Naming the challenges ahead ...

Order of Service for March 19th 2006
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Greetings Announcements Minute for Mission

CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: From Jericho to Justice,
From Bethlehem to Basswood.
ALL: COME LORD JESUS, COME.
One: From Jerusalem to Gladstone,
From Nazareth to Newdale.
ALL: COME LORD JESUS, COME.
One: From Caeserea to Cadurcis,
From Bethany to Bethany …
ALL: COME LORD JESUS, COME.
One: to heal the sick
To mend the broken hearted,
To comfort the disturbed,
To disturb the comfortable …
ALL: COME LORD JESUS COME.
One: to cleanse the temple,
To liberate faith from complacency,
To carry the cross
To lead the way …
ALL: COME LORD JESUS COME.
One: Today,
To this place,
To us.
ALL: COME LORD JESUS COME.

HYMN: 642 Be Thou My Vision

PRAYER OF APPROACH:
One: Lord Jesus, you called your disciples
to go forward with you on the way to your cross …
ALL: SINCE YOU FIRST WALKED THAT ROAD,
COUNTLESS MILLIONS HAVE FOLLOWED YOU …
One: Lord Jesus, in this world where goodness and evil,
Continue to clash with each other, and within us,
ALL: INSTILL IN US AND IN ALL YOUR PEOPLE,
DISCERNMENT TO SEE WHAT IS RIGHT
FAITH TO BELIEVE WHAT IS RIGHT
AND COURAGE TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT.
One: Preserve us O Holy One, body, mind and soul,
In all that we do, save us from false familiarity with your journey.
ALL: MAY WE NEVER PRESUME TO WALK IN YOUR SHOES,
BUT TO WALK IN LOVE AND WONDER FOLLOWING YOU. AMEN

PRAYER FOR WHOLENESS:
One: Before you Jesus the Christ,
We admit how and where
We have underestimated our influence
Letting our words or silences hurt and maim,
Abusing trust, betraying confidences, wounding our friends,
Lord have mercy
ALL: CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

One: We admit O Holy One, how and where
We have made a show of our religion,
Attracting more attention to ourselves
And less to you …
Lord have mercy,
ALL: CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

One: We admit O Holy One, to where in our lives
A vague interest
Has become a dangerous passion
And we are not sure what to do
Or whether we are still in control…
Lord have mercy,
ALL: CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

One: Lord Jesus, if we have looked for,
If we have longed for an easier gospel,
A lighter cross,
A smoother journey,
A less demanding saviour,
Then turn our eyes and avert our longing,
From what we want to chose,
To what has been chosen for us …
(pause)
One: Lord have mercy,
ALL: CHRIST HAVE MERCY.
FORGIVE OUR UNFAITHFULNESS
GIVE US NOT THE REMEDY WE DESIRE TOMORROW,
BUT THE GRACE YOU OFFER TODAY.
One: Lord, hear our prayer …
ALL: WE ASK THIS FOR YOUR LOVE’S SAKE. AMEN.

HYMN: 612 There’s a Balm in Gilead

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Psalm 19 (page 740 Voices United)
John 2:13-22
HYMN: 649 Walk With Me.

STORY STOOL:

CHOIR ANTHEM:

SCRIPTURE READING: Exodus 20:1-18

HYMN: 315 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty

SERMON: More then Words … Living the Spirit of the Law …
Mahatma Gandhi said of Christianity, that if the followers of Christ really lived the teachings of Christ, the whole of Indian would have converted to Christianity … Today there are over 800 million Hindus, and a few million Muslims, Bahais and Sikhs in the Indian sub continent – clearly the Indian people never embraced Christianity as their religion … it is, as our Lenten journey continues, worth pondering why that is. Why would the great mind of Gandhi see a disconnect between the teachings of Jesus, and the Church of his followers? It is attributed to Gandhi the comment – “Ah Christianity, there is nothing wrong with it, other then it hasn’t been tried yet …”
Today as we hear the Ten Commandments – the fundamental teachings of respect and morality for the entire Judea-Christian faith family, and hear of Jesus driving the money changers and merchants out of the temple, it is worth wondering if there is a connection between our readings and the words of the Mahatma. Could it be that the same phenomena that lead to Gandhi’s statement was also what lead to Jesus kicking over tables and smacking people with a chunk of rope?
One of the problems is that we don’t like the notion of an angry Jesus … we want Jesus to be calm and kind … we want Jesus to be a laughing smiling guy with children on his knee and small tame animals at his side. We don’t like, and aren’t comfortable with the notion of Jesus throwing baskets up in the air, driving out the cattle and animals and kicking over tables … yet, this is one of those stories that is common to the four Gospel accounts of his life. It is an image we MUST take seriously.
In Biblical scholarship, one of the first lessons I learned in University was – if the story is in all four Gospels, it can be reasonably deduced there is some validity to assuming that the story actually happened.
So if gentle Jesus, meek and mild actually kicked over the tables and drove the merchants and money changers out of the temple what are we to do with that imagery, and his motivation??

