What must we do 1 August 2021 Knox Bayfield Rev Dolson
The Lord be with you … and also with you. Welcome to worship at Knox Presbyterian Bayfield on August 1st.
Announcements
Mission Moment A Gateway for Evangelism
Kensington Presbyterian Church in P.E.I. participated in a denominational renewal program, funded by Presbyterians Sharing, that helped identify new ways of helping others grow in faith. As the pandemic necessitated a move to online ministry, the Session at Kensington PC recognized that certain members of their church family were excluded because they could not access technology or the Internet, so they created a Home Ministry program to focus on the inclusion of everyone who could not join online worship. Tablets containing worship services were dropped off weekly, and frequent pastoral visits, check-in and care were all part of the program. An unforeseen benefit of the program was that a member living in a senior’s residence used the opportunity to share the services with other residents who were not connected to a church. What started as a discipleship program has now grown into a gateway for evangelism.
Do you have an interest in acquiring a basic familiarity with Indigenous/non-Indigenous relationships? Indigenous Canada is a an online course from the University of Alberta. This course explores Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada from an Indigenous perspective. Registration is free.
www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada
We will celebrate the 164th Anniversary for this congregation Sunday August 22nd.
Interesting English: Your fingers have fingertips but your toes don’t have toetips. Yet, you can tiptoe but not tipfinger.
Your contributions to the church and its ongoing work are appreciated. Your regular offerings allow the church to continue its good work. The Knox Session and Finance committee are diligent in their efforts to minimize expenses and meet financial commitments. Our updated financial reports indicate June income $4,837
and expenses $6,005 with a year-to-date deficit of $5,685.
Faith Expressed Through the Arts. Submit your artwork for the 2022 PCC Wall Calendar. Art can nourish our souls and bring us closer to God. Presbyterians are invited to submit high-resolution photos that showcase their creative expression, including (but not limited to): drawings/paintings, sculpture, stained glass, seasonal arts and crafts, Sunday School artwork, quilting/knitting/sewing, culinary/baking, gardening, photography, performance art, poetry, and more.
Deadline August 20, 2021 https://presbyterian.ca/2021/07/05/2022-wall-calendar/
We are thankful to Jean Walker, organist, for her efforts in performing the hymns for the YouTube video.
The people of Knox Bayfield acknowledge that our community worship, live, play, and work on the traditional lands of the Anishinabewaki, Attiwonderonk (Neutral), and Mississauga peoples within Treaty 29, of 1827.
Hymn #730 O for a World
Call to Worship
We do not live by bread alone, but by the Word who became flesh and dwells among us. Christ is the true bread of heaven, the manna of freedom. Come, let us worship and give thanks.
Hymn# 442 Speak Lord in the stillness
Assurance of Pardon
Ephesians 3:16-19; 4:1, 3, 15; John 6:35
God, you have called us to live worthy lives. We confess to you and to each other
that we have not always spoken the truth in love; we have not always made every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Forgive us and, by your grace, help us to grow in the ways of Jesus Christ. Amen
Sisters and brothers, siblings in Christ, the promise of our faith is that those who turn to Jesus Christ will never hunger for forgiveness and that which gives life to the world. This is a promise of joy and of peace.
May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you. And also with you.
Prayer For Illumination
Creator of unity and peace, Spirit of community, bind us together around your Word. Send us out to do your justice, show your mercy, and embody the redeeming love of the Holy Trinity. Amen.
Readings
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; Psalm 51:1-12; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:22-35
May God bless our understanding of this, God’s holy word. The Word of the Lord.
Hymn # 198 I hunger and I thirst
What must we do?
It can be difficult to comprehend information that doesn’t fit with what we expected. In conversation we can ask a question and hear an unexpected response. The unexpected response causes confusion and may even be rejected. It may take time for information to settle. In our readings today David and the crowd following Jesus have similar experiences. They hear information that does not fit.
The prophet Nathan was sent by God to talk with David. It was a formidable task. Imagine Nathan as he faced the difficult dilemma of confronting King David’s abhorrent behaviour. You may recall from last week that David abused his authority and position of power. He summoned the beautiful Bathsheba to be with him. When David was told of her pregnancy he tried and failed to trick her husband Uriah. David’s failed attempts to hide the truth resulted in Uriah’s death.
Nathan cannot allow David’s actions to go unchallenged. Instead of confronting David, which would likely not go well, Nathan used the more subtle strategy of indirect communication. Nathan appealed to the compassionate part of David as he told of a poor man’s lamb. The parallel story that describes an abuse of power touches on David memories as a shepherd and to his poetic imagination. The story is one of injustice where a rich man steals and slaughters a poor man’s only lamb. David is outraged as the story reaches into his heart and triggers his sense of justice. It is in recognizing how harm has been done that David is able to correct his own behaviour and reach out to make right the harm he caused.
