The Voice Knox Bayfield Rev Dolson Dec 13
Greetings to my church family and friends. May the grace of God be with you.
Announcements
The Session elders of Knox Bayfield and Knox Goderich met in the last week or so. Both decided to continue with cancelled in-person worship services and restricted access to the buildings. If you need to access the church building be sure to follow the pandemic protocols with face masks, hand sanitizer, and be sure to put your name and contact information on the Contact Tracing List.
You may recall the last challenge we were faced involved collecting panties. Did you know we came in second? Did you hear about the newest challenge to help two important Presbyterian organizations? There is a Challenge from St. Giles Presbyterian, St. Catharines to respond to the need at Crieff Hills and Camp Kintail. Both are experiencing financial challenges due to COVID 19. How can you donate?
Camp Kintail donate online: https://campkintail.campbraingiving.com/
Mail donation: Camp Kintail, Box 153, Goderich, ON N7A 3Z2
Call the camp at 519-529-7317 if you have any questions or need assistance.
Crieff Hills Retreat Centre donate online: https://crieffhills.com/support/donate/
Mail donation: Crieff Hills Retreat, 7098 Concession 1, Puslinch, ON N0B 2J0
Call Crieff Hills at 1-800-884-1525 email: accounting@crieffhills.com
We are thankful to Jean Walker, organist, for her efforts in performing the hymns for the YouTube video. Remember to go to the end of the printed material for the lyrics to the hymns. This worship service is on our website https://pccweb.ca/knoxbayfieldpc/ and on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTYgIPqvkMsDNal0b1gCiPg
We welcome Brenda McLean into the worship service. She will lead us in the Call to Worship Advent reading today.
The focus of the Mission Moment … Boosting Bodies and Minds in Haiti
Little Seraphin was light in the arms of her mother when they arrived at Hôpital St. Marc. At only fifteen pounds, the two-year-old was severely underweight and in need of immediate treatment for malnutrition and its many complications. With persistent droughts and a continuously changing climate, many families in Haiti are left without sufficient food for their children and almost half of the population is malnourished.
After her mother brought her to the hospital, Seraphin was enrolled in a program supported by PWS&D and Canadian Foodgrains Bank, providing therapeutic nutrition support to malnourished children.In the program, Seraphin was given milk, food, antibiotics and vitamins to help her regain her strength. Within a few months, Seraphin weight had doubled and she was able to leave the program happy and healthy! This Advent season, help make sure children have access to nutritious food, allowing them to lead healthy lives from childhood to adulthood. Presbyterian World Service & Development PWS&D www.WeRespond.ca
Did you know the Advent book study is well underway? I hope you are able to join in this week. We will explore the third chapter of the book “Light of the World, A beginners guide to Advent”. We will meet at 2 pm Sunday on Zoom. Join in the conversation regardless of whether you’re reading the book. Questions? Contact Rev Lisa (519) 572-8529 [call or text]
Income and Expense Update
Your contributions to the church and its ongoing work are appreciated. Your regular offerings allow the church to continue its good work. The Knox Bayfield Session and Finance committee are diligent in their efforts to minimize expenses and meet financial commitments. Our updated financial reports indicate November income $4,001 and expenses in $4,859 with a year-to-date deficit of $5,840.
The Presbyterian Connection newspaper unites Presbyterians across Canada through stories, reflections, interviews and articles that allow us to share and develop our faith. It is distributed four times per year, free of charge. https://presbyterian.ca/presbyterian-connection/ or contact the National Church Office at 1-800-619-7301 ext. 243 to set up a free paper subscription.
Third Sunday in Advent: JOY
Reader: In this season of Advent, we celebrate God’s joy.
All: Knowing that Christ is coming to bring healing and wholeness to the world is a source of delight!
Reader: When we gather for worship it is a celebration, an opportunity to rejoice in all that God is doing among us and beyond us.
All: We welcome our neighbours and celebrate God’s goodness.
Reader: Even when we face difficulty and trouble, we sing a song of faith, confident that Jesus is able to redeem our suffering world.
