Christmas Eve Services will be hosted

At St. James Presbyterian Church at 4pm;  a young family oriented service.

At Zion Presbyterian Church at 7pm; this will be a traditional service.

We look forward to seeing you!!

Draw close to that scene some two thousand years ago in our quiet country setting . . .

A Living Nativity

Sunday December 16th 2012 7pm to 8pm

Mary & Joseph

Our Little Baby Jesus

Shepherds,

Wisemen,

Angels,

and maybe an Inn Keeper handing our hot chocolate, coffee, or tea

 

Come and share this special night with us all!!

Bonnielm Farms Ltd. [Morton Farm]

2949 Route 470, Fords Mills , NB

 

A full year of services and sermons are available

Though this web page has been up for some time more, our current format of full uploaded and accessible services and sermons has turned one year old.

You are welcome to read through these services, use them as devotional material, or perhaps help in your own leading of worship.

Service of Worship

Summer activities pamphlet

Coming to our region over the summer? Out to the cottage, or to visit family and friends. We hope for a chance to welcome you while you are in our area.

We have a number summer events designed to welcome old friends and make new ones. Whether it is the fun of crafts and games at VBS or the joy of familiar faces at one of our summer memorial services, we have something for young and old, first-time visitors or good ol’ friends.

You are welcome!

Summer activities pamphlet

 

 

 

Are you engaging in a personal trial this Lenten season?

Have you given up something?

Have you taken on a new responsibility?

What is your trial of faith?

Do you feel the need of support and encouragement?

Many people act as though our personal trials of faith are meant to be solitary exercises, and personal struggles. Yet while we are driven by the Spirit to encounter and recognize our personal weakness, and to know our own personal limits, we should also have joy in knowing that we are called to a fellowship of faith were our weaknesses, and our need for forgiveness and love is met with other people’s trials.

Your struggles are your own, but your transforming journey is meant to include others who – like you – are seeking the same sort of answers that you are.

This lent, we encourage you to look around you and recognize the support that God has placed in your life so that even though you encounter trial, you do so knowing that God has given you strength to get through times of trial.

Please see Lenten & Easter sermon series on the Epistle of James titled –

Courageous Steps

{February 26th, March 4th, March 11th, March 18th, March 25th}

{April 1st(Palm Sunday) & April 8th(Easter Sunday)}

 

 

 

 

We all can get a little cooped up in our own houses through the winter months. Still it is a good time to brave a bit of cold, and help warm each others kitchens and living rooms.

Do you have a special fellowship event coming up? Do you want to plan one?

Do you want to invite people to gather at your home for perhaps a bible study or time of prayer? Or simply get together with others over a warm cup of tea, coffee or hot cocoa?

 

Post here, to get the word out to others, and be sure to share the link to our church website with your family and friends.

 

If you have been used to coming to this page for copies of our services, you may have noticed that nothing has been posted for quite some time.

All sermons are available by clicking on the proper date on the Services of Worship page.

 

 

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

Epiphany

January 8^th 2012

Welcome & Announcements

“Memorial Bulb” Christmas season fundraisers

(These donationss will be recognized as a part of future services)

St. James Presbyterian Church, Beersville; will be lighting a Christmas tree in memory of loved ones.  Memorial bulbs are available for designation at $10 each; call Shelley Cail at 785-4323, Doreen Cail at 523-9357, or Audrey Glencross at 785-1983.

 

Call to Worship NBoP 153 Joy to the world [vs.1&2]

BoP 134

 

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

 

Opening Praise: NBoP 174 Worship the Lord

BoP 148

 

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 72 [BoP 642]

¹ Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

² He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

³ The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

⁴ He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

⁵ They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

⁶ He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.

⁷ In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

⁸ He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

⁹ They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

¹⁰ The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

¹¹ Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.

¹² For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

¹³ He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

¹⁴ He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

¹⁵ And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.

¹⁶ There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

¹⁷ His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

¹⁹ And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.

²⁰ The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

KJV

 

Children’s story – The beginning of the story . . . how we tell our story. How do you begin your story, when you tell your story to other people?

