Question: What is one thing that an important woman in your life taught you?
Call to Worship
We gather in the presence of God,
through whom all families on the earth receive life and name.
We come, in the prayer
that the peace of Christ might dwell in our family relationships.
We come in the prayer that the peace of God
might permeate the life of the human family.
Let us glorify and enjoy God together!
Prayers of Adoration and Confession
O God, our God, who has fathered us in the rejoicings of heaven
and who has mothered us with affections from the womb of time itself,
as you made known your own love through a family joyous in Bethlehem
and even more in the larger family at tragic Golgotha,
so we remember your love and lean on it as we gather as your family today.
We bless you that we not left alone,
but by grace you have brought us into the family of faith,
into the bridal church, which is the mother of us all.
Teach us to live as children of hope
for your promise was not just to us
but to generations yet unborn, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
God of mercy, as we gather to celebrate your gift of love
we recall with sorrow the times this week when we have forgotten you
and the times we have failed to live in harmony with each other.
We confess the times this week when our words and actions
have betrayed the goodness you have shown to us
and which have hurt our witness to those around us.
Hear as we confess our own sins in silence
that we may receive your grace and forgiveness.
We confess our sins to you knowing you have already forgiven them
through the suffering and death of Christ our Lord.
Gracious God,
Mend what is broken and help us to make the needed changes in our lives.
Heal the wounded relationships that separate us from you and one another.
And encourage us, freed from the burden of our sins to worship you this morning
and to daily present ourselves to you as an offering of praise to you.
In Christ we pray. Amen
Hymn: “For the beauty of the earth” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTcJ_SQruhE
Words: Folliott S. Pierpoint | Music: DIX. Public Domain
Prayer for Understanding
May your Word, written that we might believe, lead us to faith in Jesus as God’s own child, and bring us to life in Christ’s name. Unite us as people of light who minister to one another out of our common need for your truth. Amen.
Scripture Readings
2 Timothy 1: 1-7 – Thanksgiving for Timothy’s faith from his mother and grandmother.
Acts 18: 1-5, 18-20, 24-28 – Priscilla’s ministry in Corinth.
Sermon: Remembering the Important Women in our Lives
On this Christian Family Sunday, we are given the opportunity to give thanks to God for our mothers, grandmothers, and the other important women of our lives who have fulfilled a motherly role in shaping our faith and our lives.
We remember the words of Jesus who when told his mother was looking for him replied to the crowd gathered around him,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God Is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 34-35)
Think for a moment who are and have been the important women of in your life, who have helped to shape your faith? Who comes to mind?
I want us to reflect upon the three women from the New Testament, who wrote the good news of Jesus Christ on the hearts of the family of God. They fulfilled an important nurturing and motherly role on the generations that followed them.
The first examples of women I bring to your attention are Lois and Eunice, who were the grandmother and mother of Paul’s co-worker and loyal companion Timothy. Paul mentions them in his second letter to Timothy. Paul wrote to encourage Timothy who was pastoring the new church at Ephesus. He does so by reminding Timothy of the faith and devotion of the two women, who more than anyone else had a huge influence on his developing faith.
Paul also used their example to encourage Timothy to live faithfully for Christ at time when Timothy was struggling with a difficult pastoral assignment and with his calling as a pastor and teacher. By recalling the faith of his mother and grandmother, Paul sought to encourage Timothy to move beyond his timid and cautious nature to proclaim Christ boldly and courageously in Ephesus.
Today, I am reminded of the lessons of faith my mother passed on to me. I owe my mother a great debt for teaching me to trust in a God who ultimately works things out for our good. Through her words and actions, she taught me that God is always working behind the scenes even though I may not see God at work.
On numerous occasions when a difficult personal or family situation or challenge arose, my mother’s advice of “don’t worry about it, God is at work and everything will go as they should” were constantly in my mind lifting my spirits.
From my mother, I have also learned the valuable lessons that we are “blest by God in order to be a blessing to others,” which is a common phrase I use and one I seek to live by.
Through watching my mother assist the development of church run social housing projects in her community in California, I learned and was encouraged to fulfil Christ’s command to love one’s neighbor as yourself by giving back to the community where I live to make it a better place for all.
What lessons of faith have your mother and grandmother taught you? And how have you passed on the valuable lessons you have learned on to your children, grandchildren, or nephews and nieces or other children in your life?
