Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 8

Witness through Hospitality
"Have you anything here to eat?" (Luke 24:41)

Today, electronic communication has made us neighbours in one small and overloaded planet. As in the time of Luke, many peoples and communities have had to leave their homes, wandering and journeying to strange lands. People of the world’s great faiths have arrived bringing new beliefs and cultures to our communities.

In the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we recognise in our shared journey towards unity the hospitality and companionship of Christians of all churches. Christ also calls us to both offer and to receive the hospitality of the stranger who has become our neighbour. Surely, if we cannot see Christ in the other, then we cannot see Christ at all.
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The resurrected Christ brings his disciples together, eats with them and they recognise him again. He reminds them of what the scriptures said about him and explains what they did not understand before. Thus, he frees them from their doubts and fears and sends them out to become witnesses of these things. In creating this space for encounter with him he enables them to receive his peace, that implies justice for the oppressed, care for the hungry and the mutual up- building as the gifts of the new world of the resurrection. Christians throughout history have found the risen Lord as they have served others and been served by others in faith, so we too can encounter Christ when we share our lives and our gifts.

Prayer:
God of love, You have shown us your hospitality in Christ. We acknowledge that through sharing our gifts with all we meet you. Give us the grace that we may become one on our journey together and recognise you in one another. In welcoming the stranger in your name may we become witnesses to your hospitality and your justice.

Reflection questions
1. To what extent is the country in which you live hospitable to the stranger?
2. How in your own neighbourhood can the stranger find hospitality and a space to live?
3. How might you show gratitude for those who have shown you hospitality by being available?
4. How does the cross show us that God’s hospitality is a hospitality lived out in total self-giving?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 7

Witness through Hope and Trust
"Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?" (Luke 24:38)

During their journey in life and faith, all Christians experience moments of doubt. When Christians cannot recognise the presence of the risen Christ, being together sometimes makes their doubts even heavier, rather than lighter.

The challenge faced by Christians is to continue to believe that even when they do not see or feel God, God remains with them. The virtues of faith, hope and trust allow them to give witness that their faith goes beyond their own possibilities.
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Our meeting during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity allows our communities to grow in shared faith, hope and love. We bear witness to God’s steadfast love to all people, and God’s faithfulness to the one church we are called to be. The more we witness together, the stronger our message will be.

Prayer
God of hope, share Your vision of the one church with us, and overcome our doubts. Increase our faith in your presence, that all who profess belief in you may worship together in spirit and in truth. We especially pray for all who are in doubt right now, or whose lives are spent in the shadow of danger and fear. Be with them and give them your consoling presence.

Reflection questions
1. How do you deal with your own fears and doubts?
2. How might you be a cause of fear and anxiety for others by your behaviour?
3. When have you faced up to your own fears and doubts and so given witness to your faith in Christ by overcoming these difficulties?
4. How may Christian communities encourage one another in faith and hope?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 6

Witness through Hope and Trust
"Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?" (Luke 24:38)

During their journey in life and faith, all Christians experience moments of doubt. When Christians cannot recognise the presence of the risen Christ, being together sometimes makes their doubts even heavier, rather than lighter.

The challenge faced by Christians is to continue to believe that even when they do not see or feel God, God remains with them. The virtues of faith, hope and trust allow them to give witness that their faith goes beyond their own possibilities.
...
Our meeting during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity allows our communities to grow in shared faith, hope and love. We bear witness to God’s steadfast love to all people, and God’s faithfulness to the one church we are called to be. The more we witness together, the stronger our message will be.

Prayer
God of hope, share Your vision of the one church with us, and overcome our doubts. Increase our faith in your presence, that all who profess belief in you may worship together in spirit and in truth. We especially pray for all who are in doubt right now, or whose lives are spent in the shadow of danger and fear. Be with them and give them your consoling presence.

