These pamphlets can be altered for the use of your congregation. They were made by our minister Rev. Sandy Sutherland.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

 

A Christian Church, A Family of Faith

The Bass River Pastoral Charge

The Presbyterian Church in Canada

St. Mark’s, Bass River; St. James, Beersville; St. Andrew’s, Clairville & Zion, West Branch

Organists: Heather Morton, Marly Sutherland, Rodney Girvan, Dolly MacDonald, Shanece Wilson

Minister: Rev. Alexander [Sandy] D. Sutherland; B.A., B.Th. M.Div

Manse #: 506-785-4383 Cell #: 506-521-0705 Email: [email protected] Twitter: thebrpc

Bulletin Announcements:  Cathy Little @ Fillmore Trucking #785-1083

www.pccweb.ca/brpc

ORDER OF SERVICE

3^rd Sunday of Pentecost

June 26^th 2011

Welcome & Announcements

 

Call to Worship Refiner’s Fire

Prayer of Approach & Confession & The Lord’s Prayer (NBoP 831; BoP 605)

 

Opening Praise: NBoP 670 Amazing Grace

BoP 258

 

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 15 [BoP 620]

¹ LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

² He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

³ He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

⁴ In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

⁵ He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

KJV

 

Children’s story – A cool drink of water [Matthew 10:42]

Children’s Hymn: songs 119 Higher Ground

 

Scripture Readings:

NT – Jeremiah 28:5-9

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the LORD, ⁶Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the LORD do so: the LORD perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the LORD’S house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place. ⁷Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; ⁸The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. ⁹The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the LORD hath truly sent him. KJV

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⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD. ⁶He said, “Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD’S house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. ⁷Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: ⁸From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.”

NIV

Epistle – Romans 6:12-23

¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. ²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. ²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. KJV

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¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. ¹⁸You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

NIV

 

Hymn of Illumination: NBoP 381 Holy Spirit, hear us

BoP 263

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Matthew 10:40-42

⁴⁰He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. ⁴¹He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴²And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. KJV

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⁴⁰“He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. ⁴¹Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. ⁴²And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”

NIV

 

Sermon: Who gets in?

It’s easy at the movies and sports events. You pay the fee, you get the ticket, you get in; and there you get be part of the event for a set period of time. It is not all that different for clubs and social groups; you pay the dues and fees, you go through a ceremony perhaps and you are in for as long as that fee entitles you to membership.

Now, churches have been accused of being like social groups, and some churches function more like theatres or sporting events including having the donation basket at the door; not all that different from the stadiums they are modeled after.

The rather flip wit of Groucho Marx frustrated any group that was in any way conservative throughout the mid 20^th century. In a rather poignant critique of attitude and life of the religious life, he said “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member” And to those who view the church in this way I am very glad to say that in our case this is absolutely NOT true.

You in yourself, and I in myself for that matter, do not have all that it takes to be the Christian that God wants us to be in what we bring to that door. As far as deserving goes, you cannot fill this offering plate enough, to earn your way into this fellowship let alone into heaven. Neither can I for that matter. As far as deserving goes, and being worthy of member ship, this should be a very, very empty building. Our congregational roll should be so small that there would be no one to take it. Church, and church membership is not something you earn based on your contributions, or time in Sunday school or bible studies. It is not something you are qualified for based on your smarts, or your strength or your singing ability. But there are some people that think that is all churches are looking for these days.

But not just these days; because as soon as we start looking back through the legacy of the church we discover the constant struggle of our faith to define itself against the sin in people’s lives, knowing that the people in the pews and pulpits are sinners too. What is the difference between the good people who are outside those doors, and the good people who are on the inside of those doors? More to the point, what’s the difference between the people who no one would imagine deserves heaven on the outside of the church and the sin laden sorry souls that are on the inside of those doors?

This is one of the major problems the church has with God’s forgiveness and the appearance of goodness in the world, and especially in the church; God’s forgiveness makes all those good works something secondary. It does not make them unimportant or unappreciated, but God’s glory is in God’s forgiveness and God’s love. To say, well I can make it on my own thank you God, is to say your own righteousness, and your own understanding, and your own strength will be enough. Your own abilities by themselves are not enough to give you a happy life in this life, now how are they supposed to propel you into a joyous everlasting life?

The church in Rome had sent Paul a whole list of problems, and the problems they did not send letters to Paul to get some advice on Paul had heard about from some of the others who had visited. Their main problem was this one about sin and forgiveness. If they were forgiven, and God would always forgive them, then why should they worry about sinning?

