By the still waters ...

GREETINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS
MINUTE FOR MISSION

HYMN #534 I Cannot Dance, O Love

CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We come to celebrate and embody God’s presence
ALL: WE COME TO SHARE GOD’S LOVE AND OUR FAITH
One: In word and song we gather to praise God
ALL: THROUGH ACTION AND GESTURE WE CARE FOR
OUR NEIGHBOUR AND STRANGERS.
One: With worship and prayer we join in community.
ALL: BE WITH US IN OUR WORSHIP AND OUR LIVES. AMEN

PRAYER OF APPROACH:
One: The Lord is our shepherd,
ALL: HOLY ONE, LEAD US, KEEP US SAFE.
One: God leads us to lie in green pastures, God guides us to still waters.
ALL: CREATOR GOD, IN THE TURMOIL OF LIFE: BE WITH US.
One: God restores our soul, God leads us on God’s own path.
ALL: GOD OF LOVE, EVEN IN MOMENTS OF LONELINESS,
YOU ARE THERE
One: Though we walk through the presence of death, we fear nothing
ALL: OUR FRIEND, OUR COMPANION, YOU ARE THERE
One: In You we have no fear, we are fed, we are anointed with goodness.
ALL: HOLY ONE, HEAR US WHEN WE PRAY,
BE WITH US IN OUR LIVES. AMEN.

HYMN #218 We Praise You, O God

PRAYER FOR WHOLENESS
One: Merciful God,
ALL: WE CONFESS THAT WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU,
IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED,
BY WHAT WE HAVE DONE,
AND BY WHAT WE HAVE LEFT UNDONE.
WE HAVE NOT LOVED YOU WITH ALL OUR WHOLE HEART
AND MIND AND STRENGTH.
WE HAVE NOT LOVED OUR NEIGHBOURS
AS OURSELVES.
WE ARE TRULY SORRY.
(pause)
HYMN #396 Jesus, Stand among Us

One: Resurrect our lives,
ALL: IN YOUR MERCY FORGIVE WHAT WE HAVE BEEN,
HELP US TO AMEND WHAT WE ARE,
AND DIRECT WHAT WE SHALL BE;
One: Renew and recreate us,
ALL: THAT WE MAY DELIGHT IN YOUR WILL
AND WALK IN YOUR WAYS;
THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. AMEN.

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Acts 4:5-12
“If you don’t like the message, then jail the messenger” That is likely what the high priests and the temple authorities were feeling as they listened to Peter explain the miracle that had people around the temple abuzz with excitement.

They couldn’t deny the miracle. They couldn’t cover it up. And now they couldn’t really offer an explanation either. So, Peter stepped forward as a follower of the wandering rabbi from Nazareth, and affirmed the contention that such miracles clearly come from God and God alone.

Therefore God must be with those who in the name of the Risen One, enacted such miracles in defiance of the authorities who short days before had condemned Jesus to death and thought they eliminated this pesky movement peopled by the rough and tumble Galileans. But now, in the midst of people and the temple, the reality of the Resurrection was being revealed for all to see.

The stand taken by Peter and the others was not where the majority stood, nor was it where the powers and authorities of the day placed their trust. Peter boldly and courageously stood alone and apart, taking a stand for faith.

Mark Twain once wrote – “that when you find yourself on the side of the majority, you should reexamine your position …” The re-examination here is not held by the minority, but by the majority who are required to find and claim the presence of God in their midst … Peter was showing them the way, but they didn’t like the message nor the path being offered …

What would their response be?

Or more importantly, what would our response be if we were in their shoes?

John 10:11-18
When Jesus says – “in truth,” or “verily” in the Gospels it is a passage that is important and we are to pay attention to it …

In today’s reading he says simply – “I am the Good Shepherd …” and it is our task to determine what that understanding and that reality is about in our lives.

We all carry images of the Good Shepherd. When we hear the words – “The Lord is my Shepherd,” we conjure up images of white flowing robes, gentle lambs and vast grassy fields. In our world that image might be appropriate and accurate. But in Jesus’ world, the Shepherds were on the margins of society.