All: Together, we are a sign of God’s joy for the world.
The candle of joy is lit.
Unison Prayer: God of transformation, we rejoice that you lift up the lowly and bind up the broken hearted. We marvel at your power to change hearts and lives. Fill us with your Spirit this season so that our voices declare your goodness and our lives proclaim your mercy in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hymn #267 Rejoice the Lord is King
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Holy One, giver of life and light, as your word is read and proclaimed, illumine our hearts and minds, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, our lives may reflect God’s love. Amen
READINGS:
Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24; John 1:6–8, 19–28
Hymn: # 696 In suffering love
In one of his earliest letters, the apostle Paul wrote to the people of the church at Thessalonica. Paul gives thanks that the church has remained faithful despite great adversity and many distractions. He writes to encourage the congregants who have been tempted to fit into their culture with the many gods. Paul urges them to remain faithful to the one true God. It is dangerous for them to do so since their neighbours may persecute those who do not join in the many cultural rituals. Paul encourages them to practice agape, a form of love. There are many forms of love and each is different in nuanced ways. The love of God, love of parents, siblings, children, church, self, and pets. For some, the love of money and material possessions. Paul’s vision of agape … love, recognizes that people are to value themselves and love one another. In other writings, he describes the fruit of the Spirit that allows us to freely love. The Spirit shapes us through these fruits. It is not that we discern what God has done on our behalf and then love our neighbors in response. Rather, discerning what God has done in Christ and what Christ has done … shapes the way we love our neighbors, the way we love God’s creation, and how in our love we are able to see what God has done.
It can be difficult to see the love of God in our lives when our vision is influenced by cultural forces or misinformation. It occurred to me as I studied the passages this week, that we put blinders on in one way or another. In one way, blinders block us from seeing what we need to see … like that blind spot in our vision when we drive. There are the blinders that horses wear, particularly when they must travel on roads with cars and other vehicles. In Waterloo region, particularly in the rural communities such as Elmira and Conestogo, the traditional Mennonite community use horse and buggy to travel. The horses often have blinders on to restrict their vision. This increases their reliance on the person holding the reins. Which leads to the question … who holds the reins on your life? We can choose to follow the cultural norms, which often provide a perspective of consumerism, greed, and mistrust. It can be quite chaotic depending on the advertising trends and the cultural or political shifts. We can choose to follow Christ which provides us with the freedom to see the world through a perspective of love and grace. The Spirit moves us to take action in the world, to embody the ways of the living Christ.
The Spirit moved John, the son of Zechariah. He definitely put blinders on to follow God’s lead. In the gospel reading we hear an account from the disciple John writing about another man who is also named John. This John is called John the Baptist by Matthew. He is John the baptizer in Mark’s gospel, and John the son of Zechariah in Luke’s gospel. Today, in John’s gospel, he is just plain John.
The religious authorities question him, this loud man who tells everyone of the light he saw fall to earth. This John who baptizes people so they can see the same light. The authorities press him to identify himself. At first John will say only who he is not. He states that he is not the Messiah. He is not Elijah. He is not the Prophet. John then used the words of the prophet Isaiah in describing himself, “I am the voice” John testifies to the one who is the light and the Word. John’s purpose is to bear witness to the one who will come.
John speaks in the negative. We must pay attention to what he is saying, to be sure that we hear the ‘not’. There are ten “not’s,” “neithers,” and “no’s.” He rejects the typical ways of describing what is … by refusing to use the common descriptions. John disrupts their way of thinking and being. Barbara Brown Taylor describes it in this way, “It is as if the author has asked his readers to watch while John performs the old trick of yanking the tablecloth off the table that has been set for the Messiah. Everything is in place—the best china, the six-piece silverware settings, the Waterford wine glasses. The whole point of the trick is to yank the cloth so quickly that all these treasures are left trembling where they stand, but that is not how it happens this time. When John yanks the tablecloth, he takes everything with it: not, not, no, neither, not. The expected crash never comes. All the tableware simply vanishes as if it never were. Only then can John, standing all by himself, do what God has sent him to do: testify to the light, and to the light alone.”
