Welcome
Thanks for reading the following worship service.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances there is no worship video this week.
Call to Worship (John 1:14)
And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
No one has ever seen God.
It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Let us worship God who has lavished us with His Grace!
Opening Prayers
Transforming God,
you take the night and give us day.
You take our strife and give us peace.
You take our sadness and give us joy.
You take our fear and give us courage.
You take death and give us new life.
You give grace beyond all expectation;
you give love beyond all imagination;
you give and you give and you give.
So we praise and adore you as Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit,
One God, Three in One.
Compassionate and loving God,
we confess we have not always lived faithfully.
We fill our days with things that do not matter.
We seek simple answers to complex issues.
We are weighed down by many tasks
yet we cannot sort out our priorities.
We fail to hear your call on our lives.
Hear our silent confession and forgive us, merciful God,
(A time of silence is kept.)
In Jesus’ name we offer our prayers and ourselves to you in worship. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Friends remember the promise St. Paul declared:
Neither death nor life, nor things present nor things to come
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us rejoice that, no matter what is happening around us,
no matter what we have done,
God’s deep love will never let us go.
Thanks be to God!
Hymn: Seek ye first
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things
Shall be added unto you
Allelu, alleluia!
Ask and it shall be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door shall be
Opened unto you
Allelu, alleluia
We do not live by bread alone,
But by ev’ry word
that proceeds
From the mouth of God
Allelu, alleluia
Prayer for Understanding
Eternal God, in the reading of scripture, let us hear your voice;
in our reflections on your Word, let us know your will.
Then, in the living of our lives, let us show your love,
we pray in the name of Jesus, your Living Word, Amen.
Scripture
Luke 15:20-32 A father welcomes his two lost sons
Psalm 139:7-18 Psalm of David – No where to escape God.
SERMON: Weighty Meditations About God
In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
WE continue today to look at David’s meditations about God in Psalm 139. The first part of the Psalm David shares his meditations of God how knows and our situations completely and intimately. This leads David to exclaim…
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it. (v. 6)
We move on from David’s reflections on the God who knows us intimately in verses 1-6 to his reflects on how God who is always present with us in verses 7-12.
David begins his reflections by asking two important questions in verse 7:
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence? (Ps 139:7)
By asking the questions you get the feeling that David had attempted to try and get away God or to hide from God at various moments in his life.
Is David reflecting upon being chosen by God to King of Israel when he 10-15 years old while the current King still reigned.
Was this one of those times when David wanted to pack his bags and leave town to avoid his calling?
David was not alone in wanting to flee from God at that point. A reluctant prophet named Jonah would not just think about leaving town after God called him to a difficult task, but would actually run away from God.
Jonah discovered as David did that that there is no place one can flee from the presence of God.
Or I wonder when David shares his questions if he was thinking of how God caught up to him and confronted him through the Prophet Nathan for having an adulterous affair with Bathsheba and for having her husband Uriah killed.
Here David followed in the footsteps of his ancestor Adam who tried to cover up his sins and hide from God in the garden after disobeying God.
The two simple questions David asks in verse 7 are loaded with examples from David’s life, other Biblical personalities, and I suspect from our own lives too, when we have tried hide ourselves from God for various reasons.
Where can we go from God’s spirit?
Or where can we flee from God’s presence? (Ps 139:7)
Think for a moment how and when you have tried to hide from God or to flee from God’s presence?
• Was it a new challenge or commitment?
• Was it a sin that the Holy Spirit was pressing you to face up to?
• Was it a time when you were tired of following God?
We all try to flee from God emotionally, spiritually, and physically as others in the Bible did and others who we know or read about. We can justify our distances from God by making excuses or by blaming God or others or our circumstances or avoiding the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
You can try to distance yourself from God, but as David learned and others like him have learned, there is no place to flee or hide from God.
This like God’s complete knowledge of us and our situation can be either comforting or disturbing for us.
