Hybrid Church Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost August 27, 2023 Rev. Deborah van der Goes

Hybrid Church

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost

August 27, 2023

 

Presider: The Rev. Deborah van der Goes

Musician: Dorothy Dittrich

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!

Welcome & Announcements

Whether you are gathering in person, on zoom or worshipping at home with the bulletin, welcome! We are one community, one in the body of Christ. 

Centering & Stillness  

We follow sound into silence and there we meet God (bell) 

(silence)

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

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

All:    And also with you

(silence while the Christ Candle is lit)

Hymn: Be Still my Soul                                                              VU #652

The Collect                                                                           

Almighty God,

We are taught by your word

That all our doings without love are worth nothing.

Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts

That most excellent gift of love,

The true bond of peace and of all virtue;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, 

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, now and for ever.

All: Amen

The Service of Word                                                      

Reader: By the gift of your Spirit, calm and quiet our souls that we may hear your Word today and be lifted up to walk with you. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen

Exodus 1:8-2:10 (NRSV)                                                 Reader: Tim Leadem

Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.’

Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’

Psalm 124                                                                      Reader: Tim Leadem

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side

    let Israel now say

if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,

   when our enemies attacked us,

then they would have swallowed us up alive,

   when their anger was kindled against us;

then the flood would have swept us away,

   the torrent would have gone over us;

then over us would have gone

   the raging waters.

Blessed be the Lord,

   who has not given us

   as prey to their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird

   from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

   and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

   who made heaven and earth.

Gospel Reading                                                                Reader: Tim Leadem

As is your custom, please stand or sit for the reading of the gospel. 

Reader: God be with you.  
All: And also with you

Reader: The Good News of Jesus the Christ according to Matthew

All:  Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

       Reader: This is the Gospel of Christ.   

       All: Praise be to Jesus Christ                                                         4

Reflection: KEYS to the Kingdom

Hymn: Jesus, Remember Me                                                    VU #148

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Creed                (from Creating Uncommon Worship by Richard Giles adapted DvdG)

Let us affirm our faith . . .               

We believe and trust in God our Creator. 

We believe and trust in Jesus the Christ. 

We believe and trust in the Holy Spirit. 

We believe and trust in the Three in One.

Prayers of the People                                                                Mona Smart

One:  Loving God,

All:    Hear our Prayer

The Peace

Passing of the Peace

One:  The peace of Christ be with you! 

All:    And also with you!

You are invited to turn to those directly around you and share Christ’s peace. Those on zoom, please unmute and share with one another.

The Service of Holy Eucharist                    

Offering Invitation (while music is played)

Presider: Let us now gather our offerings.             

Doxology (sung as offerings brought forward)                            CP #669

Praise God the Source of life and birth,

Praise God the Word, who came to earth.

Praise God the Spirit, holy flame.

All Glory, honour to God’s name.

Prayer over the Gifts

Presider: God of glory

Receive all we offer this day as a symbol of our love

All: Increase in us that true and perfect gift,

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Presider: God is here

All: The Spirit is with us.

Presider: Lift up your hearts and minds.

All: We lift them to God.

Presider: Let us give thanks to God the Creator.

All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Presider: It is indeed right that we should praise you,

God of love, our source and our fulfillment,

you create all things and in you we live and move and have our being.  

Your wonder is manifest in land and sea and sky. 

You made us in your image.

And even though we turn from you,

again and again you call us to yourself,

and in every age, promise liberation.

As a mother gathers her children,

you embraced a people as your own,

to nurture them in the way of compassionate love.

You sent Jesus among us,

incarnate of the Holy Spirit and born of Mary.

Jesus revealed your love for all Creation,

and showed us the way of reconciliation.

Having lived among us - Jesus suffered the cross,

died, and in rising again

became the firstborn of the renewed family.

And so as we gather around your table,

With saints of every age and your beloved creations we raise our voices 

and sing

Sanctus                                                                                       MV #203

O holy, holy, holy God, O God of time and space.

All earth and sea and sky above bear witness to your grace.

Hosanna in the highest heaven, creation sings your praise.

And blessed is the One who comes and bears your name always!

 

To you be glory, almighty God,

because on the night before he died,

Jesus took bread,

when he had given thanks,

he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said

Take, eat, this is my body

which is given for you; do this to remember me.

After supper he took the cup;

when he had given thanks,                                                                       6

he gave it to them and said

Drink this all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant,

Poured out for you and for many;

do this to remember me.

Great is the mystery of faith.

Memorial Acclamation                                                               MV #204

Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again! 

Sing Christ has died and Christ is risen, Christ will come again!

Presider: Recalling Christ’s death and resurrection, we ask you to accept this, our sacrifice of praise. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine that we may be fed with the body and blood of your Son.  When all of creation groans, unite us in Christ and give us your hope that we might be strengthened to do your work, as your body in the world.  Through Christ our Redeemer, in the power of the Spirit, all praise and glory be yours, Almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

The Prayer of Jesus (sung)                                                       VU #959 

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your Kin-dom 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 kin-dom, the power

and the glory are yours,

now and forever.

Presider: The One who defeated death and injustice is now present in this bread. The One who offers our life promise and hope is now present in this wine. 

All: Breaking into our lives and community,   

We ask God for new life in Christ.

Communion is Shared

Prayer after Communion

Living God,

Increase in us the healing power of your love.

Guide and direct us

That we may please you in all these things,

For the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen

Hymn: Seek Ye First the Kingdom                                           VU #356

Presider: Now God keep you in all your days. 

Christ shield you in all your ways. 

The Spirit bring you healing and peace. 

And God the Holy Trinity 

Pour upon you blessing and light. 

All: Amen.

Presider: Go in Peace. Remember the poor.

All: Thanks be to God! Alleluia