Muskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday Dec 13, 2020
Message:
Reverend John Young
______________________________________

Announcements
________________________________________
* We extend thanks to Rev. John Young for supplying the pulpit the month of December.
* Lectio Divina, Thursday evenings, 8pm via Zoom
* Rev Faith will be on holidays for the month of December. Rev John Young will be conducting worship.
* For those who are unable to take part in Communion by Zoom, I will be arranging to bring Communion into your home starting in January. Please contact me to discuss and set up a day/time.

* If you have a pastoral need during my time away, please leave a message on the church office answering machine (It will be checked daily), or contact one of the elders (Knox: Alf MacMillian 705-764-1654 / Edie Bard 705-645-6748 / Scott Murley 647-220-0475 / Cathy Vine 705-764-0320 / Ken Shortt 705-769-3239) and (Zion: Garnet Schenk 705-684-8498 / Inez Laycock 705-762-2075 / Robin Keeler 416-540-4324)
________________________________________
Call to Worship ~ Advent Candle Lighting
________________________________________
Today, the third Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of joy … which is the awareness that God is mysteriously, graciously working in our world and in our lives. When we see evidence of blessings shared, unexpected kindness given, extraordinary patience exercised, we are witnessing God’s gifts at work. When we are generous and loving, sometimes surprising ourselves we are feeling the hand of God in action. Seeing and feeling God at work in and around us brings a deep sense of joy.
The candle of joy! … Thanks be to God!
_______________________________________
Prayer of Adoration & Confession
________________________________________
God of hope, peace, and joy … thank you for these days and weeks ahead of Christmas to reflect on your love for all people. We thank you that in the midst of this pandemic, we witness many acts of caring, kindness, and generosity. Human resilience and strength – we believe – is what you planted in us … our ability to ride the roller coaster we call life is due to the strength and courage you have blessed us with. Help us to be your people of hope, peace, and joy in our community.

As we ponder your love and blessings, we also become aware of our failure to be your voice of strength, your hands of caring. We acknowledge the hypocrisy of calling you the God of love and then wondering if you have sent covid19 into the world. We claim to be your servants yet we are consistent in ignoring the needs of others. We regularly venture down the path of refusing to healthfully care for ourselves.

In the safety of your grace we acknowledge and turn away from our sin … committing once more to being your people. We claim again your blessing, your love, and your pardon, as promised in the sending of our Saviour. These things we pray in Christ’s name. Amen

Words of Assurance
Ultimately, confession is not about how bad we are but rather it is about how good God is … and the truth of the Gospel is that God never gives us on us, for God is love. God gladly sends us on our way … released, unfettered, freed … so that as we have been blessed, freed, loved, we may also bless, free, and love others. These are the promises God makes to us in the sending of a Saviour. Go now in peace to love and serve your God. Amen
_____________________________________
Scripture
________________________________________

John 1:1-9, 19-28
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”
They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
________________________________________
Message
“ ”
________________________________________

The Gospel according to John is not so much an account of Jesus’ life (he went here, he did this, he said that) … as it is an account of who we believe Jesus is. The first 28 verses of John’s Gospel, describe him as the Word, the Light, and the Messiah or the Christ. Later in the gospel, Jesus calls himself … the Lamb of God, the Light of the world, the Bread of heaven, the Good Shepherd. Individually, these descriptions reveal different things about this complex character named Jesus. When taken together, they declare an incredible mystery … that Jesus is God in the flesh AND that Jesus is truly human … and that the purpose of Jesus is to bring God and the whole Universe together in a relationship of well-being and completeness. Talk about a cosmic blessing! Salvation is not simply for me, for you, for us … but for the whole of creation.

