God’s son Jesus calls us to humility and compassion, as we share God’s Spirit in this place. So welcome all who have faith and all who are seeking something to believe in. Welcome to this time focused on God’s eternal presence. We gather our hearts and our voices in prayer and praise, and open ourselves to God’s life giving voice.

Hymn Sing Your Praise to God Eternal VU 244

Sing your praise to God eternal,
sing your praise to God the Son,
sing your praise to God the Spirit,
living and forever One.
God has made us, God has blessed us,
God has called us to be true.
God rules over all creation,
daily making all things new.

Join the praise of every creature,
sing with singing birds at dawn,
when the stars shine forth at nightfall,
hear their heavenly antiphon.
Praise God for the light of summer,
autumn glories, winter snows,
for the coming of the springtime
and the life of all that grows.

Praise God on our days of gladness
for the summons to rejoice;
praise God in our times of sadness
for the calm, consoling voice,
God our Maker, strong and loving,
Christ our Saviour, Leader, Lord,
living God, Creator Spirit,
be your holy name adored!

Prayer of Approach
Loving God, everywhere we look we see the imprint of your creative love. The wondrous works of nature show your majesty. As we gather today to celebrate your love and the goodness of your creation, keep us mindful that we are part of that created order, meant to be stewards and not destroyers. We confess that we are easily distracted by selfish pursuits and we often completely over look the wonders of your creation. You have not given this world to us that we should destroy it, but rather that we should cherish it and make sure that all receive from its bounty. Forgive our overwhelming greed and selfishness. Help us to let go of the petty desires for wealth, position, and power, and bring us into a ministry which proclaims your love and justice for all your people. These things we pray in the name of your humble servant, who is our brother, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Scripture Reader: John Wilson
Gospel Reading: Mark 10:35-45

Hymn Open My Eyes, That I may See VU 371

Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou has for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, they will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear
voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear,
everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear
gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Sermon “The Drum Major Instinct”
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 grace and God of glory, we thank you for this season of abundance. We praise you for the gifts of this earth and of our lives. As we return a portion of these gifts, we also dedicate our lives to your service. Bless our gifts and our service, that we may glorify you and reflect your love in all that we say and in all that we do. Amen.

Hymn God of Still Waiting MV 20

God of still waiting, God of deep longing,
God of the heart’s true rest:
hold us in fathomless peace,
guard us with unwaning love.

Spirit of promise, Spirit of purpose,
Spirit of ceaseless prayer:
bathe us in life full and free,
kindle our wonder and hope.

Word who comes to us, Word who lives with us,
Word who disturbs and heals:
silence our chattering fears,
waken our unconscious faith.

Word true and faithful, hope-bringing Spirit,
God of enfolding love:
come in your fullness and grace:
work through our lives for your praise.

Pastoral Prayer,
The Lord’s Prayer

Hymn We Are Pilgrims (The Servant Song) VU 595

We are pilgrims on a journey,
fellow travellers on the road;
we are here to help each other
walk the mile and bear the load.

Sister, let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
in the night-time of your fear;
I will hold my hand out to you,
speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping,
when you laugh I’ll laugh with you;
I will share your joy and sorrow,
till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,
born of all we’ve known together
of Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, let me be your servant,
let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to
let you be my servant too.

Benediction
As disciples of Jesus, you are invited to serve God with gladness. We go from this place knowing that God’s blessings have been poured on you so that you may be a blessing to others. Be filled with the peace of Christ and the grace of the Holy Spirit as you bring the good news of God’s love and peace to everyone you meet. AMEN.

Choral Amen Amen, Amen, Amen VU 967
Postlude

“The drum major instinct” October 20, 2024 Text: Mark 10:35-45
Preached by Rev. James Murray at Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church.

I believe most of us think it is normal for a person to want to succeed. We all want our children to do well. That is why we encourage them to accomplish their goals. And we know that it can be encouraging along the way to be recognized for your accomplishments.

So if it is natural to want to succeed, it can be confusing as to why is Jesus so hard on James and John for asking to be his number one team. At first glance it seems that Jesus is denying our human nature when tells them not to seek greatness. As we look deeper at what is happening here, we can soon realize how Jesus is inviting them to consider something more important than success.

When Jesus hears their request, he actually thinks it is a worthwhile idea for them to seek greatness. He encourages them to pursue it. He does, however, challenge what they assume greatness means. He wants to make sure they know exactly what it is they are seeking. For the kind of greatness Jesus is encouraging them to achieve requires a bold sense of humility. His kind of greatness requires a different way of being in the world. His way involves being servant of all. Of giving your life for the sake of others.

