MINNEDOSA UNITED CHURCH
CLERGY: REV. SHAWN ANKENMANN
MINISTER EMERITUS: ELGIN HALL
ORGANIST: ELEANOR TAYLOR
CHOIR DIRECTOR: KENDRA FALLIS
MINISTRY: THE PEOPLE OF GOD GATHERED HERE
February 26th, 2006
GREETINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS MINUTE FOR MISSION
CLERGY: REV. SHAWN ANKENMANN
MINISTER EMERITUS: ELGIN HALL
ORGANIST: ELEANOR TAYLOR
CHOIR DIRECTOR: KENDRA FALLIS
MINISTRY: THE PEOPLE OF GOD GATHERED HERE
February 26th, 2006
GREETINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS MINUTE FOR MISSION
HYMN #105 Dust and Ashes Touch Our Face
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Everything that happens on earth happens at the time God choses.
Women:God sets the time for birth and the time for death.
Men: God sets the time for sorrow and the time for joy.
Women:the time for tearing and the time for mending.
Men: the time for scattering and the time for gathering.
Women:the time for seeking and the time for losing.
Men: the time for keeping silence and the time for speaking.
One: Everything that happens on earth,
ALL: HAPPENS AT THE TIME WITHIN GOD’S CARE.
PRAYER OF APPROACH:
One: People of God, Celebrate the life that lies within you !
ALL: STANDING ON THE MOUNTAIN, OUR EYES SHALL BE OPENED.
One: People of God, bow your heads before the Holy One
who is our wisdom and our strength.
ALL: THE PRESENT SHALL HAVE NEW MEANING,
AND THE FUTURE WILL BE BRIGHT WITH HOPE.
One: People of God, place yourself before our God,
ALL: THAT WE MAY BE TOUCHED AND RENEWED
BY THE POWER OF GOD’S SPIRIT. AMEN.
ALL: STANDING ON THE MOUNTAIN, OUR EYES SHALL BE OPENED.
One: People of God, bow your heads before the Holy One
who is our wisdom and our strength.
ALL: THE PRESENT SHALL HAVE NEW MEANING,
AND THE FUTURE WILL BE BRIGHT WITH HOPE.
One: People of God, place yourself before our God,
ALL: THAT WE MAY BE TOUCHED AND RENEWED
BY THE POWER OF GOD’S SPIRIT. AMEN.
HYMN #612 There Is a Balm in Gilead
PRAYER FOR WHOLENESS:
One: Glorious and ever loving God,
Your thoughts are not our thoughts,
And your ways are not our ways …
Yet, you look into the ugliest soul and see
The wings of angels yet to be unfurled …
ALL: WE SCAN THE FINEST OF OUR NEIGHBOURS,
ANXIOUS TO FIND THE FLAW…
One: Tender and caring God, your view time from the context of eternity,
And find a place for waiting … for yearning … for suffering … and for dying …
ALL: WE DEMAND INSTANT RESULT;
AND LOOK TO TOMORROW BEFORE SAVOURING TODAY.
One: Ever present God, you know that only one who suffers can ultimately save,
That is why you walk the way of the cross and lead us on …
ALL: WE FEAR THAT VULNERABLITY THAT DEFIES POWER,
AND SO WE JOIN THE CRY FOR CRUCIFIXION OF OTHERS.
One: your thoughts are not our thoughts …
ALL: AND YOUR WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS …
One: And yet we know that your way is the ladder to heaven,
ALL: LEFT TO OUR OWN DEVICES,
OUR WAYS WILL SLOPE DOWN INTO THE DARKNESS OF DESPAIR …
One: But we are here, not to have our worst comfirmed,
But to have our best liberated and set free …
And so we pray:
ALL: FORGIVE IN US WHAT HAS GONE WRONG,
REPAIR IN US WHAT HAS BEEN WASTED,
REVEAL IN US WHAT REMAINS GOOD …
One: Holy One, our friend and our companion,
Nourish us with better food than we could ever purchase:
ALL: YOUR WORD,
YOUR LOVE,
YOUR INSPIRATION,
YOUR DAILY BREAD FOR OUR LIFE’S JOURNEY.
