Mission Awareness Sunday 2016
“Reaching Out Together in Love”

Scripture	

Philippians 1: 3-11 – Paul’s prayer for the Philippians
	Matthew 5: 13-16 – Let your light shine
	Exodus 3: 1-12a – Called to serve
        	Psalm 96 responsive 

Hymn suggestions

Book of Praise (1999)

#757 – Come sing, O church in joy!
#759 – In loving partnership
#674 – In the bulb there is a flower
#648 – I’m gonna live so God can use me
#641 – One more step along the world I go
     	#635 - Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You
        	#489 - Help Us to Help Each Other, Lord

  	Book of Praise (1972):
                                         
#391 - Jesus Bids Us Shine
      	#493 - Help Us to Help Each Other Lord
       	#477 - Lord Speak to Me
#474 - Take My Life and Let It Be                                                                                                                               #382 - Christ for the World We Sing

Call to Worship:
	                    
L: This is the day that the Lord has made!
P: Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
L: Come together as Christ’s people, with wonder and with praise.                     
P: We are called to serve, and called to reach out.
L: You are the light of the world.
P: Let our light shine! May God fill us with compassion as we worship.
Prayers
		
Prayer of Adoration and Confession –   (could be in unison)

Creator God, we see your awesome beauty and power all around us:
	-in sunlight glinting on freshly fallen snow
	-in new spring life and autumn leaves
	-in the winds of winter storms, and
	-in the ocean’s roar.	
Glorious God, your faithfulness is everlasting and your glory stretches through the heavens. You have created and shaped us in love. You have begun a good work in us, and we are grateful.
And yet Lord, sometimes we take you for granted. We ignore your voice and forget your way. 
Out of anger, we say the wrong things and hurt those closest to us.
Out of ignorance, we accuse and blame others for faults which lie in ourselves.
Out of selfishness, we make bad choices that hurt us, and others and you.
Out of greed, we pollute the Earth you created for us. 

Merciful God, we admit that we get discouraged. We underestimate your light within us. Forgive us when we turn away from the needs of others. Help us to reach out in faith, and to be generous. Empower us to be your beacon of light in a troubled world, through Christ, Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness – Rejoice and be glad! Our God is full of mercy, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. Through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Dare to believe in the gift of a new beginning, and be at peace. 

Offering: 
 God has richly blessed us. With gladness and thanksgiving let us present our tithes and offerings.

Offering Prayer – Generous God, we offer the gifts of our lives, our time, our talents, and our money. Receive them to carry out the work of your kingdom, near and far. May your light shine through these gifts and through our service, in Christ, Amen.

Prayers of the People 

God of hope, we give you thanks for all the saints, past and present, who shape us and encourage us. Enable us to grow in faith and to be the body of Christ in the world. We are grateful for ‘new worlds’ into which we step, meeting new people, and learning about new realities. 

God of love, shine your light in dark places close to home and around the world. We pray for all who are too weary to pray, for all who are ill and each one who cares for them, for the sick and anxious, and all who feel alone. We pray for each one who mourns the loss of a loved one, or the end of a dream. Grant strength and comfort, and open our eyes to a new beginning.

God of wisdom, guide the ministry of the WMS and the AMS. Enable our groups to learn about mission, to build relationships, to be generous in sharing our gifts, and to let our light shine as we reach out in difficult places.

Fill us with your love that it may overflow as we reach out to the vulnerable in our communities and around the world. Grant us confidence as your children and courage as your servants to learn about people who are different from us. Be with communities burdened by poverty, disease or war, and with refugees fleeing their homeland. Bring peace and relief.

God of this broken world, we give thanks for moments of healing and new beginnings. Bring your forgiveness to couples where relationships are strained. Bring your peace to families who are overcome by the demands of work, play and service. Be with us as our communities and churches change, that we may see a new way forward, by your grace.  

In the silence, we lift up to you those known to us who are in need of your love and hope… (time of silence).  All this we pray in the name of Christ, the Lord of love and life, who taught us to pray, saying together, Our Father….

