Home Church 12th Sunday after Pentecost August 23, 2020 Rev. Sally Bullas

Home Church 12th Sunday after Pentecost August 23, 2020 Rev. Sally Bullas

Preparing the Space

As we gather on the unceded traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation and lay open our welcome to all, I invite you to lean into the ritual of preparing yourself to be at one and in communion with the holy and sacred. As we clear a space and set up a focal point, the familiar movements of our bodies remind us what we are preparing for – helping to bring ourselves more fully to the moment and to the experience. I wonder, how have you brought the Holy into the space you are in?  Sit for a moment within your surroundings and allow them to embrace you with intention and peace.  Light a candle if you have one at the ready.  Open yourself to the One who is with us and within us.  Breathe in place.

Gathering

“But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.” (Exodus 1:17)  Little seems to stay the same for long.  And yet, over and over again, history often repeats itself.  The Hebrew midwives, two of whom are named Shiphrah and Puah, have an eye on a birthing of justice that is informed by their God.  The new king of Egypt has a different agenda.  Age to age human beings have been drawn into questioning and at times compromising values of life, love, justice and liberty.  War, civil war, holocaust, genocide, apartheid, enslavement, poverty, and just about every “ism” going reminds us that there are many forces at work that try to separate us from God’s vision of a just, kind, and safe world for all—heaven on earth.  Jesus intimates that we are on the right track when what we do on earth aligns with the realm of being God envisions for all creation.  It is enough to simply know this and act accordingly, and reason enough to be the church.         

Opening Prayer and Lighting of the Christ Candle  Julian of Norwich

And all shall be well

and all shall be well

and all manner of things shall be well.   (candle is lit)

Greeting
The grace of Christ Jesus, the love of God,

and the ever-present Spirit be with you all.

   And also with you.

May grace and peace be with you.

   And may our hearts be filled with joy.

Hymn:   We Praise You, O God  VU#218

  1We praise you, O God, our Redeemer, Creator;

  in grateful devotion our tribute we bring.

  We lay it before you; we kneel and adore you;

  we bless your holy name, glad praises we sing.

  2We worship you, God of our mothers and fathers,

  through trial and tempest, companion and guide.

  When perils o'ertake us, you will not forsake us,

  but faithful to your promise, you walk by our side.

3With voices united our praises we offer

  and gladly our songs of thanksgiving we raise.

  Our sins now confessing, we pray for your blessing,

  to you, our great Redeemer, forever be praise!     

Prayer of Confession    Marianne Williamson (adapted)

Dear God, the world is not as it should be. 

There is violence and famine and sickness and pain.

 Let those things die, O God.

   May we be reborn.
My heart at times is not as it should be. 

There is conflict, unforgiveness, judgment, and rage. 

Let those things die, O God.

   May I be reborn.

Take this millennium, and all ages past, and strip them of their lovelessness:
            forgive the horror,
            redeem the past,
            release the future,
            wipe away all tears,
            deliver us to joy,
            correct our thinking,
            and heal our hearts.
May only love remain, O God.

   May we be reborn.

Silence

God is merciful.
   Christ is merciful.

God is merciful.

Silence

Words of Assurance  (Judy Chicago)

And then all that has divided us will merge

And then compassion will be wedded to power

And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and unkind

And then both men and women will be gentle

And then both women and men will be strong

And then no person will be subject to another’s will

And then all will be rich and free and varied

And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of many

And then all will share equally in the earth’s abundance

And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old

And then all will cherish life’s creatures

And then all will live in harmony with each other and the earth.

And then everywhere will be called Eden once again.

Peace of Christ

Christ is with and within each of us – let us share with one another the peace of Christ!

            N-Z:  The Peace of Christ be with you!

            A-N And also with you!

First Reading  (From “The Message”)

Exodus 1:8-2:10

A new Pharaoh—one who did not know Joseph—came to power in Egypt.  Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, “Look at how powerful the Israelites have become, and how they outnumber us!  We need to

deal shrewdly with their increase, against a time of war when they

might turn against us and join our enemy, and so escape out of the country.”  So they oppressed the Israelites with overseers who put

them to forced labour; and with them they built the storage cities of

Pitom and Ra’amses.  Yet the more the Israelites were oppressed,

the more they multiplied and burst forth until the Egyptians dreaded

the Israelites.  So they made the Israelites utterly subservient with

hard labour, brick-and-mortar work, and every kind of field work.

