2013/14 Sunday Service

AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST?

ALL SCRIPTURAL CITATIONS ARE SOURCED FROM THE NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION

(NRSV) OF THE HOLY BIBLE

We encourage you to use this service in whole or in part.

Please feel free to make changes that reflect the individual needs of your congregation and Order of Service.

We welcome your comments on this service and would like to hear your

thoughts on how it might be made more useful to you.

Please contact:

(Rev.) Lee Simpson, Director, UCOnnect Project

Sharon Doran, Promotion Manager

478 Huron Street, Toronto, Ontario

M5R 2R3 Email: promote@ucobserver.org

Phone: 416-960-8500 ext. 230

Toll free: 1-800-936-4566 Fax: 416-960-8477

CHURCH SERVICE OBSERVER SUNDAY

Opening Reflection: “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”

Abraham Lincoln

HYMN: Lord, You Give the Great Commission (Voices United #512)

Breath of God, Breath of Peace (More Voices #24)

One: This is the hour where we meet

All: We join to worship as people of the Spirit

One: This is a place of inspiration and comfort

All: We gather with willing hands and open minds

One: This is the celebration of the abundance of care

All: Open our hearts to your call of mission. Amen.

PRAYER OF APPROACH

Precious God, we seek to become caring ambassadors for Christ. Lift from us the weight of sadness: Help us lessen our guilt by naming that which caused it. Grant us courage to become what your world requires and needs us to be. Give insight and wisdom to discern your word. Open our hands and hearts to share the abundance.

Amen.

THE PEACE OF CHRIST

One: Peace be with you

All: And also with you.

CHILDREN’S TIME - (See Page 7 ) HYMN: Hope of the World (Voices United #215)

Where Two or Three are Gathered (More Voices #14)

FIRST READING: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (Suggested OT Reading: Joshua 5:9-12 Suggested Psalm: 1-Voices United #724)

ANTHEM If Our God Had Simply Saved Us (Voices United #131)

Beyond the Beauty and the Awe (More Voices #80) SECOND READING: Luke 5:33-35 SERMON Ambassadors for Christ? You may have wondered whether the question mark in the title of today’s sermon might be a typo. Why should there be any question about our being Ambassadors for Christ, as Paul urges us in the passage from Second Corinthians? Of course we are good ambassadors for our faith. Of course we do our best, attending worship service, giving of ourselves financially and with our time to achieve all the good works of the United Church of Canada and this congregation. Ambassadors for Christ, a proud mission: have you thought about what this might really mean in our world? How does that mission translate in contemporary Canadian society? Anyone who gives this serious thought may well be challenged.

There are many issues that cause us to reflect what, as faithful Christians, we are called to do. For some, as the features and columns in The United Church Observer reveal, this means wrestling with mighty moral issues. Some are forced to face big questions: how to deal with the drug dependency of a loved one…How to manage an employer’s fraud…Should I encourage my teen-aged daughter to have an abortion? Most of us accept that we will have God’s guidance during the hours we agonize on these ethical dilemmas.

Let’s face facts: most of us are not called upon to make too many of those truly big decisions in our lifetime. It is more the mass of daily challenges that cause concern and muddle our being Ambassadors for Christ. How can we stand as proud representatives of our faith if we are confused?

Let us talk, for instance, about food. Inspired by the Scriptural passages from Joshua and from Luke, which deal with dietary laws, we can explore the meaning of food. Increasingly what we eat seems to have become a moral battleground. When did we as a society, go from worrying about whether we would be able to fill our plates, to feeling

judged by what we put on them? We are in good company when we hesitate over the apple display at the supermarket, wondering whether to pay more for organic versus non-organic Pink Ladies. You know you are among friends when you sigh at the cost of local asparagus versus the Californian variety. You are one of many as you gasp at the price of free-range eggs when compared with the ones on sale this week at the grocery store: do the mama chickens themselves place their offspring in those cardboard boxes, lovingly and with tears in their little beady eyes? What else could account for that price tag? How much does it cost to do the right thing? And at what point does doing the right thing for yourself and your family mean you will not have enough left over to do good for those in need?

These are merely the ethical dilemmas of the supermarket aisle. There is the whole issue of weight. What one weighs is no longer a matter of private discussion between one’s bathroom scale and oneself. Fat has become a moral issue…on one hand we hear that ‘big is beautiful’: inner beauty and goodness are far more important than outward girth. Yet recently, the city of New York banned large sizes of all sugary drinks. The state has stepped in. Weight issues, especially childhood obesity, have become the preoccupation of over-burdened health care systems in the US and in the UK and coming soon to a political debate here in Canada. The meaning of what we weigh has health implications and the law is intent on saving us from ourselves.

