Sunday, November 15, 2020 - 24th Sunday After Pentecost

November 14, 2020 Brian Stevens - Hope United Church

HopeUnited.ca

The Congregation of Hope United Church
2550 Danforth Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

November 15, 2020 – 11:00am
24th Sunday After Pentecost
Children’s Sunday
Rev. Brian Stevens MDiv

WELCOME
Welcome everyone to our Sunday on-line Service of Worship. My name is Brian Stevens, I am the Minister here at Hope United in Toronto, Canada. We are very pleased to have you with us today. Our musician today is Sandy. You can type greetings and comments at any time in the chat. The order of service will appear on your screen and is also available on our Facebook page and at HopeUnited.ca.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LAND
With respect, we acknowledge the world views, spirituality, history and stewardship of the Mississauga of Scugog, the Hiawatha and the Alderville First Nations, on whose traditional lands our church resides.
We thank and honour the other indigenous peoples who share this land. As followers of the Jesus Way, we affirm our commitment as a people empowered to work in restoring broken relationships.

GREETING
I greet you in the name of our risen Lord . We begin our celebration with the singing of “Here I Am Lord”. It is found in Voices United # 509.

I, the Lord of sea and sky
I have heard my people cry
All who dwell in dark and sin
My hand will save
I who made the stars of night
I will make their darkness bright
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord…Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night…
I will go, Lord…If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my peoples’ pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away…

I will break their hearts of stone.
Give them hearts for love alone…
I will speak my word to them…
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord…Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night…
I will go, Lord…If You lead me…
I will hold Your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame.
I will tend the poor and lame
I will set a feast for them
My hand will save..

Finest bread I will provide.
'Til their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them…
Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord…Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord…If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart.

CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We are blessed with voice
All:    May we use it faithfully!
One: We are blessed with a complex mind…
All:    May we use it with faith and wisdom.
One: We are blessed with loving hearts…
All:    May all know us for our faithful, loving hearts. Amen.

OPENING PRAYER
God blesses us with talents for us to share in this world. May we learn to be generous with our time, talents and gifts; the most precious of these being love. We cannot squeeze it tight and hold it only unto ourselves…it is to be shared through kindness and care…through thoughtfulness and prayer… through all of our actions, words and deeds. Call us to be courageous with our love…to be courageous with the care that we offer to others. Amen.

LIGHTING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE
We light this candle as a symbol of love and light…
Christ’s light in the world.
May it burn brightly within us all. Amen.

Let us join our voices in the singing of “Touch us with Your Light”.

Light from this candle burning bright
Light our way through dark of night.
Help us find our way to you
Guide us, touch us with your Light, O Lord.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
(First Presbyterian Church of New York)
Gracious God, you call us as your own children and cover us with your love. We would seek to be merciful as you are, and to show compassion as you do; but we fail to live the life to which we have been called. Where we ought to forgive, we condemn; the evil we should shun, we embrace. Forgive our sinful ways and make us more like Christ, until we are raised in perfection on the last day.

ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah, “Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when...I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people...for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Friends, believe the good news of the Gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.

In response, we sing the Gloria.
It is found in Voices United # 37.

“Gloria”
Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis deo
Gloria, Gloria, alleluia, alleluia!

Gloria, Gloria, in excelsis deo
Gloria, Gloria, alleluia, alleluia!

THE PEACE OF CHRIST

May the Peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.

(Unmute and greet one another!)

FIRST READING Judges 4 3: 1-7

Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, now that Ehud was dead. So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commander of his army, was based in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred chariots fitted with iron and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the LORD for help.

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”

This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

PSALM 123 Voices United # 847

Refrain: To You O God our eyes we raise,
Until your mercy we may praise.

To you I Lift up my eyes,
To you who are enthroned in the heavens.
As the eyes of servants look to their master’s hands,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress
So our eyes look to you, O God.
As we wait till you show us your favour

Refrain: To You O God our eyes we raise,
Until your mercy we may praise.

We have had more than enough of contempt.
Too long we have suffered the scorn of the wealthy,
And the contempt of the arrogant.