 The Egyptians were merciless in subjugating them with crushing labour.  Pharaoh spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews—one was Shiphrah, and the other Puah—and said, “When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, examine them on the birthing-stool.  If the baby is a boy, kill it.  If it is a girl, let it live.”  But the midwives were God-fearing women, and they ignored the Pharaoh’s instructions, and let the male babies live.  So Pharaoh summoned the midwives and asked why they let the male babies live.  The midwives responded, “These Hebrew women are different from Egyptian women; they are more robust, and deliver even before the midwife arrives.”  God rewarded the midwives, and the people increased in numbers and in power.  And since the midwives were God-fearing, God gave them families of their own.  There was a man from the house of Levi who had married a Levite woman, and she conceived and gave birth to a boy.  And she saw that the baby was good, so she hid it for three months.  When she could hide the baby no longer she took a papyrus basket, daubed it with bitumen and pitch, and put the child in it, and placed the basket among the reeds by the banks of the Nile.  The baby’s sister watched from a distance to learn what would happen.  Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the Nile to bathe, while her attendant walked along the river bank.  She noticed the basket among the reeds, and sent her attendant to fetch it.  Opening it, she saw the baby—and how it wept!  She was moved to pity and said, “This must be one of the Hebrew’s children!”  Then  his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Do you want me to go and find a nurse for you among the Hebrews to suckle the child for you?”  “Yes, go,” she answered.  So the sister went off and brought the baby’s own mother.  Pharaohs daughter said to her, “Take this child with you and suckle it for me, and I myself will pay you.”  The woman took the child and nursed it.  After the child was weaned, she brought it to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted it as her own.  She called him Moses—“He Who Pulls Out”—for she said, “I pulled him out of the water.”

Gospel Reading

One:    God be with you.          

All:      And also with you

One:    The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

All:      Glory to you, Christ Jesus.

Matthew 16: 13-20  (From “The Message”)
When Jesus came to the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi, he asked the disciples this question:  “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptizer, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “And you,” he said, “who do you say that I am?”  “You are the Messiah,” Simon Peter answered, “the Firstborn of the Living God!”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon ben-Jonah!  No mere mortal has revealed this to you, but my Abba God in heaven.  I also tell you this:  your name now is ‘Rock,’ and on bedrock like this I will build my community, and the jaws of death will not prevail against it.  Here—I’ll give you the keys to the reign of heaven:  whatever you declare bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you declare loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Then Jesus strictly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection: Social Justice (see attached)

Silent Reflection 

A New Creed: Let us affirm our faith . . .

We are not alone,
   we live in God’s world.

We believe in God:
   who has created and is creating,

   who has come in Jesus,
      the Word made flesh,
      to reconcile and make new,
   who works in us and others
      by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
   to celebrate God’s presence,
   to live with respect in Creation,
   to love and serve others,
   to seek justice and resist evil,
   to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
      our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
   God is with us.
We are not alone.
   Thanks be to God.

Prayers of the People  Reader:  Paddy Waymark (see attached)

One:    God of Love,                                                              

All:      Hear our prayer.

The Prayer of Jesus (an adaptation): 

   Heavenly Mother, heavenly Father,

   Holy and blessed is your true name.

   We pray for your reign of peace to come,

   We pray that your good will be done,

   Let heaven and earth become one.

   Give us this day the bread we need,

   Give it to those who have none.

   Let forgiveness flow like a river through us,

   From each one to each one to each one.

   Lead us to holy innocence

   Beyond the evil of our days,

   Come swiftly Mother, Father, come!

   For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy—

   Forever your name is All in One.     (Parker Palmer)

Offering

Thank you for calling each other, for grocery shopping, caring for the church building, doing the business of the church, baking cookies, praying for those on the prayer wheel, leading things online, continuing to knit prayer shawls, for tech support, for continuing to gather for worship, for doing the things you would be doing anyway . . . but under more challenging circumstances. Thank you all for your commitment to being church in a new way.

Let us pray:

Father/Mother God, Holy Spirit…

   Help us to stay connected to our hearts and each other.

   Help us to see the good in ourselves and each other.

   Help us to serve the spirit of goodness in all we meet.

   Help us to restore love upon this earth.

May all be fed.

May all be healed.

May all be loved.

   Amen.     John Robbins (adapted)

“Would You Harbour Me?”  (Ysaye M. Barnwell)

Would you harbour me?

Would I harbour you?

Would you harbour me?

Would I harbour you?

Would you harbour a Christian?

   a Muslim?

   a Jew?

   a heretic?

   a convict?

   or a spy?

Would you harbour a runaway woman?

   or child?

   a poet?

   a prophet?

   a king?

Would you harbour an exile?

   or a refugee?

   a person living with AIDS?

Would you harbour a Tubman?

   a Garrett?

   a Truth?

   a fugitive?

   or a slave?

Would you harbour a Haitian?

   Korean?

   or Czech?

   a lesbian?

   or a gay?

Would you harbour me?

Would I harbour you?

Would you harbour me?

Would I harbour you?

Hymn:  The Lord’s My Shepherd    VU#747  

   1The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want;

   he makes me down to lie

   in pastures green; he leadeth me,

   the quiet waters by.

   2My soul he doth restore again;

   and me to walk doth make

   within the paths of righteousness,

   even for his own name's sake.

   3Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,

   yet will I fear no ill;

   for thou art with me; and thy rod

   and staff me comfort still.

   4My table thou has furnished

   in presence of my foes;

   my head thou dost with oil anoint,

   and my cup overflows.

   5Goodness and mercy all my life

   shall surely follow me,

   and in God's house for evermore

   my dwelling-place shall be.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:    The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey, guiding you, cherishing you.

First name N-Z:

            The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories, feeding you, challenging you.

First name A-M:

            The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom, comforting you, disturbing you.

All:      The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living, guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together,  a community on a journey, sustained in God’s blessing.             Amen!

One:    Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:      Thanks be to God.