Benediction
Go now into the mission field and may the God of peace strengthen your inner being for every good work. May the blessing of God Almighty Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon you and dwell within you this day and evermore. Amen
Children’s Time:       Don’t Just Assume  

Note: The following play was prepared by the Senior Sunday School class and their teacher, Jennifer MacLennan, Bethel Presbyterian Church, Scotsburn, NS.  They used an idea in the learning/sharing experience for children/youth, Partners in Hope: Working for Peace in Afghanistan, 2012 by Rebecca Sherbino p.18-19. The play was originally acted out at the Atlantic Synod Youth Event, May 2013. 

Have youth, children or adults act out the play or tell it as a story.

Scene 1: The Lunch
Nick (youth) is sitting on the ground crying. He has on a scruffy T-shirt and jeans with holes in them, and his backpack is sitting next to him.   Three girls (youth), Felicia, Graicen and Elizabeth stroll by and notice Nick is crying.

Graicen - Isn’t that the new kid?

Elizabeth - Yes, I think his name is Nick.

Felicia - Why is he crying?

Graicen - Maybe he’s hungry.

The girls walk over to him as Elizabeth reaches into her lunch bag and pulls out an apple.

Elizabeth - You look hungry. Have my apple. It will make you feel better.

Nick looks up at the girls briefly as they pass him the apple. He takes it, but then tosses it away, continuing to cry. The girls look at each other confused. Shrugging their shoulders, they walk away.

Scene 2: Shirt off his back
Two boys, Tyler and Mason, are strolling by when they see Nick crying.

Tyler - That guy looks like he’s crying.

Mason - He’s probably cold, he’s only wearing a t-shirt.

Tyler - Here kid, put this on, it will keep you warm.

Tyler starts to throw the sweater to Nick, but Nick shakes his head no. Tyler and Mason look at each other and shrug their shoulders and start to walk away.

Mason - You can’t say you didn’t try, Tyler.

Scene 3: Spare Change   
Nick continues sitting on the ground with his head down crying. Three girls come in giggling and notice Nick crying.

Tara: That looks like the kid I saw standing with his mother outside the line for the food bank.

Macaela: Maybe he’s crying because he can’t afford the fee for the school trip.

Molly: I have $10 I made babysitting. I’ll give it to him. Maybe that will make him stop crying.

She walks over to Nick and drops her money on the ground next to him.

Molly: I thought you may need this more than I do. Perhaps now you can go on the trip with us.

Nick grabs the money and throws it back at her. Molly looks over at the others and shrugs her shoulders then takes the money back. The three of them walk away.

Scene 4: Can we help you?
Nick continues sitting on the ground crying. Three boys come by throwing a ball to one another. They notice Nick on the ground crying and stop throwing the ball. They go over to him kneeling down next to him.

Greg - Hi, my name’s Greg. You’re Nick, right?

Nick - Yes.

Dylan - We noticed you were crying. Are you okay?

Nick - I don’t think so.

Gillis - What’s wrong? Can we help you?

Nick - I tripped on this curb and I think I sprained my ankle.

Greg - Let us help you up and we’ll take you to a doctor.

Scene 5: Ask and you will receive
The three boys pick Nick up and carry him to a clinic where he gets to see the Doctor.

Receptionist - Can I help you?

Greg - Nick needs to see a doctor.

Receptionist - Take a seat over there. The doctor will be out shortly.

Doctor - Hi boys, what seems to be the problem?

Dylan - Nick thinks he may have a sprained ankle, the left one.

Doctor - We’ll have you on the move again in no time. 
(He feels around his ankle, bending and twisting his foot, and then he wraps the ankle).
Nick begins to smile and wipes his eyes.

Nick – Thank you doctor, I feel much better. (He turns to the other boys.) Thank  you guys for asking me first what I needed instead of assuming like the others did.

AND/ OR 	

Mission is when we reach out and help people in need, and share the love of God with them. 

Sometimes, we do this through partnerships. Do you ever have partners, partners at school, and partners in sports or afterschool activities? When you have a partner, you work together to do a project or learn a skill. When we help someone (like the youth did in the play), we first need to be sure of what they need. How do we figure that out? We talk to them. We ask them. When your friend is in a really bad mood, you ask what you can do to help, and you listen to what they say.

What about when the person you want to help is far away, like a child in Malawi or Afghanistan? You learn about where they live and what they need from people who work with them every day.  Through the Presbyterian Church, we have partners who help us to do this.  