Reflection questions
1. How do you deal with your own fears and doubts?
2. How might you be a cause of fear and anxiety for others by your behaviour?
3. When have you faced up to your own fears and doubts and so given witness to your faith in Christ by overcoming these difficulties?
4. How may Christian communities encourage one another in faith and hope?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 5

Witness through suffering
Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26)

In recent years two events which took place in Scotland led to this small country suddenly becoming the centre of attention of the world’s media. The bomb attack on the plane above Lockerbie and the massacre of children in Dunblane school brought attention to the nation which will always remember these terrible losses of human life. The two events caused suffering and unimaginable anguish to a large number of people and the consequences were felt well beyond the physical borders of the two places. Innocent people met their death in horrifying circumstances.
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In the Lord’s footsteps, Christians who seek full unity show their solidarity to those amongst them who are confronted in their lives with tragic situations of suffering, by confessing that love is stronger than death. And that it was from the extreme humiliation of the tomb that resurrection came like a new sun for humanity; a clamouring annunciation of life, forgiveness and immortality.

Prayer
God our Father, look with compassion on our situations of poverty, suffering, sin and death, we ask you for forgiveness, healing, comfort and support in our ordeals. We give you thanks for all who manage to see light in their affliction. May your divine Spirit teach us the greatness of your compassion and help us stand alongside our sisters and brothers in difficulty. Filled with its blessings, may we in unity proclaim and share with the world the victory of your Son who lives for ever.

Reflection questions
1. How can you show empathy to those who suffer and are in difficulties?
2. What wisdom and deeper understanding have you gained through suffering you have known in your own life?
3. How do you live out solidarity with the suffering and oppression that so many people living in poverty in our world experience, and what is your own experience of it?
4. How would you bear witness to the mercy of God and to the hope you find in the light of the cross of Christ?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 4

Bearing witness through celebrating the faith we have received
"What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth.” (Luke 24:19)

Commentary
We have an enormous debt of gratitude to those whose faith has provided the foundation for our Christian lives today. Numerous men and women through their prayer, witness and worship have ensured that the faith is handed down to the next generations. In Scotland we have an impressive Christian history. Saint Ninian in the 4th century, Saint Columbus in the 6th century and the many Celtic saints whose faith was rooted in the love of God and wonder at his creation. The faith of Scottish people can also be seen in the very important role played in the diffusion of the Reformation of the 16th century and the way in which this spirit has been firmly maintained since then.
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As we unite with our Christian brothers and sisters in praying for unity during this week, we welcome the rich variety of our Christian heritage. We pray that awareness of our common heritage may unite us more closely as we progress in faith.

Prayer
Lord God, we give you thanks for all the people and communities who have communicated the message of the Good News to us, and thus given us a solid foundation for our faith today. We pray that we too may together bear witness to our faith, so that others may know you and place their trust in the truth of salvation offered in Jesus Christ for the life of the world.

Reflection questions
1. Who inspired you in your faith ?
2. What are the aspects of faith which inspire you in your everyday life ?
3. What do you feel were the most important teachings which were passed on to you ?
4. How can you recognize God at work with you in the transmission of faith the future generations ?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 3

Witness through Awareness
"Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" (Luke 24:18)

Growing in faith is a complex journey. Many people in our world today lead busy lives and have lots of pressures and responsibilities. It is easy to miss God’s revealing love to us in our everyday life and experiences. The more pressure and activity we surround ourselves with, then the greater the possibility of overlooking what is in fact before our very eyes. Like the two disciples in the gospel, we sometimes think we know what is real, and try to explain our view to others, yet we are not aware of the full truth. In our world today we are invited to be aware of God in the surprising and unlikely events of life.
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During this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we seek to be aware of God in our everyday events and experiences. We meet people who are familiar and others who are strangers. In these encounters we learn from each other’s spiritual experiences and so get a new view of God’s reality. This awareness of God’s presence challenges us to work for Christian unity.