If there weren’t the heavy hand of authority and our own wallets dictating what goes on our plates, there is the increasing fear of the judgment of others. What about going out to dinner or lunch? Who among us has not felt judged by food choices made in the company of others: “Will my work colleague think less of me if I order a cheeseburger while he eats steamed fish?” “How will it look to my marathon-running daughter if I ask for gravy on my fries?”

We did not invent these dilemmas surrounding food. We need only look to the Jews as they wandered through that desert to reassure ourselves on that score. In the passage from Joshua, we hear of the Jewish people who kept the dietary laws of their faith despite the fierce retribution of the Canaanites all around them. The Jews had been promised by God that if they were true to those laws and kept the Feast of Passover, their land and their people would be under the special protection of the Divine. And that is what came to pass. They kept the ritual and the next day they were able to partake of the cakes and grains of the land. They were freed from their dependence on manna and the deliveries of manna from heaven ceased. Rabbinical scholars advise us that this teaches us not to expect supplies by miraculous means when they may be had in the common way…in common parlance we ask for the possible, not the miraculous. “God give me strength to lose the weight necessary for my knee surgery”, not “God let me wake up 20 pounds thinner”.

Jesus’ response to the disciples as they faced a dietary dilemma in Luke testifies to the fact that food laws have always caused us to muse on what lies beneath the rules. They are rarely arbitrary. As we were told as children: these rules are put in place to help us. However, Christ’s wisdom is not easily apparent…the disciples must have rubbed their heads in bemusement trying to work out the answer of when to fast and when to feast.

There is not a religion out there in the vast sweep of history that has not included food restrictions. The Hindu faith is largely vegetarian and considers the cow to be sacred. Buddhists do not have set dietary laws as such but are urged to consider food as merely a means to live, not a source of pleasure or for satisfying cravings. Tibetans do not consume fish. Sikhs are forbidden from drinking alcohol and from eating meat that has been ritually slaughtered: that would be halal meat, the only meat that is considered lawful for those of the Muslim faith. For Muslims, that list prohibits pork. Pork is forbidden to Muslims and Jews, and many of us recall vividly our Roman Catholic neighbours serving fish on Fridays.

Mostly these restrictions come from scriptures. Food laws are captured by the hand of man and passed down. Those laws are designed, in part, to set us apart from our neighbours, making us different. But they are also set in place to protect the followers of those faith families. The prohibition against pork kept alive members of the Hebrew tribes when pigs riddled with trichinosis were poisoning the Canaanites of the day.

In time, dietary laws become simply part of one’s definition of self. It does not take religious laws against a specific animal to show us how important this is. Some countries define themselves by what they will not eat: the revelation that horse meat was part of many frozen products in Britain recently disgusted many there as well as here in Canada. We are uncomfortable with the thought of horse meat in our burgers, despite the reassurances from the manufacturer that it was safe to consume. Yet in most Italian towns to this day, right next to the fishmonger and the green grocer, there is an equine butcher…that’s right Italy, the source of Mario, and Lydia and all those other wonderful chefs! But most Canadians can’t bear the thought of eating horse.

So who are we? As members of the Christian family, contemporary Canadians and members of the United Church, our mission from Second Corinthians is clear: ambassadors for Christ. But as United Church members, we are not expected to go out with pamphlets evangelizing: we are tolerant of other religions and recognize many paths to the Divine. Ours is a church that takes great pride in reason: as we said long ago “enlightenment”. There is a deeply symbolic statement in the lighting of candles that is done here and in United Churches across this big land every time we meet. We light the candles that symbolize the bright light of reason in our faith ritual. Our worship is not an empty rite: it is a celebration of thoughtful, logical faith-filled thought.

In our seminaries there are wonderful teachers, many active in congregational ministry. One of the best illustrates to each graduating class how to approach the pulpit as minster or layperson every week. He holds the Bible up in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Today, for our annual Observer service, we use a variation on that as guidance. Yes, the Bible, but also this wonderful magazine that has come down to us from so many other good enlightened UCC folk. At 184 years old, the United Church Observer is the oldest continuously published magazine in North America. It is the second oldest in the English speaking world (second only to the Spectator in England). It was founded in 1829 as a means of connecting the far-flung members of the Methodist faith in Upper Canada. That great educator and writer Egerton Ryerson, was its 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Editor. Why four times? Because he was such a hothead that he kept getting fired by the Board: he was so brilliant, they kept re-hiring him. We are the proud inheritors of those hardy Methodists along with the Congregationalists and Presbyterians. They all worked through their differences and founded the United Church of Canada.

