Home Church Seventh Sunday after Pentecost July 19, 2020

Home Church

7th Sunday after Pentecost

July 19, 2020

Rev. Karen Hollis

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! 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    

Opening Prayer  Read the prayer slowly.                                            

Gather us in O God to this space. Help us to bring ourselves fully to

this gathering, open us to the connections we find here and your holy presence that joins us as one. As the chaos of the world continues to swirl, we’re grateful to come here and remember that we are known, that we belong, that we don’t have to have all the answers . . . but we are held in your grace and you will show us the way forward as you always have. We pray gratefully in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Hymn: We Are One    VU #402

1 We are one as we come, as we come, joyful to be here,

in the praise on our lips there's a sense that God is near.

We are one as we sing, as we seek, we are found;

and we come needful of God's grace as we meet,

together in this place.

2 We are one as we share, as we share brokenness and fear,

in the touch of a hand there's a sense that God is here.

We are one as we care, as we heal, we are healed;

and we share warmth in God's embrace as we pray

together in this place.

Prayer of Confession Walter Brueggemann

“Things fall apart, the center cannot hold."

We are no strangers to the falling apart;

We perpetrate against the center of our lives,

     and on some days it feels

          like an endless falling,

          like a deep threat,

          like rising water,

          like ruthless wind.

But you ...you in the midst,

        you back in play,

          you rebuking and silencing and ordering,

         you creating restfulness in the very eye of the storm.

You ...be our center:

        cause us not to lie about the danger,

        cause us not to resist your good order.

Be our God.  Be the God you promised,

          and we will be among those surely peaceable in your order.

We pray in the name of the one through whom all things hold together.

Amen.

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Grace

God searches and knows you, knows all your ways and delights in you. When you turn toward God, you find God is already reaching to greet you with love, grace, and a warm embrace.

Peace of Christ

Christ is with us and in the space between us. 

Let us share the peace he brings!

              The Peace of Christ be with you!

              And also with you

First Reading: Psalm 139 - Alex McConnell

Listen for the word of God to you this morning . . .

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you.

O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me— those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil! Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Gospel Reading - Mollie Ford             

One:      God be with you.       

All:        And also with you

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Matthew

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 24-30, 36-43 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

 

Reflection: Wheat & Weeds Rev Karen Hollis (sermon attached)

              

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 Paddy Waymark ( see attached)                                                                                 

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

I posted this quote on Facebook back in May: “Just to be clear, the Church has not been closed, so it doesn’t need to be re-opened. We have simply stopped worshipping in our buildings for a time to protect the health and well-being of our people and our communities.” This speaks beautifully expresses how CCG has approached this season. We are in this together and continue to offer our time, talent and treasure for the good of the church and the community around us.

Thank you for all you do and for the offerings you continue on the PAR system and by sending cheques to the church.

If you have wanted to make a financial offering and were unsure how, that option of sending a cheque to the church is probably easiest. 2600 South Rd V0R 1X7.

Let us pray . . . God of us all, our world is your wheat field, and we have been sown in it. May our lives and our offerings be fruitful so that the harvest may be bountiful and good. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.

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: Come, You Thankful People, Come  VU #516

1 Come, you thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home!
All is safely gathered in
safe before the storms begin;
God, our Maker, does provide
for our needs to be supplied;
come to God’s own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home!

2 All the world is God's own field,
fruit unto his praise to yield;
wheat and weeds together sown,
here for joy or sorrow grown:
first the blade and then the ear,
then the full corn shall appear;
Harvest giver, grant that we
whole-some grain and pure may be.

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!

Hymn: Come, You Thankful People, Come  VU #516

3 For our God, one day, shall come
and shall take his harvest home;
from the field shall in that day
all offenses purge away,
giving angels charge at last
in the fire the weeds to cast,
but the fruitful ears to store
in the garner evermore.

4 Even so, God, quickly come
to your final harvest home!
Gather all your people in,
free from sorrow, free from sin;
there, forever purified,
in your presence to abide;
come, with all your angels come,
raise the glorious harvest home.