Home Church ,25th Sunday after Pentecost, Children’s Sunday, November 14, 2021 Guest Presider: Rev. John Bullas

Home Church, 25th Sunday after Pentecost, Children’s Sunday, November 14, 2021 Guest Presider: Rev. John Bullas

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey,

you are welcome here!

Preparing the Space Around Us 

Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. If you need to go and get something or shift something around you, feel free. 

Preparing the Space within Us

Let us prepare now the space within us for a time of worship. I invite you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Greeting                                             
One:  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, 

          and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All:    And also with you       

Call to Worship         

One:  Come, let us give thanks to God.
All:    We gather together to praise the One who strengthens the weak and hears the prayers of the forgotten.
One:  Come, let us give thanks to the Christ.
All:    We gather together to sing of the One who calls us to serve those who are empty, who hunger, who are imprisoned or lonely.
One:  Come, let us give thanks to the Spirit.
All:    We gather together to exalt the One who prompts us to love,  not only our family and friends, but the stranger and guest among us.

Opening Prayer   - (based on 1 Samuel 2)

One: Oh God, you raise up the poor, to give them the best rooms in your   house; you pull the broken from the dust of the world, lifting them  up and clothing them with joy; you exalt those we have pushed           aside, and invite them say grace at the feast in heaven.
All:    You are our God, and we praise you.  

One:  On this Children’s Sunday, we remember our children and the  children of the world, and the one who put a little child in the  Centre and said: “Of such is the Realm of God.” 

All:    You are our God, and we thank you. 

One:  Open our hearts and our minds to your spirit and to the ways you are moving in our world.     

All:    You are our God and we seek you. Amen.

Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre   - VU #374 

1 Come and find the quiet centre

in the crowded life we lead,

find the room for hope to enter,

find the frame where we are freed:

clear the chaos and the clutter,

clear our eyes, that we can see

all the things that really matter,

be at peace, and simply be.

2 Silence is a friend who claims us,

cools the heat and slows the pace,

God it is who speaks and names us,

knows our being, face to face,

making space within our thinking,

lifting shades to show the sun,

raising courage when we're shrinking,

finding scope for faith begun.

3 In the Spirit let us travel,

open to each other's pain,

let our loves and fears unravel,

celebrate the space we gain:

there's a place for deepest dreaming,

there's a time for heart to care,

in the Spirit's lively scheming

there is always room to spare!

Prayer of Confession  -    (based on 1 Samuel 1)

One:  We are Sorry, O God for not trusting you to walk with us through our darkest times.  Instead, we often want to avoid painful things or try to control things on our own.  When things seem to be collapsing around us,  

All:    Strengthen our faith in you.

One:  Dust us off O God, and renew us in your grace. Strengthen us to embrace the new covenant that is ours through Christ.  Increase our courage to live as people of the promise.  In hope, we make our confession.

All:    Strengthen our faith in you.  Amen.   

Silent Prayer

Assurance of Grace  

One:  When no one else will listen to us, we can pour out our souls to  God. When no one notices us, God sees our misery and fill us with hope. When others forget who we are, God remembers us and calls us by name.
All:    Thanks be to God. Amen.

Peace of Christ 

Please unmute your microphones so we can pass the peace to one another. 

            A-M: The Peace of Christ be with you!

            N-Z: And also with you!

First Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-20 -  Reader: George Westarp

There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year after year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?’

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: ‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.’

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, ‘How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.’ But Hannah answered, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.’ Then Eli answered, ‘Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.’ And she said, ‘Let your servant find favour in your sight.’ Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

They rose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.’

Response

One:  When our deepest longings crash against us like waves

          and threaten to pull us into a sea of hopelessness,

All:    we pour out our souls to you (pause).

One:  When our happiness seems like distant stars –

          unattainable, dim, and clouded from view,

All:    we pour out our souls to you (pause).

One:  When our future is uncertain, like a cloudy night sky,

All:    we pour out our souls to you (pause).

Second Reading : 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (paraphrase)  -  Reader: Angela Nutter

One:  My heart rejoices in you

          and I am strengthened by your presence.

          I laugh at all that stands in my way

          because, in you, I have victory.

All:    Praise the Holy One!

One:  You are the Rock on which justice stands.

          Those who became rich on the backs of others

          now hire themselves out for stale bread,

          but those who struggled to survive

          you have filled with good things.

All:    Praise the Holy One!

One:  You lift up the poor and the needy

          and set them among dignitaries and royalty;

          you give them the seat of honour.

          For the earth belongs to you

          and the world is established in your ways.

All:    Praise the Holy One!

Gospel Reading   -  Reader: Angela Nutter 

One:  God be with you.            

All:    And also with you.

One:  The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Mark;

All:    Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 13:1-8

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’ When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

One: This is the Gospel of Christ; 

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection:    Upside Down            

Silent Reflection

Hymn: Canticle of the Turning   (video used with permission)  MV #120 

1 My soul cries out with a joyful shout

that the God of my heart is great,

And my spirit sings of the wondrous things

that you bring to the one who waits.

You fixed your sight on the servant's plight,

and my weakness you did not spurn,

So from east to west shall my name be blest.

Could the world be about to turn?

[Refrain]

My heart shall sing of the day you bring.

Let the fires of your justice burn.

Wipe away all tears,

For the dawn draws near,

And the world is about to turn.

2 Though I am small, my God, my all,

you work great things in me.

And your mercy will last from the depths of the past

to the end of the age to be.

Your very name puts the proud to shame,

and those who would for you yearn,

You will show your might, put the strong to flight,

for the world is about to turn. [Refrain]

3 From the halls of power to the fortress tower,

not a stone will be left on stone.

Let the king beware for your justice tears

every tyrant from his throne.

The hungry poor shall weep no more,

for the food they can never earn;

These are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed,

for the world is about to turn. [Refrain]

4 Though the nations rage from age to age,

we remember who holds us fast:

God's mercy must deliver us

from the conqueror's crushing grasp.

This saving word that our forbears heard

is the promise that holds us bound,

'Til the spear and rod be crushed by God,

who is turning the world around. [Refrain]

Prayers of the People  -  Paddy Waymark

One: Timeless God,

All:    Hear Our Prayers.

Lord’s Prayer  -    Ecumenical Version

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, 

and the glory are yours

now and for ever. Amen.

Offering Time                                                     

Minute for Mission: No Way to Treat a Child.        

Video (used with permission)

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hymn: May the God of Hope - VU  #424

1 May the God of hope go with us every day,

filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.

May the God of justice speed us on our way,

bringing light and hope to every land and race.

[Refrain]

Praying, let us work for peace;

singing, share our joy with all;

working for a world that’s new,

faithful when we hear Christ’s call.

2 May the God of healing free the earth from fear,

freeing us for peace, both treasured and pursued.

May the God of love keep our commitment clear

to a world restored, to human life renewed. [Refrain]

Blessing                                                                    

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:      The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey,  guiding you, cherishing you.

A-M:      The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories,  feeding you, challenging you.

N-Z:       The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom,           comforting you, disturbing you.

All:        The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living, guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together, a community on a journey sustained in God’s blessing. Amen!

One:      Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:        Thanks be to God! Alleluia!