Praise God for all His Benefits to Us (click here)

Announcements:
In Person Worship starts on July 5th at 10:30 am.

To see a video of this service go to either . . .
YouTube – St Paul’s Presbyterian, Banff, Alberta
Facebook – Banff Presbyterian

Question: What in the last three months do you praise God for?

Call to Worship (based on Ephesians 1:3-14)

Bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God has blessed us abundantly in Christ.

We are claimed as God’s own children through the love of Jesus Christ.
God has blessed us abundantly in Christ.

The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance as God’s own redeemed people.
God has blessed us abundantly in Christ.

Let us worship the God of abundant blessings!

Opening Prayer

How wonderful are your works, O God!
How great are your ways!
You are generous in love and kindness,
endless in goodness and power,
overflowing with grace and mercy.
You fill the world with truth and justice
and offer all people hope and new beginnings.
Lord and lover of all things,
we praise and adore you
as Creator, Redeemer, and Holy Spirit,
this day and always,
for in Christ we know you are always near.
.
We thank you Lord,
that you welcome all who are tired and heavy laden
and you invite us to lay down our worries at your feet.

Hear us as we o let us confess to God and to one another
our sins and burdens, and find the freedom Christ promises.

God of compassion and understanding,
Our lives have slowed down in the pandemic,
and yet we struggle to hear your voice.
We are caught up in our own situations
and fail to consider what others face.
Distracted by daily news and the uncertainty around us,
we forget to come to you in prayer
and offer that uncertainty to you.

In these slower days of community life,
teach us how to savour the freedom of your presence.
Help us enter your rhythm of grace and salvation in Jesus’ name.
Help us to remember to give thanks
for your benefits and gifts to us.
This we pray and confess in the name of Christ.
Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Hear the Good News of God’s Forgiving Love,

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
God’s compassion reaches out to all creation.
Know that you are forgiven through Christ, our Lord.
Live in peace and harmony with yourself and with all people.

Hymn: Praise My Soul the King of Heaven
Paraphrase of Psalm 103: Henry F Lyte. Music: John Goss

Scripture Readings

Psalm 103:1-22 Hymn of Praise to God for God’s gifts to us.

Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul’s opening statement to the Church at Ephesus.

Sermon: Praise God for all His Benefits to Us

Deeply imbedded into the minds, hearts and souls of Christians with a Presbyterian bias or upbringing is the first question of the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which asks…
What is the chief end of man/people?

The response to that question is …
Man’s (Our) chief end is to glorify God,
and to enjoy him forever.

This response summarises what our Presbyterian forebears believed was taught throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. God’s people are called to worship and delight in Him. There is nothing greater that we do in this life and in the one come than to offer God our praise, adoration in all times and places.

On this first Sunday back together, I thought it appropriate and timely for us to praise God for how God has been active in our lives since we last together. And Psalm 103 with addition of Paul’s opening statement provides us with a way to do this. Both would have agreed with Presbyterian forebears’ response to what is our chief in this life.

Praise and enjoyment of God are the highest forms of devotion one can offer to God, who as Paul declares

“has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Psalm 103 is part of a larger collection of hymns of Praise contained in the book of Psalms, namely Psalms 90-106. They are given to us so that we might join the Psalmists in fulfilling our primary purpose of praising God with our lips and with our lives.

The focus and application of Psalm 103 is simple and straight forward as we see from the Psalmist’s opening and closing statements. The Psalm begins in verses 1-2 with…

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits—

And in verses 19-22, the Psalm ends with a call to us to join all of creatures in heaven and on earth in blessing God with our very souls and being.


In between the opening and closing verses of the Psalm, the Psalmist invites us to reflect upon our own experiences of

God’s Forgiveness,
God’s Healing
God’s Rescue
God’s Love and Compassion
God’s Renewal

By connecting our own experiences with God, as the Psalmist does, the better we will be able to fulfill our chief end of glorifying and enjoying God.

I encourage you connect your own experiences of the various benefits or gifts that God has given to us.

First, the Psalmist declares that God is one who has forgiven our sin.

As the Psalm is one of David’s many Psalms, we know where David alludes to previous sins he has committed. Surely his affair with Bathsheba would have been on his mind as he wrote this Psalm and other moments where he failed God and others. David knew both the devastating consequences of those sins, but knew the joy of being forgiven by God.

David expounds at some length in verses 8-12 of the merciful and gracious nature of God. He praises God for not treating or repaying us what we deserved for our sins and failures, but one who gracious removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. It is for me rather symbolic of Christ’s arms outstretched on the cross.