One: In the company of Jesus the Christ, we pray …
ALL: AMEN.
Your thoughts are not our thoughts,
And your ways are not our ways …
Yet, you look into the ugliest soul and see
The wings of angels yet to be unfurled …
ALL: WE SCAN THE FINEST OF OUR NEIGHBOURS,
ANXIOUS TO FIND THE FLAW…
One: Tender and caring God, your view time from the context of eternity,
And find a place for waiting … for yearning … for suffering … and for dying …
ALL: WE DEMAND INSTANT RESULT;
AND LOOK TO TOMORROW BEFORE SAVOURING TODAY.
One: Ever present God, you know that only one who suffers can ultimately save,
That is why you walk the way of the cross and lead us on …
ALL: WE FEAR THAT VULNERABLITY THAT DEFIES POWER,
AND SO WE JOIN THE CRY FOR CRUCIFIXION OF OTHERS.
One: your thoughts are not our thoughts …
ALL: AND YOUR WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS …
One: And yet we know that your way is the ladder to heaven,
ALL: LEFT TO OUR OWN DEVICES,
OUR WAYS WILL SLOPE DOWN INTO THE DARKNESS OF DESPAIR …
One: But we are here, not to have our worst comfirmed,
But to have our best liberated and set free …
And so we pray:
ALL: FORGIVE IN US WHAT HAS GONE WRONG,
REPAIR IN US WHAT HAS BEEN WASTED,
REVEAL IN US WHAT REMAINS GOOD …
One: Holy One, our friend and our companion,
Nourish us with better food than we could ever purchase:
ALL: YOUR WORD,
YOUR LOVE,
YOUR INSPIRATION,
YOUR DAILY BREAD FOR OUR LIFE’S JOURNEY.
One: In the company of Jesus the Christ, we pray …
ALL: AMEN.
HYMN #299 Teach me, God, to Wonder
THE STORY STOOL:
HYMN #395 Come In, Come In and Sit Down
Scripture Readings: Mark 9:2-9 & Psalm 50 (pg 775 Voices United)
CHOIR ANTHEM: COME BUILD A CHURCH
REFLECTION: “Looking up from the valley … It’s a long road …”
Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before we draw close to the beginning of Lent. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday … the day of penitence – the day when we begin the journey to the events of Holy week and Easter. Today is a reading about a mountain top experience that begins our Lenten journey – today mountain top experiences are somewhat lacking in our midst – but we know they will come … Yet, saying all of that, I will also acknowledge in many ways, we as a community have been on our Lenten Journey for the last two weeks…
The imagery of dust and ashes has for obvious reasons, been looming large in our life as a faith community and as a community at large. The taking stock of the past and what we once were about is also a dominant theme in much of what we are doing and will be doing in a few minutes after lunch …
BUT, as an Easter people, our Lenten journey will be one that is heavy on the journey part … everything we do as a community of faith right now involves securing a place, moving people and resources and gathering … we are a pilgrim people on a journey that will stretch ahead of us for more then just the 40 days traditionally associated with Lent … Our journey could take considerably longer then 40 days … but we’ll do it together as we journey closer and closer to the resurrection that is promised.
Today, perhaps like no other time in the life of this community, we are forced to really consider what it is that is important in our faith journey … what words do we speak, and what do they mean? …what ideas do we share, and how do they affect our lives directly?
No longer do we merely say – we are a pilgrim people … or we are a people of the resurrection … today we are being forced through our circumstances, to live the very words that a few weeks ago rolled off our tongue so easily …
The reality is though, that right now, as we await the promised resurrection, we have a long road ahead of us up the mountain … Our Gospel reading has Jesus taking three of his intimate friends up to the top of a mountain. The mountain that is thought to be the place the Transfiguration happened, is one that stands like a huge pimple on the vast plains of Jezreel (or to modern folks – the plains of Armageddon).
The Jesus and the group climb to the top of the mountain, and suddenly he is transformed – his clothes become bleach white and light seems to glow all around him … The disciples are totally bewildered. Everything they knew is suddenly up for grabs … in this moment nothing seems to make any sense (this is not a moment that we can relate to at ALL!)