[ref. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians]

 

Children’s Hymn: NBoP 141 Good Christians All rejoice

BoP 124 Good Christian men rejoice  

 

Scripture Readings:

OT – Isaiah 60:1-6

¹Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. ²For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. ³And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ⁴Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. ⁵Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. ⁶The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the LORD. KJV

¹ “Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

² See, darkness covers the earth

and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the LORD rises upon you

and his glory appears over you.

³ Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look about you:

All assemble and come to you;

your sons come from afar,

and your daughters are carried on the arm.

⁵ Then you will look and be radiant,

your heart will throb and swell with joy;

the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,

to you the riches of the nations will come.

⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land,

young camels of Midian and Ephah.

And all from Sheba will come,

bearing gold and incense

and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.

NIV

Epistle – Ephesians 3:1-12

¹For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, ²If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: ³How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, ⁴Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) ⁵Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; ⁶That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: ⁷Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. ⁸Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; ⁹And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: ¹⁰To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, ¹¹According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: ¹²In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. KJV

¹For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

²Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, ³that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. ⁴In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

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.

NIV

 

Hymn of Illumination:  NBoP 173 We three kings

(over head)

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Mark 1:4-11

⁴John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. ⁵And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; ⁷And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. ⁸I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.

⁹And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. ¹⁰And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: ¹¹And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

KJV

⁴And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. ⁶John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

NIV

 

 

Sermon: We’ve all got our reasons

 

John saw them coming from every corner of the world he knew. The gospel of Mark says that ‘the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem came to John’. How would it be if the whole Kent & Albert county countryside suddenly started showing up for church?

John must have see a fair variety of people come before him in the Jordan river, and there they confessed their sins, and when they confessed that they were sinners he baptized them.

Imagine what all John heard. In order to confess sin you have to know at least some of the sins you could commit. The one would come forward and say ‘I am a thief’ another, ‘I am a cheat’, another ‘I am a liar’; imagine all the things that John heard.

And each person would have their excuses, the thief might say they needed what they stole, the cheat might say they were only looking for another way of doing things, and the liar might say that what they told was not even that far from the truth, but  – in the case of those who came out to John at the Jordan – they made a confession that what they had done was the wrong thing to do.

Today I want to talk about the vocal part of your life of faith. Today I want you to think that if John the baptizer was to arrive and, for the sake of fairness let say the water of Richiboucto river always ran like the warm waters of summer, preaching a baptism of forgiveness, call each one of you to the water, what would you say about the wrong you have done.

And I want you to understand something, because if you were to be confronted by John, as someone who is knowledgeable in the ways and will of God, there is not much point in keeping the sins hidden. Sin is not something that hides very well, or for very long.

I often find that when I am helping others come to a point of confession in their lives, that the biggest thing that they have to deal with is not that they sinned. Everybody sins. What most people have trouble with is when they get to the point of confession, in prayer, before God – not me or anyone else – but before God, they have trouble with their excuses.

Have you ever been caught in that burning ring of excuses? All they are is lies. They are the lies we tell ourselves to make us think that what we did was not as bad as we thought, the sin is not as deep as some might make us believe; “Well I only stole, because . . .”, “But, I only cheated because the rules were unfair.”

Do you hear them? Do you remember them from some of the prayers you have given? Is there something that sounds like words you have said to a loved one? When you have been confronted and asked about certain actions in your life, when you have stumbled across your own mistakes, are you quicker on the draw with your excuses for your sins? Or reasons for your salvation?

Excuses start with something like ‘I only’ . . . ‘But I only’ and when we invoke an excuse what we are trying to tell people, God, ourselves, is that our sin is not all that bad, and that Christ Jesus came and died on the cross for bigger sins than the ones in our lives. And if that is our attitude all we are doing is distancing ourselves from God.

Christ Jesus came into the world to do something that is well beyond what John could do. John could only help the people who came without excuses and confessed their sins as sins. John could not effect the changes that Christ could offer. What John could do is say, “Here is an occasion when you have separated yourself from your sin.”

