Welcome to this online resource to help us share worship together. More information is available in the weekly Bulletin. Today’s service plan focuses on meditation and mindfulness, using Psalm 119, among other scriptures.

Celebration of Ministry

Please submit a prayer (you have composed) for our Prayer Booklet. You can drop it off on paper on weekday mornings, mail it, or email it to us.

Some of the Deacons (and Pastor) got to meet this past week (online, via Zoom) and talked about things including these: weekly worship plans, anniversary guest speaker, plan for ‘re-opening’ in the future.

We have not been together for ten weeks. We have not been able to celebrate one another’s birthdays! Happy Birthday to all you born in April and May, such as Dwight, Edna, Sonny, Terry, Carolyn, Bev, Angela, Myra, Linda C., Lexi, Joyce L, Murray, Diane H., Mason and MacKenna. God bless you all.

Next Sunday is Christian PENTECOST! We shall celebrate the Gift of God the Holy Spirit with us.

Worship Welcome Psalm 119:169-176 – Rob & Sara Wilkinson

169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
give me understanding according to your word.
170 Let my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your promise.
171 My lips will pour forth praise,
because you teach me your statutes.
172 My tongue will sing of your promise,
for all your commandments are right.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Let me live that I may praise you,
and let your ordinances help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.

Silence for about 20 seconds.

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

Hymn 557 Open My Eyes, That I May See

Prayer Silently now, I wait for You, ready, my God, your will to do; open my heart, illumine me, Spirit Divine! Mighty Master, we share the same praises with You today, though we are apart. We give thanks for what is possible, in these days. With hymns ancient and modern we praise You. With the longest chapter in the Bible, we pray to and with You. With the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts we put ourselves in Your hands. Guide our worship today, in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Silence for about 40 seconds.

Song Thy Word

Children’s Time

Offering The offering bottle at the back of the pews collects funds for Canadian Baptist Ministries, for our relief and development work in the world. Of course, you can designate offerings for this ministry on your envelope from time to time. (This fund was formerly called The Sharing Way.)

Solo: ‘Rainbow’ – Sharon Marshall

Scripture Psalm 119:145-152 – Sara & Rob Wilkinson

145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
I will keep your statutes.
146 I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
149 In your steadfast love hear my voice;
O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.
150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, O Lord,
and all your commandments are true.
152 Long ago I learned from your decrees
that you have established them forever.

Silence for about 60 seconds.

Sermon: Christian Mindfulness – Jeff White

Last year, this question was posed by a reader to Focus On the Family, the well-known and very large American ministry organization:

What is mindfulness? Some say it’s a positive form of meditation — and so I thought it might help me manage stress. But others believe it can negatively impact mental and spiritual health. As a Christian, I want to be sure I don’t go down a wrong path.

It is so good to ask questions about the many spiritual practices that we hear about, in our day and age. ‘Mindfulness’ is but one, and I think a very popular concept, right now. The short answer – and it’s pretty good – that Focus On the Family gave was this:

Generally speaking, mindfulness is a technique of deliberately focusing your attention on the present. You don’t let yourself be distracted by other thoughts constantly running through your head; you clear “noise” from your mind.

Mindfulness (some use the word grounding) is characterized by meditation and relaxation techniques. The idea is to become more self-aware. You pay attention to thoughts, feelings, and sensations in that moment — without purposefully deciding whether they’re good or bad, and without becoming overwhelmed or overly reactive. In short, you tune in to what’s real right now.

The FOTF writer concludes: Like anything, mindfulness can be misused. However, it doesn’t automatically contradict the Christian faith. We just need to make sure we approach it in a wise, biblical way.

The trend in our culture to be healthier by being ‘mindful’ is a good trend, in a sense. People are facing the fact that many of us could stand to live more in the moment, and deal with the anxieties and worries we keep in our minds, which are rooted in the past and the future. In what we call His ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ Jesus speaks about worry at some length. 

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

…27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

…33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Mtt 6)

So, to strive for the Kingdom can include a few parts. We strive for the King – to know and serve Christ. We strive to know what God is active doing, around us, and join in to do our part. We also can strive to know ourselves, as citizens of the Kingdom. Philippians 3:20 tells believers “our citizenship is in heaven.”

To be mindful, to live in the present moment, is graciously possible with our Saviour. Jesus is not only inspiring, He becomes our instructor. 

I remember well, a decade ago, how a friend looked at Holy Week with thoughts of how amazing Jesus was. In this way: knowing what was to happen to Him, He went through each day of that week before His death so calmly. Back and forth Jesus went, into Jerusalem, and back out to Bethany. Into the Temple and out. Teaching, healing, getting ready for the Passover with His close companions. Jesus was living in the moment, yet was prepared for His future.

Prayer and meditation were built-in parts of the devotional life of Jews, back then, of course. We notice Christ taking the disciples away to quiet places for prayer – surely they were long, extended periods of time. Jesus’ hours in the Garden of Gethsemane are so memorable. On the edge of terrible suffering, quiet time was necessary.

And there are all the moments before the culmination. For instance, before He chose the twelve disciples, He went away, all night, for prayer. (Luke 6:12-13)

Prayer, meditation, solitude, silence – all these elements of our walk with God, are so important, and all take time. More time than I give them, I know that anyway! Every few years I make an attempt, for a season, at Christian meditation. Silence. Not praying a bunch of words. Trying to be quiet, silent, in my thoughts. Trying to sit before God, and listen. And just be. Be still and know that God is God. (Psalm 46) 

For two millenia now, Christians have worked on ways of being present to Christ through meditation. There are many paths and teachings. A couple of the most helpful writers about this, for me, have been Dallas Willard and Martin Laird. There are many other good ones. 

Willard was a Baptist teacher who wrote more about how spiritual discipline works, and less about the how to of these things. He pointed out to me how important solitude and silence are in our lives with Jesus. He says,

In silence we close off our souls from “sounds,” whether those sounds be noise, music, or words. Total silence is rare, and what we today call “quiet” usually only amounts to a little less noise. Many people have never experienced silence and do not even know that they do not know what it is. Our households and offices are filled with the whirring, buzzing, murmuring, chattering, and whining of the multiple contraptions that are supposed to make life easier. 