I want you to consciously try something. First, list those things in your life that your are convinced are sins. And everyone has them, so this is something everyone can try. You can write the list down, and I suggest you do that, but if you cannot write the list down then I suggest you keep an honest mental hold on that list of your sins. Now, take that list to God in prayer, and really ask for forgiveness.

Now, when you sin one of those sins again I want  you to ask for forgiveness; and not just one of those hunch your shoulders kind of prayers either: “Oops. Sorry God. Be a pal and forgive me, eh?” Try using a real prayer, and end with something like ‘In Jesus name’.

Then, and you might stumble with the sinning a couple of times, and these are sins that you have identified, not some judgment I breathing down from the pulpit. But you will likely stumble a couple of times, but you know what, you keep asking God honestly for forgiveness, and sinning becomes a much harder thing to do.

How does this happen? Well it is because you are not letting sin be your Lord, you are asking God to be your Lord and God will free you from the bondage of sin so you don’t feel that compulsion to sin any more. And God’s forgiveness is more than I can offer you for whatever offences you may have committed against me or grace you can dish out for the debts you’ve got against or from your neighbour.

Who gets in? Anyone can come through those doors and sit down. They can come and sit beside you, it does not make them church. But by crossing that threshold they are saying that they are willing to take the chance and the risk of finding forgiveness in their lives for the sins that have weighed them down; and then they start to become members of the church, they start gathering with the church ands stop being a church to themselves.

There are people who spend their whole lives going into church buildings, and have never once come to be a part of the church. There are people who have never darkened the door who are desperately searching for a way to take the weight of sin and guilt of their spirits who need the fellowship and have never been offered it. We are called to be a fellowship with a beginning in this place that reaches out to offer hope to w world that so desperately needs grace and lives waiting in the weakness of trying to live lives outside of the union we have in God’s Holy Spirit        . Reach out with the strength we share as Christ’s Church today, to offer the refreshing cup of God’s grace, just as it has been given to you in the new Covenant, the gospel promise, we have in Christ Jesus, Our Saviour and Lord.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (NBoP 539; BoP 616)

[St. James’ Only}

Commissioning Hymn: NBoP 665 Lord Jesus you shall be my song

Benediction

Dismissal: Holy Spirit, on us fall (see back of bulletin)

Holy Spirit, on us fall,

As we go fulfill our call,

Serving God by loving all,

Alleluia! Christ our Saviour.

 

Holy Spirit, with us stay,

Teach us what we ought to say,

Guard and keep us in the Way.

As we follow, Christ our Saviour.

Bulletin Announcements:  Cathy Little @ Fillmore Trucking #785-1083
www.pccweb.ca/brpc
ORDER OF SERVICE
The second Sunday of Pentecost – TRC Sunday {www.trc.ca}
Happy Father’s Day
June 19th 2011
Welcome & Announcements
SPRING CLEAN UPS – Please check with the managers of each to see when clean up days are taking place.
TUESDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY –Will be having its spring round-up fellowship on June 14th before taking a break for the summer.
TUESDAY BIBLE SCHOOL Has finished up for this year, but keep you ears open for news on our VBS!
WEDNESDAY EVENING BIBLE STUDY –Continues this week at the home of Jessie Kelly [1972 Route 495].
COMMUNION SUNDAYS –St. Andrew’s (June 19th); St. James’ (June 26th);
St. Mark’s (July 3rd)
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL – SonQuest Beach Blast! Running July 4th to 8th in Clairville. Pre-registration available to help make sure we have enough craft materials. See the summer events pamphlet or the church website for details.
BAPTISM – David Sutherland, son of Rev Sandy and Mrs. Marly Sutherland will be Sunday July 3rd at 2pm at the cottage of David and Shelley Cail [8 Wry’s Lane, off of the Thompson Road] All are welcome.

Call to Worship Father we love you (Glorify your name)

Prayer of Approach & Confession & The Lord’s Prayer (NBoP 831; BoP 605)

Opening Praise: BoP 412 Come let us sing

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 8 [BoP 619]

Children’s story –
Children’s Hymn: overhead 340 I have decided to follow Jesus

Scripture Readings:
OT – Genesis 1:1-31
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was£ formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,£ and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27    So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Epistle – Ephesians 3:7-19
7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Hymn of Illumination: BoP 306 Thy hand, O God has guided

