Virtual Worship Service- Picton United Church
Music as We Prepare for Worship
Words of Welcome
Invitation to Worship
God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
Inviting us to worship.
God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
Inviting us by love.
God’s Spirit calls to our spirits,
Calling us by name, calling us to grow in faith, calling us to be made new.
We unite our hearts in response to the Spirit’s call –
Even though we are scattered and isolating in our homes – we are one in Spirit. Thanks be to God!
Opening Hymn:
MV#1”Let Us Build a House”
1. Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve known. Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face; let us bring an end to fear and danger:
Refrain: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
2. Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word. Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace; let this house proclaim from floor to rafters;
Refrain:
Opening Prayer
Gracious and Loving God – known to us as Kind Creator, Compassionate Friend, Ever-Present Spirit;
We give you thanks for Jesus’ promise that wherever two or three are gathered, you are present. This morning we would encounter you afresh in worship – willing to be enabled and empowered by your grace, to be built into a renewed community that we may love the world in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Reading
Matthew 7.24-27
Here in the seventh chapter of Matthew we have the conclusion of Jesus’ teaching that we’ve come to know as “The Sermon on the Mount”
In this and our Psalm Reading this morning, listen for the word of God:
7.24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like the foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!”
Responsive Reading: Psalm 46, VU#770
Refrain: A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear though the earth should quake, and the mountains fall into the depths of the sea,
though the waters of the sea rage and foam, and the mountains tremble at the tumult.
Refrain: A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.
There is a river, whose streams make glad the city of God, sanctifying the dwelling of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city, it shall not be moved. God will help at the break of day.
Nations are in tumult, empires are shaken,
For God speaks and the earth melts away.
Refrain: A mighty fortress in our God, a bulwark never failing.
Come and see what God has done, the wonders wrought upon the earth.
God makes wars to cease in all the world, God breaks the bow and snaps the spear, and burns the shields with fire.
Be still and know that I am God,
Exalted among the nations, exalted in the earth.
The God of Hosts is with us,
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Refrain:
“Sand or Rock?”
“The wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rain came a tumblin’ down.
The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up but the house on the rock stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand, the foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rain came a tumblin’ down.
The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the sand fell flat!
Jesus is the rock on which the wise man built, Jesus is the rock on which the wise man 
built, Jesus is the rock on which the wise man built, so build your life on him.”
Our reading this morning from the Gospel of Matthew comes near the end of Jesus’ teaching that we have come to know as, “The Sermon on the Mount”. It begins in Chapter 5:
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak and taught them. . .”
(Matthew 5.1-2a NRSV)
Jesus teaching includes, in chapter five, The Beatitudes – nine statements on blessedness. As well, there are the parables/statements about salt and light; teaching about forgiveness, and the swearing of oaths, and the imperative to love one’s enemies.
In Chapter Six, we have Jesus’ words about the importance of the practice of prayer in humility and sincerity in secret rather than on the street. Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is given as an example of simplicity.
Chapter six concludes with the teaching about letting go of worry and anxiety – but trusting God to know what one needs.
In Chapter Seven Jesus speaks against judgement of others – using the hilarious comparison of trying to take the speck from your brother’s eye when you have a saw log in your own! He goes on to give what we’ve come to know as the golden rule: “So whatever you wish that people would do to you, do the same to them – this is all the law and the prophets.”
Jesus warns of “false prophets”, reminding his listeners that such people will be recognizable by their fruits – by the good that they are unable to accomplish.
And then we have the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount with the words that we read this morning – the story of the contrast between those who are wise builders and those who are foolish builders. The wise who built on the rock are those who have heard Jesus’ teaching and taken it to heart. The foolish, whose houses collapse in the flood, are those who ignore the teaching.
There is more to being a disciple – a follower of Jesus Christ, than simply holding up a book, standing in front of a place of worship! (A book that the individual likely has never read – and certainly has not taken its teaching to heart!)