What John did was offer a forum, a situation for people to recognize that they did sin, that they don’t want to sin, but John’s baptism is with water, and once a person turned back to their old ways, and once the excuses built up enough for them to forget that a sin was a sin. Once that happened, people would come back looking for that baptism of forgiveness again; just as the Jews had to keep that circle going in and out, in and out, of the temple with their sacrifices and petitions. And the more excuses you could come up with, the more trips to the Jordan or to the alter you would have to make.

But that is very different from what happens in the baptism we have in Christ. In Christ Jesus – in Christ coming – we are baptized with water, and with God’s Holy Spirit. The water is an outward visible sign of inward – not invisible – grace. What we seek in baptism is not simply that sin will be washed away, but that our excuses for sin – both before and after we commit them – will lose its strength, and that instead we will all display our reasons for believing, we will be able to declare our reason for our faith.

I think we often get this backwards. We treat our reasons for believing like excuses and our excuses for our sins like reason why we don’t need the deep spiritual cleansing that forgiveness in Christ gives us.

This is one of the things that so many people, in looking at the church see it is inauthentic, and today’s modern Christians as fakes, because we often spend a great deal of time telling people just how much we do not need Christ, about how good we really are, about how not-so-bad bad our sins really are, and in so doing we distance ourselves from God. And this is an awful realization to come to, that the excuse that many people give for not coming to Christ and belonging to a church, and being in the fellowship of believers, has been given to them by us, by we who would call ourselves Christians.

We don’t come together proclaiming our sins, saying “ I am more evil than you, so Christ will be closer to me.” But at the same time we need to say more, “I really need Christ, because when I look at my life, I know how messed up I am inside.” And we also need to say, and say it openly, “And if you are messed up too, if you sin like I sin, then you likely need this grace too.”

And when the grace flows over us, and into our lives, and over the hot fire of our sins and all the burning coals of our excuses, you want to talk about relief, and you’ll want to talk about your relief.

Have you ever found a medicine that cure that impossible irritating, aching, debilitating disease or condition? Didn’t you just want to tell the universe about that cure?

So why do we so often respond to our salvation with excuses like, “Our sin wasn’t SO bad.”

Do you have a reason for your faith, or an excuse for lack of it?

What comes out of your lips when people ask you why you go to church? Or, why you read your bible? Or, why you live you life the way you do?

Listen to the Apostle Paul as your example: When he speaks he does not give excuses for what he does not do for God, he searches and offers reason for all that Christ Jesus is doing through him.

We all have reasons, Christ Jesus came to give us reason for living – and not just today. Christ Jesus came, that our reason might be so great that we will continue to give them and rejoice in those reasons, now and forever. Amen

 

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

 

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

Commissioning Hymn: NBoP 172 As with gladness men of old

BoP 154

Benediction

Dismissal: NBoP 153 Joy to the world [vs. 3&4]

BoP 134

After only a couple of short weeks campaigning all four of our churches were able to come together and meet the need of the greater Rexton Angel tree program. Rev. & Mrs. Sutherland dropped off two car loads of gifts for children in our region with every decoration from the angel tree accounted for [and some extra presents thrown in].

Well DONE!!

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: thebrpc@gmail.com Twitter: thebrpc

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

www.pccweb.ca/brpc

ORDER OF SERVICE

The Twenty-Second Sunday of Pentecost

November 6^th 2011

Welcome & Announcements

Congratulations to George and Shirley Ryan

George & Shirley were married on October 27^th 2011.

 

Act of Remembrance –

Act of Remembrance –

 

The goal of our faith is everlasting peace, and we are called to seek it in this life as we look forward to its perfection in the life we approach in Christ’s perfection. The cost of that journey is often great, and so much of it is unseen, and too often taken for granted. Yet you – O Lord – have placed a special crest upon all who would give all for neighbour, friend and even stranger and we do not forget your words: “That no man has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends.”

Lord, help us to remember well the sacrifices being made. Lord, help us to find meaning in the calm that comes after war, and the still the coarse anger that feeds new conflict.

