Home Church Season of Creation October 10, 2021 Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church Season of Creation October 10, 2021 Rev. Karen Hollis

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. This Sunday we are beginning the Season of Creation and will continue for a total of 4 weeks. This year we will be exploring the book of Job and listening for its wisdom on creation. We will journey with Job as he expands his awareness of his identity as a part of God’s creation.

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 -  The Pattern of Our Days

One:  God, your constant love reaches the heavens; 

          Your faithfulness extends to the skies.

All:    Your righteousness is towering like the mountains; 

          Your justice is like the depths of the sea.

One:  We find protection under the shadow of your wings; 

          we feast on the abundant food you provide.

All:    You are the source of all life and because of your light, 

          we see the light.

Opening Prayer   - Ray Simpson, Earth Gospel, edited

Into Your arms, Loving God, let us fall, upheld by your goodness and mercy. We come to you this morning a grateful people, for earth’s life and fruitfulness flow from you and all times and seasons reflect Your wisdom. We give You thanks, for you created the world in love, You redeemed the world through love and you maintain the world by your love. May we show your love wherever we go. Through Christ Jesus we pray, Amen. 

Hymn: As the Deer -  MV #766

1 As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you, 

you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you

REFRAIN

You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield; you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!

2 I want you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy, 

you alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye. REFRAIN

3 You’re my friend and you are my brother, even through you are a king, I love you more than any other, so much more than anything! REFRAIN

Prayer of Confession and Assurance

Video: Earth as the Original Icon   - The Work of the People

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Grace                                      

Thanks be to God for the wholeness God offers to all of creation!

Peace of Christ 

Please unmute your microphones so we can pass the peace to one another. Seeing as how we are reconciled with God, let us also be reconciled with one another by passing the peace that surpasses all understanding. 

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

            N-Z: And also with you!

First Reading: Job 2:11-13 (Transl. Robert Alter) -  Paddy Waymark

And Job’s three companions heard of all this harm that had come upon him, and they came, each from his place – Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, and they agreed to meet to grieve with him and to comfort him. And they lifted up their eyes from afar and did not recognize him, and they lifted up their voices and wept, and each tore his garment, and they tossed dust on their heads toward the heavens. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that the pain was very great.

Second Reading: Job 3:1-10; 4:1-6 (Transl. Robert Alter)  -  Paddy Waymark

       Afterward, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. 

       And Job spoke up and he said:

       Annul the day that I was born

              and the night that said, “A man is conceived.”

       That day, let it be darkness.

              Let God above not seek it out,

                        nor brightness shine upon it.

       Let darkness, death’s shadow, foul it,

              Let a cloud-mass rest upon it,

                        let day-gloom dismay it.

       That night, let murk overtake it.

              Let it not join in the days of the year,

                        let it not enter the number of months.

       Oh, let that night be barren,

              let it have no song of joy.

       Let the day-cursers hex it,

              those ready to rouse Leviathan.

       Let its twilight stars go dark.

              Let it hope for day in vain,

                        and let it not see the eyelids of dawn.

       For it did not shut the belly’s doors

              to hide wretchedness from my eyes.

       And Eliphaz the Temanite spoke out and he said:

       If speech were tried against you, could you stand it?

              Yet who can hold back words?

       Look, you reproved many,

              and slack hands you strengthened.

       The stumbler of your words lifted up,

              and bended knees you bolstered.

       But now it comes to you and you cannot stand it,

              it reaches you and you are dismayed. 

Gospel Reading   - Don Moser 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 10:17-31 (NRSV)

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother.” ’ He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

Peter began to say to him, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’

One: This is the Gospel of Christ; 

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection: - Job and His Friends                   

Silent Reflection

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  -     Betty Schultze    

     One:        Loving Father,             

      All:    Hear Our Prayer.

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  -  Minute for Mission – Pat Armstrong

Offering Prayer 

Loving God, as a part of creation, we are trying to develop sustainable

patterns of living, while also responding to a changing climate. We give You thanks for the creativity and innovation at work in the world today, for the ideas and problem solving, and the ever-present spirit of transformation and hope. Amen.

Hymn: I Heard the Voice of Jesus  -   VU #626

1 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"Come unto me and rest;

lay down, O weary one, lay down

your head upon my breast."

I came to Jesus as I was,

weary and worn and sad;

I found in him a resting-place,

and he has made me glad.

2 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"Behold, I freely give

the living water; thirsty one,

stoop down, and drink, and live."

I came to Jesus, and I drank

of that life-giving stream;

my thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

and now I live in him.

3 I heard the voice of Jesus say,

"I am this dark world's light;

look unto me, your morn shall rise;

and all your day be bright."

I looked to Jesus, and I found

in him my star, my sun;

and in that light of life I'll walk

till travelling days are done.

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.

Blessing  -  Iona Community

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!