This definition of greatness is not what most of us are dreaming of when we dream of being a success. Alfred Adler was one of the fathers of modern psychiatry. Adler believed the desire for recognition, the wish to be significant, is actually stronger than the desire for sexual fulfillment. Adler believed the desire to achieve status is the dominant impulse in human nature. The truth is we all want to do something great, and we want to be recognized for it.

I have often struggled with these conflicting understandings of what the Gospel considers greatness. It was my great uncle Wallace Hamilton who helped me to understand what Jesus was wanting us to achieve. My great uncle Wally was born in Pembroke, and ended up having a long career as a Methodist preacher in Florida. In one of his best known sermons, Hamilton describes this desire to be recognized for what we do as being ‘the drum-major instinct’. We want to be the drum-major who leads the parade. Hamilton said it would be a mistake to try and drum that instinct out of us. He said the Gospel shows us how we can learn to ride the wild horses of our untamed instincts.

So when Jesus hears James and John’s request, he doesn’t respond with another chorus of ‘Get thee behind me Satan!” Instead, Jesus says to the sons of Zebedee, “You want to be important. You want to surpass others, and be great among men. All right. You should! To be my disciples you must! But be sure it is a greatness worthy of God. If you would excel, excel in goodness. If you want to be first, be first in moral excellence. Make the strong force of your ambition the servant of God’s high spiritual enterprise.”

In order to have that kind of ambition, we must be boldly humble. To be humble is to be open to God. It is to be rooted in your trust of the Holy Spirit to provide. It is to know that we are not all powerful. We are not in control of everything which happens. We don’t have to have all the answers. As the British playwright George Bernard Shaw put it, “Churches need to practice humility, as well as teach it.” Humility reminds us that we are not called to be God. We are called to humbly follow Christ. We are to boldly go forward, seeking the greatness of spirit, the lofty goals of compassion, and successfully share the gifts we have been blessed with.

To be humble, requires that we have a big heart. We are to be magnanimous. We usually say someone has a big heart when they are a generous giver. To be a generous giver is merely the visible consequence of being magnanimous. To be magnanimous, to have a big heart, is necessary if we are to first be open to God’s gift of love for us. If we are cold-hearted, if we are closed off, we cannot receive God’s gracious gift of redeeming love which is offered to us in every moment of every day. When we have a big heart, we are able to accept this love, which then in turn creates a space in our hearts to be able to love others in the same way God has loved us.

Our hearts learn to grow bigger when we are able to recognize the gifts God has already given u. This sense of gratitude opens us up to new opportunities to share these gifts with others. And there is lots to be grateful for. For you have been given the gift of God’s grace. You have been given the forgiveness of sins. You have also been given the ability to bless, heal and forgive others. You are the steward of these gifts. Financial donations are just a visible example of the many ways you are the steward of God’s redeeming love. All of the gifts you share are important. The gifts of your time, your talents and your tithes make a world of difference in this community of faith we call Trinity-St. Andrew’s United Church. They make a world of difference in this community we call Renfrew, and they make a world of difference for this planet.

Because of the positive impact these gifts can make we need to learn how to be intentional and disciplined in our stewardship. We need to be magnanimous, because when you give much, you receive even more in return. A generous person is able to receive back all of these gifts, without them going to their head. When someone says ‘thank you’ for the kindness you have done them, we are not to take this as a sign of our own greatness. Rather it is a sign of how the love of God has blessed both you and the person you have shared that gift with. When we receive thanks for the gifts we give, we need to humbly acknowledge that the glory belongs to God and not to us. A person with a big heart is capable of returning the thanks to God. A humble person knows we are not diminished by sharing the gift of thanks with God and with others. For it is God who has given us these gifts in the first place. As the scriptures tell us, “All is to be done for the Glory of God”.

Now about fifteen years after Wallace Hamilton first preached his “Drum-Major Instinct” sermon, another well known preacher took that sermon and made it his own. About a month before he died, Martin Luther King delivered his take on the ‘drum-major instinct’.

King’s version of that sermon made such an impact on his Ebenezer Baptist congregation, that when they conducted King’s funeral, they played the tape of that sermon.

So I’d like to share with you Martin Luther King’s words on how we can be stewards of God’s good gifts, and how we can use our drum-major instincts to God’s greater glory.

“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.

I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say on that day that I tried to be right on the war question.

I want you to be able to say on that day that I did try to feed the hungry.

And I want you to be able to say on that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.”

Amen.

Sources:

Wallace Hamilton “Ride the Wild Horses” Fleming Revell, 1952

Martin Luther King sermon delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, 4 Feb 1968.

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