They signed the documents and then they celebrated with a feast. For that is another of the things that food does to define us. Yes, food provides us with challenges. Yes, we face the mysteries of re-cycling food industry by-products, the tragedy of the lack of food in famine-ridden zones, the health difficulties of obesity, anorexia and allergies. We do have questions about the produce and the meat we put on our plates. We have our God-given reason to ponder the solutions. And we have, among other sources, the intelligent commentary of our own newspaper, our very own United Church Observer. In the past 2 years, there have been no fewer than 7 articles dealing with food-related issues like the ones mentioned today. Those articles erase the question marks raised by food among other issues. As United Church people know, they are written to make you think and then agree or disagree as you choose. The Letters to the Editor are a tribute to the fact that we United Church goers are just as fractious as old Egerton Ryerson. That is how reasonable people of faith should be: debaters, thinkers, engaging others in a cross-country conversation since 1829. As ambassadors for Christ, we see faith enacted and our concerns addressed in those pages. Whether we choose to agree with what is printed on the pages, we are surer of our role, less concerned and more committed after reading it.

Whatever is on your plate tonight, however it got there, be grateful. Take time to say Grace and bless the food, the hands that made it available and to say then as we do now: To God be the Glory. Amen

HYMN: We are Pilgrims (Voices United #595)

You, Creator God, Have Searched Me (More Voices #131) OUR MORNING OFFERING HYMN: What Can I Do (More Voices #191)

OFFERTORY PRAYER Let these gifts be blessed with the love that comes from giving. Let them go where our hands cannot. Amen. PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER (Pease feel free to use your own words or adapt this)

God of all seasons, all people and all times, we thank you for the gift of community we share here today. We know that there are those who would be with us if only they could. Let the balm of your blessing fall on them so that they feel nourished and sustained by your love. Be with them and bless them with healing of body and of spirit. God of redemption, bring justice on those lands and peoples who thirst for peace, freedom from hunger and war. Grant us the wisdom and courage to be ambassadors for Christ as you would have us be. Let us bless this moment by saying once again the ancient words of the prayer that Jesus taught us… (The Lord’s Prayer). Amen.

CLOSING HYMN: My Life Flows On (Voices United #716)

Take Up His Song (More Voices #213) BLESSING/SENDING FORTH: We go with God, for God and to do God’s work. Hymns throughout are selected from Voices United and More Voices. ANNOUNCEMENTS/THE LIFE AND WORK OF THIS CHURCH are not listed as part of the Order of Service as congregational approaches to the placement of these are an individual decision: please adapt as needed.

Observer Children’s Time: Caring and Concern for Christ’s Gifts HYMN: Jesus, Friend of Little Children (Voices United #340) We are so lucky to live in Canada and to have an abundance of food, to be able to have three meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as snacks, pretty much whenever we want. We are also lucky that we are able to try all kinds of different foods from all over the world. We can try tacos from Mexico, pizza from Italy, potatoes from PEI, all sorts of yummy food that comes from all different places in the world and right here in our own country. Eating is fun and delicious, and even when we are eating, we can make good decisions when it comes to food and show a good example to others.

Please put up your hand if you know someone who did one of these things, maybe even yourself?

• Snuck an extra cookie from the plate Mom made for the church bazaar or school bake sale?

• Eaten a treat in front of a friend who doesn’t have one? • Had too many after-school snacks and had to fake a tummy-ache because you

were unable to eat your dinner that your Mom had prepared for you?

We all have done these things at one time or another. But how we can be ambassadors and do the right thing when it comes to food?

• We could always ask Mom for an extra cookie, she will more than likely say yes, and we don’t have to sneak one.

• We can share our treat with a friend who doesn’t have one so we are both happy, and isn’t that what friendship is all about?

• Choose just one snack after school, knowing that we get to eat mom’s delicious food, at the table with our family, instead of lying in bed with a pretend tummy ache.

Do any of you grow your own fruit or vegetables in your backyard? What do you grow?

It is so exciting to plant our own seeds and see the see the peppers grow, or watch the zucchini grow into funny shapes, or see the tomatoes grow bigger on the vine and get so heavy that they fall off the stems. It is so wonderful to be able to pick something from our garden, and eat it right away, as fresh as possible, it tastes absolutely delicious!

When it comes to food, we should remember that God provided us with all the great things we eat, and that we shouldn’t waste them, that we should share them as often as possible and be thankful for what we have. There is nothing nicer than sitting around a table, saying grace and eating a meal with our families and friends, just like Jesus did with his friends, the disciples, at the last supper. They broke bread together, they shared a meal.