David’s reflections of the presence and experience of God’s mercy and grace lead him to praise God with his entire being.

Think about some sin or failure you have been forced to confront in the past three months. And then think about how you have experienced the wonder and the joy of having your sins forgiven by God. Offer praise to God for that. (pause)

Secondly, the Psalmist declares God is one who heals our diseases.

The Psalmist declares that God is one offers his healing power to his people. Sometimes the healing God gives us is an actual physical healing of particular diseases. Sometimes it is the healing of emotions and memories that allow us to connect with God in a deeper way.

We do not have any recorded events in David’s life where God physically healed him of a physical disease. Perhaps David thought of the many wounds he had experienced while fighting against the enemies of Israel. No matter what experience David may have reflected upon, he knew deep in his soul, the power of God to heal him.
God shows His power and his mercy to us through divine healing. Think now of how has healed you in the past three months, be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Offers praise to God for his healing power in your life. (Pause)

The third benefit David lifts before us is God’s ability to “redeem our lives from the pit.”

“The pit” would have several meanings for David’s listeners. It would have brought up images of a hole in the ground where prisoners of war would have been thrown into much like a jail cell today. It would have also been an image of death.

David in reflecting upon God redeeming his life from the pit, would have thought of the many times God had spared his life. Or perhaps he thought again of how God had restored his life and his kingly authority after he had fallen into the pit of destruction following his adulterous affair.

The Apostle Paul certainly would have viewed David’s statement of God’s redeeming our lives from the pit in light of Christ’s sacrifice and death for our sins on the cross. Paul would have also thought of how God rescued him from angry mob in Thessalonica or how God spared Paul’s life from threats to his life.

The past three have been hard on all of us and God has continued to be gracious to us. Think of how God has pulled you out of moments of frustration and despair. Think of the moments when God has rescued you from mental, emotional, and spiritual pits that weighed heavily upon you. Let us offer those times or rescue to God in praise.

The fourth benefit of which David wants us to reflect upon is God crowning or surrounding us with his love and compassion. This the act of God’s providing us with perspective. Here I believe Paul’s word’s help to understand the characteristic of God that David is calling us to ponder.

In Ephesians 1:8-10, Paul declares….
With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Paul in reflecting upon his life saw the hand of God guiding and directing his life so that they fit with God’s plans and purposes for him. Paul, like David must have wondered why certain events both tragic and wonderful had happened to him.

Only in hindsight and in reflection did those events make sense to them. I suspect we also know this to be true.

Paul saw how his conversion to faith, his imprisonments, the growth and expansion of the Christian church fit into God’s plans.

A number of years ago I read a wonderful book by Mitch Albom, entitled “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” Has anyone read this book? If not, I would recommend you do. Albom’s book is a fictional story of a man who dies tragically and who in heaven is given the opportunity to see how the many events of his life fit together and how God used him to touch the lives of many people.

This time of Covid-19 has brought about many changes in us, our community, and our world already. It will take time for us to know the full impact of the corona virus upon us, the church, and our world. But, we do know that God, who surrounds us with His steadfast love and mercy, will help us to see how our faithfulness to Him has served his greater will. Let us give praise to God for what we have learned from our past that is helping us to be faithful today.

Lastly, David encourages us to Praise God for renewing our strength. God is the one
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

David wants us to remember and ponder the numerous ways God has renewed our strength in times when our energy has been spent under the strains of living and being faithful to God.

For all of us, the Pandemic has drained us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. We have had to focus on what to touch and not touch? How do I go to the grocery store safely? Who can I spend time with face to face? We have learned to use new technologies like Zoom, Facetime, Skype to stay connected to one another. No wonder we are exhausted each day from dealing with details we never had to worry about before.

The Psalmist declaration of God renewing our strength like the eagles points us to Isaiah’s words of comfort to a downhearted and downtrodden Israel.

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;


but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 43:28-31)

Think about the moments when God has renewed your strength in recent months. Think about the ways God used to encourage you, uplift you, push you, and pull you to get you moving again or when your life was in the pit?

Offer Praise to God for the blessing of being strengthened by Him

God has never stopped caring for us or leading us in this Pandemic. It is important that we stop to Praise and Thank God for his many benefits and gifts to us. Praising God reminds us of the grace, the healing, the uplifting, the perspective, and the strengthening we need each day. In lifting up our praises to God, so we are lifted up to continue to glorify and enjoy God as we called to do.