Have you ever heard the sound of silence? 

I have fond childhood memories of annual trips to southern Ontario, to visit grandparents and other family. There were, of course, excursions to the sights to see in the GTA. A lover of all things science, I looked forward to visiting the Science Centre in Toronto. I guess the Discovery Centre in Halifax is like this? I have not been there. 

At the Science Centre (around 1980 anyway) one very cool exhibit was a soundproof room. The walls of the room and the hallway leading in were lined with black, foamy, corrugated material that absorbed sound. Enter, be still and quiet, and one heard nothing. Nothing! For the first time in my life I ‘heard’ nothing. 

To practice mindfulness, as a Christian, is to find silence. Silence for our thoughts and feelings inside. And there, we may offer ourselves to the Holy One as we never have before. Isaiah 30:15 says, For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you refused…

Leading up to this sermon today, I suggested to you all that we work our way through Psalm 119. 22 days of Psalm 119: it has 22 sections of eight verses each. Each section, in the ancient Hebrew language, begins with the same letter of that alphabet. Every one of the 176 verses includes a word that means law, word, commandment. This long Psalm must be the result of an inspired time of meditation upon the fullness of the Old Testament, which was enjoyed and appreciated by the composer of this Psalm. Imagine this task of writing a long, alphabetic poem about obeying God’s word. For us in English it could be 208 lines long!

Reflect now on this. If you spent time on Psalm 119 each day (or most days), what did you discover? What was your experience of God? What did you learn or see in yourself? (Remember, we learn so much from our failures.) 

Psalm 119 is so repetitious, eh? So many mindfulness and meditation practices use repetition, to keep a person focused, to quiet the mind and the thoughts, to get deeper into our souls. 

Now, I must admit that I have yet to be clear about what ‘meditation’ means. I have actually used it in a couple ways. It means a few things to us. 

Usually, among Baptists and others, I find we call a short sermon or devotional talk ‘a meditation.’ And that’s fine. One has mulled a scripture over, pondered it, prayed, and then talks about it. You see in a plan for a church service ‘Meditation,’ and it means a talk by a preacher.

The ‘meditation’ I am speaking of today is a form of prayer. Well, this comes in many forms. There is praying that is thinking over a scripture for an extended period of time (what we did with Psalm 119 for 22 days). There is guided meditation, when one person suggests thoughts and images for a group to follow in their imaginations. And there is silent meditation, which seeks to quiet the thoughts and distractions of the mind, and simply be quiet inside. I guess you could tell that has been my focus today. 

Like the soundproof room at the Science Centre, I seek the soundproof room of my inner life with God. I recommend it to you also. Seek the quiet path. Silent prayer. Meditation. Contemplation. Whatever you want to call it. Such times are sabbath moments for us, little times of rest for our souls. 

Any technique we find that the Spirit helps us use is a blessing. And the habits we form are simply tools. Martin Laid puts it this way:

A gardener for example, does not actually grow plants. The gardener practices finely honed skills, such as cultivating soil, watering, feeding, weeding, pruning. But there is nothing the gardener can do to make the plants grow. However, if the gardener does not do what a gardener is supposed to do, the plants are not as likely to flourish. In fact they might not grow at all… The skills are necessary but by themselves insufficient. 

(Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land, 2006, p. 54)

It is God who is sufficient, and who appreciates and will bless our efforts. Our efforts to “be still and know.”

Psalm 119: 148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night, that I may meditate upon your promise. 151 …you are near, O LORD.Whether we meditate and become ‘mindful’ in the middle of the night, or we find times during the day that work for us, let us quiet ourselves. Let us teach one another (testify to) the methods that we have found helpful. Let us receive the gracious promises of Jesus, who said, 28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)

PRAYERS of the People
We all have many people for whom we pray today. We have many things we know about in the world that concern us. We have ourselves and our walk with God, in this strange time, to talk about.
Take time to bring all these people and events to mind, in the name of Jesus.
Then, let us simply be quiet, in prayer. Stay away from words and names and lists, for about a minute and a half. Then, have some closing thoughts for prayer…

SILENCE for 90 seconds (OK, in the recording, I took about two minutes.)

Finally, we know we are Your beloved ones.
We think about whatever is true.
We think about whatever is honourable.
We think about whatever is just.
We think about whatever is pure.
We think about whatever is pleasing.
We think about whatever is commendable.
We think about whatever is excellent.
We think about whatever is worthy of praise.
Help us to do the things we have learned and received and heard from Your guides in our lives.
God of peace, be with us.
AMEN.

Psalm 119:10 With my whole heart I seek thee; let me not wander from thy commandments!

Hymn 45 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Benediction (using Psalm 119:76-77)

Let God’s steadfast love become your comfort,
let God’s mercy come to you, that you may live,
and let God’s law become your delight;
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. AMEN.

Welcome to this resource for worship at home. The Bulletin, with other prayers, announcements and information, is also available here on our website. This May we have four weeks of attention to our mental and emotional well-being; today we consider emotionally healthy spirituality.

Worship Welcome John 4:23-24
Jesus said: “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Song Way Maker (sung by a choir in Michigan)

Prayer God, our Way through the wilderness, guide us, heart and mind and body, through this worship time. Some things will keep our attention more than others – a song, a verse, a story. Guide us. Some things will distract us – noises around, aches and pains, wandering thoughts. Guide us. Some things will bring up strong feelings, even emotions we’ve buried for a while. Guide us, we pray, and all who seek You in worship this Sunday. All who sing, and study, and pray. We remember the words we share: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name… AMEN.

Scripture Psalm 119:113-120 – Maggie & Mike Beveridge

[Meditate upon each eight verse section of Psalm 119 each day of this month (May 3-24 for the 22 sections). A plan for this, and some guiding thoughts, are here in this blog, and on our Facebook page.]

