A Christian Church, A Family of Faith

The Presbyterian Church in Canada

Saint Andrew’s Presbyterian Church; Clairville

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

www.pccweb.ca/brpc

July 31^st 2011

Call to Worship

Opening Praise

Come let us sing of a wonderful love by Robert Walmsley

Come, let us sing of a wonderful love; Tender and true, tender and true,
Out of the heart of the Father above, Streaming to me and to you:
Wonderful love, wonderful love, Dwells in the heart of the Father above.

Jesus the Saviour this Gospel to tell; Joyfully came, joyfully came,
Came with the helpless and hopeless to dwell, Sharing their sorrow and shame:
Seeking the lost, seeking the lost, Saving, redeeming at measureless cost.

Jesus is seeking the wanderers yet; Why do they roam? Why do they roam?
Love only waits to forgive and forget; Home, weary wanderers, home!
Wonderful love, wonderful love, Dwells in the heart of the Father above.

Come to my heart, O thou wonderful love! Come & abide, come & abide,
Lifting my life till it rises above, Envy and falsehood and pride:
Seeking to be, seeking to be, Lowly and humble, a learner of thee.

 

Prayers of Approach & The Lord’s Prayer

Special Music – I live for him ’cause he died for me

Can the world see Jesus in you? sung by John Warman

Recalling our Heritage and Memorial

–         We remember this year the passing of our dear friend and our neighbour Alma Hudson, who shared her faith with so many in our community. She became a sister to those who needed a sister, a mother to those who sought for the trust only a mother can offer. She was our dear friend.

–         We remember the life of Miriam Little, who above all things taught the stature that comes from doing something well and right. Ever ready to lend a hand, or to see the hard tasks through to the end, she also has found her peace, and our thanks to God is for the witness she has given us.

–

Scripture Reading:   Psalm 25:1-10

¹ To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

² in you I trust, O my God.

Do not let me be put to shame,

nor let my enemies triumph over me.

³ No one whose hope is in you

will ever be put to shame,

but they will be put to shame

who are treacherous without excuse.

⁴ Show me your ways, O LORD,

teach me your paths;

⁵ guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

⁶ Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,

for they are from of old.

⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth

and my rebellious ways;

according to your love remember me,

for you are good, O LORD.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD;

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹ He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them his way.

¹⁰ All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful

for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

2 Timothy 2:7-15

⁷Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, ⁹for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

¹¹Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,

we will also live with him;

¹² if we endure,

we will also reign with him.

If we disown him,

he will also disown us;

¹³ if we are faithless,

he will remain faithful,

for he cannot disown himself.

¹⁴Keep reminding them of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. ¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Hymn of Illumination Near the Cross by Fannie J. Crosby

Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain

Free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

CHORUS: In the cross, in the cross; Be my glory ever;

Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,

Love and mercy found me;

There the Bright and Morning Star

Sheds its beams around me. CHORUS

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,

Bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day,

With its shadows o’er me. CHORUS

Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,

Hoping, trusting ever,

Till I reach the golden strand,

Just beyond the river. CHORUS

 

Gospel Reading:       Luke 23:39-46

³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^£”

⁴³Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

 

Sermon          Remembering What Is Forgotten

Theodore’s mother sent her son out to walk to the general store. Now this was in the days before telephones, and so Theodore was expected to remember the order his mother wanted to make at the general store. It was one of those orders of a lot of little things.

It was a few miles to the store, and Theodore had enough time to walk their, do his mother’s shopping and then come home.

Theodore’s mother knew Theodore was not a good reader, and she herself was not much for legible writing, and besides that one of the things Theodore needed to pick up was an ink bottle, because the last one was all dried up.

Theodore was told to put the items on his folks account. He could even get a soda of his choice and a penny bag of candy for doing the job.

But there was something Theodore had to remember. He had to remember it and not forget it in spite of all the other things he was expected to get, Theodore had to remember this one thing. So his mother tied a piece of string to remind him of the one thing he needed to pick up.

Well, Theodore walked the miles to the store. He walked those miles, but do you think he was reminding himself of everything that his mother wanted him to get. No, Theodore was thinking what candies he wanted in his penny-bag and what kind of soda pop he would get. But he did not worry because he had that string tied on his finger.

Well, Theodore walked the miles and got to the store. He told the store clerk that his Momma wanted this thing and that thing, and when he was done his ordering he said that his Momma said he could have a soda and a penny-bag of candy. The store clerk smiled and obliged.

The clerk looked at Theodore finger and he said, “ Now young Theo, you have a string around your finger, is there something you were supposed to remember?”

And Theodore thought for a moment, and he just could think back. He tried to come up with it, but just never came to mind. And Theodore felt so bad. He told the clerk to put the bottle of soda away, and Theodore did not pick out his bag of candy. He took the satchel with the things he had remembered and knew he forgotten the most important thing, and he trudged home.

It took a longer time than it should have.

Theodore stopped and sniffed, he dragged his feet and he worried what his mother would say. And eventually he got home.

He walked inside, and he put the satchel on the table, and his mother remarked on all the things he remembered to get. As she got to the bottom of the satchel she said, “Theodore, is there something you forgot to get?!”

“Yes Momma!”, he exclaimed and he went on and on about how he tried to remember, and how he had looked at the string, and how it just did not help, and how he had not got his soda or his candy because he forgot that one and most important thing.

“Well, just look at your finger my child!” “You were supposed to remember to get a large ball of string.” And Theodore looked at his finger, and his mother laughed, and he laughed, and they laughed together on and off again well into the night.

