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: thebrpc@gmail.com Twitter: thebrpc

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

www.pccweb.ca/brpc

ORDER OF SERVICE

The Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost

August 21^st 2011

Welcome & Announcements

Memorial Services

 

Call to Worship songs 136 Jesus I come

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

 

Opening Praise: NBoP 497 Word of God across the ages

BoP 291

 

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 121 [BoP 661]

¹ I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

² My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

⁸ The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

KJV

 

Children’s story – Names, nicknames, etc . . . all the things we call each other, and what God calls us.

Children’s Hymn: (overhead?) Standing by a purpose true

BoP 459

Scripture Readings:

OT – Exodus 1:8-2:10

⁸Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. ⁹And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: ¹⁰Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. ¹¹Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. ¹³And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

¹⁵And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: ¹⁶And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. ¹⁸And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? ¹⁹And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. ²⁰Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. ²¹And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. ²²And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

¹And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. ²And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. ³And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. ⁴And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

⁵And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. ⁶And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. ⁷Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? ⁸And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. ⁹And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. ¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

KJV

 

P___

⁸Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. ⁹“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. ¹⁰Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, ¹⁶“When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” ¹⁷The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. ¹⁸Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

¹⁹The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

²⁰So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. ²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

²²Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born^£ you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

¹Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, ²and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. ³But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. ⁶She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

⁷Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

⁸“Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. ¹⁰When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

NIV

 

Epistle – Romans 12:1-8

¹I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ³For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. ⁴For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: ⁵So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. ⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; ⁷Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; ⁸Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.

KJV

P___

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. ⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

NIV

 

Hymn of Illumination: songs 92 It is well

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Matthew 16:13-20

¹³When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? ¹⁴And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. ¹⁵He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? ¹⁶And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. ¹⁸And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ²⁰Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.

KJV

P___

¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

¹⁵“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

NIV

 

Sermon: The rock, our foundation

I have been picking away at a little project since I moved here just under four years ago. Lately the progress on this project has slowed, but when I get a few moments, and it is daylight, I go back to the little patch of forest behind the house and the rock-pile it conceals. [Nothing elicit] I am building a shaded garden, taking the stones, and arranging them as pathways and walls and borders.

And a lot of people might look at a patch of woods and see just a patch of woods, and see a pile of stones and see only that they are the end result of a farmers hard work in clearing the land. But sometimes, when we look at the world we can be surprised by what we see in what we always are looking at. We see things in different ways, it is our nature.

Jesus evoked that nature in his disciples. He quizzed them all the time on how they were seeing things. He asked them to comment on what they were seeing him do, and on how people reacted to his teachings. Jesus not only told people how he saw things, but he offered them an opportunity to express their own understanding and he used it as a starting point for transforming their understanding into an understanding of the truth.

You see, what I believe to be true about the backyard of the manse, and the true potential of that piece of property we all share, is a truth I am still questioning. Trying to get it into my head that ‘Perhaps there is more to see than I am seeing’ is a hard lesson in discovering truth; it is a lesson that I am still learning. That is what my study leave next month will be about.

The questions Jesus asked his disciples, especially the question he asked them in today’s reading, are the questions we all need to come to terms with, to uncover not only our own understanding, but to know the understanding of the world around us.

So I ask you, what is it that the world says about Jesus? Who does the world say Jesus is? What do your neighbours say about Jesus? What do your children say about Jesus? What do they believe? Do you know? Children, do you know what your parents believe about Jesus? What are they willing to say about Jesus to you?

If you are answering ‘I don’t know’ to any of those questions then you can be assured that you have some inquiries to make with the world that surrounds you. Because once you know what the world around you says about Jesus you quickly discover whether you should be learning from the people around you, or if you are meant to share the truth that God has gifted to you.

That is what Jesus wanted His disciples to see. He was not simply looking for a local opinion survey. Jesus knew what the people were saying, time and again we read how Jesus knew what was in people’s spirit. He did not need to ask the question for his own education. Jesus needed to ask the question for the sake of his disciples, so they could discover the strength of their own faith, their grasp of the truth, and to let them open up their eyes to see him properly. And in this opportunity Simon called Peter declared, “You are the Christ!”

I want you to see the exchange that goes on here. Simon Peter – in the fulfillment of the gifts, strengths and faith in his being – declares the truth, “You are the Christ! The Son of the living God!”. Christ Jesus in reply to that declaration of faith says, “You are indeed Peter!”

Have you ever wanted someone to recognize you for not only who you want to be, but to look and see all you can do, and all you like to do, and all you are meant to do and recognize and celebrate you for who you really are. We have an incredible drive in our spiritual being to have our deepest unspoken desires recognized and celebrated in the open. It is why so many people are driven to psychics and fortune tellers, who use their tricks to make us think we have been well recognized.

Peter experienced in that moment what we all desire. Jesus looked at Simon called Peter and said, “There in that statement, in that fulfillment of his gifts and potential, in that faith that we have just witnessed. On that I will build my church.”

Would you like Christ Jesus to say that to you?

Some of you, many of you, have had this very statement spoken to you. But if you think you missed it, if you feel that you did not God’s voice echoing through the cacophony of speeches and blind worship that can happen here and elsewhere in our lives from time to time. You see God word resounds, so let me help you hear God speaking to you.

When you joined the church, you declared – as Peter declared – that you also believe Jesus is the Christ; the Son of the living God. That statement of faith is your own, and no one could have made it for you; though many people have encouraged you and taught you along the way. When you made that public declaration of your faith (some call it a profession of faith, but let’s stick with common terms for now), you said so the world around you could see and know who you say Jesus is; and in that moment Jesus called out your name, as Peter’s name was spoken so long ago.

It is upon the faith that was kindled so bright in Peter that Christ has built His Church. And upon your faith Christ is still building that Church. The true and Holy Church is built upon the faith of all who confess Christ Jesus as their Saviour.

Peter’s name is a play on words. Peter, or Petros in the Greek, Cepheus in the Aramaic, means rock or stone but what Jesus is naming is not Simon himself, but for what renames Simon faith as solid as a rock, as solid as Petros. And Faith is what truly defines us as being God’s people or not being God’s people. The question we ask anyone who wishes to be a member of the church, or who partakes of the Lord’s supper, or who comes forward, or brings a child forward for baptism is, “do you believe . . ?”

Declare it again! The world around you, even your own family might have a lot of other things to say about Jesus, about all that God has revealed to the Church and all God’s people down though the ages. But now, who do you say Jesus was, who Jesus is? Who do you say that Jesus is? Declare your faith!

And hear that recognition that is being given to you. Now, do you hear that calling, upon you and what you do with the faith you have been given, will Christ Jesus build the Church. Jesus is calling out to you no simply by name but by naming everything you are going to be about; all your ability, you strengths, even your weaknesses, all of who you are and declaring to you, in the light of your faith, upon this will I build my Church.

Your name might not be Peter, it might not even be Simon, but God has called you to be together, and in the faith you share he has named you the building blocks of His Holy Universal Church.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

 

Commissioning Hymn: NBoP 410 Joyful, Joyful we adore Thee

BoP 569

 

Benediction [Rom 12:9-13]

 

Dismissal: Holy Spirit on Us Fall [overhead]

These bulletins for August are dedicated in loving memory of Earle, Laura and Marion by their family