Solo: Psalm 23 – Joyce Marshall

Scripture 2 Corinthians 7:2-16 – Dianne Banks

Sermon: Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – Jeff White

Jessica is a gifted manager in her company. She has been a Christian for fifteen years and loves spending time with God. When the vice president of her company was making schedules for managers to meet with clients out of town, he asked Jessica to pick the weeks she would prefer to travel over the next three months. Within the week Jessica emailed him the dates and eagerly awaited confirmation. None arrived. Jessica called his office the following week.

His administrative assistant answered. “Well, according to the schedule I have in front of me, the next three months are all full,” she said. “I guess this means he doesn’t need you right now. But thanks for calling.” 

Jessica sat stunned in her chair. “Thank you,” she replied robotically and hung up. 

For the next two weeks Jessica wrestled with God and herself. She asked God for forgiveness for the anger she was feeling. She tried to figure out why the vice president had changed his mind. She humbled herself to God. She cried out in prayer for love toward her coworkers. She lost sleep.

Finally, she concluded God was dealing with her stubborn self-will.

Over time Jessica distanced herself from the vice president and other managers, avoiding them whenever possible. During the next two years she worked hard, but she felt like she had hit a ceiling in how far she could go with this company. Eventually, she took a position with another company. 

Jessica is committed to her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She practices spiritual disciplines. The problem, however, is that her commitment to Jesus Christ does not include relating to people in an emotionally mature way. Instead, she misapplies biblical truth and follows, most probably, the relational skills learned unconsciously in her family growing up. (2014, pp. 166-7)

That’s from Peter Scazzero’s book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. There are a number of books one can read about emotional intelligence and maturity, and Scazzerro’s is one from a thoroughly Christian perspective. Emotionally healthy spirituality is an important facet of the abundant life Christ works to develop in us.

I mention from time to time my pastor friend who gives a mini sermon about being a ‘well-rounded square.’ Are you a well-rounded square? He takes his cue from Luke 2:52 ~ Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in divine and human favour. Growth in these four areas – wisdom: mentally; stature: physically; divine favour: spirituality; human favour: socially. Jesus grew up well-rounded in these four areas… so can you and I.

We still have growth and development to do, even if we are forty or fifty, seventy or ninety. At this point in our pandemic precautions, our mental (and emotional) health may well be a bit strained. We are finding out how resilient we are in our emotional intelligence, our inner self, our mental health and ability. With Christ, in Christ, we can grow in this wisdom. We need this!

To be in touch with our own feelings and inner thoughts is so important. To express ourselves well goes hand in hand with this.

So I chose our main text for today, chapter seven of Second Corinthians. On this page of Paul’s letter to the church in that ancient city, he shares so much emotion; and he proves he is wise. Just listen to the emotional words and phrases in these fifteen verses. (From the translation Dianne read from, the CEV:)

your hearts!
mistreated         hurt
proud           encouraged
troubled         fears
cheers up         glad
sorry         concerned         happier
feel bad         harmed
angry         shocked         eager
care         nothing to worry about
disappoint
loves         trembled with fear
really glad

Many of these words get repeated, as you noticed. One thing you can be sure of with the holy scriptures, emotions and mental health are right in front of you. From the family dramas of Genesis, to the sagas of the judges and kings, to the powerful words of the prophets, to the emotional expressions of Christ and Paul and the believers – people’s hearts are opened up for us to see. 

One example: our use of Psalm 119 this month may be used of God to train us in emotional health. This longest of the Psalms is all about enjoying ‘the law,’ the holy scriptures. Notice the strong and expressive words about enjoying the Bible, obeying it, and facing those who are opposing this way of life.

I hate the double-minded
but I love your law. (113)
let me not be put to shame in my hope. (116)
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments. (120)

Strong language! Some verses are not ones we would compose, today, but others are. It all awakens in us feelings and deep thoughts that we may have kept hidden, even from ourselves. 

We relate to God as an emotional Being, who has feelings, and feels deeply. As Peter Scazzero says in his book, “The journey of genuine transformation to emotionally healthy spirituality beings with a commitment to allow yourself to feel. It is an essential part of our humanity and unique personhood as men and women made in God’s image.” (pp. 44-45)

The Bible shows a God who takes delight in things (including us), gets angry, regrets and repents, rejoices, weeps, is troubled, cries out, rests, and loves with an everlasting love. These are all emotions and responses gifted to us, in creation.

And so we see a saint like the Apostle Paul expressing all these things too. We learn from his example, and his mistakes. 

So, what happened in the Church of Corinth that led to Paul writing this chapter we read today? There must have been some problem!

Yes, there sure was. But we are not told exactly what happened in this or the other letters of the NT. Clearly, someone in the congregation had opposed and had a conflict with another person – probably with Paul himself. “when we came to Macedonia… we were afflicted in every way–disputes without and fears within.” (7:5) 

Paul had written them a letter about the ‘fight’ that happened, a letter which obviously upset them, grieved them, for a while. “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it.” (7:8) Paul rejoices that his friends there regretted what had happened, and ‘repented’ – made a turnaround.

In the end, Paul, as a pastoral mentor of the congregation, was vindicated. “So, although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who was wronged [me, Paul?], but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God. In this we find comfort.” (7:12-13)

This episode in the early life of this Church, and their leaders, is but one example and inspiration for us to grow into emotional health and spiritual maturity. These people were all on a journey, as we are. Learning to know God, to know ourselves, and to relate beautifully with one another. See, we are becoming ‘well-rounded squares!’

There are many steps and stages we can take on our journey of growing up and growing stronger in Christ. The scriptures and our circumstances are the classroom, the ‘school of life,’ we might say.

Taking some cues from Scazzero’s teaching, let me suggest the following biblical paths we can take. These are but a few of many steps available. 