Today we confront anger … anger is NOT an alien concept around here lately … It would be too easy to wallow in our anger – but what we need to do is put our anger to use and put it in action … like Jesus did. We need to bring positive action from the anger and outrage we’re feeling – even if it’s a passing anger, we need to harness it … and what better place to look for an example of that process then in the life of Jesus himself?
Jesus was confronting a culture that had become greedy, lazy and complacent even under the crushing heel of the Roman occupation. The ten commandments we’ve just read had been added to 603 other laws, and those 613 Commandments had become the way in which life was organized in ancient Israel. The people had the temple in Jerusalem, and a class of priests and scribes who helped implement, interpret and observe the laws and keep people faithful. Every aspect of life, from what you ate to what you wore to how you planted your fields, was guided by the Torah – the Law.
And central to all of it was the sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. An elaborate system of sacrifices had been put in place. You offered yearly sacrifices as expressions of thanksgiving, you sacrificed to abolish sin, you sacrificed to dedicate a child. The list was long, and for each sacrifice there were specific requirements. Some demanded a lamb or a kid, others required a bird, and some required a calf or even a basket of fresh produce. All the sacrifices took place in Jerusalem, so the farmer from Galilee would carefully transport his sacrifice on the journey down to the temple. It could take four or five days – and when the farmer and his family arrived, suddenly they would learn that their carefully raised and nurtured lamb wasn’t good enough – it was blemished perhaps damaged from the journey.
But for small cost, they could trade their blemished lamb for a perfect lamb – outside the precinct of the temple, there were row after row of business people willing to trade (at a profit of course) coins, animals or produce … The business itself wasn’t the problem – the problem in the eyes of Jesus came when the farmer from Galilee brought his sacrifice all the way to Jerusalem. He had chosen the best of the best – he took the best his fields, vineyards, flocks or orchards had to bring … yet, when he stepped in the gates of the temple, suddenly it was no longer good enough for God, and so he had to exchange it at a cost for an offering designated acceptable. The extra cost, even if it was a few pennies was a hardship – the people were poor, desperately poor, and having an added cost helped only to distant them further from the experience of God.
The business of God was lost amidst the babble of the market … you couldn’t come before God and present your offering – you had to exchange it at a cost …
Jesus was outraged – he had studied the Torah (the 613 laws) and knew that it wasn’t about adherence to the letter of the laws, it was about honouring and glorifying God. Faith is about what you do with the laws – respecting, God, creation and one another … Jesus was a true prophet who heard the condemnation of Amos and Hosea and the others and saw in his people the same crisis of faith the earlier prophets had condemned. The people were losing their way – they were no longer experiencing the holy.
This challenge continues in the modern church – over and over we are confronted with the question of how we are to live our faith and observe the various rules and regulations? In the modern Church we must constantly pause and consider how we will show our faith in God without becoming hung up on adherence to the strict letter of the law???