David could have become defensive of his actions. Imagine if David’s response had been, Well I didn’t kill anyone’s lamb! This would be a very different story. Rather than being obtuse David recognized himself in the story. Perhaps this helps us to see how the crowd struggled to understand the teachings from Jesus. Several questions are asked of Jesus. In part, the questions illustrate how Jesus, the messiah, did not fulfill the crowd’s anticipated expectations.
The people have continued to follow Jesus across the sea of Galilee to the town of Capernaum. This is the same crowd that was fully fed with basketfuls of leftovers – from a couple of fish and a few loaves-on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. This is the same crowd Jesus withdrew from when he realized that they would try to take him by force to make him king. The disciples and the crowds struggle to understand the teachings that Jesus offers. They struggled and we continue to struggle.
They ask several questions of Jesus that help them to understand. They asked, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” That you believe in him whom he has sent. How do we believe in him? How do we recognize the signs of God and the presence of Christ among us? The gospel stories help us to recognize that even those who believe in Jesus, those whom he calls his friends and travel with him, they struggle to understand him. When the story unfolds many of the disciples will scatter away from him in his darkest hour.
Do we miss the miracles in our lives? Is it possible we see the miracle and that we don’t recognize the signs that point to God? The large crowd had been fed by a divine miracle yet they struggled with the explanation that the miracle was a sign pointing them to faith in the divine, to God and the Son whom God had sent. The crowd struggled with this teaching. Perhaps they, like many through the centuries, saw the miracle as answering a specific need – their physical hunger.
Is this why they ask for another sign. They have participated in a miracle and do not recognize the full implications. The people of the crowd point to the scriptures, they speak of the manna created by Moses. Jesus reminded them that the bread came from heaven. It was God who gave the manna that satisfied their physical hunger each day. The manna pointed to their faith in God. The same God is now giving them bread from heaven that will satisfy forever. Jesus taught that he is the bread of life and able to satisfy hunger and quench thirst forever.
Jesus is the “soul food” which lasts forever. He is the bread of life. This message may be most difficult to comprehend when you have an abundance of material things and seem to lack nothing except when feelings of emptiness, aimlessness, worthlessness arise. When our physical and intellectual needs are cared for there can still be a yearning for deeper meaning in life. Can you imagine a three legged stool where one leg is missing? It is constantly out of balance. It may lean precariously against a wall, yet, it remains unstable. Finding balance within ourselves involves finding balance within our body, mind, and soul. Miracles and signs are symbolic markers pointing toward the divine truth.
Jesus recognized that they followed him because he had filled their stomachs. They failed to recognize that him as the life-giving bread from heaven. They respond, “Sir, give us this bread always” is similar to the Samaritan woman’s response when Jesus offered her the water of eternal life, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
Each of the gospel stories help us to better understand our own faith, the faith of others, and the questions that arise for all of us. It is possible to see our own struggle in their struggles. The story of the lamb reaches into David’s heart and triggers his sense of justice. When we listen to this story of David, Bathsheba, Uriah, and Nathan it is important to hear more than a story of scandal. The story tells of the devastating impact when power is abused. This story helps us to see the importance of speaking out against the abuse of power and the need to take action when we have harmed others, to make amends – to make better that which has been harmed. Each week we experience the miracle of learning from this ancient scripture that speaks through space and time. Praise be to God.
Hymn # 778 Lord you give the great commission
The Offering Of Our Life And Labour To The Lord
Quote: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
Aesop (620–564 BCE), Greek fabulist [what is a fabulist? One who writes fables]
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9: 7-8
Blessing Of Gifts & Prayers Of The People
Join me in prayer:
God of love and liberation, we give thanks for the stories of faith in which you fed Israel in the wilderness and Jesus fed the hungry crowds that followed him.
We forget to be grateful for what we have and complain about what we do not have. Like those in the ancient stories, we sometimes grab more than our daily bread. Help us to take only what we need and leave the rest for those who hunger. Loving God, as you fed your people in the wilderness, use our gifts, time, and talents as the manna to meet the hungers of the world in which we live.
Holy One, we pray for this community, for its families, its individuals, its children.
We pray for the nations of the earth, that the world may know peace.
We pray for those who hunger for bread and for those who hunger for righteousness, that they will be fed what they need.
There are many within our church family in need of your special care at this time. We lift up Sandy and family, Judith, Earl, Nicole, Rudy and Grace, Bonnie, Rob, Courtney and Kyla, David, Sharron and William J Kelly. We lift up all those who prefer to remain un-named as they face immense challenges of health and finances.
