Focus Statement Then Jesus led the disciples out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God. Luke 24:50-53 Gathering Call to worship Ascending like sweet incense of death raised to life raised to glory Lifting like seeds set free strewn and scattered sprouting Gospel in wild abandon Rising like birds taking wing catching currents of mystery and hope Vaughan, Joanna. Ascension,. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56521 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/joannavaughanphotography/1909248290/. Used by permission Prayer Ascending Christ, The aching beauty of your rising is sweet desire filling us for you, incessant longing drawing us to you, outrageous hope transforming us in you. Amen. Song For the beauty of the earth HWB 89 “Wait for the promise” Acts 1:1-5 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Stay © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com. From The Painted Prayerbook I know how your mind rushes ahead, trying to fathom what could follow this. What will you do, where will you go, how will you live? You will want to outrun the grief. You will want to keep turning toward the horizon, watching for what was lost to come back, to return to you and never leave again. For now, hear me when I say all you need to do is to still yourself, is to turn toward one another, is to stay. Wait and see what comes to fill the gaping hole in your chest. Wait with your hands open to receive what could never come except to what is empty and hollow. You cannot know it now, cannot even imagine what lies ahead, but I tell you the day is coming when breath will fill your lungs as it never has before, and with your own ears you will hear words coming to you new and startling. You will dream dreams and you will see the world ablaze with blessing. Wait for it. Still yourself. Stay. Musical Reflection First Movement, Sonata #2, Handel “Is this the time?” Acts 1:6-9 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Children’s Story Martyrs of Uganda, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56886 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/5710252358. Used by permission Song View the present STS 108 “As they were watching, he was lifted up” Ascension and the Church Darrell Johnson, “The Work of the People” Listen to Regent College Professor Darrell Johnson’s reflections on the meaning of Jesus’ ascension for the church. Song Alleluia! Gracious Jesus! STS 110 This familiar tune, often heard in Advent as Jesus comes to earth as a baby, is also used in this Ascension hymn as Jesus ascends from earth as the Resurrected Christ. “They were gazing up toward heaven” Acts 1:10-14 While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. JESUS MAFA. The Ascension, Cameroon. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48398 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: http://www.librairie- emmanuel.fr (contact page:https://www.librairie-emma nuel.fr/contact). Used by permission. Ascension by Malcolm Guite, from his website We saw his light break through the cloud of glory Whilst we were rooted still in time and place As earth became a part of Heaven’s story And heaven opened to his human face. We saw him go and yet we were not parted He took us with him to the heart of things The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings, Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness, Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight, Whilst we our selves become his clouds of witness And sing the waning darkness into light, His light in us, and ours in him concealed, Which all creation waits to see revealed . Offering Prayer We offer to you, O Christ, our energies and passions, our time and resources that in this broken-hearted world of veiling clouds we may bear witness to your love, beauty, and glory. Amen. Offertory Blessed Assurance “Lift up a song to the One who rides upon the clouds” Psalm 68:4-6, 32-35 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to the One who rides upon the clouds-- whose name is the Lord-- be exultant before him. Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, O rider in the heavens, the ancient heavens; listen, God sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel; and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God in the holy sanctuary, the God of Israel, giving power and strength to God’s people. Ascension, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville,TN . http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56522 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Used by permission Walter Brueggemann on Psalm 68 from The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann, Volume 1 "It turns out that the one who has ascended into power is not transcendent in remoteness, is not splendid in indifference, but is deeply in touch with the reality of the earth where money and power and social leverage and differentiation of gender, race, and class leave some dangerously exposed. This father-God to whom we pray “our father” rides the clouds not as a joy-rider, but rather to be in a position to see and to know and to care and to intervene and to feed and to heal and to forgive and to reconcile and to liberate. It turns out that ascension, whereby God is celebrated in power, is a claim that the earth is ordered differently because of the one who governs it." Affirmation of Faith: Litany for Ascension Day by Christine Sine, from Godspace Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new world has broken into ours – a world in which justice does come for the poor, freedom comes for the prisoners, and healing for the sick. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new community has been formed – a community that loves and cares for all members, a family that welcomes all who are abandoned and rejected, a place where all find a place of belonging. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, a new creation has begun – all that was distorted is being restored, all that is corrupted is being renewed, all that was broken is being made whole. Because Jesus ascended and sits at the right hand of God, God’s new world has begun. Ascension, Church of Elthedreda, London, England. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56525. [retrieved May 24, 2020]. Used by permission. Sending Song Holy Spirit, come with power HWB 26 Benediction The Resurrected Christ ascends and absence cracks the confines of our lives calling us to become what he was. The Risen Christ is lifted up and we are left to live and love and long for all that is and is to come. The Exalted Christ rises and our hopes, our dreams, our prayers ascend pouring back upon us in wind and flame and power. Go in the glory of the Ascended Christ. Ascension, mural on a graffiti wall in Bristol, England. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=54351 [retrieved May 23, 2020]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skip/111045024/ . Used by permission Stay by Jan Richardson, from The Painted Prayerbook I know how your mind rushes ahead, trying to fathom what could follow this. What will you do, where will you go, how will you live? You will want to outrun the grief. You will want to keep turning toward the horizon, watching for what was lost to come back, to return to you and never leave again. For now, hear me when I say all you need to do is to still yourself, is to turn toward one another, is to stay. Wait and see what comes to fill the gaping hole in your chest. Wait with your hands open to receive what could never come except to what is empty and hollow. You cannot know it now, cannot even imagine what lies ahead, but I tell you the day is coming when breath will fill your lungs as it never has before, and with your own ears you will hear words coming to you new and startling. You will dream dreams and you will see the world ablaze with blessing. Wait for it. Still yourself. Stay. Musical Reflection First Movement, Sonata #2, Handel “Is this the time?” Acts 1:6-9 So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. Children's Story Song View the present STS 108 “As they were watching, he was lifted up” Ascension and the Church Darrell Johnson, “The Work of the People” Listen to Regent College Professor Darrell Johnson’s reflections on the meaning of Jesus’ ascension for the church. Song Alleluia! Gracious Jesus! STS 110 This familiar tune, often heard in Advent as Jesus comes to earth as a baby, is also used in this Ascension hymn as Jesus ascends from earth as the Resurrected Christ. You’ll find the words to this Ascension hymn below the video. Welcome Good morning, and welcome to worship at Home Street. As we gather for worship, we acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene Peoples and the homeland of the Métis nation. We offer this acknowledgement as a way of reminding ourselves of our ongoing commitment to reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. As we share words and songs and prayers, we pray that they will be pleasing to God, and gestures of reconciliation. Call to worship Come and celebrate! Shout joyfully to the Lord, your God! Glorify God with your praise! Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in joyful songs. Come and see what our God has done, what awesome things God has done for us! Let the whole world bless and sing God’s praise. For our lives are in God’s hands. God keeps our feet from stumbling. Prayer God, On this long-weekend Sunday we give you thanks for the beautiful morning. We give you thanks for the freedom we have to worship. We give you thanks for our faith community, scattered, but still united by our common worship and our desire to grow in faith. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. Gathering Song He comes to us as one unknown HWB 498 Scripture reading - Acts 17:19-31 This is God’s word to the people. Thanks be to God. Children’s Story – Listening and planting Litany affirming our faith (inspired by Psalm 66, written by Margaret McGee) O God, who made the world and everything in it, we pray with one voice, proclaiming your presence to all the earth. For skeptics and believers, for clergy high and low; For those who seek God at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews, For all who search for life, come and listen . . . and we will tell you what our God has done for us. We are alive in the spirit. We are saved through water. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring. For presidents and prime ministers, for bosses and co-workers For friends and acquaintances; For those who set the course at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews, For all who have influence, come and listen . . . and we will tell you what our God has done for us. We do not fear what others fear. We proclaim the hope that is in us. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring. For friends and lovers, for neighbors and strangers, For those who eat bread at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews, For all who live in the world, come and listen . . . and we will tell you what our God has done for us. In God, we live and move and have our being. From God, we have life and breath and all things. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring. For the sick and troubled, for the fearful and alone, For those in pain at home, at work, in the streets, and in the pews, For all who suffer, come and listen . . . and we will tell you what our God has done for us. We are blessed by your presence. We are filled with the Spirit. Because Christ lives, we also live. For we too are God’s offspring. God of heaven and earth, Companion in life, Spirit of truth, to you alone we turn our eyes and lift our hearts. Amen. Offering God, it is with grateful hearts that we collect these gifts. For the people, and the place, and the ministries of Home Street we are thankful. God, it is with grateful hearts that we share some of these gifts with our wider church community. For the people and ministries of Mennonite Church Manitoba, for our camps, and for our schools, we are thankful. God, it is with grateful hearts that we open ourselves to being shaped by You. May our generosity with finances, and time, and prayer, and talents transform us and build Your kingdom. Amen. Meditation – by Marnie Klassen May only truth be spoken and only truth received. Amen. It seems that lots of people have a love/hate relationship with Paul’s Mars Hill speech. I’ve heard it used to justify colonial ways of sharing the gospel, and I’ve also heard it used as evidence for various forms of universalism. And I can see the temptation of both of these readings. If you just read the text that the lectionary gives us, it looks like Paul shows up and says, “Hey, I know this god you claim to not know! Lemme tell you about him!” Depending how you look at it, this reading can easily go in the direction of Paul trying to convert some Greek thinkers, or Paul telling some Greek thinkers that they already know God. But I’m struck by the way both of these interpretations assume that the Christian reader has done what they need to do, that the good news Paul has for the Athenians is for those other guys. I’ve been thinking a lot about touch lately, and was remembering at Camp Assiniboia last summer when I decided to practice foot washing with the campers. I recall going back and forth about whether it was a good idea. There are lots of different ideas about what the practice means and about how to do it, plus, it’s pretty awkward. Even as I hauled big blue camping jugs of water out to the front of the lodge, I was second guessing whether this was really a good idea. It was too awkward. God wouldn’t show up. We’ll come back to this shortly. If we back way up to last week’s text, Paul (AKA Saul) was throwing stones at Stephen. So between Sunday and now, (or between Acts chapter 7 and 17) Paul has experienced some big changes in order to get where he is, in Athens talking about God the creator and Jesus’ death and resurrection. So he has had a conversion experience (which I’ll let you read about for yourself in Chapter 9) and then ends up pretty far from home, in Athens. Google Maps informs me that it would take 191 hours to get to Athens from Paul’s home in Tarsus by foot and ferry, so it’s safe to say that Paul is in unfamiliar territory. But Paul is also a Roman citizen, and Athens and Tarsus both fell within Roman borders at that point. So then Paul hangs out in the market talking theology with a bunch of philosophers right before our text takes place. And there’s a whole range of responses – some of them are curious, some of them are very argumentative. Which gets us to today’s story; our text is essentially Paul’s response to the local philosophers’ demand: So tell us what you really think. Spending time with this passage over the last little while really made me question some assumptions. Frankly, it made me reimagine Paul. Because even though Paul gets put on trial, he doesn’t get defensive-aggressive; he actually treats the people of Athens with great respect. First he pays them a compliment; “I can see that you are very religious.” I imagine Paul looking around at the various statues and altars in admiration both of the beautiful craftsmanship and the seriousness with which the people obviously take their search for truth. But his respect doesn’t just take the form of a compliment. Paul sees the statue dedicated to AN UNKNOWN GOD and says, “Hey, I know that one!” and proceeds to tell those gathered about her. To call out the good in someone (or in this case, in a whole way of thinking) and then also be able to see where they’re missing the point is a bold act of respect and trust. Paul is trusting those gathered to be able to take it, because he knows they’re smart folks. It’s an expression of respect that comes honestly from someone who has been wrong, and who has changed. At this point know that Paul is far from home but also shares citizenship with the people he’s talking with; he’s been conversing with some Athenian thinkers over the course of several days and now has been brought to the Areopagus to give a more complete account, presumably in front of more people at once. And, we have to remember that Paul never claimed to be a systematic theologian; he was an evangelist, or one whose work is to pass along good news. I can’t help but imagine that if what Paul had to say was good news in Athens, it’s probably good news in Winnipeg, too. If we read this as good news rather than a conversion effort or a commentary on universalism, we have to read actively. And here’s what Paul says: “You know your statue dedicated to AN UNKNOWN GOD? I know him! He’s knowable. And while you try to make gods out of stone, he made you out of dust and love.” I see two invitations that these assertions have for us right now: 1. Step forward. 