Muskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday Feb 14, 2021
Message: Abide with Me
Reverend Glynis Faith
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Announcements
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1) Monday evenings at 7p.m. the prayer group meets via Zoom. Last week we discussed and prayed for specific needs in our communities and in our churches as we move towards a post-pandemic. This week our prayer focus will be on our families.
2) Tuesday 2p.m., Zion Session will meet via Zoom.
3) Tuesday 7p.m., Knox Session will meet via Zoom.
4) Thursday evenings 7:30 p.m. Lectio Divina group meets via Zoom
5) Happy Valentines Day
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Call to Worship
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Behold, Christ stands at the door of your heart and He knocks. When you hear His voice and open the door, He will come in and abide with you. Revelation 3:20
Let us open the doors of hearts to welcome Christ in. Let us worship the Lord. AMEN
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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Almighty One, Creator of the heavens and the earth, we lift up our hearts in praise and adoration to You.
Heavenly Father, you provide us with green pasture and lead us up to the still waters.
Jesus, you prepare a table for us that we might feast with You in eternity. Although we deserve ashes, you anoint us instead with pure oil.
Holy Spirit, you lead us along the path of righteousness – Your rod and staff comfort us through the difficult parts of our journey.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit you never give up on us – You never leave us – Your love is amazing and we praise You.
There are times along life’s journey that we struggle to see You – struggle to hear Your loving voice. We confess, however, that it is our sin that separates us from You. You are always near, always knocking, always waiting, always ready to abide with us. Lord, God, help us to see our sins clearly, and as we confess them, Lord, let us feel Your loving presence. In Christ we pray. AMEN
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Scripture
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Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.