Scripture Readings:
Gospel – John 5:19-29
19Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
24“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Sermon:  The Voice of God
For some of you it was the calling out of your name like the rolling of a thunderous drum. It would be your full name; Not just the first and last name, but the first the last and the middle and those other middle names, that no one else knew, sounding across whatever space separated you from your father that told you that you were in trouble. The voice of a father . . .
Hopefully this was not too common an occurrence, but hopefully it happened enough for you to know that father was watching, and most of all, that father cared.
And I use that term father in a fairly open manner, because we need to be open enough to acknowledge those fathers who were not only our birth fathers, or perhaps even our parents, but to us we still call them fathers. We try to make them proud of us, we live to honour them, and we rely on their good advice. And when their voices stir, like the rumbling in a thunder crowd, we bow our heads and know that we’ve done wrong.
It is not a father’s job to growl and be the enforcer of the hard rules of a household either; though for some it might seem that’s all they do. But most fathers get labeled with that role of showing stern affection, and loving correction. That is the stereotype, and the model in our society, so that from sitcom to TV drama, to blockbuster movie, it boils down to the same thing, we expect our fathers – and whomever we come to call father in our hearts – to be that standard for our life and especially our life of faith.
James Dobson, a Christian author and psychologist and founder of the organization called Focus on the Family once wrote that “ The father’s most important responsibility is to communicate the real meaning of Christianity to his children.”
Children care about what their parents believe. Didn’t you care about what your parents believed? Weren’t you amazed at the strength of their faith? Didn’t you find it frustrating when you saw weaknesses in their faith? You cared, and your children care (even though children don’t often admit that sort of thing till much later in life).
An irresponsible parent says, “I am going to let them make up their own mind. And not make what I believe something that they have to believe.”
A responsible parent says, “I am going to give my children the best understanding of what I believe, and I am going to hope they come to an even better understanding of faith than I have.”
The working out of our faith doesn’t come from just stern correction, hard punishments, but from seeing the faith of others lived out with honesty and integrity. I am talking about a voice of grace that is  – at the same time – also a voice of judgment; which is the best possible tone of voice for fatherhood. I am speaking about a life that is an example, even if not everything in that life is exemplary.
The Apostle Paul was that kind of a father to many early churches. We have the specific example of Paul fathering several young new ministers of the faith. Timothy, Luke, Mark and others all benefited by the apostle Paul’s strength and struggles of faith, and in listening closely to what Paul believed, being corrected by him; and these followers who would become ministers began to hear the voice of God through what Paul was teaching them. The churches also heard Paul speak, they read and reread his words because in those words they received the fatherly advice, correction, grace and mercy that build a personal powerful faith and connection with God.
Though I am by no means advocating for parents to take on the roll of God, but simply to recognize that for the children in our lives the beginnings of their own personal faith are going to come from building upon the foundation we as parents provide. Jesus said that coming to know God the father is best accomplished through His own earthly example as God’s own Son; but we are also called to be children of God – brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus – and that means that the children who come after us look to know God through the example we offer as children of God; getting to know God through God’s own children.
We do our children a disservice when we make them figure it all out on their own. It is a cowardly thing to do to hide our own faith from the children in our lives; and we fool ourselves when we say it is to give them the opportunity to figure it out themselves. Truth is, when we hide our faith from our neighbours, our family, our children, we do it because we don’t want to give anyone the chance to question it, challenge it, or possibly to force us to change it.
And who better to test our faith in God than those who we love? I think of the rebellious teenager who will throw everything we say back in our face, and in that raging and roaring that comes with teenage angst we see our faith as it appears before everybody else; we should not fear that. I think of the little three year old questioning everything their whole environment, seeking for the truth to give life meaning. Would you really deny a child that truth?
God voice can be heard, not in rolling thunder or the great speeches from the learned, the popular, the powerful. The voice of God is heard in the small voice of a loving parent, holding their child so close as to only whisper, “I love you”

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Loving God,
we give you thanks for the peace of this hour, and the blessing we have received in Jesus Christ. We thank you Lord that we are renewed in our spiritual bond to the whole of your Church through Christ’s body and blood. Give us the grace to carry his word into the world, as we are lifted up in all manner of being, because of Christ, through the Holy Spirit in your love:
Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us your peace.
Amen
God’s Tithes and our gifts
Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)
Offertory Prayer

The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper[St. Andrew’s Only}

Commissioning Hymn: BoP 489 Lord of light whose name outshineth
Benediction

Dismissal: Holy Spirit, on us fall (see back of bulletin)
Holy Spirit, on us fall,
As we go fulfill our call,
Serving God by loving all,
Alleluia! Christ our Saviour.

Holy Spirit, with us stay,
Teach us what we ought to say,
Guard and keep us in the Way.
As we follow, Christ our Saviour.