As we read the first verses of the Gospel according to John, the first thing we notice is that it begins with the same phrase as Genesis 1 …”In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.” This mysterious Word is active in the creation of all things … particularly light and life, and darkness does nothing to diminish it. A number of verses later, the Word becomes flesh and lives among us (1:14) and the Word is then named (1:17) Jesus the Christ. (Just a quick aside … Christ comes from the Greek language, Saviour from Latin, and Messiah from Hebrew. We use them interchangeably)

One of the points of these early verses in the Gospel is that salvation or redemption was no afterthought … redemption was an integral part of God’s creative speech, in the beginning. God wasn’t simply creative for the fun of it … God’s creativity had a purpose in mind …… well-being and completeness in everyone, everything, everywhere was the goal. Darkness, however we might define it (sin, rebelliousness, imperfection, evil) does not reduce the power or effectiveness of the life and the light of all people.

So then we meet John (1:6), sent from God as a witness / note the imagery of a courtroom. John is to testify to the light. But note also that John does not make statements about the light – (he doesn’t say, the light is good and pure … the light is necessary for life … I’ve seen the light) … John’s statements are not about the light but a declaration that he is NOT the light … only a witness … the light is coming into the world, but John is not the light.

In verses 19 to 28, John’s interrogation by the religious leaders comes into focus. It becomes clear that these are not merely innocent questions, but a trial of sorts, which points to a central theme in the Gospel … the religious leaders, are by and large, uncooperative – they do not see the ‘light’ and their resistance only increases throughout the Gospel.

So John, the witness, gives a series of “I am not …” statements. I am not the Messiah … not Elijah … not the prophet.” And finally there is one more, “I am not …” statement. John the witness is not even worthy to untie the sandal of the One who is coming, the One who is not known or recognized.

John, as a witness, can only point in the direction of the One who is coming … it is up to them and to us to look and to see. The uncomfortable truth that is being spoken here seems to be that human beings have difficulty recognizing God in our midst. Is it that God does the unexpected? Is that God is mysterious and subtle?
Is it that we have already made our minds up about how God works and God fails to meet our expectations?

Today’s Gospel lesson leaves many questions unanswered about the Word, the Light, and the Messiah … we know that John the witness is not the One. We know that there is a problem recognizing, knowing the One who is coming. We know that the religious leaders who are supposed to know this kind of stuff, don’t.

So yes, God does the unexpected, God is mysterious and subtle, we need to keep an open mind about how God works, and we do need check our expectations at the door.

But you know what … all that being said, we do know something else, something amazing. God is working in the world, in our lives … from the beginning … to bring all things, all people … to a place of well-being and completeness! God’s intention from the beginning is life and light! Thanks be to God! Amen
________________________________________
Prayers of the People ~ Lord’s Prayer (sins)
________________________________________
O God of hope, whose actions are life-giving, thank you for the strength and grace you send our way as we go about our lives in these days of pandemic. Thank you that you are close to us even when we don’t feel it … that your strength and peace is upon us even when we feel alone, vulnerable, miserable. Thank you that we may count on you, not to fix everything that is wrong, but to give us everything we need in order to meet whatever life may toss our way. Thank you also for this Advent season reminding all people that Christmas is never cancelled and that your love has no off-season.

O God of peace, who plants seeds of wholeness and well-being in every corner of the globe, we count on your blessing to help people navigate these stressful days of covid19. Help us be part of a larger movement which honours so many frontline workers who care for the sick, who protect the vulnerable, who keep the essential services running. Help us be part of the larger movement which restricts our personal gatherings and helps reduce the spread of covid19. Bless us with patience and calmness as we encounter the world’s chaos and fear … help us to be ambassadors of your shalom.

O God of joy … while we ask you to send your powerful, creative, and loving presence to all who struggle, we believe that you already have done it. In so many ways, our prayers are already answered, so we believe, for you are in the midst of the world already, working your incredible grace and hoping people will pay your blessings forward. We pray in the strong and sure name of our Saviour using the words he taught us …

Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen
________________________________________
Benediction
________________________________________

In a world where fear, uncertainty and anger are so evident, God calls us to be creatively kind, wonderfully patient, unexpectedly generous.
May the many and diverse blessings of God … Creator, Saviour, and Spirit of Truth … rest upon you and flow through you to others. Amen