‘Know thyself.’ I can’t take it for granted that I know myself really well, deep inside: my heart, soul, mind, psyche, ego, however we label our inner parts. “We are fearfully and wonderfully made!” (Ps 139)  

Back in First Corinthians, Paul beautifully said, “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within?” (2:11) Yet even a man or woman may be out of touch with his or her own soul. Psalm 19 prays, “But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.” (19:12)

So, know yourself. This is an ongoing work, sometimes a special project for us, with our Master. Know yourself, that you may know God. In the opening of his Institutes, John Cavin wrote:

Our wisdom… consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.

Peter Scazzero speaks of three temptations toward a false sense of oneself. Temptation 1: to think ‘I am what I do.’ This is all about performance, in family, work, education, community, church, wherever. Temptation 2: to think ‘I am what I have.’ We think of ourselves in terms of our possessions, or what we feel we lack. Temptation 3: to think ‘I am what others think of me.’ Getting in touch with how Christ esteems us is a big remedy for this.

 Four words of guidance in this book are:

One: pay attention to your interior in silence and solitude. We will delve into Christian meditation and mindfulness next Sunday, May 24. 

Two: find trusted companions. Many of us have a few friends, or mentors, whom we can trust greatly and share life. When we do not have such people, we must seek. When we have folks to help us, but don’t speak enough with them, we can make a new start.

Three: move out of your comfort zone. Yes, Scazzero has used a cliche phrase, but his point is good. This takes willingness to be and feel awkward, with courage and trust in Jesus.

Four: pray for courage. Courage to explore who you are in Christ. Courage to take steps deep within. Courage to be. 

Another big part of the journey of emotionally healthy spirituality is Sabbath keeping and daily devotion. Scazzero calls his chapter on this ‘Discover the Sacred Rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath.’ 

For a year at least I have really wanted to explore ‘Sabbath keeping,’ and will likely preach about this some time later. Our daily times of special focus upon God are of great importance to our growing up in Christ. Some of you read each day from ‘Tabletalk,’ or ‘The Daily Bread,’ ‘The Upper Room,’ or an email devotion you receive. You may have a Bible reading plan you use. Or a prayer list. 

Lately, this is what I have been doing. (This changes from year to year and season to season.) In a quiet moment at the start of the day, I use an old (1936) book of daily prayers, by John Baillie. Then I read my Bible chapters for the day, Old and New Testaments. Then I read from the in-depth devotional, ‘Tabletalk.’ Then I pray, often using some words from a book of prayers by Walter Brueggeman. 

I find that the scripture passages, and the teaching and prayers of others, prompt my thinking and praying in ways I would never have done on my own. Emotions are suggested that I might have not noticed in myself, or have avoided. 

Yet, the quiet times without words are important too. Feelings don’t need words. As I said, more about this next Sunday.

One last thing from the book, ‘Emotionally Healthy Spirituality,’ among the many things I could mention. Practice the presence of people. We have heard of ‘the practice of the presence of God,’ but how brilliant to make paying attention to other people a spiritual discipline! Jesus grew in favour with people, socially, we are told. So may we. 

M. Scott Peck told a story of meeting a fellow student in highschool one day, at age fifteen. 

I suddenly realized that for the entire ten-minute period from when I had first seen my acquaintance until that very moment, I had been totally self-preoccupied. For the two or three minutes before we met all I was thinking about was the clever things I might say that would impress him.  During our five minutes together I was listening to what he had to say only so that I might turn it into a clever rejoinder. I watched him only so that I might see what effect my remarks were having on him. And for the two or three minutes after we separated my sole thought content was those things I could have said that might have impressed him even more. I had not cared a whit for my classmate. (M. Scott Peck, A World Waiting to Be Reborn, 1993, pp. 112-113)

Peck’s reflection on this, like ours, can be a first step towards ‘practicing the presence of people.’ When Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” it could apply to the life of our mouths & our ears! (Jn 15:13) Doesn’t this take us full circle? Noticing how we listen and speak takes us into knowing ourselves.

May the God of true feelings and deep compassion bless you to feel your own feelings. May the letters and songs and stories of scripture give you courage to be your authentic self, in front of God, in front of others, and in front of your mirror each morning. May the fellowship of the faithful train you and me to be emotionally healthier in spirit. 

“It makes me really glad to know that I can depend on you.” (2 Cor 7:16)

PRAYERS of the People A bidding prayer
Praise God for one thing about God…
Adore God for two beautiful things about Jesus…
Give thanks for three blessings of today…
Give thanks for four blessings of the past week…
Ask for help with these five personal problems…
Ask for help for six others with problems…
Seek a blessing for seven people facing illness…
Seek a blessing for eight families facing tragedy…
Pray for guidance for nine leaders…
Pray for help in ten nations of the world…
Ask the Spirit to refresh these eleven Churches….
Ask the Spirit to teach us all these twelve lessons…
Amen.

OFFERING We have not had an opportunity, since our Annual Meeting, to set some mission goals for the year, 2020. Remember the work of our denomination (CBAC), our Baptist Association, ADC, Crandall University, CBM, our Partners in Mission (the Bustins & Soucys), and so on.

Hymn 519 It Is Well with My Soul

Benediction by William Sloane Coffin

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You;
May the Lord Make His Face to Shine Upon You
And Be Gracious Unto You.
May God Give You the Grace Not to Sell Yourself Short,
Grace to Risk Something Big For Something Good,
Grace to Remember that The World is Now
Too Dangerous for Anything but Truth, and
Too Small for Anything but Love.
So May God Take Your Minds and Think Through Them;
May God Take Your Lips and Speak Through Them; and
May God Take Your Hearts and Set Them On Fire,
Through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Welcome to this resource for worship at home. We can share this plan to pray and look to the scriptures together, while apart. This May we have a month of attention to our mental and emotional well-being; today remembering the stigma of illness.

Worship Welcome Luke 1:46-48, 52-53
As Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour
on the lowliness of his servant.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

Hymn 532 Be Thou My Vision (sung below by a church in Cincinnati, OH)

Prayer O Lord of our hearts, open our vision today, we pray. Open us to see You, to see ourselves, to see one another, to see a new vision of Your world.

