Call to Worship. 

One. In the beginning  Ummmmmm

All in The beginning there was the word. The word was with God and Was God.

One: Ummmm

All. It was more of sound then a word.  A deep comforting resonance that was

One Ummmmm.

All. And God took the word, a sound of love and said let there be light

One ummmmm

All: and there was light and the light of God grew and became two sounds and more and more sounds came into being

One: ummmmmm

All and the music of God, the music of life, music of praise began.

One. It began as simple sounds, it began as words rhythmically placed together.  The psalms

All: and later in choir and cloister our song of God’s Son was sung with more and more harmony 

Prayer (based on hymn “Sing till Sundown” Spinelli and Bretzius 1988)

All Great God. We shall sing till the sundown, hum your joy, dress in starlight, girl and boy. Man and woman climb the hill warmed beyond the season’s chill reeling , clapping filling the air with that fragrant music surrounding us.  Our Gladness deepens into grace, weaves its light on to our face. Come the your glory of God, bring the flute, the tambourine wave the evergreen lost we were, found we are now we will sing till sundown and hum your joy.

One Let us listen to the Word of God

All Our ears are open.

One our lesson is taken from  Hebrews 9:24-28

One This is the word of the Lord

All Thanks be to God

One Let us lift our Psalm up to God our Psalm is

Psalm  100 820  

 One: Hear the word of God

All: we center ourselves by the word of God

One then hear the good news of the Gospel as given to us by Matthew reading Matthew 22:36-40

One:  The word of God for the people of God

All Thanks be to God

One.  Ummmmmm

All in The beginning there was the word. The word was with God and Was God.

One: Ummmm

All. It was more of sound then a word.  A deep comforting resonance that was

One Ummmmm.

All. And God took the word, a sound of love and said let there be light 

I was putting some things away. Looking at other things. 

My Grandmother was a great keeper of our family history, I have photos, report cards temperance cards, certificate, recipes school assignments. Which belonged to my Grandmother, mother, great grand parents. Gramma kept it. You see I come by nature, collecting and keeping.

In putting things away a came across  a book  from my first internship in Happy Valley Goose Bay Labrador my first sermon,  not to mention the sermons I wrote for my preaching class.  It is amazing how great a sermon can sound when you have three weeks to write it.    I confess I was sourly tempted to use one of these.  Talk about going deep into the barrel. In the same drawer There is my high school hockey Jersey, don’t look so surprised that I can skate and actually hold a hockey stick. What do you think keeps me on my skates. I am too old to use a chair.  I can still pull the jersey on, although it fits more like a sausage casing.  I have it here. As you can see by my number I perhaps was not as temperate as I am know in those days 

Hmmm there is a connection. 

I sat at my desk this  pondering watching all the thoughts trying to write them selves into a sensible song of reflection  the sun lighting the maple in the front yard which seems to have turned a golden yellow overnight.  I watched the leaves fall,  well fall is a bit of a understatement. It was more of a cascade. 

 A leaf near the top would let go and would fall hit other leaves which hit other leaves and they just cascaded down.    One small movement making a significant difference.     Each movement moving the tree towards a time of getting ready for a new life,  The leafs of this season joyfully taking each other by their leafy edges and dancing towards the ground giving way for something knew to happen knowing very well the chances of getting raked up being very slim. 

The song of faith is there tickling like a long lost melody. 

I belong to a face book page called Keswick Old School.  Talks about life in the old days    I was commenting on the pubic school I went to and this person asked if I was Billy Wheeler.   I confessed yes.    She said she remembers a kindness that I showed her while in school.  I confess I did not remember the name.  I wrote that public school can leave micro scares on the soul.  She wrote back some are not so small, and that I was kind and made her laugh.   

And the leaves continue to cascade off my tree in the front yard. 

The verses begin to rhyme, to song takes shape.  The Song takes shape the lyrics revealed.   

In all that changes, in all that gives away to what must come, there is one constant the presence of God in our lives.    A presence  which we live  in the foundational idea of the great commandment.    “The first is, ‘the Lord our God, is one; ³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus, will say upon this you shall hang all the other laws, This is the fulfilment of all of the other laws.  Jesus in John will state you shall love each other as I have loved you.  God becomes the standard for acceptance and compassion.

When we live by this commandment we can make a difference. Sometimes we never know how that loving your neighbour will manifest its self. To begin the healing of the scares on the soul. 

We change we grow. The sermons I wrote 30 years ago, do not look like the sermons I write today, The hockey jersey from high school does not reflect who I am today.    The church we were 30 years ago does not look like the church we have today, Who we are today does not reflect who we will be tomorrow.   The great challenge is not to try to stop this motion forward.  We either participate or perish or worse just exist. 

Like the leaves on the maple in front yard, we are challenged to let go so something new may grow. In our long history as congregations, in our short history of being a new church we have met the challenge of change. In meeting that challenge in our long history, in our short history we have and will make that difference. 

It all begins with that time of discernment, that silencing ourselves to allow God in the holy spirit to move within us to begin to understand the direction we must go.   Like Moses and a slew of other Biblical Characters we will be frightened, doubtful, asking the question surely “Lord you got the wrong person, surely Lord you don’t want us to do that. 

 The Lord in the great silence of our mind if we can set aside our on personal fears, ambitions and needs will speak to our hearts and we will see our way forward.   All of this begins with the knowledge that God is with us.  For in  all of the fluidness, all the shifting of this life there is the one constant that which does not change. The great commandment.  Which is also a great commitment. For I believe in it God states “I will love you with all my heart, with all my soul and all my mind and I will love your regardless of who you are.”     In the words of the musician John Micheal Talbot 

Though you do not know the way You shall speak your words in foreign lands And all will understand You shall see the face of God and live Be not afraid I go before you always
Come follow me And I will give you rest

For God’s love is demonstrated in the life of Christ and in the action of the Spirit though out our lives.   

In all our discerning of Gods will for us may we never forget that God walks with us that we are not alone thanks be to God amen 

Sending Forth and Blessing

One.  Ummmmmm

All in The beginning there was the word. The word was with God and Was God.

One: Ummmm

All. It shall be our sound our word.  A deep comforting resonance that was and always be with us

One Ummmmm.

All. God’s  word, the sound of love, the sound we shall sing and share as we go out to the world with joy 

Blessing

One: Now may you know Peace and  May God the one who brings us comfort surround you, May Christ our Joy walk with you. May the Continued presence of The Holy Spirit illuminate our path and keep us safe until we can gather again in community. Amen 

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