David follows his initial question of whether one can escape God’s loving, ever searching and knowledgeable gaze with three poetic statements of God’s persistent presence in our lives.
When David mentions Heaven and She’ol it suggests there is no place in the spiritual world to hide from God, be it the spiritual realm of God in heaven or the spiritual realm of the dead in a place called She’ol.
One can try and flee from God spiritually by relating to God as an object of study rather than God to be known personally.
Or one can distance themselves from God by asking a ton of questions about God and not pursuing truthful answers to those questions.
One can distance themselves from God by resisting any urge or impulse of the Holy Spirit who works to push us toward God.
One e can simply reject God outright or ignore God as if God were dead.
David reminds us that God refuses to let anyone distance themselves from Him in any way through spiritual or non-spiritual means.
The beloved parable of the Lost Sons in Luke 15 reminds us how our God lovingly invites both prodigal and older sons into his Kingdom party, both of which are both lost and distant from Him in their own ways.
David mentions the wings of the morning or the farthest limits of the sea, David is referring to the belief people had in his day that the sun literally flew across the sky and rested at the furthest place they could imagine.
David is saying that there is no place physically you can imagine where you can hide from God.
But we know people who don’t believe that.
One of things I have observed over the years is that one of the hardest times for people to be in church is after the death of a loved one. I understand the emotional reasons why some want and need some distance from God and God’s people after a death.
Some have a difficult time showing emotion before others or they feel the pressure to get over their grief quickly. Some don’t want to be in a place that reminds them of the loved one. Some blame God for not making their loved one well.
It was hard for me to get back to leading worship after my Mom died before Christmas in 2010. All I wanted to do was to get away from everything and everyone and just grieve.
And yet I also came to know that despite part of me that wanted to flee from God and from God’s people for a time, that what I needed was to be reminded of God’s caring presence through God’s people.
And my prayer for people after the death of their loved one is that the time away from worship will be temporary. Unfortunately, however, that is not always the case. Sadly, sometimes people never come back to church and continue to put distance between themselves and God after a death of loved one.
They think they can hurt God by staying away. But we know that the only person who gets hurt doing that is the one who distances themselves from God.
David also in the midst of reminding us that there is no place to flee from God mentions light and darkness as potential hiding places.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you. (Ps 139:11–12).
This is a reference to the dark moments in our lives life when we feel that God is distant from us. Perhaps life is not headed in the right direction as you had hoped. The struggle to stay faithful increases when you don’t see the results of personal and spiritual growth.
Or you look at the foolishness of our world and wonder when are people going finally realize we have make sacrifices for each other for the Covid infections to drop? Feeling distan
ed from God increases when fatigue of all kinds sets in as many of us are currently experiencing.
Where God is in all this? Where is God in our world? Where is God when we need Him?
David counters those thoughts and feeling of trying to flee from God by shifting his focus on how God fearfully and wonderfully creates us all. David declares in verses 14-16 that God is one who knew us before we were conceived, knew us as we were being formed in our mother’s wombs, and knew our lives before we would experience them.
When our minds start to drift if God cares or not about us or if God doesn’t care about what is going on, then we would be wise to consider David’s meditations about God’s care for those whom He has fearfully and wonderfully made.
The Son’s invasion into our world announced loud and clear that there is no place we can hide from God’s seeking glances, compassionate embraces, and eternal perspective of our lives at any point on our journeys in this life and the next. This is where our ultimate comfort lies.
May we join with David this week in his meditations about God…
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you. AMEN!
Mission Moment – Together, We are Making a Difference!
Presbyterians Sharing is about mission. It’s about ministry. It’s about working together, to share the good news of the gospel in Canada and around the world. Through our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing, we revitalize churches and support innovative worship. We empower young people to grow in their faith, and prepare leaders to serve the church. We care for God’s creation and advocate for human rights. We walk with Indigenous Peoples on a journey of healing and reconciliation. We work with international partners to support leadership development, Christian education and evangelism. And so much more! When we work together, we can accomplish more than we can imagine. Together, we are making a difference.