They were dirty, they were dangerous, they were mysterious figures who lurked in the hills and valleys beyond the safety and comfort of the towns and villages. Yet, Jesus, the very messenger of God stood up and said – “I am the Good Shepherd …” and he reweaves a new image in their minds.

Taking the imagery that was familiar from the Psalmist, Jesus reminds his listeners and us, that the Shepherd comes and calls the sheep to safety and protection.

The world might be a cold and lonely place, but with a shepherd standing watching over us from a nearby hill we need not be afraid … The challenge for us in our hurry up and go world is to hear the whisper that calls us to peace and rest and safety … The whisper is out there, echoing and resounding across time – our challenge is to hear it as it says – “verily I say unto you …”

HYMN #268 Bring Many Names

STORY STOOL:

CHOIR ANTHEM:

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 John 3:16-24

In the Church we often speak of love and the importance of living lives of love as we journey together in faith. Love is a word that is easy to speak, but it is a word that is hard to live.

In our reading today we are challenged to remember and to embody the concept of LOVE AS A VERB.

We are good at loving from a distance. We can love the refugees from Darfur and Iraq, and be generous in our aid and assistance. We can send our donations to the latest trouble spot and ensure that people are cared for and cared about. But loving up close is harder to do.

Do we close our eyes to deception and manipulation by our friends and family, or do we call them to task?

Do we expect others to do what we want, or are we open to the possibility that we might be wrong?

Do we have the courage to grow in love, or do we have an idealized notion of romance and lust that has little bearing on the reality of love as something that seeks the comfort, the care and the nurture of those whom we truly love.

Love is a verb. The early Church knew this and struggled to live it. In our world, we’ve made love a noun and prefer to place it on a shelf or in a frame and admire it.

Love is dead if it is not lived … Our challenge is to live our love as we journey through the hills and valleys the Shepherd guides us to …

HYMN #747 The Lord’s My Shepherd

SERMON: “The Lord IS my shepherd …”

One of our readings today, the one we sang, rather then said – is one of the most well known passages in the English Language.

When I’ve worked in care facilities with people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, I have always been struck by the ability of these folks to join in when I say the words – “The Lord is my shepherd …” It is a familiar and much loved reading.

We use in at funerals, we use it as a prayer at the bed side of a loved one who is ill, we use in moments when we need comfort and encouragement. It is a reading that with a few dozen words speaks of the holy in a comfortable and comforting way, and that is what gives this passage its strength and its universality.

When we say the words – “The Lord is my shepherd …” and move through the psalm, even if we’ve never seen a shepherd with our OWN eyes we form a mental image of a shepherd who looks after us and keeps us safe from all harm. Even though the text was written Centuries ago, in a place half a world away, in a time when iron was a novelty – it still speaks to us today.

Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author who penned the book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” tackled the Shepherd Psalm and asked the very question – why is this simple text so popular? His musings are an intriguing and enlightening answer to this question, and they challenge us to move forward with those understandings to a place where we take the words from the page that comfort us and do something more with them then just read them over and over and over …

Kushner writes: “in a mere 57 words of Hebrew and just about twice that number in English, the author of the 23rd Psalm gives us an entire theology, a more practical theology than we can find in many books. The author teaches us to look at the world and see it as God would have us see it. If we are anxious, the psalm gives us courage, and we overcome our fears. If we are grieving, it offers comfort and we find our way through the valley of the shadow. If our lives are embittered by unpleasant people, it teaches us how to deal with them. If the world threatens to wear us down, the psalm guides us to replenish our souls. If we are obsessed with what we lack, it teaches us gratitude for what we have. And most of all, if we feel alone and adrift in a friendless world, it offers us the priceless reassurance that “Thou, art with me …”

The 23rd Psalm IS more than just mere words. It is a living breathing text that offers us a way of seeing and living life grounded in the reality in which we find ourselves. Kushner explores this in his work, and invites his reader (that is US – you and I) to join him this journey.

The 23rd Psalm begins with the universal human concern – “is the universe a friendly place that is supportive of our hopes and our aspirations? Or is the universe a vast and lonely place where we are utterly alone?

The Psalm begins with the simple statement of faith – “The Lord is my shepherd.” It answers this concern with an affirmation that the universe is NOT a vast and lonely place. It is God’s world, and we are in our lives part of God’s world.