And so, Jesus is transfigured and all the disciples can manage is for Peter to offer to build a shelter for Jesus, Moses and Elijah … The disciples are standing in the midst of a profoundly holy moment – before them are the two great prophets of Moses and Elijah and Peter says –“It’s good we’re here … let’s build them a shelter …”
Clearly Peter didn’t grasp the moment. All around him is utter holiness and he’s focusing on the mundane … let’s build a shelter to preserve the moment …
Clearly Peter didn’t grasp the moment. All around him is utter holiness and he’s focusing on the mundane … let’s build a shelter to preserve the moment …
Peter is so much like us – we feel overwhelmed and begin to focus on the little tiny details we become distracted … The danger in our distraction in the situation we find ourselves in, is that we can quickly be overwhelmed by things and feelings that are less then helpful … I have heard over the last few days more and more expressions of anger and what can be only described as hatred towards those who have put us in this situation … It is understandable, and in the journey from loss to wholeness, anger is a normal and natural part of the healing journey. But we can not let anger be our dominant emotion …
Martin Luther King once spoke of love and said that we are called to love on the level that God loves. We love another, not because we like them, not because their ways and actions appeal to us – we love them because God loves them … He then went on to muse that he for one was very happy that it didn’t say – “like your enemy … but love your enemy …” He noted that love is the stronger easier emotion – he said, he couldn’t like anyone burning down his house, he couldn’t like anyone beating him and leaving him for dead in the dark of night – he couldn’t like those who would enact violence against them – but he would LOVE them.
He challenged those filled with anger and hate to do their worst to him and those agitating for justice – and he would still love them … his reason was simple – he said – “we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering, with our capacity to endure suffering … and in the process we will so touch your hearts that we will win over and you will be changed …”
Transformation … anger and hate are too great a burden to bear – instead we rise to the level of love – we love those who would burn down our Church because we can afford only to offer pity to them … we haven’t got time for anger – it takes too much energy from the work we have before us …
In offering love (true love that we share with those who like are us are children of God), we name and recognize that something, or someone, somewhere so deeply hurt those young people, that they were filled with a blind rage towards all things religious … and in acting on that rage they were trying to ease that pain. I feel no anger towards those suspected of burning down our Church Building – I feel profound sadness to them, in that they never took the time to understand who the community was that looked to that building as home … had they gotten to know this community they would have been met with love and care rather then hypocrisy and cruelty … And so, may anger is towards those people, places and institutions that hurt and wound someone so deeply, that they would even for a moment consider an action like burning down a Church building …
I have no time nor energy for anger or hate … Instead I seek and I work for that moment on the mountain top when we (all of us together) are transfigured – transformed – resurrected – and feel only love … love NOT like. I would find it hard to like the three suspected of burning down our spiritual home – but I (and all of us) can love them … Love is the understanding, redemptive, creative, good will towards all people that seeks nothing in return … when we love on this level, we will love because God loves us, not because the ways of other appeal to us, but because we wish for them the healing and wholeness and grace that we ourselves have shared …
It’s not an easy road – but it is the road we are called and challenged to live … anger is healthy and natural and timely, but we can not – we must not stop in our anger. We must continue to journey forward to the moment of transformation where we are ABLE to love, even those who have enacted violence against us …
It is easy to be like Peter and to get caught up in the mundane – but today we are called and challenged to let the Holiness of the Transfiguration wash over us so completely that we live out this experience of Holiness …
The path we find ourselves on is not a simple or an easy path … there will be moments when some of us stumble and fall … there will be times when we get too tired to continue … there will be moments when we want to give up … but in those moments – when our steps falter – we will realize that we are not alone: we are on this journey together, and WE will together help to carry one another forward along the way … There is much to do, and the journey ahead is long – we haven’t got time for anything BUT love …
May it be so, thanks be to God … Let us pray …
OFFERING:
OFFERTORY:
HYMN # 477: I Come With Joy
SERVICE OF COMMUNION:
One: We thank you God,
for in the beginning, you set the world on its course;
you led your people into freedom,
and gave them a way to walk in peace and justice.