Prayers of the People
We thank you, God of all life and each life,
that you are with us every day, in each challenge and opportunity.
In our weakness, you are strength.
In our darkness, you are light on the journey.
In our questions, you are wisdom for our choices.
Stay with us in these days when so much seems uncertain,
and help us to serve you faithfully, when and as we are able.
God of loving kindness:
we give you thanks for moments of joy and celebration in our lives
even amidst the ongoing pandemic,
for love given and received,
for friendships which bring us meaning and happiness,
even at a distance,
and for family members who show us glimpses of unconditional love.
In all our relationships and interactions,
keep us mindful of your call to see you in one another.
God of the nations,
we pray for our country and the countries of this world,
as we all struggle to face the choices COVID-19 sets before us.
Guide those who frame laws and shape policy,
and those who keep the peace and administer justice.
There are so many new challenges to consider
and we pray your wisdom will open our leaders’ minds and hearts
to develop more equitable ways of ordering our communities.
God of peace,
we remember with sadness the dangerous divisions between nations
and the games leaders play to get the better of each other.
By your Holy Spirit, move in places torn by war and violence,
to protect the vulnerable
and those who advocate for justice to prevail.
Show us how to be peacemakers in troubled times.
God of healing:
we pray for those who are suffering in these difficult days of pandemic,
for those who mourn the loss of someone or something dear.
Draw close to all who fear the future.
Surround each one with your love
and show us how to bring comfort and support
into situations of hurt and pain.
God of life:
you hold all souls in your loving care, the dead as well as the living.
We thank you for your saints of every age who continue to inspire us,
and for all who have meant the world to us and now live with you.
Keep us in communion with them
and, at the last, bring us all to dwell together in your light.
And now we pray in the words that Jesus taught us, saying:
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.
Song: Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go
1 Forth in your name, O Lord, I go,
my daily labor to pursue,
you only, Lord, resolved to know
in all I think or speak or do.
2 The task your wisdom has assigned
here let me cheerfully fulfill;
in all my work your presence find,
and prove your good and perfect will.
3 Thee may I set at my right hand,
whose eyes my inmost secrets view,
and labour on at your command
and offer all my work to you.
4 Give me to bear thy easy yoke,
in evrry moment watch and pray,
and still to things eternal look
and hasten to thy glorious day.
Charge and Benediction
We go into this new week,
With the Blessings of the Father,who formed us in the womb,
Of Christ, who seeks and redeems us,
Of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to praise God
in times of trial and time of rejoicing. Amen.
Congregational Blessing
“The Peace of Christ be with You”
Prayer Partnership
November 15 (Legacy Giving Sunday) We give thanks for and remember the many faithful stewards who have believed in God’s church and seeded new missions and ministries through legacy gifts.
Monday, November 16 We pray for the ministries and mission of the Presbytery of Cape Breton in N.S.
Tuesday, November 17 We give thanks for the Church Council on Justice and Corrections, and pray that their work to address the healing of victims, offenders and their communities as they strive for justice is blessed and fruitful.
Wednesday, November 18 We pray for seminary students, staff and faculty at St. Andrew’s Hall in Vancouver, B.C., Presbyterian College in Montreal, Que., and Knox College in Toronto, Ont.
Thursday, November 19 We pray for children and young people who must think about the future in uncertain times.
Friday, November 20 (Universal Children’s Day) Kisemanto—Great Spirit, we pray for wisdom to understand the spirituality of Indigenous ancestors of Turtle Island, who thought of Earth as our Mother and preserved her gifts for the next seven generations of our grandchildren.
Saturday, November 21 We pray for Samuel House in Micske, Romania, a safe place—supported by Presbyterians Sharing—where disadvantaged children can come to play, study, eat nutritious meals and receive Christian care.