And Lord, we give thanks for every life laid down for our safety, and we honour those who would serve a stranger as a friend, and know that you created all the world, and throughout all this world we are called to care for the neighbours you have given us, the least of these in every land on this globe.

The Lord sets his mercy upon his faithful servants

Yet we servants tremble at the Lord’s demands

God calls through the ages telling us to show our faith.

Yet, faith comes at a cost to us, for our world is corrupted by sin, and we cling to our lives while we can have them.

To know peace, we must face its enemy, and set to rest all that bar God’s people from knowing peace and truth.

We stand in hope that we might serve the Lord, and to honour and remember all who have offered their service to the Lord with their strength, their weakness, their very lives. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Words of Remembrance

We remember and honour those who gave their lives in the service of freedom. Those who have honoured this nation with their blood, with their suffering, with the immense cost of their lives; today we honour them. We remember all who have given of themselves in service in the wars and conflicts of this nation has committed itself in theatres of war; remembering service men and women of the First World war, the Second world war, the Korean conflict, Peace Keepers who have served in many volatile national and international struggles, and those who even today are working, struggling, serving and dying in Afghanistan. May what they have given never be forgotten.

 

We do not grow old, as we that are left grow old. The sun does not rise or set for them, but they are assured of your victory because of their faith. Yet in the rising and the setting of the sun, we shall remember them.

Last Post

Moment Silence

596 O Canada

597 God save the Queen

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

Opening Praise: BoP 87 O God our help in ages past

Responsive Reading  – Psalm 67 [BoP 641]

Children’s story –

Children’s Hymn: BoP 414 O safe the Rock

Scripture Readings:

OT – Joshua 24:1-13

P____p_____

¹Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River^£ and worshiped other gods. ³But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, ⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

⁵“‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. ⁶When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen^£ as far as the Red Sea.^{£ 7}But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.

⁸“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. ⁹When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. ¹⁰But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹“‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. ¹²I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. ¹³So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

Epistle – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

P____p_____

¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Hymn of Illumination: BoP 259 Breathe on me breath of God

Scripture Readings:

Gospel – Matthew 25:1-13

¹“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹“‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

¹¹“Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

¹²“But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’

¹³“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

 

Sermon: The new dawn

Jesus told a story of ten little girls. Some of these girls were foolish, the others were wise. And all of these little women, these ten virgins are supposed to teach us something about ourselves.

The scene looks like this: it is in the preparation for a great wedding, and this party of young girls go out to the edge of the village territory to meet the groom and escort him to the place of marriage and the feast. The girls would all have been excited because, outside of the noted holidays, a marriage feast was the only other celebration that would grace the lives of the average person. Whole villages would be decorated and gathered in to join with the feast of some noted offical, and on the day of a wedding of prince or princess the entire region would gather for feasts.

There would be rich foods, there would be performers of acrobatic and other amazing attractions, and sometimes special live animal shows might come to the village arena on that day. So it would be quite normal for a group of young girls who been especially chosen to escort the groom to the marriage place to be excited, even giddy.

So when our bibles translate the description of the ten young women – or virgins – and its says that only five were foolish, let’s not be mistaken to think that only five were excited, and only five were singing perhaps or dancing. No, it is better to look at this scene and see ten girls all in their best clothes, singing about the wonderful event, all think forward to their own wedding days perhaps, or thinking of other weddings they had seen, and wondering what this one would be like.

But of the ten young women, there were five who thought for a moment about something more then their own excitement, and about how special it was being chosen to escort the groom to the wedding, they though about their duty, and about their responsibility, about the night ahead, and about the unknown hour of the groom’s arrival.

When Jesus spoke to the crowds he taught using parables like this because it came from their own experience. It set their teachings in the middle of their experience, because we learn from experience. And with these lessons in their context we begin to find our place in them.

