Home Church 25th Sunday after Pentecost Reign of Christ Sunday, November 22, 2020 Guest Presider: Rev. John Bullas

Home Church 25th Sunday after Pentecost Reign of Christ Sunday, November 22, 2020

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.

Preparing the Space Around Us

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! If you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin, Welcome. 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.

Invitation  (Candle lighting section adapted from “Gathering,” written by Fern Gibbard)

Let us take a few moments to open our hearts and minds as we prepare ourselves to be at one and in communion with the Holy and Sacred. 

We light the Christ candle knowing that Christ’s love shines like a beacon for those of us who are troubled, who are anxious, who are unsure, welcoming us into the presence of our God, our shepherd who loves us into fullness. (We light the Christ candle).

Let us pause and allow the Spirit of God to find its way into this time, space, and the place where we are.  Sit for a moment within your surroundings and allow them to embrace you with intention and peace.  As the flame of our collective faith takes hold, may it proclaim to all the world that justice, peace and harmony is our way.  Let us open ourselves to the One who is with us and within us.  Breathe in the Love that surrounds you.                   

Quiet Meditation

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                                        

One:    Over the past year, we have trodden and kicked up the dust of love's highway,

All:      Waltzed with unknown mysteries through timeless moments with God.

One:    We have met ourselves in the sacred stories of others,

All:      and now the road has circled round to this junction with time:

One:    Paused in the not yet of tomorrow,

All:      Teetering on the brink of a new church year.

One:    It is a holy moment; a sacred space.

All:      Welcome

Gathering/Opening Prayer

One:    Friends, on this Reign of Christ Sunday we gather in the love

            of Christ to be centered and stilled.

All:      We open our hearts to receive anew.

One:    We open our hearts to the mercy of Christ, who is our healing

            and wholeness.

All:      We open our minds to receive anew.

One:    We open our ears to the wisdom of Christ, who is our grounding and inspiration.

All:      We open our lives to receive anew.

One:    Eternal God, your word of grace continues to sustain us, even when we think we have stopped listening. Each day can be a new beginning, each moment a moment of revelation. Today, may we be moved by One who invites us to follow on the paths of love and justice; paths of tender care for earth and all its creatures.

All:      This is our heart’s desire. May this be the Realm of Christ unfolding. Amen.

Hymn: God We Praise You In The Morning   VU #415 

1 God, we praise you for the morning;

hope springs forth with each new day,

new beginning, prayer and promise,

joy in work and in play.

2 God, we praise you for creation,

mountains, seas and prairie land.

Waking souls find joy and healing

in your bountiful hand.

3 God, we praise you for compassion,

all the loving that you show;

human touching, tears and laughter,

help your children to grow.

4 God, we praise you for your Spirit,

Comforter and daily friend;

restless searcher, gentle teacher,

strength and courage you send.

5 God, we praise you for the Saviour,

come that we may know your ways.

In his loving, dying, rising,

Christ is Lord of our days.

6 Hallelujah, hallelujah,

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

Christ is Lord of our days!

Prayer of Confession

Tightly bound within familiar worlds

and too often sealed off from the worlds of others,

we now take our leave for a more fertile place:

We seek an openness of heart.

We seek the pulse of Spirit.

We seek an ability to perceive.

We seek the capacity to feel

and to act with compassion for others.

(pause for silence)

In your forgiveness, O God,

return us to broader perspectives

and a firmer courage to live in the realm of Christ.

We seek an openness of heart.

We seek the pulse of Spirit.

We seek an ability to see.

We seek the capacity to feel

and to act with compassion for others.

(pause for silence)

Amen.

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Grace

Friends, through Jesus Christ, God has reached out to us. Like sheep who were driven from their pasture, God has sought us

and we were found.

And, in turn, the grace and wisdom of God breaks open new

ways of being and doing. It gives rise to more generous and

fresh expressions of humanity. So let us be a compassionate

and healing presence of Christ within the world. Amen.

Peace of Christ

Christ is with us and in the space between us.  Let us share the peace he brings!

One:    The Peace of Christ be with you!

All:      And also with you!

One:    Friends, grace and peace to you from the One who is and who was and who is to come.

All:      And also to you!

One:    In and through the reign of Christ, our brokenness is healed, our fears are dimmed, and our courage re-ignited.

All:      All praise and glory be to God. Amen!

First Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24  Betty Schultze

11For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and

will seek them out. 12As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

 

20Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

Psalm 100: Make a Joyful Noise    VU #820

[Refrain]

Make a joyful noise all the earth!

Worship your God with gladness.

Make a joyful noise all the earth!

Come to this place with a song!

Know that your God has made you.

Know it’s to God we belong.

And come to this place with joyfulness and praise.

Worship your God with a song! [Refrain]

Enter these gates, thanksgiving.

Enter these courts with praise.

Sing thanks to your God and bless the holy Name.

Worship your God with a song! [Refrain]

Ages through endless ages,

Seasons of endless years,

The love of our Maker ever shall endure.

Worship your God with a song! [Refrain]

Gospel Reading:

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Matthew

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25:31-46   Don Butt

31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” 37Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” 40And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,* you did it to me.” 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” 44Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” 45Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection                           

Silent Reflection

Hymn: To Show by Touch and Word  VU #427

1 To show by touch and word devotion to the earth,

to hold in high regard all life that comes to birth,

we need, O God, the will to find

the good you had of old in mind.

2 Renew our minds to choose the things that matter most,

our hearts to long for truth till pride of self is lost.

For every challenge that we face

we need your guidance and your grace.

3 Let love from day to day be yardstick, rule, and norm,

and let our lives portray your word in human form.

Now come with us that we may have

your wits about us where we live.

A New Creed: Let us affirm our faith . . . 

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God. 

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.

 

Prayers of the People    Paddy Waymark                                                                                  

One:    God of Love,                                                               

All:      Hear our Prayers

Lord’s Prayer  New Zealand Prayer Book – Jim Cotter

Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come one earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and for ever. Amen

Offering Prayer

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]

Poem for the Changing Year

One:      The year is slipping between its past and its future,

              resting on the cusp of transition;

              time is caught between old age and new birth,

              of well-rehearsed memories and brand new hopes.

All:        Today we make sacred its journey.

One:      We watch, in our footsteps, the shape of the dances we

              danced along the pathways that stretch from the old year,

              through this moment,

              into the mystery we call "not yet."

All:        Today we make sacred the journey.

One:      As we bundle together our hopes,

              preparing for closure

              we can already hear new rumours beginning:

              distant mutterings of angels

              rehearsing our names,

              whispering their meaning from the other side of this moment,

              beckoning us toward the promise.

All:        Today we make sacred the journey.

One:      And in this clearing,

              overflowing with time,

              can you hear it:

              a dull thud,

              a distant echo,

              a soft rumble,

              like a baby kick,

              in a mother's womb?

All:        The sacred journey: and it is beginning again.

 

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.

First Name A-M:

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

First Name 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!