O holy One, we desire to hear your voice of love, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and to see you clearly. By your Spirit who breathes within us, strengthen our faith, use our gifts, and work in our lives to bear witness to Christ 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.
Hymn #471 We are one in the Spirit
Benediction
Be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading as you follow in the ways of Christ. Find peace within yourself and make peace with others. May the blessing of God be with you.
May the love of Jesus fill you. May the power of the Holy Spirit sustain you,
now and forevermore.
Postlude #623 Holy, holy, holy
Questions for Reflection
In John 6:26–27, Jesus says that people were looking for him not because they saw signs but because they had eaten their fill of the bread he had multiplied. What do you think he meant? What is “the food that endures for eternal life”?
In what specific situation is God calling you to exercise humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love?
Morning Prayer
Holy One, as I move through this new day, I pray that you will keep me in union
with the faith and knowledge of Jesus. I long to mature into the stature of Christ.
Help me to speak the truth in love today, that I may grow into him, my savior, my teacher, and my friend, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Evening Prayer
Thank you, God, for being my traveling companion today. Instead of counting sheep as I fall asleep tonight, help me to count all the forms that your manna took
as you fed me with the bread of life today. Good night, God. I love you. Amen.
Daily Prayer
Loving Trinity, your justice is the working out of your mercy and peace on earth.
Nourish us with the power of the Son and let us grow into his image and likeness.
Humble us in our self-conceits so that we act not arrogantly but with humility, patience, forbearance, and love. Equip us for ministry on behalf of all
who cry out to you. Help us to live lives worthy of the calling to which you call us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture readings next week
2 Samuel 18; Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35-51
#730 O for a World
O for a world where everyone respects each others ways, where love is lived and all is done with justice and with praise.
O for a world where goods are shared and misery relieved, where truth is spoken, children spared, equality achieved.
We welcome one world family and struggle with each choice that opens us to unity and gives our vision voice.
The poor and rich, the weak are strong, the foolish ones are wise. Tell all who mourn: outcasts belong, who perishes will rise.
O for a world preparing for God’s glorious reign of peace, where time and tears will be no more, and all but love will cease.
623 Holy, holy, holy Words: traditional Music: F Schubert
Refrain: Holy, holy, holy, God almighty Lord!
Holy, holy, holy, everywhere adored!
God without beginning, God eternal One
reigns and rules forever all beneath the sun Refrain
Power and love and wonder circling round God’s throne
Praise our God most holy, Lord of Life alone Refrain
442 Speak Lord in the stillness
Speak, Lord, in the stillness, speak your word to me; hushed my heart to listen
in expectancy.
Speak, O gracious Master, in this quiet hour; let me see your face, Lord, feel your touch of power.
For the words you give me they are life indeed; living bread from heaven, now my spirit feed.
Speak, your servant listens, be not silent, Lord; let me know your presence; let your voice be heard.
Fill me with the knowledge of your glorious will; all your own good pleasure in my life fulfill.
198 I hunger and I thirst
I hunger and I thirst, Jesus manna be: ye living waters, burst out of the rock for me.
Thou bruised and broken bread, my life-long wants supply; as living souls are fed,
oh feed me, or I die.
Thou true life-giving vine, let me thy sweetness prove; renew my life with thine;
refresh my soul with love.
Since first their course began, rough paths my feet have trod. Feed me, thou living bread; help me, thou Son of God.
For still the desert lies my thirsting soul before; O living waters, rise within me evermore.
778 Lord you give the great commission
Lord, you give the great commission: “Heal the sick and preach the word.”
Lest the Church neglect its mission And the Gospel go unheard, Help us witness to your purpose with renewed integrity with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.
Lord, you call us to your service: “In my name baptize and teach.” That the world may trust your promise, life abundant meant for each, give us all new fervour, draw us closer in community; with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.
Lord, you make the common holy: “This my body, this my blood.” Let us all for earth’s true glory, daily lift life heavenward, asking that the world around us share your children’s liberty; with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.
Lord, you show us love’s trues measure; “Father, what they do, forgive.” Yet we hoard as private treasure all that you so freely give. May your care and mercy lead us to a just society; with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.
Lord, you bless with words assuring: “I am with you to the end.” Faith and hope and love restoring, may we serve as you intend, and, amid the cares that claim us, hold in mind eternity; with the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry.
471 We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord, We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord, And we pray that all unity will one day be restored, And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, we will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, and together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side, we will work with each other, we will work side by side, and we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
All praise to the Father, from whom all things come, and all praise to Christ Jesus, who is God’s only Son, and all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one,and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, and they’ll know we are Christians by our love.