And so we sing with all who have travelled this road before.
Holy, holy . . . (music on insert Stratdee tune)
One: When we were lost,
you came in Jesus, our companion and guide,
who shows us your way and invites us to follow.
Before his last journey,
to the cross and death,
our Lord gathered his friends for supper . . .
Let us remember together that vision of God’s reign
shown to us in Jesus at table:
ALL: HE SHARED FOOD WITH FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS,
One: with saints and sinners,
ALL: WITH CROWDS OF THOUSANDS ON THE HILLSIDE,
One: and a few friends in an upper room.
ALL: ON THE NIGHT BEFORE HE DIED,
HE HAD SUPPER WITH HIS COMPANIONS.
One: He took a loaf of bread, and after giving thanks,
he broke it, and gave it to them, saying:
ALL: “TAKE, EAT.
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
One: Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks,
he passed it among them, saying:
ALL: “DRINK THIS.
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
One: Through this loaf and cup, Jesus lives within us.
ALL: IN WORD AND DEED, JESUS LIVES AMONG US.
One: We thank you God,
for in the beginning, you set the world on its course;
you led your people into freedom,
and gave them a way to walk in peace and justice.
And so we sing with all who have travelled this road before.
Holy, holy . . . (music on insert Stratdee tune)
One: When we were lost,
you came in Jesus, our companion and guide,
who shows us your way and invites us to follow.
Before his last journey,
to the cross and death,
our Lord gathered his friends for supper . . .
Let us remember together that vision of God’s reign
shown to us in Jesus at table:
ALL: HE SHARED FOOD WITH FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS,
One: with saints and sinners,
ALL: WITH CROWDS OF THOUSANDS ON THE HILLSIDE,
One: and a few friends in an upper room.
ALL: ON THE NIGHT BEFORE HE DIED,
HE HAD SUPPER WITH HIS COMPANIONS.
One: He took a loaf of bread, and after giving thanks,
he broke it, and gave it to them, saying:
ALL: “TAKE, EAT.
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
One: Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks,
he passed it among them, saying:
ALL: “DRINK THIS.
DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
One: Through this loaf and cup, Jesus lives within us.
ALL: IN WORD AND DEED, JESUS LIVES AMONG US.
SHARING OF THE BREAD AND THE WINE:
HYMN #467 One Bread, One Body
(to be sung during the sharing of Communion)
(to be sung during the sharing of Communion)
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION:
ALL: WE THANK YOU GOD
FOR YOUR PRESENCE HERE AT THIS TABLE
AND FOR YOUR COMPANIONSHIP ON ALL OUR JOURNEYS.
SANCTIFY THE COMMITMENTS WE HAVE MADE.
BLESS US ON OUR WAY THROUGH LENT,
TO THE CROSS, AND BEYOND.
WE PRAY IN THE NAME AND SPIRIT OF JESUS. AMEN.
ALL: WE THANK YOU GOD
FOR YOUR PRESENCE HERE AT THIS TABLE
AND FOR YOUR COMPANIONSHIP ON ALL OUR JOURNEYS.
SANCTIFY THE COMMITMENTS WE HAVE MADE.
BLESS US ON OUR WAY THROUGH LENT,
TO THE CROSS, AND BEYOND.
WE PRAY IN THE NAME AND SPIRIT OF JESUS. AMEN.
HYMN #471 Eat This Bread and Never Hunger
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE THE LORD’S PRAYER
HYMN #649 Walk with Me
COMMISSIONING/BENEDICTION
Lent is the time to take the time
to let the power of our faith story take hold of us,
A time to let the events
get up and walk around in us,
A time to intensify
our loving unto Christ,
A time to hover over
the thoughts of our hearts,
A time to ponder and a time to wonder …
A time to move and journey:
from darkness to light
from dust to flesh
from endings to beginnings
from beginnings to endings
from mourning to dancing
from sorrow to joy
from power to weakness
from weakness to strength
from strangers to family
from death to life
from nothing to everything.