Refrain: To You O God our eyes we raise,
Until your mercy we may praise.

GOSPEL READING Matthew 25:14-30
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Hear the Good News of Christ!
Praise to you, O Christ.

Please join in the singing of “Jesus, Friend of Little Children” Voices United # 340.

Jesus, friend of little children, let me be one too…
Take my hand and ever keep me close to you!

Teach me how to grow in goodness, daily as I grow…
You have been a child and surely you must know.

Never leave me, nor forsake me, ever be my friend…
For I need you, from life’s dawning to its end.

REFLECTION: You! Make a difference… Rev. Brian Stevens BA MDiv

This phrase may be read and understood in different ways, simply by changing the inflection.

I suggest that it is important for us to live into both understandings of this short four word phrase.

It can be an affirming statement, You make a difference. Such an approach typically leaves us feeling a little warm and fuzzy inside. As we worked in the preparing for our take-a-way lasagna supper, frankly it felt good. As people picked them up, they were appreciative… we had a sense… a feeling that our actions and efforts for the previous few days had culminated in making a difference in the lives of people in our community.

You! Make a difference…When we use a sterner tone and add some space around the exclamation point, it shifts…we are being directed or directing others to get out there and do something that makes a difference. I suggest to you that Jesus takes the second position. He sets an expectation, then offers up examples of what to do and what not to do. Christ expects us to make a difference in the world. To use our talents, not only for benefit of self…to use our talents to explore and develop our “ whole self” using every gram of the talents with which we have been blessed.

Not always an easy task, especially when the work keeps layering on challenges that stretch us to our breaking point.

In our Gospel from Matthew today we are given direction…we are given marching orders…use our talents courageously. Learn, try, explore, perhaps fail…then dust yourself off and try again…do not live in fear of what might be, and in that do nothing for fear of not succeeding. Not trying, is not succeeding.

When I graduated from St. Francis Xavier University…I headed off to PEI for the summer to play piano for a dinner theatre show. It was not what I had trained for…I was a classical musician! Yet I was so blessed because it was a small music department, I got to try lot’s of things…I was nudged, pushed, cajoled to try lots of things…My second year I played piano in the Big band…I had never really read chord charts or lead sheets…Put notes in front of me, and I could play them… but improvise?

Looking back, I was probably pretty stiff and unmusical…in fact half the time I did not know what bar of music we were in… but my ear improved…and by the end of the that’s school year, we actually sounded ok and came second in the Atlantic Stage Band Festival…. I was also surrounded by lots of students from Cape Breton and Newfoundland…all of whom played by ear…at house parties I eventually learned to trust my ear… to trust my particular talent…while I had gone to university to : learn classical piano…one of the most valuable lessons, as a musician, was learning to play by ear. My first year of teaching, so as to keep my playing up, I decided to do my grade ten piano exam…Grade 8 was the minimum required for entrance in to first year university, so had done that…

As part of the exam there were some ear test…naming intervals, rhythmic patterns, but you also had to play back a two part passage contrapuntal passage…fairly difficult…but I had worked at it. I knew I had it when the examiner smirked and eye brows went up. I actually got 100% on the ear training section. I share this not to rave about my musical ears…I share this as my lived example of where exploring talents can take you… it can take you to places that you did not believe you would or could go. Many years later, while I was in graduate school I played with the Nova Gospel Ensemble.

There was no music, no charts, no paper…except for a list of songs. The lead singer had everything memorized. They gave me a CD with tunes on it…everything was by ear and by feel. Christmas eve of 2005 we did a live to air broadcast from the Old North street church in Halifax. I actually got to sing and play one of my original Christmas songs, Candles In The Window, live on National Radio. It was not something I ever imagined I would do…It was not something I imagined I would do with this particular group… yet it happened and it was fun and joyful and life giving.

It never would have happened if I had not been open to exploring. To play in a group, without charts, way out of my comfort zone… but that is where Christ wants us to go… that is where he calls us… that is where he leads us…to dig deep… to muster our courage and go to new places and ways of being in the world that may be full of fright and peril as they are unknown to us.