O Lord our soul’s shelter, while we are sheltered in our own homes, fill us with courage to grow and explore our own souls. Lead us, Spirit, into transformation, holiness, and action.

O Lord our dignity and our delight, raise us up to praise and proclaim the goodness of life, in this world of suffering and pain. We worship today to the best of our ability: increase our faith!

High King of Heaven, meet us in the low & lowly places where we live, and scatter Your blessings again among all the needy. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Scripture Psalm 119:57-64 Meditate upon each eight verse section of Psalm 119 each day of this month (May 3-24 for the 22 sections). A plan for this, and some guiding thoughts, are here in this blog.

Offering We thank God that we can still offer worship at this time, from our own homes. We can still serve one another with friendship and prayer, with little errands and listening ears. We can still contribute tithes and offerings for our local congregation and for ministries around the globe. Praise be!

Piano Medley In the Garden / May the Good Lord Bless & Keep You / Amazing Grace – Brenda Eisener, Ottawa, sister of Eddie Dunn

Scripture 1 Samuel 21:10-22:2 – Heather Parry

Sermon Crazy Contagion – Jeff White

“So, tell me about your mother.” This popular cliché in psychology was the hallmark of Sigmund Freud. Today is the end of Mental Health Week in Canada: good timing for us all, isn’t it?! Today’s sermon is not a therapy session for you (or me!), but it is an opportunity to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches about the health of the mind, and God’s part in healing and helping. Yet there is still so much stigma, so much looking down upon these problems and those who suffer them.

The Sunday evening study group has been continuing – online – to work through our study of mental health and the Church’s ministry to people facing mental illnesses. One whole chapter of Amy Simpson’s book, ‘Troubled Minds’ is about the stigma of mental illness, and how stigma against people lives on in churches.

How people deal with illnesses of the mind is part of our culture. We are steeped in a culture that still fears mental illnesses, stereotypes the people suffer- ing, makes fun of them, and uses a lot of methods to avoid dealing with them. This has been the case for centuries, in many different cultures. There is a stigma about ‘madness/craziness,’ that lives on with us. Even the use of these terms that are out of date says something. They become rude and demeaning.

We looked back, way back, today, to the Hebrews in the time of King David. We find him on the run, and ‘feigning madness,’ at one point. Pretending to be mad, crazy, insane. 

The biography of David is a complex story – just as yours and mine is – and in 1 Samuel 21 and 22 we find him fleeing from Saul and other men of power in those days. David comes into the realm of Achish, king of Gath (a realm known as Goliath’s home turf, remember?). David’s reputation precedes him, and he finds the people of the royal court know all about him. Fearing king Achish, David pretends to be mentally ill. He scratches on the doors. He drools. 

His ploy works. Achish treats him as harmless: actually, just bothersome. “Why do I need another madman around here?” declares Achish. David gets sent on his way, & runs off to another place. Later, we can read of David & Achish getting along quite well.

To pretend to be mentally ill is not something we think of doing often. Or is it? In court cases, the accused may ‘plead insanity’ so as to not be held totally responsible for his or her illegal actions. There have been cases when someone ‘in their right mind’ tried to get off with this as an excuse. 

But even in pop culture we know about pretending to be mad. I remember the TV series M*A*S*H, with Corporal Klinger: he tried for years to be kicked out of his military service overseas by acting crazy: bt cross-dressing. He wanted a ‘Section 8,’ a discharge from the army for being mentally unfit. 

‘Crazyness’ is funny in our eyes. We laugh. Making fun of people who don’t ‘act normal’ becomes contagious. We all start laughing, rolling our eyes, and acting foolish ourselves. But this gets transferred to real people, brothers and sisters who suffer from illnesses of the mind. 

It is also frightening: we fear it. This builds the stigma against suffering people. 

Is ‘crazyness’ contagious? Can we catch it by getting too close to someone? This may be an irrational fear, but it can be a real fear. Moreover, people fear mental illness because it ‘runs in the family.’ The genetic element can predispose someone to become sick, we fear, and the family of origin can perpetuate unhealthy relationships and abuses that cause emotional harm and illness.  So we think – based on facts – but we also exaggerate the dangers.

I remember a dear friend, a wise friend, who spoke of the depression that ran in his family. His father died from a gunshot, out in the field, alone. One son said it was an accident. The other always figured it was actually suicide. Others in the family had mental illnesses; some had died by suicide. 

So the fears around illness grow. Despite our faith in a God “who heals all our diseases,” a Saviour whom we call the Great Physician, a Spirit we call our Comforter and our Advocate. 

Let me tell you some of the story of Amy Simpson, and her mother. Amy Simpson is editor of Gifted For Leadership and managing editor of marriage and parenting resources for Today’s Christian Woman. She is the author of ‘Into the Word: How to Get the Most from Your Bible,’ and, ‘Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission.’ Simpson tells us:

I grew up in the Midwest, one of four kids in a loving family. Dad was a pastor for ten years, serving two small rural churches. Mom was a homemaker. Our family loved to go camping, and all of my best memories of family life have the six of us crammed into a pop-up camper, swimming in a lake somewhere or sweating together with the wind thrashing our hair, three in the front and in the back of our sedan. 

My mom is a gentle person, creative, funny, resourceful and very smart. She always encouraged my creative development, indulged my love for reading, taught me to clean the house like I meant it, sparked my love of a good pun and showed me how to get organized. Mom is also the person who led me to faith in Christ when only four years old. 

Yet there’s more to our story. Mom has suffered tremendously and has been the source of much of my own suffering. Ours is a very complicated relationship—as all her relationships are. While I didn’t know enough to question the normalcy of our family life when I was a child, I knew something was wrong. This undefined knowledge nagged at my family as we did our best to ignore it. As it became harder to ignore, we started looking for help—and came up short. When I was a teenager, on the day I waited at school for someone to pick me up and no one came, it became obvious.

My brother, who had stopped at home on a break between college classes, had found Mom in the kitchen, completely unable to function. She went to the hospital. When I called home from a pay phone to find out when someone would pick me up school, a neighbor answered and said Mom had had “a stroke or something.”