2. Step back. While Paul admires the Athenian’s search for truth, he sees the tribute to AN UNKNOWN GOD as a sort of insurance policy (“did we miss anyone? Just in case, let’s build one more…”), and thinks the Athenians can do better. I love the way the writer describes the character of the town: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.” These are curious folk we’re dealing with, and they’re capable of grappling with a lot of ideas. Paul is calling them out on this lazy approach to mystery. Now I don’t believe that Paul is saying that we can completely figure out God, or that not knowing is bad. Not at all. But on the other end, mystery can be a compelling cop-out. I know I fall into that trap sometimes, and use Welp, we just can’t know, can we? As an excuse to get out of wrestling. Most of us probably aren’t needing to confront the insurance-policy idol in our living room, but we might have other things in our context that we’ve slapped an UNKNOWABLE or UNFIXABLE or TOO HARD label on. Things we’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s an issue that matters a lot to someone in your life that you haven’t felt up to learning about. Or a family member you’ve been avoiding phoning because oh gosh its’ gonna be awkward. Paul really trusts the people of Athens to be able to put some more language to the God they’re coming to know. And he assures them that God wants them to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” The onus doesn’t fall all on us, but neither does it fall all on God. Nazarene minister John Demuth raises the question: “Do we, as the church, continue to seek out God, or are we convinced that we have found God?” As we step forward into our context and into the pursuit of God, where might we encounter the resurrected Christ? What new life might we find in and amongst the wrestling and seeking we’ve been avoiding? The second invitation is to step back. Paul adamantly tells the Athenian people that God is the giver of life. “In him we live and move and have our being.” When life is unpredictable and the ground we stand on feels unsure, we get scared. Which is natural. But Paul has some good and hard news for us; it's actually not up to us. I wonder what kind of consolation we might find if we were to give control of our days to God rather than experiencing the fear that comes with vague powerlessness. I think of the opening scene of one of my favorite movies, the Milagro Beanfield War, in which an extraordinarily old man hauls himself out of bed, wheezing, and looks in the mirror, only to say: “Thank you God, for letting me have another day.” How might our days look different if we were to step back and let go of our needs for control? So that first week of camp in July, we sat in the late afternoon sun, noisy kiddos and uncomfortable staff, and we washed each other’s feet and hands and we said kind things and blessed each other. And God showed up. We stepped forward into an unknown and awkward space, and then we stepped back and let God give us a gift. The people of Athens in our story want to know God. And Paul says to them: I know God. My God made you and me out of dust and love. So step forward! Step forward into knowing God. And step back. Step back from your desire to make god, because you are made by God. Amen. Sending Song Be Thou my vision HWB 545 Benediction Receive these words of benediction from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen. Thanks to those who shared their gifts this morning: Meditation – Marnie Klassen Worship leader – Phil Campbell-Enns Focus Statement: 1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Call to worship In these times when touch is potentially dangerous and many of us fear closeness We call on Jesus the source of love In these times when many of us are experiencing limited movement We call on Jesus to expand our horizons In these times when we cannot share the simple things in life like a common meal We call on Jesus to redefine our communion God is our strength and our song, and God is our salvation! Prayer Breath prayers, a form of contemplative prayer linked to the rhythm of breathing, have been practiced in the church for centuries. They remind us that God is closer to us than even our own breath. Whenever the instruction indicates, inhale or exhale deeply before saying the words out loud or meditating on them in silence, whatever your preference is. This breath prayer, provided by Mennonite Central Committee Canada, uses text from Psalm 46. Inhale God is our refuge and strength, Exhale a very present help in trouble. Inhale. We will not fear, Exhale though the earth should change. Inhale. The Lord Almighty, Exhale is with us. Inhale. The Lord says, “Be still and know,” Exhale “that I am God.” Song Here in this Place HWB 6 Affirmation of Faith (from STS 181) We believe in a bright and amazing God who has been to the depths of despair on our behalf; who has risen in splendor and majesty; who decorates the universe with sparkling water, clear white light twinkling stars and sharp colors, over and over and over again. We commit ourselves to Jesus, to one another as brothers and sisters, and to the Maker’s business in the world. Song Psalm 121 Scripture: Acts 7:54 – 8:3; 1 Peter 2:2-10 This is God’s word to the people. Thanks be to God. Message “But now...” Stones. We find them on our driveways, in our back lanes, in the playground. Stones fly up from the road, seemingly out of nowhere, and chip the windshields of our cars. Every year I pick stones out of my garden as I plant. Don’t ask me where they come from. Stones get caught in our lawnmower, when I cut the grass. And then, while I’m picking stones out of my garden and yard, the neighbour is hauling in a truckload of stones to landscape and create a rock garden. Stones seem to be everywhere, whether you want them or not. They even show up in our lectionary texts today. In Acts 7, a particularly rocky and horrific text, people are so enraged by the preaching and teaching of Stephen, an early Christian leader, that they drag him out of the city, pick up rocks and stone him to death. Stones become a tool of rage, an instrument of killing. It’s ugly and gruesome, almost too ghastly to think about. Quick, flip the page to the next lectionary text – 1 Peter 2 – and there are more stones. But this time they are living stones, stones precious and chosen in God’s sight. Living stones, built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. If you happened to gather some stones for worship this morning, I invite you to hold a few and visualize, feel this dramatic shift in imagery. Stones as instruments of death. Stones as living, precious building materials. A sharp contrast. These two texts, these two images of stones, don’t really belong together; they are from different New Testament books, different writers, different stories. But our lectionary puts these texts together, sets these stones side-by-side, in juxtaposition. Stones of death. Stones of life. And if there are rocky contrasts between the two texts, there are also sharp demarcations right within the text of 1 Peter. The writer of 1 Peter talks about Jesus as the cornerstone that is chosen, but also the stone the builders rejected. The stone is precious, but also a stumbling block. The stone is a solid foundation, but also one that makes people fall. What are we to do with these hard, sharp contrasts? Stones of death, rejection, stumbling, falling. Stones of life, precious, chosen, foundational. On what does this contrast turn? What changes rock from cold hard stones of death to living stones? It’s an astounding transformation. 1 Peter describes it this way: Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy; but now you have received mercy. But now. Everything seems to hinge on those words. But now. They signal a powerful transformation from being without mercy to receiving mercy, from being no people to being God’s people. From stones as instruments of stumbling and death, to stones of building and life. What is behind those pivotal words, but now? I was fascinated by this question, so I pondered the transformative power of these words all week. I muttered but now!to the robins on the front yard in the morning. I bounced but now! across the pages of the Bible commentaries and off my office walls. I announced but now! to the oak and maple in the park. I sat down to supper and declared but now! to my family. (They raised their eyebrows and prescribed ice cream and rest.) I don’t think I learned much all week. I do not understand how this king of transformation happens in our lives, how our hard hearts of stone become living, precious stones, holy and chosen. I can only say a few things: First, this transformation is so undefinable because it is entirely an act of God’s mercy. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. This is not our doing. We cannot define it. We cannot determine how this encounter with God happens. Sometimes this transformation comes in sudden, wild, disruptive moments. In the Acts passage, the story where Stephen is stoned, a shadowing figure is lurking at the edges of the crowd. A young man, at whose feet the witnesses of the stoning lay their coats. His name is Saul, and he approves of the killing and then, as the text goes on to tell us, he continues ravaging the church by entering house after house, dragging off Christians and putting them to prison. And this Saul, the great persecutor of the early church, is hovering on the edge of his own but now moment. That moment of great, disruptive mercy on the road to Damascus. The moment when a light from heaven flashes, Jesus speaks to him, and he is struck blind. Mercy is sometimes like that. In great unquenchable longing for us, God sometimes crashes into our lives and claims us -- claims us in a bold, unruly moment that throws our lives into chaos. There are stories like this ... perhaps you have one. Other times, the changing of cold, hard stone into something living and precious comes in subtle, stealthy ways. Even as the writer of 1 Peter declares but now! to the early Christian churches, he knows he is writing to a people beset by hardship. They are dispersed across Asia Minor in challenging times, struggling to live faithfully in complex social realities, in a culture aligned to principles very different from those of Christ. He knows that every morning these Christians must wake up and make choices to receive and live out mercy. He tells them, So prepare your minds for action... Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech (New Living Translation). Make many choices, every day, to practice, to live mercy. And, thereby, to be transformed, little by mysterious little, from stones of death to living stones. I do believe that there are many but now! moments in our lives. That our merciful God brushes up against us, bumps shoulders with us, crashes into us, many times every day. While as humans we must practice social distancing in this time, God still gets in our space, up close and personal. The Bible attests to this again and again; God is a God of intimate encounter who transforms our lives. What it would mean to wake up every morning and remember this great turning point, this but now! of our lives – that we have received mercy? How might that soften our self-criticism and self-shame and help us know our belovedness? How might we turn with hope and courage from rutted, destructive habits towards living, creative ones? How might that remind us to watch, to pay attention, to the inbreaking of God in our lives? The other great “but now” of 1 Peter is this: Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people. There is something inherently communal in this transformative mercy. We hear this communal tone earlier in the chapter as well. In verse 4 we are told to Come to him, a living stone... and then also, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood. This transformation into living stones happens in community, as we learn by worshiping and serving, working and playing together what it means to show mercy and love toward one another. Kathleen Norris writes, “My most substantial changes, in terms of religious conversion, come through other people. Even when I become convinced that God is absent from my life, others have a way of suddenly revealing God’s presence.... God [both] seeks us out and gives us to each other.” Once you were no people, but now you are God’s people. If we let that truth seep into our relationships, how might our irritations with family, our conflicts with neighbours, our resentments toward fellow students or colleagues or church members turn into understanding and dialogue? How might this remind us to reach out to those we had not thought worthy of our attention, because we know now that we are all equally dependent on and recipients of mercy? How might this continue to transform our church community, to deepen our mutual love, to broaden our care for each other? How might that disruptive, transformative “but now” prompt us to imagine the transformation of societal structures into the merciful care for all? I think I might continue to mutter but now! to the birds on my lawn every morning, and to declare it to the oak and maple trees. I think I might continue to announce but now! to my family members, and to you, my church community. I hope you might join me, so that together we can remember, remind each other, hold one another accountable in living towards transformation. So that many times each day, we can pause to know this remarkable receiving of mercy, this powerful “but now” that mysteriously turns us, both suddenly and slowly, from cold, hard rock to living stones. Amen. Offering Prayer God, bless our tithes and offerings, that they may heal and make whole the lives of all your children. Bless those who give and those who long to give, that we may become living stones of mercy, grace and justice in the house of your creation. Amen. Offertory A Prayer for Mother’s Day During our prayer time today, we remember our mothers and the many ways they have touched our lives. This prayer is adapted from leadinginworship by Carol Penner. We will continue with prayers for each other and for those around us during our Zoom gathering at 11:00 am. Loving God, we give thanks today for mothers! Thank you for mothers who gave birth to us, and for all who have mothered as their own children. You teach us all to cherish and protect the children among us. to mother lovingly, wisely, joyfully, to raise children to be the people you call them to be. We also need your comfort here today, God, because some are missing mothers, some are missing children, some are parted by distance or death. Comfort those who longed to be biological mothers, and could not. We pray for those here whose mothers have disappointed them; we ask for grace in relationships where there is pain and bitterness, for healing in relationships where there is abuse and violence. Help our congregation be a space where people can feel mothered, nurtured and loved. God of mothers, who created mothers, who came as a child and had a mother, God our Mother, loving us with a sweeter and deeper love than we have ever known, hear our prayer this day, Amen. Song God of the Bible Purple 27 Benediction May God be our rock and our refuge; May Jesus be with us always; And may the Holy Spirit open the heavens wide before us, That we might see God in all the things of earth. Be at peace. In the name of Christ, Amen. Worship leader: Lydia Warkentin Speaker: Judith Friesen Epp |