Jesus did not sit on a rock by the river Jordan and have his disciples arrive at his side, teach a few lessons and done for the day. He walked… he taught… he explored… he learned… he gathered his disciples…and set about his path with intention.

As we age and journey through our lives we must remember that we were all children of promise…children with a world set in front of us , not knowing where the roads would lead us…children with eyes open, curious, excited about all the new things that would appear in days, month and years ahead. The years can tarnish and tire the way we see the world…the years can slow us down…yet our talents remain… our physical abilities to do things may shift… I have to watch my back…be careful not to twist my knee or it’s back to the crutches…some things I yearn to be able to do, but the body just can’t manage it anymore… so I seek out different ways or new ideas about what may be next….

Covid 19 has meant we had to change the way we gather to worship. I had no idea how to figure this out…yet we did it together and will continue to do so…for that is our call…to support and care for each other…to be ready to try and then try again. For those who were with us for our on line October Messy Church…it was just a technical disaster…I had worked really hard…and it just did not work the way I had imagined it would…we rallied and tried again this week…people shared stories, the radios show played pretty well, except when PowerPoint locked up and froze, but we dusted off and started again.

As I was reading about tour gospel passage this week one great image was offered up. Imagine up a wooden boat. A wooden boat needs water… it needs to float… it needs to move and do its work… carry people, carry goods, go fishing…so many things that a wooden boat can help with… yet left on the shore, unused, untended to…it simply rots until it is no longer seaworthy, and falls apart.

So too with our talents… and this is the point that Matthew makes….Christ calls us from our overstuffed chair…from the phone…from the 52 inch television screen to use our talents…or they will disappear as if they never were… having made no difference in our life or the lives so others… so go make a difference… You! Make a difference… because you make a difference when you embrace your talents and share them with the world. Amen.

MUSIC MINISTRY – “We Are The Children of Promise” – Sung by Sandy
(https://youtu.be/QBAfyHeOBxs)
by Joel Raney

Lord, when we think about your vast creation
When we gaze up into a starry sky
Every person, every generation seeks an answer,
Wonders why.
We lift our hearts to you, forever grateful
For all we are, for what we see,
We raise our voices in celebration
Of what has been, of what will be.

Who are we?
We are the children of promise.
Who are we?
We are the keepers of the flame.
Who are we?
We are heaven’s greatest treasure,
We all are one, we’re all the same.
Who are we?
We are the children of hope,
Who are we?
A special gift from god above.
O,
We are the joy of God’s creation
We are a gift of love.

Help us remember how to love each other,
Help us to see the world with childlike eyes.
Every sunset, every happy morning,
Every blessing God supplies.
We lift our hearts to you, forever grateful
For all we are, for all we see,
We raise our voices in celebration
Of what has been, of what will be.

MORNING OFFERING
Let us offer thanks for the many blessings and gifts of creation as we present our morning offering…

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
(David S. Bell.-United- Methodist Foundation)

Beloved Lord, you offer us a precious gift. Your invitation to salvation through Jesus Christ frees us from so many unnecessary fears. As children of your light, we present these gifts so that others may share in the timeless message of your love. Encourage us to reflect your love to others, today and always. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Let us join our voices in song…Our doxology is “Your Work O God Needs Many Hands” and is found in Voices United # 537 and words will also appear on your screen.

“Your Work O God Needs Many Hands”

Your work, o God needs many hands
to help you everywhere,
And some there are who cannot serve
unless our gifts we share

Because we love you and your work,
our offering now we make
Be pleased to use it as your own,
we ask for Jesus’ sake.

PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD
( Presbyterian Church of Canada)

We thank you, God of all life and each life,
that you are with us every day, in each challenge and opportunity.
In our weakness, you are strength.
In our darkness, you are light on the journey.
In our questions, you are wisdom for our choices.
Stay with us in these days when so much seems uncertain,
and help us to serve you faithfully, when and as we are able.