It was no stroke that had indelibly altered Mom and our family. That was the day she had her first full-on, debilitating, confusing, terrifying, mind-bending, truth-twisting, hospital-worthy psychotic break. And it was a long time before I understood what happened. 

When I was fifteen, Mom picked me up at school to take me to a dental appointment. I could tell immediately that she wasn’t functioning normally; I recognized warning signs that she was headed for another “episode.” 

I remember thanking God that I could legally take over driving if I needed to and asking Mom if she had taken her medication that day. Her answer was not straightforward…

We did make our way safely to the dental office…

After half an hour or so with the dentist, I returned to the waiting room and approached my mom, who didn’t look at me. Suddenly I realized my instincts had been right, and my earlier fear was realized: something indeed was wrong with Mom…again. And it was up to me to help her.

After a couple of quiet attempts to rouse her, I began to attract attention. People sat and stared at me, wide-eyed, as I tried to get her to respond. 

With everyone in the room continuing to stare, I walked over to the reception desk and asked the woman behind the counter – who was also staring – if I could use the phone. “No, there’s a pay phone around the corner.” When I explained that I needed to call my dad for help, I didn’t have change for the phone, and it would be a local call, she still refused and pointed to the pay phone. So I went back to my mom and wrestled with her rigid arms, pulling them aside enough to get into her purse and get the quarter In needed for the phone. I went back to the receptionist to ask if she could keep an eye on my Mom while I went to use the pay phone. She shrank back in horror and asked, “Is she dangerous?”

While Dad was on his way, one of the dentists became aware of what was happening and did what she could to help get Mom to the car. Dad and I took her to the hospital for another of her psychiatric stays and restabilization on medication. 

 …I went home with Dad and back to “regular” life. I never talked to anyone about what I had experienced.  (pp. 21-26)

This is one story of fears and stigma about illness. Near the end of her book, Amy Simpson declares:

What’s remarkable about this life is not that we have pain, that we suffer, that life gets so ugly we can’t even look at it. The remarkable thing is that  we have anything but suffering. That there is a large supply of goodness in this world. That despite our best efforts at self-destruction, grace still shines on us, and the sun rises. That we are surrounded by beauty. That we know how to laugh. That we can laugh and cry at the same time. And – most remarkable – that our suffering and pain themselves become the media for some of God’s most beautiful work. It’s called redemption, and we overlook it every day. (p. 201)

She tells us, By God’s grace (and I’m not using that term flippantly) and for his glory, my siblings and I are all healthy, productive and living in relationship with Christ. We can say that God has redeemed our suffering. …He has granted us sensitivity to other broken people we might otherwise have shunned.

Mom is currently doing well, managing her illness and benefiting from the advances made in the latest generation of anti-psychotic drugs. She enjoys a strong and growing relationship with Jesus and benefits from the ways her church helps her stay grounded in that relationship. (p. 209)

Thanks be to God, Amy Simpson’s suffering, and that of her family, have borne beautiful fruit, including her own healing, helping ministry of teaching about the human mind and divine promises. 

For me, this week, there is one more scene from scripture that speaks. The next vignette in the saga of 1 Samuel. Chapter 22 starts with David on the run again, and finding a hiding place in a cave. But he is not truly hidden. His family members and others gather with him. In fact, we are told, Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Those who were with him numbered about four hundred. (1S22:1-2) 

David – a man of skills and spirituality, of sins and deep failures, of a big calling from God – he is clearly a natural-born leader. This list of people who were drawn to him in that moment catches my eye: those in distress, those in debt, those discontented. Such beaten-down people were the ones attracted to David at that time. 

We see King David, of course, as a precursor of the final Anointed One (Christ/Messiah), Jesus of Nazareth. Look to the Gospels and see the people, sometimes great crowds, attracted to Him. Those he spends His time with: the sick, the poor, the oppressed and unhappy, the ‘sinners.’ Much like those drawn to David, centuries before. 

The stories we have of the Saviour show Him meeting and blessing people who had lost loved ones, people who were suffering or dying, people who had no hope, people who were being crushed by the powerful, people who had got themselves in a lot of trouble, people who were considered ‘unholy.’ It is to them Jesus went. 

When criticized, Jesus said He came not to the well, but to those who were sick. 

His mother knew this. Remember her poetic praise when she was pregnant? Remember the kinds of things she said?  (Luke 1)

48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
51 he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

Good News! for the lowly, the humble, the hungry. He came to the broken. He came to the traumatized and tragic. He came to the depressed and dispossessed. He came to the rejected and rough- around-the-edges. He came to us.

So, perhaps the bottom line is this. We dispel our stigmas against those who are ill, simply by joining Jesus, and finding how we can view all others though His eternal eyes. With His wise care. With His pure heart. And our own fears and stigma about ourselves, when we are weak, are banished by the Comforter Jesus sends to our souls.

Prayers God of family, Parent of the fellowship, Lover of our souls: we gather all our separate prayers into the themes of the day, and our common conversation with You happens again. Praise be!

Holy Trinity, one of our earliest commandments is to ‘honour our fathers and mothers,’ that our life upon the land we are given may be long. We give thanks for all those who nurtured us and have been life-giving. Before You, we face our failings and fears about family and our relationships. We face the griefs and sorrows. We face the neglect and hurt. Shepherd our souls now; forgive us and make us forgiving; reconcile and recreate us, in Your mercy.

It is mercy, blessing, miracle we seek for so many people, in so many places today. We pray for three-year-old Dylan, missing in Truro, and his family, and the searchers. We pray for workers of all sorts in our homes for special care and hospitals, especially Northwood, where so many deaths have been faced. We pray for our own beloved ones who are isolated in this time, those in and out of hospitals, and those feeling downcast, depressed or alone now.

We look back to Jesus, how He grew in wisdom, stature, and in favour with God and people. We see how He went to all who were wrecked and ruined, all who were poor in spirit and downhearted. Oh come to them again. Come to us; & when we are strengthened, send us out. With respect and care for all we touch.