Prayer
Lord Jesus, Good Shepherd, You encounter us and remain with us in everyday life. We pray for the grace to be aware of all you do for us. We ask that you prepare us to be open to all you offer us and bring us together in one flock.

Reflection questions

1. When have you been aware of God’s presence in your life?
2. Are you aware of global celebrations and tragedies, and how might our churches together respond to these?
3. Is being aware enough, or is there something more that you might do in order to give witness to your faith?
4. How do you make yourself aware of God when the reality of God’s presence does not correspond to your expectations?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 2

Witness through Sharing Stories
"What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" (Luke 24:17)

Sharing our stories is a powerful way in which we give witness to our faith in God. Listening to one another with respect and consideration allows us to encounter God in the very person with whom we are sharing.
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Today’s gospel passage presents a Jesus who enlightens our blindness and dispels our disillusionment. He helps us to understand our stories within the one unfolding plan of God.

During this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we listen to the faith stories of other Christians in order to encounter God in the variety of ways God’s very self is revealed to us. We are aware also that we can share with others through the virtual reality of technology. Modern means of communication can help us share more widely, and so create a community that is broader and more extensive than the purely physical.

In listening with attentiveness we grow in faith and love. In spite of the diversity of our personal and collective witness, we find ourselves intertwined in the one story of God’s love for us revealed in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
God of history, we thank you for all who have shared their story of faith with us and so have given witness to your presence in their lives. We praise you for the variety of our stories both as individuals and churches. In these stories we see the unfolding of the one story of Jesus Christ.
We pray for the courage and the conviction to share our faith with those with whom we come into contact, and so allow the message of your Word to spread to all.

Reflection Questions
1. Are you “gossiping the Gospel” or just gossiping?
2. How open are you or your church to be drawn into the stories of others?
3. How open are you to share with others your stories of faith, and so give witness to God’s presence in your personal experiences of life and of death?
4. Are you aware of the enormous potential for good that modern means of communication
offer the Church today?

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - Day 1

Witness through Celebrating Life
"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5)

Our journey of Christian unity is firmly rooted in our common belief that in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,- we celebrate not only the life God has given us but the offer of new life through Jesus’ conquering death once and for all. As we meet together during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we witness to our shared faith by our concern for the life of all. Life is God’s gift to us, and the more we support and celebrate life, the more we give witness to the one whose generous love brought us to life initially.
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Our gospel passage challenges us to look for new life in the face of a culture of death that our world frequently presents to us. It encourages us to trust in Jesus’ power, and so to experience life and healing.

Today, we thank God for all that shows God’s love for us: for all of creation; for brothers and sisters in all parts of the world; for communion in love, for forgiveness and healing and for life eternal.

Prayer
God our creator, we praise you for all who give witness to their faith by their words and actions. In living life to the full we encounter your loving presence in the many experiences you offer us. May our common witness of celebrating life unite us in blessing you, the author of all life.

Reflection questions
1. To what extent do your own witness and the witness of your church celebrate life?
2. Will others know from your witness that Christ has been raised from the dead?
3. What do you see as the areas of growth in your life?
4. Are there things of the past that the churches cling to which ought to be laid to rest because of a new ecumenical consciousness?

Aid for Haiti

The United Church of Canada, through its networks and alliances, has given aid money to Haiti. There is an Emergency Response Fund that you can give directly to, or through our local congregations.

If you designate your church offering as "Haiti Appeal", our respective treasurers will forward all such monies to the national office and onto the places they need to go. Such givers will still receive charitable donation receipts but these amounts will not count towards our Mission & Service Fund obligations.

I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy

As if things weren't tough enough already in Haiti, the news of the earthquake is distressing and disturbing. The scale and scope of the disaster is beyond comprehension; numbers like 3 million people affected, thousands dead, are too big to fathom.

Maybe it's embarrassing to say, but the news that really affected me was the news of a mother run over by a car and killed while crossing the street with her 12-week old in a stroller. While I don't intend to dismiss the crisis in Haiti, this story hit closer to home for me.

