A Fellowship of the Christian Church

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

The Twentieth Sunday of Pentecost

October 23^rd 2011

Welcome & Announcements

 

Call to Worship – Shine Jesus Shine [overhead]

 

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

 

Opening Praise: BoP 47 O praise the Lord for He is good

 

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 1 [BoP 618]

Children’s story – Locked Car Door

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car.

She didn’t know what to do, so she called home and told the baby sitter what had happened. The baby sitter told her that her the fever was getting worse. She said, “You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door.”

The woman looked around and found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who at some time or other had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, “I don’t know how to use this.”

So she bowed her head and asked God to send her some help. Within five minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, “This is what you sent to help me?” But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful.

The man got out of his car and asked her if he could help. She said, “Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?”

He said, “Sure”. He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man.”

The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour.”

The woman hugged the man again and with sobbing tears cried out loud, “Oh, Thank you God! You even sent me a professional!” Alicia Coop (acoop@integrityonline30

Children’s Hymn: BoP 358 There is a redeemer

 

Scripture Readings:

OT – Deuteronomy 34:1-12

¹Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, ²all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, ³the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. ⁴Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

⁵And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab, as the LORD had said. ⁶He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. ⁸The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

⁹Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.

¹⁰Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, ¹¹who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. ¹²For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Epistle – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

¹You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. ²We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. ³For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. ⁴On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. ⁵You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. ⁶We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, ⁷but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. ⁸We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

Hymn of Illumination: BoP 437 Take time to be holy

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Matthew 22:34-46

³⁴Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

⁴¹While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, ⁴²“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

⁴³He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

⁴⁴“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

“Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

under your feet.”’

⁴⁵If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁴⁶No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

Sermon: Tests of faith

The apostle Paul told the church in Corinth to test themselves an order to know the quality of their own faith. It was not enough for them to assume they were being a faithful church, the apostle tells them to self-examine so they can know the strength and quality of faith.

And why is this so important. If they bothered to get together as a church at all, that should have been enough for them to be able to say, “I am a good follower of Christ”, or “We are a strong church, and faithful.”

I want to clarify something first, because in talking about being tested in our faith I am not talking about a bible quiz to see if you memorized passages of the bible. I am also not talking about checking to see if you have memorized the writings of Christian authors through the centuries [church fathers or modern writers]. A test of faith is not whether you can recite from memory the 23^rd Psalm or the Apostles’ Creed, or every verse of Amazing Grace.

The Pharisees thought that a test of Jesus faith would be a Bible quiz. They of course did not see Christ as the author of all things. Now I am not saying that tests that call on someone to know their scripture verses is a bad one. We certainly – all of us – could stand some encouragement or coaxing to read and know our bibles a little better. But the Pharisees wanted to see if Jesus had the fundamental knowledge of the bible, and an understanding that was foundational to what even the Pharisees believed.

The answer that Jesus gives them is not a hard answer. In fact it makes a lot of sense and any good Jew who had sat in synagogue or the temple for any period of time would probably have given the same answer. But the problem in the test is not the question, but the intension behind the question, in all the questions.

The Pharisees were trying to find the chink in the armour; they were probing Jesus to see if they could break his faith. They wanted Jesus to have a broken faith so that they could be shown to have the greater and stronger faith.

We have committed the same sin in our own church history. Ancestors of the church, sitting pews or standing in pulpits have rejoiced at the downfall and struggles of church denominations. They have pointed to the faults of the denominations around them and sought to condemn them for the weaknesses of faith that were seen there.

“HA!” we say, “We are better Christians than YOU!!”

But being tested and struggling with our faith, and seeing and knowing that there are weaknesses in our practice of faith, in our knowledge of scriptures [our faith literature], are not things we should shy away from, or use as some false sense of competition. We are not trying to know God in this place and time and worship God as a sign of faith just so we can out-sing the Baptists, show up the United Church, out-pray the Anglicans, or beat the RCs.

We are here to worship, and in the midst of worship were hope to encounter the living God, and in that moment of encounter we are confronted with our faults, our weaknesses, our false desires, and in that moment we are tested.

Like the first churches that we read about and learn about from the bible we do not usually jump at the chance to be tested. Most people do not like being tested, unless it is at something they really like doing and are really good at, and even then they do not want to be tested, they want to be able to show someone else just how good they are at what they do.

No, when it come to being tested, especially when we speak about having our faith tested, we cringe at the prospect.

In scripture there are many stories about many people. When we look at these stories we discover one regular trend right through the whole bible. Ever person whose faith is tested has a miserable time of it. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Moses they all had a really tough time in their lives. I mean where is the story in scripture about getting a just dessert, being able to put their feet up at the end of the day, being treated fairly, and gaining respect from people in their own midst?

When it comes to ‘tests of faith’ in scripture many people do not live through the test. Now, even through I say that, while they don’t live through the test that does not mean that they do not pass. I think we really need to see the difference here. Being faithful to God does not mean that God rewards us with an easy life, or a life filled with riches, or even a healthy life.

Having faith in God does not mean a better time for our families, ourselves, or our friends. Success in the work-place, strength and vitality, not one of these are the results of passing the tests of faith in life.

The book of Job is a mysterious book of the bible and scholars have no clear idea when, or under what circumstances it was written. Scholars disagree about whether it was written during a time of plenty or a time of exile or trial, and whether Job was a real person or if the whole story of Job is a parable like ones Jesus told. What we know and understand is that the story of Job is a story about a test of faith.

What is it that tests a person’s faith. Can you recall in your own life when your life was tested? Have you walked the hard road of Job, to have all things taken from you? Have you seen others around you breaking or broken against the hard rock that caused them to stumble?

The tests of faith in life are more than tests of patience. Too often we mark our test of faith as little more than whether we can handle a long and boring sermon – which by the way is not what I was going for this morning. Can we endure this hard time? Well then I must be faithful. Can I just get through the time of sorrow to a new time of riches and rest and happiness. The sign of faith that shows whether we are true as we are tested in life is not whether we can get through it, but if we can have the grace and the joy that is our in God, during the test.

Whether the tests of faith in our lives come upon us very quickly and suddenly, or are the ongoing story of our lives; however we view it, faith is meant to shine from us not only so we can see what we have, but so we can be a beacon for those struggling and failing their own tests of faith.

Shine forth with the bright light that is your joy, for in the midst of our trials, as we are tested in more than knowledge and strength we are tested and called to be true, pure as gold refined even by the harshest fires life can offer. For just as Christ Jesus was tested, the prophets , the apostles we who follow are also tested. We hold fast to the great commandment, that is true no matter where we are in life, We love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind; and in the same spirit [in the same faith] we love our neighbours as we love ourselves.

In this the testimony of our lives will prove our faith true, and the test that is all of life will be passed. In God’s grace.

Amen

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

Commissioning Hymn: BoP 83 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Benediction

Dismissal: ‘Midst prayers of thanks [back of bulletin]