John embodies his faith with a radical trust in what God is doing. He stands in the wilderness testifying to the Light. He survives on the barest of necessities doing what God sent him to do. The disciple John wrote, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light” … The light revealed in Jesus is not the sun, moon, or starlight created by God on the fourth day, but the divine light created on day one. The logos, the one by whom “all things were made” Logos, the divine logic that gives order to the universe and provides harmony within God’s creation.
John’s proclamation remind us of our role as witness to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We witness the light of Christ. We proclaim our faith in the wilderness of the 21st century in the midst of a pandemic. A time when many church buildings are closed, yet our faith remains strong. It is during this time that we demonstrate our faith when we reach out to one another, to the stranger, to our neighbours close by and around the world. It is in this time that we reflect upon the Way of Christ as proclaimed by Isaiah so many centuries ago.
I will close with the reading from Isaiah chapter 61…
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for God has clothed me with the garments of salvation, God has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Praise be to God.
# 712 Arise, your light is come
THE OFFERING OF OUR LIFE AND LABOUR TO THE LORD
QUOTE: If you can`t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.
Mother Theresa (1910-1997), nun, missionary
At this time of year, the abundance of some and the needs of so many stand in marked contrast. May the heart of Christ rejoice and the needs of many be answered with your offerings.
BLESSING OF GIFTS & PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Isaiah 61, Ps. 126
Join me in prayer:
O holy God who restores, you have done great things and we rejoice! So often you have filled us with laughter, turning tears of sadness into joy. You send prophets, who point the way to justice and show the way to you. We thank you for sending the good news.
In this season of light, we lift up the many who wait in darkness: people who struggle with systemic poverty and discrimination, those who live in political upheaval and dangerous rulers. Open our eyes and ears that we may work to right what is wrong among us and in us … and restore us to you, to others, to ourselves. May the broken hearted be made whole again. May the grieving find comfort. May our cities and towns find healing. Help us to keep you in sight. Help us to see those in need of healing, the overlooked and underserved, the ones who are lost.
Gracious God, teach us to give thanks in all circumstances, for you are always with us. Thank you for the privilege of sharing what we have with others, of giving ourselves away in love, and of receiving the gifts that others share with us.
Almighty God, you have made us for a holy purpose, to comfort and care for each other. There are many within our church family in need of your special care at this time. We lift up Ron, Sandy and their family as Ron continues to struggle in his healing. We lift up Peggy, Betty Lou, Jane, Bonnie, Jessie, Marlene, Rob, Courtney, and Grace’s daughter Lisa. We lift up all those who prefer to remain un-named as they face immense challenges of health and finances.
We lift up the care-givers and those who receive care during the pandemic. We pray that your Spirit will linger with your people during this challenging time. A time of isolation that has left many feeling fragmented and in despair. May they sense your protective love.
O holy One, we pray for clarity, passion, and true fellowship to awake us to your presence. May your face shine upon the church and all this weary world. We pray
in the name of the One born in a manger, who taught his disciples to pray…
Our Father who art in heaven, hallow’ed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Amen.
# 124 People in darkness
BENEDICTION
1 Thess. 5 John 1:7
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Witness to the light of Christ so that all might believe through him. May the God of peace shape your life; may the light of Christ shine upon you; and the Holy Spirit fill you completely, now and forever. Amen.
Postlude
Let There Be Peace on Earth
Questions for Reflection
How will the readings impact you this week? John 1 reminds us that we are called to testify as witnesses to the light of Jesus Christ. The verb “to bear witness” occurs thirty-three times in the Fourth Gospel! How can you bear witness, in this season of lights, to the true Light who has come into the world?
Morning Prayer Isaiah 61
Light of the world, you greet me this morning with new possibilities. Shine brightly, I pray, until I see into the dark places of this world, and into the dark places of my own life. I want to follow you in paths of justice, speak up with you for liberty, and bend with you toward the broken hearted, even the broken places within myself. I trade in my faint spirit for your mantle of praise—and with my whole being I will rejoice in you. Amen.