For some reason this week I found myself drawn to the writings of Charles Dickens. Throughout his vast library of books, Dickens constantly echoes Jesus’ actions as he addresses the growing gap between the rich and the poor in Victorian England. Dickens stands in the market place and asks if there is any care and compassion left …
Perhaps his most well known story is that of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the business man who turns his life around becomes of some ghostly visits on Christmas Eve.
The visits begin with the arrival of his late business partner Jacob Marley. Early in the story Scrooge, trying to make sense of the ghost before him says – “But you were always a good man of business Jacob …”
“Business,” screams the ghost, “Mankind was my business … The common welfare was my business …charity, mercy, forebearance, and benevolence were my business … The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business …”
Such is the tension in our world – how to be a good man of business while maintaining care and concern for the common good. The story of Scrooge is a universal story – at the end of the book, after the visitors, after Scrooge has realized the error and arrogance of his ways, it is said of him – “He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world … and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well …”
While we tend to encounter the story of Scrooge at Christmas time when on almost any tv station we can find any number of portrayals of Scrooge and his ghosts, it is a story that is worth considering as we read the words of the 10 Commandments and as we’re confronted with an angry, panting Jesus, a whip in his hand driving out the money changers …
How do we live Christmas, not just from the 20th to the 25th of December – but the rest of the year?
How do we live the simple principles of respect that are given to us through the 10 Commandments?
How do we live and experience the Holy? Or do we allow the hub-bub of the market place get in the way?
The image of Jesus in the temple confronting the marketplace is a compelling and inviting image. I’m not suggesting all of us take on the role, but I would be so bold as to suggest that the Church needs MORE people willing to take the risk of confronting things that hurt people and get in the way of experiencing the holy and living our faith …
The phrase what would Jesus do? Is popular today – but when we are confronted with Jesus kicking over tables, we must ask ourselves if the tables and baskets he would target in our world are tables and baskets that belong to ourselves … Have we become the money changers in the temple? Have we allowed the consumer culture to take priority over faith in our lives? Have we put profits over people?
The real threat to our society today is perhaps that simple realization: that the tables that need to be dumped over are within our own lives!!
The plaintive cry of Marley should sound within us … as he rattles his chains and cries out – “mankind was my business …” That was Jesus point – the religious authorities of his day had allowed money to come between them and God … the profits were more important then a heart given offering to God …
Jesus wanted to shake things up … in overturning the tables he did more then tick off the business people – he threatened the whole way in which life was organized around the temple – and he would pay for his actions for his life …
There is no advocating of such suicidal actions – but there is much room for reflection on what it is that distances us from God in our lives … has stuff?? Has Profits and investments? Has our desire for a bargain?
Has the marketplace surplanted the Holy in our lives??
Gandhi thought so …Dickens thought so … Jesus thought so … Perhaps a good way to begin is by living the profound truth of the 10 Commandments, rather then getting hung up on making sure others know what they are … let’s try living our faith teachings for a change …
May it be so, thanks be to God …

OFFERING
OFFERTORY
PRAYER OF APPROACH:

HYMN: 675 Will Your Anchor Hold

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – THE LORD’S PRAYER:

HYMN: 713 I See a New Heaven

COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTION:

SUNG REPONSE: You Shall Go Out with Joy. (884 Voices United)

Announcements:

Inventory captains are asked to meet with Wilf Taylor on Monday night at 7pm at the Adult Learning Centre to fill out forms for the Insurance Company …

A special thanks to our sisters and brothers in faith at the Anglican Church who hosted a marvelous potluck supper last Sunday Night at St Mark’s. A good time was had by all, there was too much food, and wonderful fellowship. At the end of the night a total of 1140 dollars was donated by our Anglican family to our rebuilding effort. Thanks.

Thanks to the UCW for this year’s St Patrick’s Day Tea and Bazaar. Even under the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in, you’ve rise to the occasion and provided a wonderful afternoon of fellowship and food.

Wednesday Night at 7pm, come out and watch the Katimavik participants challenge the MCI basketball teams to a game. Tickets at 3 dollars, and proceeds are being donated to our rebuilding efforts. Let’s show our support.

Friday (March 24th), 5-7pm at the Ukrainian Hall, the AOTS are holding a Pancake and Sausage supper Adults $6, children age 6-12 $3.50, and families $15.

Sunday (March 26th) 4:30 to 6:00pm, at the MCCC we will be holding our Spring Supper Smorg. Adults $10, 11 and under $5, 5 and under free … Have you returned your orange form yet ???

Sunday April 2nd at 5pm, the Minnedosa Grain Growing Project is hosting a fundraising banquet and auction (2 Farmers Feed Cities Tees will be up for auction … one signed by Tom Jackson, and one signed by the Holiday train participants). Proceeds in support of the work and ministry of the Canadian Food Grains Bank.

Saturdays at 12:30 Confirmation Classes will be held at Minnedosa bowl – come out and join the fun and learn more about being a member of the United Church. For more info talk to Shawn.

There will be NO LUNCH next week following worship – see ya at the Smorg.

Reminder of a Special Board Meeting following worship on April 2nd …

Bible Study – Fridays at 10 am in the Meeting Room of the Library.

Get your surveys in TODAY … your input is needed as we begin moving into the dreaming and planning stages of our rebuilding efforts. Thanks to those who have sent their forms in already.