The Psalm doesn’t claim the world is a perfect place, but it names and owns the reality that at times the world can be a cold and lonely and even dangerous place, but God is always there to take care of us in the same way a shepherd is there to care for the sheep in presence of dangerous predators and fatal accidents.

The world may be a dangerous and frightening place, but God is ALWAYS with us. That is OUR faith.

Next the Psalmist doesn’t try to deny the shattering reality of death and loss and suffering, nor does it try to minimize nor deny the effect those moments have in our life. Rather then trying to offer empty words that minimize the impact of death and loss, the Psalm names this hurt and sorrow and proclaims in the face of it the understanding that God accompanies us into and leads us through the Valley of the Shadow of death, and we will have no need to fear

The Psalm summons us to move forwardly boldly in our lives, living in the confidence that comes only with knowing that God is with us … The Psalm doesn’t offer the pious idealistic hope that if we are good and faithful people life will be easy as some religious teachings would proclaim.

The writer of this text knew what it meant to have people hate him and want to harm him. The author has known failures and set backs. He has lost loved ones, he has suffered loss. But in the challenges life has thrown at him, he has grown and become a stronger and likely a better person. Life’s experience have taught him to be wiser and stronger.

But perhaps the strongest lesson the Psalm teaches us is that we can seldom control what happens to us – we will suffer accidents and losses – we will have health set backs – we will have runs of bad luck … but we can control HOW we will RESPOND to those moments.

We can sit on the dust heap and weep and wail, or we can pick ourselves up and move forward. The Psalmist, and this is perhaps the strength of this reading, and why it is SO well known and so well used, understood the vagaries of life and the importance of learning and growing and appreciating life in its fullness rather then simply cursing God and others when things don’t go OUR way.

We live in a culture that runs counter to this ethos, and so the impact of the 23rd Psalm has become focused on what God will do for ME, rather then how with God’s presence and care we can move forward. We moved from understanding God as a loving, steadfast presence to understanding God as sort of divine Santa Claus who will supply our every want and whim … To utter the words – “The Lord is my shepherd…” and to move through the text that is SO familiar to many of us, is a bold proclamation of faith.

It is a proclamation of faith that says – “Life is not simply a rose garden where everything will be lovely and wonderful …” Life is a place filled with shadows and darkness and threats. Life is a place where we really have only limited control, a place that is often awash in emotion and hostilitiy, a place where sometimes we may feel utterly alone …”

But in the midst of that place we WILL, in faith, hear a familiar whisper that is guiding us forward … The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; thy rod and they staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever … (KJV)

When we hear and believe and live those words we move from a place that finds us sitting saying – “woe is me …” to a place where we take the Love we have found in our faith and like the call of our epistle reading, put that love into action.

It begins with the proclamation – “the Lord is my shepherd …” putting the rest of the text into action is up to you and I … It’s a good psalm. It’s better when it is being lived …

May we have the courage to live the message of the psalm today, tomorrow and always …
May it be so – thanks be to God, Let us pray …

OFFERING:

OFFERTORY:

PRAYER OF DEDICATION:

HYMN: #273 The King of Love

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE /THE LORD’S PRAYER

HYMN: #427 To Show by Touch and Word

COMMISSIONING/BENEDICTION:

SUNG RESPONSE: HYMN #424 May the God of Hope Go with Us

The worship has ended……the work of God’s people has just begun
Go in peace

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Next Sunday we welcome “home” The Reverend Nancy Wetselaar (nee Peckham) who is visiting and sharing in the service. Nancy currently serves at Centennial United Church in Stratford (Shawn’s home church)

Mother’s Day Banquet – next Sunday at MCCC – proceeds to our rebuilding efforts.

Building Committee – meets this Wednesday, May 10th.

Church Board – meets next Wednesday, May 18th.

Tuesday Night – An evening of song and music at MCCC when Ruth Wiwchar brings choirs from the Pembina Trails School Division and they join with local singers and choirs in an evening concert. Come and join the fun.

Women’s Weekend – Sept 29-Oct 1 - Registration forms are ready and can be picked up at the Church office or from Lois Neabel.