Evening Prayer Psalm 126, Isaiah 61, John 14:27, 1 Thess. 5
Restore me, O God, from the rush of the day. Let me dream this night
of all the great things you have done. As the darkness comes and these little lights in my house glow, I give thanks for the greater Light no darkness can overcome.
To anyone who mourns or sits in prison or fears danger this night, bring the peace that only you can give. You are faithful, and I know you will do this. In Christ. Amen.
Daily Prayer John 1:19–21, Isa. 61:1–4
We thank you, O God, for all those in Scripture who point to Christ: for your prophets Elijah and Isaiah, for other prophets, and for John. We thank you, too,
for those in our lives who have pointed us to Christ: pastors and teachers, strangers and friends. Give us eyes to see him today among those who are oppressed, imprisoned, broken hearted, or beaten down, and we will give our testimony, too: how Christ releases and sets free; how he turns ashes into garlands; how he repairs and builds up what was ruined. We, too, will point others to Jesus, the Light of the world. Amen.
Scripture readings next week:
2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16; Psalm 89:1–4, 19–26
Luke 1:46b–55; Romans 16:25–27; Luke 1:26–38
#267
Rejoice, the Lord is King
Rejoice, the Lord is King; your sovereign Lord adore;
Give thanks, O mortals, sing and triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
For Christ the Saviour reigns, the God of truth and love;
When Jesus purged our stains, He took his seat above.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
His reign can never fail; he rules o’er earth and heaven:
The keys of death and hell are to our Saviour given.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
He sits at God’s right hand till all his foes submit
And bow to his command and fall beneath his feet.
Lift up your heart; lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.
Rejoice in glorious hope, for Christ the judge shall come
And take the faithful up to their eternal home.
We soon shall hear the archangel’s voice;
The trump of God shall sound: rejoice.
696
In suffering love
In suffering love the thread of life
Is woven through our care,
For God is with us: not alone
Our pain and toil we bear.
There is a rock, a place secure
Within the storm’s cold blast;
Concealed within the suffering night
God’s covenant stands fast.
In love’s deep womb our fears are held;
There God’s rich tears are sown
And bring to birth, in hope new-born,
The strength to journey on.
Lord, to our hearts your joy commit,
Into our hands your pain,
So send us out to touch the world
With blessings in your name.
In suffering love our God comes now,
Hope’s vision born in gloom;
With tears and laughter shared and blessed
The desert yet will bloom.
712 Arise, your light is come
Arise, your light is come!
The Spirit’s call obey
Show forth the glory of your God which shines on you today.
Arise, your light is come!
Fling wide the prison door
Proclaim the captive’s liberty, good tidings to the poor.
Arise, your light is come!
All you in sorrow born
Bind up the broken-hearted ones and comfort those who mourn.
Arise, your light is come!
The mountains burst in song!
Rise up like eagles on the wing; God’s power will make us strong.
# 124
People in Darkness
People in darkness are looking for light.
Come, come, come, Jesus Christ.
People with blindness are longing for sight.
Come, Lord Jesus Christ.
These days of adventure when all people wait
are days for the advent of love.
People with sickness are praying for health.
Come, come, come, Jesus Christ.
People in poverty want to have wealth.
Come, Lord Jesus Christ.
These days of adventure when all people wait
are days for the advent of hope.
People in trouble would like to be free.
Come, come, come, Jesus Christ.
People with arguments want to agree.
Come, Lord Jesus Christ.
These days of adventure when all people wait
are days for the advent of peace.
People in sadness are trying to sing.
Come, come, come, Jesus Christ.
Bells in the steeple are waiting to ring.
Come, Lord Jesus Christ.
These days of adventure when all people wait
are days for the advent of joy.
Let There Be Peace on Earth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGoEJyV7Snw
Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Chet Akins, Michael McDonald
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me
Let There Be Peace on Earth
The peace that was meant to be
With God as our Father
Brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With ev’ry step I take
Let this be my solemn vow
To take each moment and live
Each moment in peace eternally
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me