Online Worship – August 29, 2021

Prelude He Keeps Me Singing – played by Jan Stapleton

Call to Worship God’s Spirit calls to our spirits, inviting us to worship. God’s Spirit calls to our spirits, inviting us to love. God’s Spirit calls to our spirits, calling us by name, calling us to grow in faith, calling us to be made new. We come to worship in this season of the Spirit.

Hymn Come to My Heart (VU 661) 1. Come to my heart, Lord Jesus; Teach me to walk in your way. Come to my heart, Lord Jesus; Come to my heart today. Give me the peace and joy that only you can bring. Come to my heart, Lord Jesus; Give me a song to sing.

2. Fill me with love, Lord Jesus; Teach me to walk in your way. Fill me with love, Lord Jesus; Fill me with love today.

Give me the peace and joy that only you can bring. Fill me with love, Lord Jesus; Give me a song to sing.

3. Answer my prayer, Lord Jesus; Teach me to walk in your way. Answer my prayer Lord Jesus; Answer my prayer today. Give me the peace and joy that only you can bring. Answer my prayer, Lord Jesus; Give me a song to sing.

Opening Prayer Wondrous God: you touch our lives with healing and with justice; new life is your gift. We praise you for the Good News which is ours through Jesus Christ. May this time of worship nourish us with your promise of meaning and purpose. May we be empowered to carry your goodness into the coming week. We pray in Jesus’ name, our Source and our Saviour. Amen.

Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 12:4-26

There are different kinds of gifts. But they are all given to believers by the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve. But they all come from the same Lord. There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides. There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts. Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.

Message “Singing It Back” I had a wonderful experience this past week – with singing! So many of you are wondering when we will be able to sing together again in church. Perhaps singing is what you miss most! And my experience singing was not in a church, but rather outdoors. With the choir that I have been with for a few years now – the Guelph Chamber Choir. We rehearsed and performed outdoors with masks on, and it was so much appreciated by both audience and singers alike.

So this morning I want to extend the analogy of singing to living out our gifts, as expressed in the scripture reading, where Paul says: “There are different ways the Spirit works. But the same God is working in all these ways and in all people. The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way.”

A beautiful letter to the people of Corinth. Written to them, as well as to us. Let’s look at what it could be saying to us in contemporary words.

I think that what we try to express as Christians today are these ideas: - Each of us is unique. Not one of us is the exact same as the other. - Each of us has gifts we were given at birth – we were born with these gifts; they are wired within us. - Each of us has the responsibility to apply these talents to the world. - Each of us must navigate how to find our place in creation’s fold, while understanding that everyone around us is involved in the very same pursuit.

As one of my minister colleagues once said: It takes a while for many of us to figure out which is our song, and which is the song that others would like us to sing…Some of us are slow learners. I heard my song not necessarily from doing extraordinary things in exotic places…What came to astound me was not that the song appeared, but that it was always there. So each of us has our own unique song! We are wonderfully made.

Whatever we believe about the origins of our creation, whatever is our understanding about our Creator, imagining that we each have music that is ours to sing – a song that is echoed back and forth between us and one another – this is worth our pondering. I don’t know about you,

3 but I’m not interested in debating HOW the song got there. I’m interested in unearthing the song that IS there, within each one of us.

Imagine the idea of having a tune that is just our own; a song that lives in our heart and mind that describes us to the world; a song that we sometimes hear the world sing back to us; a song that is there, no matter whether it is day or night. This song is there – ready to comfort, sustain, and encourage us. Imagine! And then ask yourself: What’s your song? What does your life echo back to the world?

One of the songs I sang with the choir the other night has these lyrics: “If the song of my heart falls silent, sing to me.” The composer wrote this song during the worse of the pandemic, in 2020, when everything was so bleak, and we were isolated from one another. It continues with these words: “When our voices stir the embers, my heart remembers our song again.”

For this time of Covid-19, this says it all. Our hearts NEED to remember our individual and collective songs once again! We need to listen to hear the melody and the words of what our purpose is NOW, going forward. We are emerging into a time of a new and renewed purpose. Something that is not quite defined yet, but a time that acknowledges profound losses, yet clings to hope for a faithful future.

Do we take time to hear the song? To answer its call? To join its chorus? For me, church community helps the answer to that question be “yes!”

You each have the opportunity to provide one another with melodies and harmonies, rhythms and refrains, as you each continue on the path in life of trying to be faithful to that which stirs most strongly – or sings most loudly – within you.

Rev. Jim Wallis of the progressive Christian organization Sojourners, often asks people this pivotal question: Where do your gifts meet the pressing needs of the world?

