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 Twenty-First Sunday of Pentecost – Reformation Sunday

October 30^th 2011

Welcome & Announcements

Announcements:

 

Call to Worship Jesus name above all names

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

Opening Praise: NBoP 479 The church’s one foundation

BoP 307
Responsive Reading  – Psalm 43 [BoP 635]

¹ Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

² For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³ O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

⁴ Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

 

Children’s story –

Children’s Hymn: songs 126 Onward! Christian soldiers

 

Scripture Readings:

 

OT – Joshua 1:1-9

¹Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, ²Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. ⁴From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. ⁵There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. ⁶Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. ⁷Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. ⁹Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

KJV

P_____

¹After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ²“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. ³I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. ⁴Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. ⁵No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

⁶“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. ⁷Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. ⁹Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” NIV

 

Epistle – 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

⁹For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. ¹⁰Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: ¹¹As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, ¹²That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

¹³For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

KJV

P_____

⁹Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.

¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

¹³And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. NIV

 

 

Baptismal Hymn:  NBoP 315 A mighty fortress is our God

BoP 86

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Matthew 23:1-12

¹Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, ²Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: ³All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. ⁴For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. ⁵But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, ⁶And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, ⁷And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. ⁸But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. ⁹And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. ¹⁰Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. ¹¹But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

KJV

P_____

¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: ²“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. ³So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. ⁴They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

⁵“Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; ⁶they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; ⁷they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’

⁸“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. ⁹And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. ¹⁰Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. ¹¹The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹²For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. NIV

 

Sermon: Tangled in tassels

Four years ago  I began my service to the congregations of this pastoral charge. I was not yet ordained, so I started here as Mr. Alexander Sutherland. I like that I started my ministry with you without titles and collar, especially in relation to today’s reading from the gospel.

Because Jesus proclamations to the crowd and to his own disciples especially, are meant to make anybody with any kind of a title cringe a little. These words should not be taken lightly by anyone, but anyone that is in a position of respect and authority should pay special attention.

What is it, in our society, that gives people the right to have a title in their name?

Usually, it’s years of successful education in some field of study. Though it can be confusing for some people, you do not have to study medicine to have the title ‘doctor’ before the rest of your name. Philosophy, other sciences, my father is now the Reverend Doctor; a title I have often associated with slightly longer sermons, and certainly bigger home libraries.

But there are other titles, Lord, Baron, Duke, Duchess, Sir, Lady, Dame, but here,. in North America, most of those sorts of noble titles have fallen well by the wayside. However, titles such as ‘Honourable’, and perhaps even right ‘honourable’ are designated to a few, usually political or judicial leaders, and every once and a while and ‘Esquire’ or two are recognized.

And then at there are designations for other professional, legal or medical, and a few in education usually listing their titles. If you look in you bulletin, you will see a full title with my name there. It is about as stuffy as I can get without laughing.

Because I know I live in an age when such designations and titles and their proper usage have pretty well fallen by the wayside. People rarely refer to last names and wonder if there is a day coming when last names will be forgotten, and everyone will simply be known by their first name. I mean, outside of the church, I am called Sutherland mostly by traffic cops and bank tellers.

I even wonder if there is a day coming when we will not really be known by our given names, but by the names we chose for ourselves, our online identities. Imagine being known among your friends as ‘gumdrop425’ or ‘ffdougw23’ or something like that.

It was not as though Jesus had a particular problem with people having titles either. I think a lot of people look at this passage and see it as an excuse not to honour anybody with titles. But Jesus throughout his ministry makes it very clear who is to be honoured and why.

The wearing of certain cloths, in the case of the temple priests it was tassels and boxes with long leather binding thongs, these things are not enough to give a person authority or require any special honouring.  Jesus does call on us to honour those who serve us, and no matter what role we serve in society to honour those who share God’s love fully and sacrificially.

The trouble with the tassels is that we still get caught up in the images and the show. Jesus wants us to get pass the people who look the part and to really look into t each other’s lives to see how we are living the life. If you want a leader to follow examine each leader to see if they are worthy of your trust.

In our church and our church tradition I did not come by this collar, or the robes I wear by simply what I did in school, or what I feel I am capable of. In our denomination, unlike many, I could never have been ordained if it was not for you. It was your acceptance of me as you minister that made me reverend. You called me here to have some to show you first hand how to grow in strength in faith, in joy as a family together in Christ, and more deeply in the love that dwells among the servants of God.

And I do this, as the apostle Paul says, not simply by preaching, but by making my life with you and being a real part of this community in its many facets, using my best abilities not for my well being, but for the growth and prosperity of all.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the great ascriptions given to him by the prophets of old was called the Son of David, he was called the ‘wonderful’, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Christ, Lord, the messiah, King of Kings. But these titles were not that God took upon himself but that human kind in response to all that god has done ascribed to God in proper recognition of who God is and who we are not, and yet Jesus was a servant.

The fulfillment of the greatest of offices is not then self satisfaction, it is in serving. The best doctor is not necessarily the one with the most studies, but the one who uses them to the best service of another, the greatest judges are no better than the rulings they give, the minister or pastor of any church is cannot be truly reverend unless they lead their congregations to the reverence of God.

And in that we must, all of us, try to lead each other well. For it is not enough for me alone to seek to set this example, but all of us together must be reminders of God grace and love and compassion as we seek to serve each other in the needs that each of us have in facing the hardness of our world, and the faithlessness of our society.

 

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

 

Commissioning Hymn: NBoP 332  O Lord my God/ How great Thou art

{overhead}

Benediction

 

Dismissal: Midst prayers of thanks [back of bulletin]

 

We are glad to be a welcoming fellowship, and we hope you find a wonderful fullness of spirit in today’s worship. If you are visiting, or are new to the community we hope you will get to know us, as we are very glad to have you be a part of this loving community.