This weekend of Motherhood, we shall not be visiting our mothers. This weekend of graduations, the universities shall not meet. This weekend of spring, the snow falls heavy. Unlimited One! You are not hindered by the events of these days; so let love unlimited still flow and go. We join You in reaching out for goodness and help in our neighbourhood, and Your world. 

We still are longing to be connected. Not just with one another. With You. This day, and every day, we lay ourselves at Your feet. You, raise us up, and shine through us. In the name of Jesus. AMEN.

Benediction  from 1 Kings 8:56a, 57, 58a

Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people… according to all that He promised.The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may He not leave us or abandon us, but incline our hearts to Him. Amen.

Welcome to this resource for worship at home. We can share this plan to pray and look to the scriptures together, while apart. This week, we welcome Lic. Sharon White to our virtual pulpit.

We now begin a month of attention to our mental and emotional well-being. This Sunday we also remember the Lord’s Supper, which we have not celebrated together since March 1st. To share the Lord’s Supper today, at home, you could use some bread or cracker or muffin, and some juice (grape, cranberry, apple, whatever).

Worship Welcome Psalm 119:1-8
Happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who keep his decrees,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways.
You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
O that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous ordinances.
I will observe your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.

Hymn 244 Easter Song

Prayer Hallelujah! Amen! Hosanna! 

We praise You from our homes, aware again of Your grace and power in our lives. Precious were all those moments when we gathered together because of You. Now, as we miss one another, draw us close to You. As we long to be together in our familiar pews, we also long for the ways we hear from You when we worship. Though we cannot sing together, may our souls sing today. Though we cannot clasp one another’s hands, may our prayers embrace one another now. Though we cannot smile as we send one another out, may we be guided to speak an encouraging word to one another all this week long. 

As we share worship today, we pray for others who do the same. May the folks of Sisson Ridge Baptist Church, Plaster Rock, NB, be blessed by Your presence and Your word today.  And let all the words and meditations of our service be accepted in Your sight. In the name of Jesus the Lord. AMEN.

Solo You Carried Me – Sharon Marshall

Offering As we consider our individual offerings for the month, pray also about what we, the Church, offer to our neighbourhood in this cautious season.

Scripture Romans 8:35, 38 & 39

Message “Stronger Together” – Sharon White

Well today May 3^rd, we start our 7^th week of isolation and in some ways, it does not seem like we’ve been isolating that long, yet in other ways, it seems longer. As we feel lonely and isolated, when we can’t meet together, and our regular routines are gone, sometimes our perceptions of time can get distorted.

In Canada, the first full week of May is designated as ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’ by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). They have been promoting this specific mental health week each year since 1951. Which is why I feel that next week’s theme of Mental Health is very important, especially now with the current events, the loss of close friends or loved ones, the Portapique tragedy, the crash of an Armed Forces helicopter taking the lives of its crew of 6, and facing more weeks of isolation because of Covid-19. In all of this, we may be feeling weary, frustrated, sad, angry, or just feeling down and unfocused. When we do not have control over what is happening around us, having any or all of these emotions is understandable, and it’s okay to not feel okay! This is why I think the timing of Mental Health Week is a good reminder to focus on our mental health!

Mental health, mental illness, and self-care need to be talked about more often, otherwise, how will our feelings and the issues get out in the open, how else do we break the stigma of “looking like we have it all together when we don’t.” So, my message this morning is one that I hope starts discussions around mental health within families and amongst friends.

But there’s a problem in speaking on this topic today, mental health is too broad of a category to cover it all here in the time that we have because there are so many layers and they overlap with one another that can make talking about it very confusing. So, imagine mental health as a circle made up of wedges. In one wedge place the 9 types of mental illnesses [anxiety disorders, depression & bipolar, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, postpartum depression, schizophrenia, and children/youth & self-injury]. In another wedge place, the treatments [medical, psychotherapy, ECT’s, spiritual] and supports; a 3rd wedge could focus specifically on care for the caregivers; a 4^th wedge narrows in on addressing the area of addictions [where a person with a mental illness also has a substance abuse problem]; and then we could group all the feelings around mental illness in wedge #5, (for example the feelings of anger or rage because a person doesn’t want the mental illness they have or it’s disrupting their life or ruining their marriage). And the final wedge that I want to focus on this morning is the wedge of self-care that’s needed for one’s overall mental health, which as you know is a continuum; (take a look here at the model of this continuum).

Self-care is the most important aspect that affects all the wedges within mental health because self-care is what we do for ourselves and others to care for our mental health, and it builds our resilience against the stresses of life! (Take some time this week to look over the CMHA website, link here).

Mental health & illness, disease & sickness, isolation, death of family/friends, tragedies, loss of employment all have something in common. Suffering! Suffering is experienced by every person, unfortunately, we suffer many times in our lives, and sometimes it is downright gut-wrenching! However, suffering is also a key emotion that binds us collectively as one as we try to find meaning in it! When I looked through the scriptures for today’s message I realized it was difficult to narrow down on one or two verses that deal with suffering. The Bible describes community and individual suffering throughout its pages. For example, we could use any number of these Psalms of lament [44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 85, 90], or the trials that Job endured. The reasons for the suffering don’t matter, but in it, we share the same feelings of weariness, sorrow, confusion, numbness, anger, or hopelessness. I want us to see with fresh eyes someone who suffers, to understand them from our own sufferings – because we realize that deep down, we are the same because every heart has or will endure some suffering. We were all made in God’s image, we all suffer, and through our pain, we can reach out to offer understanding and empathy to a loved one, neighbor, friend, and even a stranger.

How does this tie in with Mental Health Week and Covid-19 isolation? Take a look at the picture provided here. It shows how our present-day sufferings from Covid-19 can be a trigger for increased mental health concerns with increased anxiety, fear for the lives of vulnerable loved ones, decreased job security, decreased financial security, it’s moved us into a state of survival mode, and the necessary isolation for our health worsens the feelings of aloneness and despair that were major concerns in our society before Covid-19 existed.

