Service for Aug 16th, 2020
Please note, we are attempting to develop this online system, if there were technical issues please let us know and we can work towards a solution. Thank you for your understanding in this time.
We will continue to use Zoom for joining the service via audio only.
Dial: +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 991 631 5530
We Gather Together to Worship
Welcome
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Give thanks to the Lord!We will tell everyone we meet what God has done!
Let us bring praise to the name of the Lord!
We will honour God’s holy name with shouts of joy!
Be mindful of all that God provides for us.
We will remember the world of wonders God has made!
*Hymn of Praise #272 “God of the Sparrow”
Call to Reconciliation
Surprising and mysterious God, you come to us when we least expect it, calling us out of our routines and our plans, inviting us to follow Christ on a great journey of faith. Yet we prefer to cling to old comforts and familiar paths not wanting to risk something new and ignore your urgings as a result. Hear us as we seek to follow you anew and move past old indiscretions.Prayer of Confession (Unison)
Merciful and patient God, we confess that we still live in fear and doubt, even though we have been touched by your saving grace. You call us to live with courage and perseverance, yet we give up too easily and opt for the safer route. You encourage us to be bold in our faith andsteadfast in our fight for justice, yet we remain silent in the face of inequality and violence. Forgive us all the times we have left you down. Renew our lives through your mercy and grace.Assurance of Pardon
Rest assured, God’s forgiveness and saving grace are for everyone. Accept these gifts for yourselves and offer forgiveness to others in the name of Christ our Lord.Proclaim God’s Word
Prayer for Understanding ( Unison)
God of wisdom, as we gather to hear your Word this day, calm our spirits and still our minds so that we are able to receive the fullness of your message and respond with faithfulness. AmenFirst Scripture Lesson: Psalm 133
“The Apostles Creed” (Unison)
“I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,,br> And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.
Amen”
Passing of the Peace
(There is no need to shake hands or touch one another. Merely turn to one another and offer the “Peace of Christ” to one another.)Second Scripture Lesson: Matthew 15:10–28
Sermon -Rev. Russ Roth
*Hymn “Help Us Accept Each Other”
Help us accept each otheras Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and Bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all - not just for some,
to love them as we find them
or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us
so that we may be moved
in living situations
to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance
until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness
and laughter's healing art.
Lord, for today's encounters
with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance,
for justice and for bread,
we need new eyes for seeing,
new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit;
Lord, free us, make us one
Give Thanks to God
Prayer of Dedication (unison)
Faithful God, bless the gifts we bring to you today. Use them and us to plant seeds of faith, hope, and love in the world so that your goodness will grow among your people, and your name be honoured for Christ’s sake. Amen.Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
God of all people,your love and grace sustain the world and all who live in it. When we foolishly set up walls between people, you tear them down and draw us into one family,united in Christ and in compassion. The pandemic has filled so many nations and neighbours with turmoil and fear. So we come before you with prayers for the world you love.
Astonishing God, you surprise us. You come to us in unforeseen circumstances and in unexpected people. We give you thanks for all the healers and heroes who have stepped forward during the pandemic to surprise us with kindness and courage. We pray for all who still face upheaval and uncertainty because of COVID-19, Call our leaders with wisdom and imagination to address the fear and change we are facing. And fill our hearts with compassion and understanding for the most fearful.
God of peace, you reassure us. You remind us not to be afraid when troubles arise. We pray for all people who live in precarious situations not related to the pandemic. Assure them they are not forgotten. We pray for those who struggle with illness, grief or depression. May they know your peace and strength. Equp us to reach out in every way we can to embody your love in our words and actions.
God of hope, you challenge us. You come to us in the midst of trouble and invite us to stand for justice and work for truth. We pray for all those people crying out for fair treatment, working against racism and discrimination, telling painful stories of their lives. Open our hearts with understanding and motivate us to act for change. We pray for those who resist the stories of injustice and defend inequality. Open their minds to the truths they deny and show them new possibilities for relationships that bridge divides. Send you Spirit to work in our communities to create mutual respect and new ways to live as neighbours.
Faithful God, we place our trust in you and your purposes. Answer our prayers according to your wisdom and will, for we offer them humbly in the name of Jesus.
Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer
Life In the Church
*Closing Hymn “O God, our help in ages past”
Benediction
The Worship is over, Let the Service begin.
( or why had Rev. Russ decided that exclusing the Doxology where it is a part of the hymn, we will stop singing amen?)
For the entire time I have been here I have been confused by the singing of amen following many of the hymns, it never meshed with my understanding of the use of the word and I’d never heard it used in this form or fashion in other services. For this reason I looked into the purpose behind its use and decided it would be better to discontinue the practice excepting where the hymnal itself feels its appropriate to keep it and has directly included it. Please keep in mind that I attempt to do nothing without a reasonable amount of theological grounding and so the following, better explanation for why we don’t need it and it hasn’t been full appropriate comes from the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
There are a number of appropriate uses and meanings of Amen. This use in hymn singing is as a response signifying agreement. Such use goes back to St. Ambrose (4th century A.D.) at the time of the Arian heresy about the nature of Jesus Christ and the Trinity. The Arians believed that Jesus was half human and half devine in counter to the Arians, St. Ambrose wrote a number of hymns in support of the orthodox position, it is believed, were sung in procession outdoors. The final stanzas of these hymns were doxologies restating the church’s positon. People in the streets who heard these hymns being sung would respond with “Amen”, signifying their agreement with what they had just heard. Such hymns would be sung antiphonally by sections of the choir; the entire community would respond with Amen after the final doxological stanza. The important points here are that Amen was response, that is it was said (or possibly sung) not by those who had actually sung the hymn, but by people who had heard it sung and wanted to voice agreement. Also, it is historically a response, not to the hymn itself, but rather to what is said about the Trinity in the concluding doxology. During the period of the Oxford Movement in the middle of the nineteenth century, many ancient Latin hymns ( by St. Ambrose and others) were rediscovered, translated into English verse, and published in a number of hymn collections for congregational use. The translators and compilers apparently failed to note the responsive nature of the Amens in these hymns and Amen was attached to the end to be sung by everyone. This, of course, is redundant since it is not necessary for the people to express agreement with what they themselves have just sung.
The musical consideration involved is that the combination chords (technically, a plagal cadence) in the typical Amen is much weaker and less final sounding than the chords with which most hymn tunes end. Hymn tunes are, after all, complete compositions.
Generally speaking, then, singing Amen at the end of a hymn is both liturgicaly redundant and musically anticlimactic. When one considers the history of congregational song going back at least to the time of the Psalms, it is also a very recent and shor-lived phenomenon. Most recent hymnals in this country either omit Amens entirely or, as in the case of the new Preswbyerian Hymnal, include them only very rarely in situations where the music is incomplete without them (e.g. some plainsong tunes).
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