From the book of Jude 24-25, we receive this blessing…
“To him who is able to keep you from falling
and to present you before his glorious presence
without fault and with great joy
to the only God our Saviour
be glory, majesty, power and authority,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all
ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Hymn: “10,000 Reasons”
Words / Music: Matt Redman

Prayers of the People

God of mystery and meaning,
help us to discover your purpose for our lives.
Free us from the limits set by past expectation and experience
and keep us open to all possibilities.


Bless those who extend the boundaries of love and respect,
who show kindness to strangers
and forgiveness to people who hurt them.

Work among us by your Spirit
to heal the invisible wounds of the heart:
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

We pray for those who suffer from
the influence of anger, jealousy, resentment or bitterness,
their own or from others.
Work among us by your Spirit
to create mutual respect and good relations.
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

We pray for your wisdom to inspire politicians, judges, lawyers, and all who form and keep our laws.
Work among us by your Spirit to recognize injustice and respond to create systems of fairness and trust.
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

We pray for your healing for those who are ill or in chronic pain,
for those grieving the many losses of the pandemic,
and for all who feel afraid for the future.
Work among us by your Spirit
to renew hope and sustain our support for each other.
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

We pray for those whose workplaces are recovering from the lockdowns and economic shock during the pandemic.
Give courage to those who have lost so much,
and creativity to those reorganizing their lives.
Work among us by your Spirit to rebuild common life
with an eye to the most vulnerable.
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

 We pray for other churches are returning to In-Person Worship,
Guide all who lead worship
and those who help to make worship happen.
We are thankful for the technologies that has enabled us to reach beyond our normal circle of relationships.
Bear fruit of having new people to come to faith,
of renewing faith in those who wandered away,
and the re-energizing the faith of those
who energy has been spent in your work
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

We pray your blessings of health, peace, and prosperity to our Birthday people this month, Jack, Sara, and Myrna

Grant us the blessing of being the answer to someone’s prayer this week.

Accept the offering we bring to you today and what we will offer to You this week
of our time, talent, treasure, and witness
Lord, in your mercy…
Hear our prayer.

And united us as pray as Jesus taught us:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom 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 kingdom, the power, and the glory
are yours now and forever. Amen.

Offering of our Time, Talent, Treasure to God
Thank you for ongoing gifts to St. Paul’s. And thank you for the sharing of the time, talent and treasure God has given to you to bless, love, serve, and witness to your neighbors. Donations for St. Paul’s can be sent by mail to St. Paul’s, Box 1264, Banff, AB T1L 1B3.

Hymn: “Joyful, joyful we adore thee”
Words: Henry Van Dyke Music: Ludwig van Beethoven
Traditional: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtvxwsiRge4
Not so traditional: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYKP2p6uEkM

Pastoral Charge and Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26)

We go to Glorify and Enjoy God,
to Love our Neighbours,
and to Help others connect with Christ.

The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord be kind and gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favour
and give you peace.
Amen.

We bless each other using the words of the Spirit Song,

Have great week. Stay safe!

Moment for Mission: Sharing in Mission and Ministry Together
Presbyterians across Canada share in the mission and minis try of The Presbyterian Church in Canada through gifts to Presbyterians Sharing. These gifts equip congregations, ministries and presbyteries; create and support new faith communities; embrace local, national and international mission; engage in healing and reconciliation, live out God’s call to justice; support biblical and theological reflection and dialogue; encourage and empower children and youth—and so much more! All of this is made possible by generous gifts to Presbyterians Sharing. When we work together, we can accomplish far more than we ever could individually. Together, we are making a difference.

Presbyterians Sharing puts faith into action, in Canada and around the world

 Prayer Partnership

Monday, July 6 We give thanks for Annemarie Klassen and Anne Saunders who faithfully served on the Cutting Edge of Mission (E.H. Johnson) Committee for the past six years.

Tuesday, July 7 We pray for the Rev. James Pott who serves as the convener of the Committee on Ministry and Pastoral Care for the Presbytery of Ottawa.

Wednesday, July 8 We give thanks for those who have supported our theological colleges with the financial resources needed to educate and equip ministers and leaders for the church and the world.

Thursday, July 9 We pray for families in Haiti who are learning how to combat malnutrition with support from Presbyterian World Service & Development partners.

Friday, July 10 We give thanks for new ministries and congregations starting across the denomination.

Saturday, July 11 We pray for interchurch families in which couples are married across denominational divides and participate together in two Christian communities.