I think any of us would look at this scene and we would like to name ourselves as one of the wise women who brought the extra oil for the night. Their wisdom comes from being willing to look ahead to the possible needs of tomorrow, and recognizing the responsibilities that are in front of them right now. Their wisdom is shown in being prepared, but their wisdom is also shown in not wasting their provisions on those who were too foolish to bring enough to last through the night.

I am going to unpack some of the imagery of this parable for you. This is a very rich scene that Jesus presents, but as is often true with the parables, certain subtleties can be easily overlooked as wee look for the overriding moral message.

First, the oil for the lamps. The song, ‘give me oil for my lamp’ is a popular VBS song, is song around campfires at Christian camps and youth groups. It is a fun son with really accessible language for children to understand Jesus teachings. The oil in the parable and in the song represents our faith. And so I ask you, have you checked to see the level of your storehouse of faith?

Second, these flames in the lamps are to burn not simply into the night but all the way through it. The time that passes in this parable is our lives, and our lives can be a dark time. The only way to see our way through that dark time is to keep our lives lit with the light of faith.

Thirdly, when it comes to the oil that lights our own lamp, we cannot transfer our faith to someone else. I can tell you again and again to do something, to grow in faith, but I cannot fill your lamp, I cannot fill your storehouse, we each have been given the task of working that part of things out for ourselves. We need to be careful not to let the people around think that the faith the we have is going to get them through the hardness of life. Do your children, or grand children rely on you to be their source of faith. Have you become their guide, have I become your guide, because this is not as it should be. We can only be filled in faith by the source of faith. We can only have the will and strength to see it through the dark nights of our souls by the faith that is God’s gift to us, that comes from having a close personal relationship with God.

I want you to take a close look at this imagery as it plays out in the parable. Ten young women, girls perhaps, set out from their village to welcome the bride-groom. They all have burning lamps, all of them are burning with the light of faith, all of them have their lives lit up for Christ, but look – the night goes long. It grows dark and their faith runs out, and while they turn to their left and right their isn’t anyone who is able to fill up their faith. In the dark of night they have to look again for their source of faith.

In places where the church is persecuted, where Christians are jailed or marginalized, the church is thriving. These are those who have the deep reserves of faith for the darkness of the day. But, you, if your freedom to worship was taken away, if this building and all its materials was torn down and the yard about leveled, and if your family was broken and torn by poverty, famine plague and war, could your faith hold on till the coming groom of the church brought rest in the new dawn.

The nation of God’s chosen people had walked through the dark wilderness for two generations. They had grown bright in faith as a people and unified in purpose through law and heritage. With their torches and lamps bright they crossed the river Jordan into a land that was not their own, but would be theirs by God’s promise, and they crossed into that new day for their people in the faith on all God’s promises, for them and for their children and all of their descendants.

Yet in our new day, and in the new dawn before you, will you be found welcome into the joy of God’s promises fulfilled, or are you set to come up short. Have you the oil to see your way through the dark times, have you the faith to see the new dawn before you. I pray you do. I pray that if you do not that you will seek after faith, to row and deepen your reserve, that in the assurance of all God’s promises you will see the new dawn with Christ, in joy, forever and ever. Amen.

 

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God’s Tithes and our gifts

Doxology (NBoP 830; BoP 603)

Offertory Prayer

Commissioning Hymn: BoP 480 Who is on the Lord’s side

 

Benediction

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

 

Next Week’s Services:

9:30am – Zion Presbyterian Church (West Branch)

11:00am – St. James’ Presbyterian Church (Beersville)

Mission Moment CANADA: Growing a congregation

Parkland First Presbyterian in Spruce Grove, Alberta began as a Bible Study group in the mid-1990′s and officially became a congregation in 1997. In 2005, with support from Presbyterians Sharing, they called their first minister, Mark Chiang, a recent graduate from Knox College. The seeds from this church plant have grown!  Parkland received a grant from Presbyterians Sharing to purchase land and a building in a rapidly growing area. They took possession April 1, 2011 and are beginning renovations and looking forward to continued growth. Through Presbyterians Sharing we are helping to plant congregations like Parkland, and to spread the gospel message.