Another important woman in the life of the early church was Priscilla, who we read about in Acts chapter 18. We don’t know if Priscilla ever had children or not, but her contribution to the life of several new congregations were known far and wide as Paul mentions her in several time in his letters.
Priscilla along with her husband Aquila were Disciplemakers, or Christian Mentors, who through their patient and consistent teaching helped to raise many people in the faith.
Their important work in the life of the church involved helping the new converts won by Paul through his evangelistic efforts to grow and deepen their faith. Paul called upon them to join him in teaching and raising up strong Christians in the new churches at Corinth and at Ephesus. Paul knew from experience that growing Christians are ones who participate in the mission of the church.
Paul refers to them as his “Co-workers.” Their work freed Paul to devote his efforts to reaching new people for Christ.
The most notable of Priscilla and Aquila’s disciples was a fellow by the name of Apollos. Apollos was a budding preacher, who possessed great charisma, but lacked the depth of understanding of the Christian faith to carry out his preaching ministry to their fullest extent. Therefore, Priscilla and Aquila spent a lot of time with him developing, strengthening, and encouraging his natural and spiritual gifts of preaching. As a result of their work, Corinth gained an apt and proficient preacher.
And because Priscilla and Aquila were so good at their mentoring and discipling ministry, Paul sent them to Ephesus to continue the education of another young preacher named Timothy.
Priscilla and Aquila possessed the qualities all good mentors have. They were available to go where God needed them. They were open to being taught so that they could teach others. And they took a genuine interest in the Christians who God placed in their lives so that could grow strong in their faith and practice.
When you think about the women who have invested their time and energy into helping you grow strong in your faith who do think of? Who have been the Christian mentors in your life?
I remember asking the same question to the women’s group in a former congregation. As the women of the group began to share who were mentors in their lives they began to mention one of the older women in group present that day, named Thelma.
It was amazing to hear the influence that Thelma had in the lives of these women. They pointed to her faith, to her role in helping them to discover the Scriptures, and to live out the faith that was so important to her.
I could see in the face and in the tears on Thelma’s face how important it was to hear how she had blessed the lives of all those women. And maybe a bit of surprise that she had influenced so many there.
At university, a woman who I called Mrs. D poured her life and faith into the college students attending college group at my church. She taught us, prayed with us, fed us with home cooked meals, loved us, and was our friend through the up’s and down’s of university life.
I am thankful that we a congregation have welcomed, fed, loved, prayed with and for, the young adults that come through our doors. In the chaos of life as a young adult working in Banff, we have been a Christian family for them for a short but important period in their life.
I am reminded today of the old saying that it takes a village to raise to raise a child. We are reminded through the example of Priscilla, and others like her that through our baptismal vows we have promised each other to help raise our children and each other in the Christian faith.
I love watching you all with the children of this church and how you know them and encourage them. I am looking forward to when we can be together safely again. In the meantime, I will add some pictures from our children’s (or your) creations or a photo of what you have been doing. Please send your creations and photos to the church email. And we are in the process of organizing a “Zoom Coffee Hour” so we can see each other’s faces and have chat together.
I can still remember the song that my high school Sunday School Teacher Mrs. B. made my friends and I learn in her class, “Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God…” What a gift that song has been to me over the years, even more now in the midst of this pandemic.
It can easily be said of these important women as the famous “Anonymous” once said,
“Mother’s (or the important women in our lives) write on the hearts of their children (be they their own or embraced), what the world’s rough hands cannot erase.”
God gives us many opportunities to pour our lives and faith into children as well as to each other and we will never know in this life how important an influence we have been in their lives.
As we remember the examples of the important women of our lives, those who have mentored us, taught us, and who have been positive role models for us, we remember that God calls us to pass on our faith and to invest our lives in each other. This is an important vow we make to each other as baptized believers in Christ.
On this Christian Family Sunday, we are given an opportunity to reflect upon the important contributions that the women of faith have made in our lives and to thank God for them. And if we are able to do so, to send a note or make a call to express our thanks to them. But, the best thank you of all to God and for the woman who nurtured, guided and helped us is to be faithful followers of Christ, is to be positive Christian mentors to one another.
We are reminded through the lives and faith of Eunice, Lois, and Priscilla that whenever we invest our time, talent, and treasure in building up the body the Christ, we know that we have contributed something powerful and lasting in the lives of each other. Whenever we do so, our faith will be made stronger and the church will be better equipped to Glorify God with every aspect of our lives as carry on the mission God gave us.
Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20–21).
Hymn: “Amigos de Cristo” (# 476) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az8Get7bzzc
Words: Latin American Traditional | Music: Public Domain
Refrain:
Amigos de Cristo;
we’re friends of the Lord; amigos de Cristo;
we’re friends of the Lord,
for we’ve been forgiven,
and we’ve been restored;
amigos de Cristo;
we’re friends of the Lord.
Verse 1:
Friends of the covenant
renewed each morn;
baptized and loving it, we’ve been reborn
Gift of the dove is ours for ever more
Amigos de Cristo
we’re friends of the Lord. (Refrain)
Verse 2:
Born of a family,
the young and old,
we’ll be on hand to see new life unfold.
We understand the need to be made whole.
Amigos de Cristo;
we’re friends of the Lord. (Refrain)
Sharing our Concerns and Thanksgivings
Please feel free to pass on your prayer requests to me through email. You can reach me at stpaulsbanff@telus.net . I lift you all in prayer each day and would like to know how to pray for you and what concerns you.
Prayers of the People
O God, who you are the One who gave us our lives, who nurtures our lives,
and who guides from beginning to end.
You are the One, who calls us into relationship with you through the person and work of Christ.
You are the One, who is present in our lives, in ways known and unknown.
We stand in awe of your greatness and are humbled and thankful for your mercy and love.
We thank you, God, for human life; for talking and moving and thinking together; for common hopes and hardships shared from birth until our dying.
Thank you, God, for marriage; for the mystery and joy of flesh made one; for mutual forgiveness and burdens shared; for secrets kept in love.
Thank you, God, for family both natural and adopted; for living together and eating together; for family amusements and family pleasures.
Thank you, God, for friends through location, work, shared interests, shared goals and aspirations; for exchanges of good humor, stories shared, and encouragement given.
Thank you, God, for children; for their energy and curiosity; for their brave play and startling frankness; for their sudden sympathies.
Thank you, God, for the young; for their high hopes; for their irreverence toward worn out values; for their search for freedom; for their solemn vows.
Thank you, God, for growing up and growing old; for wisdom deepened by experience; for rest in leisure; and for time made precious by its passing.
Thank you, God, for the important women in our lives, those who have raised us, nurtured us, mentored us, guided us, and who have us to you through their words and actions.
Thank you, God, for your help in times of doubt and sorrow;
for healing our diseases; for preserving us in temptation and danger;
we pray for the important work being of healing, supplying, comforting, encouraging, educating, researching, entertaining, governing, and visioning being done during this time of Covid-19.
Thank you, God, for the church into which we have been called;
for the good news we receive by Word and Sacrament;
for our life together in the Lord;
for these challenging times that are humbling us, shaping us, stretching us, and helping us
to depend more fully on your strength, wisdom, love,
and to rediscover your loving plans and missional purposes for your church.
We praise you, God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
We ask these things in the name of the Risen Lord who taught us to pray…
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
In this Easter Season, we celebrate the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that God has given to us. The gifts we offer to God of our time, talent and treasure reflect God’s goodness to us flowing into us and outward to those around us. The sharing of God’s gifts to us witness to the hope we have in Christ Jesus, our Risen Lord.
There are many ways and places to give, so give generously and wisely. Donations for St. Paul’s can be sent by mail to: St. Paul’s, Box 1264, Banff, AB T1L 1B3.
If you are wanting to make an Interac e-transfer, then please contact the church (stpaulsbanff@telus.net) for instructions as to how to do this.
Hymn: “When the poor ones” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKSF8M2TvSA
or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyPEhkW4psk
Words: Miguel Manzano. | Music: El Camino
Pastoral Charge and Blessing (Romans 15:5)
As the Family of God,
we go into this new week,
sent by Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit
to bless, love, serve, and witness in Christ’s name.
May the God
of steadfastness and encouragement
Grant you to live
in such harmony with one another,
In accordance with Jesus Christ,
So that together you may with one voice
Glorify the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Congregational Blessing (offered to one anther)
Those who wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength;
They shall rise up on wings as eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint;
Help us Lord; help us Lord, in your way.
Those who live the risen life
shall renew their strength;
They shall rise up on wings as eagles;
They shall run and not be weary;
They shall walk and not faint;
Help us Lord; help us Lord in your way.