I know that many of you have met many pressing needs! Not only those of your church community, but especially those of your families. You have been there for people – supporting, lifting up, encouraging, loving. Those are great spiritual gifts that you are freely sharing!

We hear that poet Mary Oliver says the same thing in her poem entitled "Summer Day”. She writes: What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

The idea of putting the word “wild” and the word “precious” in the same sentence is pretty unusual, I would say! Yet each of us has the gifts of a “wild” and free nature, also a gift from God. As well, our lives are precious, and I think the longer we live the more we realize this profound truth.

Connecting our gifts with the world’s needs (as Wallis would say) or (as Oliver might put it) justifying our “wild and precious life” with purposeful behaviour: this is lifelong work.

Regardless of your years on this earth, what is your life song? What calls out to you from the universe? What melody do you give voice to in return?

A year from now, if I ask you what the melody is that is “most your own,” what do you want the answer to be? They can be…songs of love or of longing, songs of encouragement or of comfort, songs of struggle or of security. To what will your voices give testimony?

My hope for you is that next year around this time, you will have a chorus of answers about how the world’s needs and your unique gifts as a faith community can best bless this world.

May these songs grow more steady, more robust, and more certain in the year to come. I, for one, can’t wait to hear how you will sing it back. Amen.

Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer O God of life, help us make this church a refuge from the world, a place where the rules are different.

May this be a place where no experience is necessary—where people are encouraged to risk new things: where a university administrator can try her hand at plumbing if she wants, or a plumber can help manage the finances, or a banker can teach five year-olds.

May this be a place where people always feel that their efforts have been worthwhile, and their energy well-spent. And may this be a place where, as in a children's baseball league, everyone gets to play.

O God, help us make this church a refuge from the world, a place where the rules are different.

May no one feel invisible here or feel worried about what others might be thinking of them. May no one be bored here: if a person isn't interested in what the minister is talking about today, may he or she be excited by the music, or by a conversation after the service.

May this be a place where people are touched—if not by something said, then perhaps by something sung, or by the light coming through the windows, or by the sense that the people who come here support one another – whether in person or from afar.

May this be a place where everyone feels safe: safe to follow their thoughts wherever they lead, safe to believe whatever they must, and safe to share whatever is on their minds and whatever is in their hearts.

O God, help us make this church a refuge from the world, a place where the rules are different—a place where our wells can fill up again, where we can be refreshed and renewed,

5 so that, when we return to the world with our batteries recharged, we can help transform the world into a place where the rules are different.

We pray for the peace of the world, O God, and for the peace that only you can give—not only the absence of conflicts and battle, but also the fullness of life that is prosperity for all, goodwill among neighbours, and welcome for every outsider. Here us now as we name the situations and nations for which we seek your peace: For our country, Canada, as we head into a federal election. May all of those running seek justice and prosperity for all Canadians and not just a few. May we work diligently towards reconciliation with our Indigenous Peoples, loving into being a future where all have a place. We pray for those living in places beset by war. Especially today we pray for the people of Afghanistan, those who are fleeing as well as those who remain behind. We pray for their safety, and that you might be present among them, guiding them towards a future of hope. We pray for those in refugee camps everywhere. God, may we not let the news headlines, full of the latest crisis, drive us to despair, but rather to keep our hearts close to you.

Hear now the prayers of each of our hearts…..

Lord, you know who we are and what our gifts are, and how we can best serve you. Hear our voices now as we join together in the words that Jesus taught us…

“Our Father, who art in heaven….”

Offertory Reminder All that we have, all that we are, is God’s. Our task? To use our gifts, our lives, our love – to live God’s command of love. Today, let’s contemplate gifts and blessings that you can share with others, and perhaps blessings you would like others to share with you…. Thank you, as always, for your generosity!

Hymn My Life Flows On (VU 716) My life flows on in endless song above earth´s lamentation, I hear the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation. Through all the tumult and the strife I hear its music ringing, It finds an echo in my soul. How can I keep from singing?

What though my joys and comforts die? My Saviour still is living. What though the shadows gather round? A new song Christ is giving. No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that Rock I´m clinging: Since Love commands both heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, and hear their death knell ringing, When friends rejoice both far and near, how can I keep from singing? In prison cell and dungeon vile our thoughts to them are winging, When friends by shame are undefiled, how can I keep from singing?

Blessing May God send you forth in the power of love. May God keep you filled with the Holy Spirit. May God build in you the reign of Christ. Go now in peace.

Sung Benediction: “Go Now in Peace” Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of every day. Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true. Know God will guide you in all you do. Go now in love and show you believe. Reach out to others so all the world can see. God will be there within, around, above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love. Amen, amen, amen.