And not a couple of days later they went to town and Theodore marched up to the counter and told the clerk the one thing he had forgotten before and Theodore also asked for e bottle of soda and a penny bag of candy, both which he shared with his mother.

–        Have you ever tried the trick of tying a string to your finger to remind you of something important? Maybe you are passed that and have tried something modern, Maybe you are like me and you pocket rings at you from time to time reminding you do things, of course it only works if you first remember to put the reminder on the calendar in your phone.

Or perhaps you have reached that blissful point in life where you have accepted that there are things you are going to forget and you just might as well get on with life and not worry about the things you might forget and just deal with the things that were important enough to remember.

It was a memory that drew you here today. Of some one, or some time. It was that person or this place that was important enough for you to remember, and to honour this day and this place and recognize it a part of who you are. We can easily forget – or take for granted – those people and places that influence and guide our lives. But when we remember people and places we take a close accounting of the influence people have had on our lives, and we begin to see how the places we come from and the communities that surround us shape and also mark us. And when we do that, we begin to really see God at work.

I often wonder at the pace I let myself get caught up into. I can get so wound up that the smiles on my son’s face, and taking the time to just be held for a moment by my wife can seem to be a strain of my resources. And in the midst of all my business I call out in my prayers, “Lord, remember me.”, “Jesus remember me in your kingdom.”

Isn’t that what you do when you pray? No matter what the prayer, what is first and foremost in your prayers is that simple request: “Jesus, remember me. . .” And it’s the question that lingers in the unspoken prayers of many people who wanted to be here today, who heard about this service, who read about it, but could not face the shame they felt. They wondered in their hearts if their even remembered by God, if they’d even be known to you.

But I know Jesus does remember them. I know that Jesus died for the sake of both of the crooks on the other crosses, and even in that place Jesus was thankful to be remembered by one of them. Who is it that you have remembered today that would have been here but for some lingering doubt in their troubled spirit? I know why you’ve just thought of someone, if you have. You’ve remembered them because you have discovered who you still have to tell about Jesus.

There are a lot of things that you hear from pulpits; this one and others elsewhere. Today I want for you to go out remembering the most important message that can be taught to you. You now know who you have to share that message with. Share the message of Jesus, that he died for you – to take away your sins and your fear of death and all that lies beyond it – he died for the person who is struggling to remember Jesus in their own lives, but who longs to call out again, “Jesus, remember me.”

The word of God is not bound to this, nor is the message of salvation chained and held back in our memories. You have been given this testimony to go on from this place, and to be compelled through your sharing of Christ’s love and the message that we celebrate as our Good News.

If you need to tie a string to your finger to do it, if you need to put it into your day-planner, or program it into your phone that do not forget to do it. If you have come many times and have only now remembered that most important lesson that you were given, or have just learned it at last for the first time, I hope you will share the celebration with all of us. That is the best reason, the real reason we are here together today.

We come together once a year for a special service like this to remember what God has done and is doing from this place and in our midst, to remember and celebrate. But today I encourage you to follow Christ’s example in remembering, as your are drawn to God’s kingdom, to offer the Good News, the truths about love and life and all that God has given you, and pass those truths along with those who you remember as near and dear to you.

Remember to share the joy in knowing that God remembered you, and that you at last you remember God and know that all his promises are true.

Let us respond to God’s word in song . . .

Hymn of Response He leadeth me by Joseph H. Gilmore

He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be, still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

CHORUS: He leadeth me, he leadeth me, by his own hand he leadeth me: His faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.

 

Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom. Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,

By waters still, o’er troubled sea, – still, ‘tis his hand that leadeth me! CHORUS

 

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine,

Content, whatever lot I see, since ‘tis my God that leadeth me! CHORUS

 

And when my task on earth is done, when, by thy grace, the victory’s won,

E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me. CHORUS

Offering

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Commissioning Praise

Simply Trusting Every Day/Trusting Jesus by Edgar Page Stites

Simply trusting every day; Trusting through a stormy way,

Even when my faith is small; Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Chorus: Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by,

Trusting him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.

 

Brightly doth his Spirit shine – into this poor heart of mine;

While he leads I cannot fall; trusting Jesus, that is all. Chorus

 

Singing, if my way be clear; Praying, if the path be drear;

If in danger, for him call; Trusting Jesus, that is all. Chorus

Trusting him while life shall last; Trusting him till earth is past,
Till his gracious advent call; Trusting Jesus, that is all. Chorus

Blessing and Benediction

 

The Daisy

I picked a daisy flower, ‘midst the wheat and timothy

I wondered at the question that they always posed to me

“Love me? Love me not?” Till all the petals plucked,

And I’d get my final answer, or just a silly turn of luck

But then, looking at the flower, I began to see,

A little piece of heaven smiling back at me.

For God had written on this flower a story greater still,

Than all my silly inquisition had ever let them tell.

Around a sun-like center; bright, vivid, shining,

I saw the light white petals standing in a ring.

I thought of the vision, of heaven in the end,

When we will all be gathered, and in bright raiment stand

Around the throne of Jesus; the sun-like sacred lamb.

So God had given me my answer and in my soul it lives

For ‘He loves me’ is the answer that every daisy gives.

 

Memorials

In Memory of Tom Robinson & Mae “Robinson” MacLean, Tommie & Irving from Irene Taylor & Arthur Robinson- nephew

In Memory of Brenda Peters “Roach” & Gary Peters from Jean Peters.