It's almost like we have to quantify our grief; I can feel the anguish and loss for a single family but I have to numb myself to the overwhelming devastation of thousands.

Or is my compassion is limited by my imagination? I can relate to a traffic accident or tragedies for newborns, a city destroyed by an earthquake feels more like an element of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Regardless, the news today puts the "tribulations" of my life into perspective. As for now, I'm left facing a world filled with suffering and sorrow, with prayers in my heart, and thanksgiving for life.

for Jan. 17 - 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture?
What about hymn suggestions or ideas for Children's Time? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.

sermon excerpts: "Life from Above" - Luke 3: 15-17, 20-22; Isaiah 43: 1-7

... “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” - a simple sentence that offers so much hope in the world. God speaks announcing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah that people were waiting for. And then the words of praise, “with you I am well pleased”. Jesus was valued simply for being himself, not by what he did or said or planned to do.

Same for each of us. This grace is freely given, we don’t have to earn it or deserve it or measure up to some mark of righteousness; by being, just being, we please God.

In Isaiah, we hear to what extent God’s care and love for us go. We are worth any ransom, the treasures and nations on earth would be offered up for us if it would set us free, if it would bring us all together in unity and peace. The community is created by people gathering in faith, recognizing our commonness with one another, our need for God and the assurance that God’s love is there for us. That we have value simply by being and that earning this approval is not necessary.

We take the Spirit for granted, forgetting that it is a gift. We forget we are treasured and beloved. Instead, so much of society is seeking approval from others, their peers or their competitors, judging worthiness by clothing, income or physical appearance. And so our world has become diluted, distracted and destructive; too often the news headlines have us fearful: murders, abuctions, bombings, child abuse, natural disasters and desperate people in desperate situations.

... and so we tend to look to others to do things for us. Like the people looking to John to be the Messiah, like those of us who complain about people in positions of leadership, we might lose sight of the fact that we also have power and opportunity to make a difference that affects the lives of others. Maybe in small ways, but it is part of our call.

Remember that it was during Jesus’ prayer after his baptism that the heavens opened, the spirit soared and the voice spoke. Because what matters most in our life of faith happens after baptism. What do we do with this great gift of acceptance, care and love? We are welcomed in to a family of faith, but it is also a directive to a call to live life with integrity, honesty, love, courage and compassion.

Interior Decoration

For the winter months, Trinity United will worship in the downstairs of the church to cut down on heating costs, but also to foster a sense of togetherness in a new situation. I may not be a professionally trained interior decorator, but I do appreciate the sense of space and atmosphere for worship services. To that end, part of our office hours were spent bringing components of the sanctuary into a functional, and hopefully versatile, downstairs worship experience.

Posted above are some of the results. Until we emerge from our winter hibernation, we'll make the best of what we have in faith and interior (intelligent?) design.

for Jan. 10/10 - Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

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What feelings, questions, thoughts and prompts to personal action arise from this scripture?
What about hymn suggestions or ideas for Children's Time? Share them as Comments below or in an email, and help shape Sunday's worship service.

Back to it - A New Year Awaits

As the church season of Epiphany draws closer, our focus turns to the revelations, the "aha!s", of who this Jesus of Nazareth was. To find an ordinary man in the midst of ordinary life who would be the Messiah, the anointed one, the saviour of God's people.

Our calendars have turned over to 2010 and we foresee many personal and congregational revelations await. The times are serious, yes, for our churches financially-speaking but not gravely desperate yet. In this fresh time of resolutions and intentions, let us not allow our financial health affect our spiritual health. Can we keep connected in faith, seeking to reach out and serve others for causes of justice and collaboration?

Might we define ourselves by who we are and what we do rather than what we have and what we own (or owe)? Easier said than done, but aren't all resolutions worth keeping like that?