Centering

Come out of the darkness, come out of the shadow 

Come out of the endless night 

All you who are poor now, All you who are broken all you who are bowed by fight

Come into the light of God’s sacred intention 

Come under the shelter of his hand 

Here you may find riches here you may find healing 

Here now you may rise and stand  

  Call To worship

 One John Turned the world of the people of his time upside down.  

All He called for a dramatic change and the people responded

One is his call coming to us and to our time? 

All To seek calm within the rush and struggle to seek the spirit-life amongst the stetting and spending. 

One To seek the downtrodden and support them 

All to seek compassion where there is hurting 

One Are we ready to go down into the waters of Renewal? John is beckoning let us worship 

 

There is a little town in the United States called Grover’s Mill, it is in New Jersey. There is not much there now  A farm supply store, a bend in the road, an old wooden water tank, and lots of sod fields.  Locals report that if you look carefully at the old water tower you can still see the buckshot marking from over a three quarter of a century ago. 

The story is this. In the late 1930’s on his radio show, The Mercury Theatre of the Air. Orson Welles’ broadcast an updated version of H. G. Well’s War of the Worlds, a story for those who don’t remember about Martians who invaded the earth. The writers had picked, of all places, little Grover’s Mill as the site of the Marians landing, and when the show was broadcast, it was so realistic that people believed it was real news, not fiction. 

 Frightened farmers in the area grabbed their shotgun and headed into town., looking for the Marians and their spacecraft. There in the moonlit October night, they looked up into the sky and spied the water tower. Seeing the space ship they expected to see, they opened fire. 

We see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear. 

I am part of longevity study and one of the tests has you reading the name of colours accept the words are different colour. Try reading the word yellow when the word is printed in Blue. 

Our expectations , however faithful, may prevent us from seeing what is there.

Because the people expected a Messiah that looked like a Messiah should look, they overlooked Jesus. They were looking for a prophet something like Jeremiah or an Elijah perhaps, and what they got was an itinerant preacher who said things like Blessed are the poor. 

 The expected a great judge who would shove a pitch fork under the mixed stubble and stalk of history and burn away the enemies of the faithful. What they got was a roving preacher whose ministry was financed by women and who healed people on the Sabbath day. The expected a hero king like David who would restore the fortunes on the nations. What they got instead was a teacher who wept over Jerusalem before riding into town on a mule, only to have himself nailed to cross. Jesus was the word yellow printed in Red ink and people couldn’t see him because they expected something else. 

What a Disappointment Jesus must have been. 

Even John who spoke so clearly that he was not the Messiah and that Jesus was in the end begins to wonder and sends someone to ask the big question “are you the Messiah”. 

We come to this place searching and looking. We come with great expectations of what we perceive the church, how it always has been done  Then when the reality of what life is really like sets in we get angry noses are bent out of shape because someone did not live up to expectations. 

I read a story about a man who made a pilgrimage to Tibet looking for enlightenment in the monasteries there. He travelled from on sacred place to another, but that holy, spiritual experience never came. One afternoon, as he was walking through a lonely valley, he was distracted by the play of the sun on ragged stones. 

 He became so caught up in the austere beauty of the rocks and the majestic red trees in that desolate place that he never reached the monastery that he was headed for. As soon as he had stopped his self centered seeking and thinking and looked beyond himself, he was suddenly and mysteriously over whelmed by the love and peace and the joy of God. 

What are your expectations, are they creating a world that want to see are they preventing your from seeing what is right there in front of you waiting to be discovered.?

You all have come with expectations. But what you come with and what you will go away with maybe two different things. 

We are like the people that came out to here John. We came looking and needing to here that voice in the night calling us, to see a glimmer of light in the darkness. 

Who, is this Messiah? That has been given to us. 

Come to the river with me and hear of God’s promise. This is my son. This is my son who I have sent to you. Here the words that God Spoke to Jesus You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. 

Offering

We give thee but thy own.   The work of the Church continues and there are three ways you can continue to support that work.   Consider using PAR, use the donate button on our Web Site or drop your gift at the Manse.   Let us make our offering and give thanks.       

  One: Praise God who from all Blessing flow

   Prayer     

The amazing gift of One who fully embodied your intention for humanity prompts us to make a grateful response. In Christ we have known a love that will not let us go. Through our offerings we would share this love in our community and to the ends of the earth. Amen.

Sending Forth and Blessing.



One:  Go out to the world with a new outlook; God is ruling in our midst.

All:   We will take the promises of God to a needy world; share good news with friends and co-workers.

One:  God will direct your paths during the week ahead and provide all that you need to face its choices.

VU 4

God of all places present unseen

Voice in our silence song in our mist

Send us your people knowing and sure

Called to spread the word.

amen amen amen