However, right now we struggle because we can’t meet and reach out, we can’t give and receive the important relational connections to share our burdens and grief, and we are missing our sense of belonging in a family. We’re unable to mourn our losses together, neither can we worship as a congregation in ways we’ve become attached to and it can make us question the church’s sense of purpose; sometimes it makes us question our sense of worth and purpose. Suffering and isolation can trigger a variety of feelings and when this happens the relational connectedness, that sense of belonging and sense of worth and value that’s so vital for life between humans is temporarily lost! The remedy to this is human re-connectedness! It is important, even critical for our mental health; and it’s also important for us as a faith community! The CMHA has a good short article on the benefits of social connectedness (link here); they state that social connectedness is the cure! Connectedness binds us back together as families, groups, congregations, and as communities.

When we struggle we can also go back to our basic Christian teachings, that each one of us is a child of God, that He knew us as He formed us in the womb, and from that children’s song that tells us “Jesus loves the little children”. God has always and will always love us, especially in our pain, suffering, and also in all the joys of life. This points me to a verse in Romans chapter 8: in verse 38, “…that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.” That answers the question asked earlier in verse 35, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? No! Nothing can separate us from His love. It is because of our suffering, that our doubts lead us to feel we have lost favor with God. My research on these verses denies this possibility of God not loving us, stating that the point of such sufferings is the evidence of a union with Jesus, who has also endured sufferings, and not a cause for doubting a loss of God’s love because of them. Rom. 8 Verses 38 to 39 reminds us “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So, why do we still feel alone when we suffer? Let’s be honest, maybe because our western society is an individualistic one that lacks the promoting of deep social connections. Add to this our present-day Covid-19 health protocols for safety that create more isolation and loneliness. Without deep human connections of care, we lose our footing to the foundation of love and hope that help us endure our present sufferings. Connections allow us to share our burdens and lighten our loads! Relationships built upon trust, concern, sharing, support, and time together all create a family that isn’t always based on blood relatives. These kinds of relationships bind the hearts and they are worth their weight in gold! They allow us to build resilience and bounce back!

Our province has found some ways to be stronger together and bounce back in our loneliness of these recent tragedies! We have candles in our windows to show we remember those who died on April 18/19^th, we post rainbows and hearts on Facebook to thank our frontline healthcare workers, we join online virtual vigils and musical events to have a sense of community and togetherness in our common grief to lighten the burdens in the hearts of families grieving their loved ones. We can, in our own areas reach out to friends and family members to help them build their resilience, by encouraging them to:

• Stay informed, but to limit exposure to news and social media
• Keep threats in perspective
• Access reputable sources of information only
• Establish a routine, exercise for 20 minutes 3 times a week
• Engage in meaningful and enjoyable activities
• Reach out for help when struggling
• Practice gratitude with self, with family, and with strangers
• Eat well, avoid alcohol & stimulants as a means of coping
• Practice mindfulness or meditations
• Daily count your blessings

And we can go to Christ in our prayers, our music, and in our devotions to connect with the One who loves us unconditionally, to the Creator who gave us life and who gave His life out of love; from God, we get the strength to rise again and continue the journey to do the right next step!

As we virtually celebrate communion this morning, gather yourself some bread and juice or water, knowing that your church family, as well as many other Christians, also gather in remembrance. Today, through our communion, we remember the sacrifice given by Jesus out of love for us, we remember to connect with his suffering through our present pains to connect with Him again; and may we feel the strength from knowing that others within their own homes receive the elements. May we feel a sense of unitedness again and a renewed hope knowing we are stronger together in Him and each other! Amen.

Prayers of the people

O God, in Christ You are reconciling the world to Yourself: may the Spirit of Truth speak to our hearts, and remind us of our great hope. We confess the doubts and fears we have…  The words we spoke or typed that hurt others…  The lazy prayers we gave…

Renew me; renew us; renew Your world, we pray. 

This day we pray for people who are facing hard times. Those suffering from illness or injury…

Those who do not have enough to live on…

Those who face depression, or anxiety, or dementia, or addiction, or other such health issues…

Those who need some spiritual hope or even a breakthrough in their lives…

Those who mourn a loss, especially those who mourn untimely deaths in these days, including the losses in our Nova Scotia communities and our military… 

Our prayers are also for us, Your Church, because we still need to deepen our habits of prayer and study. May we find this an opportune time to develop our life of prayer and scripture, meditation, fasting, silence, and even worship.

And now, we each worship to share a holy communion, a fellowship that reaches across the globe, remembering and honouring the body and blood of Christ. In His name we pray. AMEN.

Hymn 708 Blest Be the Tie

Home Communion We who truly and earnestly repent of your sins, who have love and concern for our neighbours, who intend to lead a new life, following the commandment of God by walking in holy ways: we draw near with reverence, faith and thanksgiving and take the Supper of the Lord to our comfort.

We are come together today, in obedience of Jesus’ command, to partake of the Lord’s supper. To its blessing and fellowship, all disciples of the Lord Jesus, who have confessed him before others and desire to serve him, may come. This is not our/my table, but the Table of our Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

Prayer of thanks for the Bread (from The Didache, 1^st Cent AD)

We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou hast made known to us through Jesus, Thy Servant : to Thee be the glory for ever and ever. As this bread was scattered over the hills and having been gathered together became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together out of every nation, and every country, and every city and village, and house, and make one living catholic Church. To the praise and glory of Thy holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Eat of this Bread in remembrance of Christ’s body, broken for you. (Eat the bread.)

1 Corinthians 11:25-26 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Prayer of thanks for the Cup: Spirit of life, in the name of Jesus we share the fruit of the vine, remembering His sacrifice at Calvary. We bow to worship the Saviour who died. O help us remember. Though we are separated today, in You may be know we are One in Christ. AMEN.

Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s blood was shed for you, and be thankful. (Drink the juice.)

The Lord’s Prayer 632 Our Father… AMEN.

Benediction Jude 24&25 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.