Jesus made that plain in his “Sermon on the Mount”. “Not every one who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’. . .but the ones who do the will of my Father.” Rabbi Yeshua as his closest friends knew him, was following in the traditions of his ancestors – the ancient prophets of Israel. Jesus was simply reminding those who listened that to be his disciple they needed to take seriously their way of living. Like good trees, or good grape vines, planted in good soil, they needed to bear good fruit.
St. Paul, writing about three decades after the events of Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost, gave definition to what the good fruit of the Spirit would look like. I’ll leave you this morning with a quote from St. Paul’s letter to the Church at Galatia. This was one of the places where Paul had preached and where there was a fledgling congregation of Jesus’ people, called “Christians” by their neighbours.
After listing the shameful behaviours of some – including, “enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissensions, party spirit, envy, . . .and carousing” (Words that describe certain persons we hear a lot about in the media) Paul writes these words:
“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” (Galatians 5.22-23)
May God help us to take to heart Jesus’ words and the words of St. Paul – and live in this way – bearing good fruit.
To live in this way is to build one’s life on a sure foundation – with Jesus Christ the cornerstone.
Would God that everyone who takes up this Book would do the same!
Amen.
Giving Good Gifts
Friends, during these weeks of COVID-19 the congregations of South Bay United Church/ Picton United Church have continued in mission and ministry. In order to sustain the work of the church we depend on the generosity of members and friends. If you wish to contribute:
At South Bay you can give your gifts through the PAR Program – or by mailing your donation to P.O. Box 102, Milford, Ontario K0K 2P0.
At Picton United Church you can give your gift by visiting the church website and clicking on the Donate button. Or you may wish to mail your donation to the Church Office at 12 Chapel St. Picton K0K 2T0.
God bless you for your generosity.
Prayers of Gratitude & Concern
We thank you, Gracious & Loving God, that we have lived in this great world and known its many joys:
For all of life, we give you thanks.
Remembering the songs of birds at dawn, the strong sweet scent of newly mowed and baled hay, the cooling breeze in the secret dusk, the flaming sunset at the close of day, the pale moon rising.
For all of life we give you thanks.
Remembering the lonely hills, music at night and moonlight on the lake, the steady lapping of the waves on the shore, and the wild, white spray thrown high in storm.
For all of life, we give you thanks.
Remembering the love of kin folk and the support of friends, and all that makes life dear and beautiful; remembering that there comes to us at times the sorrow of grief and loss, heartache, and loneliness at parting from dear ones.
For all of life, we give you thanks.
Remembering the breaking dawn after dreary hours of pain, the discovery that night’s gloom yields, and morning light breaks through again.
For all of life, we give you thanks.
Because of these and other blessings poured unasked upon us, because there waits an even better and more glorious life of justice and of peace – that you will for all the world – and most of all, because of our brother and friend, Jesus, who followed your Way of Compassion even though it meant his arrest, torture and execution – that he might defeat the powers of death and the grave – we thank you, Holy One, that we have lived in this wondrous world and know each day its many joys.
For all of life, we give you thanks.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Parting Hymn: “Be Still My Soul” VU#652
1. Be still, my soul, for God is on your side; bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Trust in your God, your saviour and your guide, who through all changes faithful will remain. Be still my soul, your best, your heavenly friend through stormy ways leads to a peaceful end.
2. Be still my soul, for God will undertake to guide the future surely as the past. Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still my soul, life’s tempests still obey the voice that once the waves’ wild fury stayed.
3. Be still my soul, the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever in God’s peace; when disappointment, grief and fear are gone, love’s joys restored, our strivings all shall cease. Be still my soul, when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Commissioning & Blessing
Sung Response: “Go Now in Peace”
Go now in peace, never be afraid; God will go with you each hour of every day. Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true, know God will guide you in all you do. Go now in love, and show you believe, reach out to others so all the world can see. God will be there watching from above (walking by your side) Go now in peace, in faith and in love. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Extinguishing the Christ Candle
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