The WMS and AMS are amazing groups of people in our church. They learn about people in need around the world and in their community. They ask questions. They find out from people at PWS&D, Presbyterian Church in Canada International Ministries or local organizations what people need. They talk about it and pray about it, and then they share their money, prayers and their time to help where they believe is most needed. WMS/AMS encourage the rest of us in the church to learn about those people in need, to pray for them, and to give. 

When we love people and help them as partners, we share God’s love with them. Jesus said we have a light inside of us that is from God. When we love others, we let our light shine. Did you ever give someone a great big smile and they smiled too? It’s kind of like that. Let your light shine as together we help people in need.

Prayer: Loving God, we are glad that we can work together to help men and women, children and youth who are nearby and far away. Show us how to let our light shine. Give us courage to ask people what they need, in Jesus’ name, Amen.  
Sermon                          Reaching Out Together In Love

We can imagine the early church community of Philippi gathering together in the market square to hear a letter read from their leader, Paul. He has journeyed with them since their formation. They miss him. They remember his teachings and his encouragement. They are excited and eager to hear his words, like the anticipation we feel when an email arrives from an old friend or mentor. 

The beginning of Paul’s letters in Scripture is beautiful. Unlike the emails that we send today, Paul takes his time, revealing a prayer. His opening words are full of promise, hope, and thanksgiving, as he reflects on the gifts and strengths of that particular community of faith. He gives thanks to God for them, and for the way that they, as a faith community, reveal Christ’s light to the world. 

Every one of Paul’s letters begins with thanksgiving. It was the style of correspondence at the time, but it is nowhere more evident than in this letter to the Philippians. It contains the longest greeting recorded in scripture. Paul’s words reflect an intimate relationship as he reconnects with the faithful Christians in Philippi.

Before long, Paul points to the challenges that are ahead. He empowers them to be ready and faithful in the crucial time to come.   Philippians is written by Paul as he is in prison, persecuted for his beliefs as a Christian. Paul’s faith is real, and is found in the nitty gritty of a troubled world. He expresses the challenge and heartache of being a person of faith.   The letter is full of hope even as he writes from this difficult place.  

Mission is all about reaching out to difficult places. We reach out to groups of people we could easily ignore. As it says in Living Faith:

“Mission is service, a call to help people in need and to permeate all of life with the compassion of God.” (Living Faith 9.1.3). 

In reaching out, we share the good news of Christ. Rooted in our hope in Jesus, we share God’s love by our actions or by our words.

Reaching out begins with love. It begins with the strength we find in learning and serving together. As Paul whispers from prison, he prays that the Philippians will overflow in their love for God. He goes on to talk about active love lived out in a Christian community. 

He writes, “May your love overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight, and help you determine what is best.” Phil 1:9,10a.  

Sometimes, we need to love before we know. We need to serve before we discern.
When we are willing to reach out in love, we find ourselves in places and meeting people we never expected.   By God’s grace, we step into a whole new world, a world that we never expected to enter. 

Rev. Lara Scholey, a minister in rural Nova Scotia, feels blessed to have stepped into a few different worlds during her life - the world of disability and rehabilitation, when her father became a quadriplegic; the world of multiple children and their parents when she gave birth to triplets; the world of relief and development through travel with PWS&D. 

She says, “When you enter a ‘new world’, you think, How did I never know that this world existed before? In the case of disability, How did I not realize there were rehab hospitals where people stayed for months, and are taught to move or dress or function in new ways?”

In time, we may step out of a ‘world’. It may no longer touch us as directly as it did before. But we are forever changed, transformed by the experience of being in the midst of it. 

Every one of us has been enabled by God to step into worlds that we never expected to enter. Worlds of new careers, of parenthood or relationships, worlds of grief or illness, worlds of leadership, mission and service. 

Each time we step into a new world, as people of faith, we seek to figure out what we are being called to do as our eyes are opened. When our compassion grows, we gain knowledge and insight. We discern new relationships and new ways to reach out. 

Mission is how we reach out in faith. We learn about families fleeing Syria as refugees, or women in Malawi giving birth under difficult circumstances. When we talk about what it must be like for young people to train for ministry in the turbulent Middle East, or what it must be like for men facing drug addiction who struggle to find a way out, we learn about new worlds and are moved to respond. 

Doing this work together is so much more powerful than doing it on our own. Whether we connect with people through technology or in person, we are moved and challenged and enlightened. We are touched by the Spirit as we talk to one another, as we combine our resources to respond to the most vulnerable in need. 