Lent is a time to allow for a fresh new taste of God in our lives …
Go in peace, the world is waiting …
Lent is the time to take the time
to let the power of our faith story take hold of us,
A time to let the events
get up and walk around in us,
A time to intensify
our loving unto Christ,
A time to hover over
the thoughts of our hearts,
A time to ponder and a time to wonder …
A time to move and journey:
from darkness to light
from dust to flesh
from endings to beginnings
from beginnings to endings
from mourning to dancing
from sorrow to joy
from power to weakness
from weakness to strength
from strangers to family
from death to life
from nothing to everything.
Lent is a time to allow for a fresh new taste of God in our lives …
Go in peace, the world is waiting …
The worship has ended…
…the work of God’s people has just begun
Go in peace
==========================================================
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Reminder of the potluck lunch downstairs following our worship service, and following lunch we will be having our Annual General Meeting … There’s a few noteworthy items on the New Business agenda …
Bible Study: Fridays 10 am in the meeting room of the Minnedosa Library – all are welcome.
Choir Practice – Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at the Covenant Church.
UCW St Patrick’s Day Tea and Bazaar – Saturday, March 18th at the Ukranian Hall.
World Day of Prayer – Friday March 3rd, 2 p.m. at the Calvary Church.
Spring Supper/Smorg – Sunday, March 26 @ MCCC. Further details will be mailed next week.
Pandemic Planning – The Minnedosa Chamber of Commerce and Basswood Women’s Institute is hosting a presentation on Wednesday, March 1st from 11:30 – 1:00 in the lower room of the Curling Complex. Guest Speaker will be Neil Gamey, Manager Pandemic Preparedness, ARHA. All are welcome. Contact Beth McNabb for further details.
With the relocation of our worship services, we’ve realized that some may be in need of a ride to our services here at St Alphonsus … If you are able to provide rides for those needing them, please let the office know … OR, if you are in need of a ride, please let us know and we’ll help make arrangements. What better way to get to know one another??
Thanks again to the many volunteers who came and helped retrieve a vast array of stuff from the Church Centre prior to its demolition this past week … And thanks to all those who have offered to help, and those who prayed and those who held us in their thoughts … we’re on a journey just beginning, and in the care of each other, we’re in good hands. L’chaim
Bible Study: Fridays 10 am in the meeting room of the Minnedosa Library – all are welcome.
Choir Practice – Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at the Covenant Church.
UCW St Patrick’s Day Tea and Bazaar – Saturday, March 18th at the Ukranian Hall.
World Day of Prayer – Friday March 3rd, 2 p.m. at the Calvary Church.
Spring Supper/Smorg – Sunday, March 26 @ MCCC. Further details will be mailed next week.
Pandemic Planning – The Minnedosa Chamber of Commerce and Basswood Women’s Institute is hosting a presentation on Wednesday, March 1st from 11:30 – 1:00 in the lower room of the Curling Complex. Guest Speaker will be Neil Gamey, Manager Pandemic Preparedness, ARHA. All are welcome. Contact Beth McNabb for further details.
With the relocation of our worship services, we’ve realized that some may be in need of a ride to our services here at St Alphonsus … If you are able to provide rides for those needing them, please let the office know … OR, if you are in need of a ride, please let us know and we’ll help make arrangements. What better way to get to know one another??
Thanks again to the many volunteers who came and helped retrieve a vast array of stuff from the Church Centre prior to its demolition this past week … And thanks to all those who have offered to help, and those who prayed and those who held us in their thoughts … we’re on a journey just beginning, and in the care of each other, we’re in good hands. L’chaim
And the Good News is ...
Following our worship service and our lunch, the Congregation held it's Annual General Meeting, and spent the last half of the meeting discussing the events of the last couple of weeks.The result was: An affirmation of the recommendation to rebuild.
Now, the planning, dreaming and so forth begins in earnest ... Donations will be gratefully accepted, (they can be made at any Royal Bank in the land, and they WILL get to us - or locally the RBC or the Minnedosa Credit Union)
There is a long road ahead of us - and we will begin it with each step ... In time, the Church of Minnedosa United will replace its building, for now, we're building a Church - one person at a time.
L'chaim
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