Luke 24:25-35
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
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Message
“ Abide with Me ”
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Today we conclude our look at favourite hymns and the inspiration behind them. Perhaps we will look at other hymn inspiration stories in the future, so feel free to call or email me to share a favourite hymn that you might like to know more about. Perhaps these stories have inspired you to write some poems or short stories that reflect your experiences along your faith journey. Perhaps one day future generations will find hope and strength through words you have left behind.
Next week we begin our Lenten journey, following Jesus’ footsteps towards the Cross. If you have a candle at home, please take it out and light it each week when you sit down to the service. Whether you are reading or watching the service, please light the candle when you begin and snuff it out when you have concluded. This will serve as a reminder of Christ’s presence there with you. If you do not have a candle, and live in the Muskoka area, please let me know and I will arrange to bring one out to you. Please do not go out to the stores unless you need to. I will happily get a candle to you.
We conclude our look at hymns with a classic of the Victorian Era, Abide with Me. There was a realist appreciation of death’s reality in much of the 19th century writings, including the hymns. Accepting the reality of death as part of life enables us to live our lives more fully, especially with a rooted understanding of the Cross and Christ’s purpose on the Cross.
Henry Francis Lyte wrote the words to Abide with Me shortly before his death, sending them to his wife. Lyte had been orphaned at a young age and like many other orphans lived in poverty. Perhaps this is why he spent his life struggling with asthma, eventually succumbing to tuberculosis. Henry had many struggles to face in life. He also had a strong faith and a fierce determination.
Henry’s faith and determination would enable a poor man to get an education. Initially his goal was to be a doctor (perhaps to help others battling with the chronic illness), but he changed his focus and trained in ministry instead.
He was a well-respected preacher, poet and musician. He served several congregations, eventually choosing to serve amongst the poor fishing community in Lower Brixham, Devonshire, England. Henry preached and served the people of Lwr Brixham for 23 years. It is said that he was so ill the day he preached his last sermon, that he practically had to crawl up to the pulpit. (Today, if a minister came to the pulpit in such a sickened state, the congregation would immediately mask up and stampede out the door, sanitizing heavily on their way out)
At one point in his ministry, Henry sat with a dying friend. He and his friend spent their time together pondering life and searching Scripture. The focus of his sermons changed following this experience, as he sought to help people find meaning and purpose in life through an understanding that death is part of life, pointing to the Cross of Jesus as the bridge and to our need to deepen our relationship with Christ and be prepared for that part of life’s journey. The Lord is our Shepherd, leading us through lives joys and through the darkest hours; leading us to the table that has been prepared for us, where we will be anointed as heirs with Christ for all eternity.
We don’t like to talk about death, but it is indeed part of life. Acknowledging death as part of our journey, better enables us to live purposefully and confident of the green pastures we are journeying towards.
The inspiration for this hymn came from Luke 24:29. Jesus has been walking with two individuals on their way to Emmaus. They are distressed about the crucifixion of Jesus and somehow do not realize it is Christ who walks with them. This is hard for us to understand, how can they see and hear Jesus in the flesh and not recognize Him, but can we not ask ourselves the same question – We are assured of God’s presence with us always, yet do we recognize God in the everyday? (we will look at this in a moment)
Jesus speaks to these individuals of the writings of the prophets – the foretelling of His death and the purpose in it all. He helps them to understand what was always there. Then Jesus prepares to go in a different direction, and they ask Him to come and ‘stay with them,’ or as some translations say, “abide with us.” (hence the name of the hymn, although Henry Lyte was indeed a good preacher, so he personalized the words changing us to me. Abide with ME – stay with ME)
And what does Jesus do? Brush them off ‘I have other things to do’ ‘busy schedule, you know’ ‘sorry, your on your own’
No, Jesus did exactly what He has promised to do. When we invite Jesus to abide with us – to stay with us. When we hear His knock at the door of our hearts and we open it up and invite Him in, Jesus remains with us and helps us to know God and to grow in our faith and understanding.
The first thing we learn from this passage in Luke, is to invite Jesus to abide with us, “In life, in death, O Lord, abide in me.” Invite Jesus to live with you in all aspects of your life. Invite Jesus into your work, into your family, into your hobbies, into your friendships, into your worship. You may not recognize Him at first. It may take time. But invite Jesus in and listen to Him.
The next thing we see in this reading from Luke is hospitality. It is one thing to invite someone in, and entirely another to show them hospitality. Hospitality involves making someone feel welcome and making sure their needs are met.
Imagine inviting someone to come into your home, but not offering them a place to sit. Or perhaps you do provide them a stool in the corner and out of the way, but are too busy to listen to their questions, ‘is there a bathroom I can use, or can I please have a glass of water?’
The hospitality we witness in this passage is the invitation to dinner – a seat at the table and food to eat. Luke focusses on the bread, tying the recognition of Christ to the Last Supper, but there would have been more at this meal. And we learn that Christ blesses them in their hospitality by revealing His presence to them.
Jesus still reveals Himself to us in the everyday things of life. When we invite Christ to abide in us and extend hospitality to Him – that is, inviting Him to be a part of all of our lives, He reveals Himself.
Christ’s presence is always with us – always present, but Christ only abides in us when we invite Him in, and we are enable to see Him more clearly when we offer the hospitality of sharing our entire selves with Him.
The third thing we learn from our reading of Luke’s Gospel is that experiencing Jesus in our lives compels us to share what we have seen and heard. When we recognize the Great Shepherd and invite Him to shepherd us, we can never look at lost sheep the same way again. We know the pasture is abundant and the waters are still. We know there is no better place or purpose, so we share what we have received that others might also invite Christ to abide with them. Luke tells us the disciples immediately left to share the news with the disciples.
And remember they had been concerned that the hour was late, which was the reason they gave for inviting Jesus to stay with them, yet after experiencing the risen Christ in their presence, they no longer feared the dark; but rather, they boldly went to Jerusalem to share the Good News!
Friends, Jesus lived and died for you. His life – His death had purpose. His purpose was to show us God’s great love and to defeat death’s hold on you and I. Jesus paid our debt at Calvary, so when you ask Him to abide with you, you have the assurance that in both life and death He knows the way and will lead you home.
Please listen closely to these beautiful and inspiring words as we sing, Abide with Me.
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Prayers of Thanksgiving & The Lord’s Prayer
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As we look towards the season of Lent before us, we are mindful of the Cross. As we consider Your Cross, Lord Jesus, we are reminded of the depth of Your love for us. So we pause now to thank you for Your love. We thank you for bringing God to us, for taking human form to walk among us. We thank you for Your patience and compassion. We thank you for Your Passion and for Your work on the Cross.
Jesus, you bore our sins and washed us clean – You took death to give us life. Precious Saviour, we give You thanks and praise.
Smile Your peace upon us now as we repeat the words you taught Your disciples. . . Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thine will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN
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Commission & Benediction
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If you haven’t already, I encourage you to invite Jesus to abide with you. If you have, but maybe you haven’t been sharing all of your life with Him, I encourage you to consider the hospitality you are showing Him. If your not sure about inviting Jesus to abide with you, or have questions about it, please call or email me.

And now, may the love of God, the peace of Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit go with you wherever you go. AMEN
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Support the Work of Knox and Zion in 2021
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DONATIONS TO ZION, TORRANCE
Mail cheques to Zion Presbyterian Church 1046 Torrance Rd, Torrance, ON, P0C 1M0
E-Transfers to zionchurchpc@gmail.com No security question required
Pick up ~ Please call the office (705) 765 3797 to arrange pick up

DONATIONS TO KNOX, PORT CARLING
Mail cheques to Knox Presbyterian Church Box 283, Port Carling, ON,
P0B 1J0
E-Transfers to KnoxChurchPC@gmail.com No security question required
Pick up ~ Please call the office (705) 765-3797 to arrange pick up
Thank you for your continued support!