Paul draws strength in prison by knowing that others are praying for him. You may have experienced a time in your life when you were overcome with illness or grief, and others cared for you. They lifted you up in prayer at a time when you barely had the energy to pray yourself, and this brought you strength. 

When we travel to other countries, on behalf of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, people tell us that it matters to them that people in Canada are praying for them, and care enough to help them. 

When we support projects through PWS&D, Presbyterians Sharing, or a local mission through the WMS or the AMS, it is not simply a transfer of money. Members are educated, a relationship is built, and trips are made by WMS or AMS members or PCC staff to meet our partners and the recipients. People are asked what they need. They draw strength from our prayers and our support. We draw strength from knowing them and hearing their stories. 

Lara Scholey says, “I was talking to a little girl after church in Indore, North India. I said that we were praying for Christians in North India. I was surprised when she thanked me and said, ‘We will pray for your church in Canada.’ When I meet our church’s partners in Malawi, India, Afghanistan or Haiti, I learn that they are strengthened by our faith and our mission. Being in their presence, I am strengthened and blessed by their determination, their faith, and their willingness to reach out and help the most vulnerable in their communities.”

Through PWS&D, mothers gather at prenatal clinics in rural Afghanistan to support one another by sharing their stories and frustrations. Farmers in Guatemala teach one another new farming practices, and volunteer home-based care workers meet to share challenges and successes as they care for people with HIV-AIDS in their own community.

Relationships are also built in local mission and outreach. In love for our community, we share time and resources, and figure out how to meet needs. 

Every time children excitedly bound off the bus and down the stairs of a church on a weekday afternoon, the Spirit is present. 

Every time a group of youth gather and fill a members’ home with talking and laughter, it invigorates all of us with new life, even though we may never see them on Sunday morning. 

Amid the meal shared, the games and stories, they learn about girls their age going to school in Afghanistan, or about youth like them who find themselves at a local homeless shelter. Youth are encouraged to share what they have learned with friends who are vulnerable. 

Coins are gathered to help children around the world to go to school. Children share their well-loved toys with a local organization that gives them to families in need. 

During the discussion, children and youth ask questions -- serious questions -- about mission and faith. Love and fun overflows, and these relationships lead to knowledge, insight and the desire to respond. Children, youth, and adult leaders are blessed.

The needs of our communities and the world can be overwhelming. We may not feel like we have enough resources, energy or know-how to reach out in mission, but we have been called by God to discern our role and to play our part. We have access to amazing resources. We discover an ability to learn, and a font of wisdom already present in our congregations and mission groups. By learning from one another, beginning with our overflow of compassion as Paul suggests, we discern how to do mission locally and globally. 

As we do, we seek to bring about the Kingdom that Christ spoke so much about, where the last are first and there is abundant life for all. We let Christ’s light shine through us, and we see people around us, near and far, similar and different, as God’s beloved children.

We may not travel to far away countries and communities. Each one of us is being called by God to walk into places of challenge and chaos, to reach out in compassion, and to pray for peace. 

We are called to shine a light of love and hope in difficult places – perhaps at the bedside of a family member who is depressed, with a youth who has gotten into trouble, with a friend distressed by the abrupt end to a relationship, with a parent who grieves the child they lost through estrangement or illness, with a woman who grieves the child they were never able to have. We have walked such paths, and stepped into different worlds, and with God’s help, that journey will continue.

We are called to reach out to the vulnerable in our communities and around the world. The AMS and WMS enable us to work together to do mission. In our small groups, we learn together and challenge one another to be generous and to reach out. Rooted in our love for Jesus Christ, we carry out this work.  

(Share your group’s work during the past year).

As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are being present in His name - praying, helping, hoping, and having faith.  
Paul challenges the Philippians and all of us to continue our good work, and to grow in love. He wrote, ‘the God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ.’  With the eyes of faith, it is possible. Paul is confident in God’s activity among the Philippians in the early church long ago. His words speak to us today.   

Live out your many callings to love and work and serve. 

How can we as God’s people, as a church, as WMS or AMS groups, overflow in love and reach out in mission? The God who began a good work in you will finish what He started. 

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Thanks to Rev. Lara Scholey for her help in the preparation of the Mission Awareness Service and to Lori Kim den Otter and members of the Mission Education Committee.