BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH
8TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
SUMMER WORSHIP SERVICE
July 26, 2020
The video of this service can be found here
You can also dial in by phone to listen to the audio recording at 613-820-8104
Gathering: Agnus Dei M.W. Smith Soloist-Angela Starchuk
Welcome & Announcements
Good day everyone! The psalmist declares: “Let everything that breathes praise God!”
On behalf of Bells Corners United Church, I welcome and greet you wherever you are on this fifth and final Sunday in our Psalms sermon series as we reflect on the timeless words of Psalm 150, which is a psalm of praise.
During this time when we are not able to worship in the church sanctuary, please know that BCUC offers worship service in a number of ways. Check our website at bcuc.org, for our worship service in audio, video and text formats along with the weekly announcements, online meetings, events and other updates. You can also listen to the service via telephone by dialing 613-820-8104. I also encourage you to show that you care by connecting with each other through emails, phone calls and prayers.
Here are some announcements:
The Book of Memories Volume 2 is completed and copies are now available for purchase. You can order a print copy with a suggested minimum donation of $30 or a Digital copy with a suggested minimum donation of $15. Please contact the office to place an order.
A Summer Trivia via Zoom will be held on Thursday, July 30 at 6:30 pm. Check the announcements for the link to register or call the office for more information. Join in the fun!
David’s Flowers are back drive-through style and they are available every Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 am. The flowers will be displayed on tables outside the main entrance, and everyone is asked to remain in their car, bring exact change or prepared cheque for donations, and follow instructions of volunteers. Thank you for your support!
Grocery cards are now available for purchase. Please call the office to place your order.
And for those of you who are able to join us via Zoom, there will be zoom fellowship every Sunday at 11 am. Link will be emailed to you or call the office for more information.
Friends, I now invite you to offer your praise to God in awe and in reverence, as we gather in worship.
Lighting of the Christ Candle Acolyte: Angela Starchuk
May the light of Christ remind us to praise God. Remember these words of the psalmist: “My mouth will speak in praise of God. Let every creature praise God’s holy name for ever and ever.” (Psalm 145:21)
Call to Gather: (inspired by Jim Mckean, Gathering 2016) Lorrie Lowes, DM
Summer is a time for wonder.
It is also a time to renew, restore
and rebuild with joy and love.
Today, God the Composer, has called us
to be renewed, restored and rebuilt.
We rejoice as God’s people,
thankful for opportunities to serve and care.
Now in the faith of healing and growth,
let us worship God who will not keep us
from praising and from singing!
Prayer of Praise: (by Elaine Bidgood Sveet, Gathering 2016)
O God, gather us in this time of worship.
Gather us in your strong presence.
Gather us with song and scripture.
Gather us young and old.
As your church family,
we gather with thankfulness, eager to be renewed,
Here in this time and in this place,
our worship will rise. Amen.
Hymn: Make A Joyful Noise Voices United #820
Refrain:
Make a joyful noise all the earth!
Worship your God with gladness.
Make a joyful noise all the earth.
Come to this place with a song!
1. Know that your God has made you.
Know it’s to God we belong.
And come to this place with joyfulness and praise.
Worship your God with a song! R
2.Enter these gates thanks giving.
Enter these courts with praise.
Sing thanks to your God and bless the holy name.
Worship your God with a song! R
3.Ages through endless ages,
Seasons of endless years,
The love of our Maker ever shall endure.
Worship your God with a song! R
Words & Music © 1991 Linnea Good Borrealis Music Arrangement © 1994 David Kai
Song # 117712 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
Storytime for the Young at Heart Lorrie Lowes DM
Good Morning!
Today we’re finishing up our study of the book of Psalms for this summer and we’re doing it with Psalm 150, the last Psalm in the book. 150! Imagine that – there are 150 different Psalms in this book of the Bible. This one is a great one for us to end on because it’s a praise psalm and I think people like praise psalms better than the ones that lament or worry about things that are going on in the world. They are important too but a praise psalm is a great way to start the day.
In this one the psalmist talks about praising in ways that we are familiar with praising God with trumpets and instruments that make a big, loud, happy noise. That’s the kind of praise that we’re used to and the kind of way we praise in church every Sunday. We praise God by singing and by playing instruments like the piano and the organ and all of the other wonderful instruments that people in or congregation share with us. The band plays for us sometimes. And so, we praise God by singing and by praying and, sometimes at Bells Corners, we even praise God by dancing. If we were in the sanctuary this morning, I’m sure that Erin would have pulled out the box of rhythm instruments that she has tucked away in the music room and you would all have rhythm instruments and maybe be marching around the sanctuary as we sing.
That would be so much fun!
We seem to praise God more in church than anywhere else. I don’t think most of us praise God when we’re out in public or even at home with our families. I wonder about that a little bit… But the other thing was, that in this psalm, right towards the end, there is a beautiful line that says, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.” I love that! So, I was wondering, what was the psalmist thinking about – obviously not a church service… “everything that breathes”. So, I took a look outside and thought about being in my yard. The first thing I hear when I go out there is the birds singing, which is especially wonderful at this time of year. I think maybe that’s the way birds praise the Creator! I hear the buzzing of insects too and maybe that’s a way that insects praise God.
I think about nature in other places, like British Columbia, where we were fishing off the coast of Vancouver Island and there were whales breaching all around us. That just seems like such a fun and joyous thing to do. So, I think maybe jumping out of the water like that is a way that whales praise God for their wonderful life. There are quiet things that breathe in nature that praise God too, like flowers. The flowers in my garden are just going crazy right now and the colours are beautiful. Maybe that’s a way that flowers praise God, by putting forth those beautiful blooms. I think about trees that seem to reach right up into the sky. They seem to be praising God as well when they lift up their branches like that. Sometimes I look at a tree that is growing on a really rocky place and I wonder how it finds enough soil to put down its roots and stay there through storms and everything else. It’s like it insists on staying there and praising God by reaching up to the heavens. So, there are silent ways that nature praises God.
Then I got thinking that, you know there are other things that give me that same feeling of awe and wonder that aren’t breathing. I think about being out west again in BC and Alberta where the mountains are just majestic and they seem to reach right up into the heavens. Maybe that is the earth praising God. I think about waves crashing on the big granite cliffs out where we were fishing. So beautiful! And sometimes even beautiful buildings like a cathedral or a lovely arts place can make us feel that way as well. Maybe that’s another way that people praise God, by building beautiful things. So many different ways to praise God!
It doesn’t have to be noisy, does it? Think about things that are breathing but have quiet ways of praising God. Think about a kitten purring when it’s very happy and content. It’s not a very loud noise, but I think that might be a kitten’s way of praising God, or a bumblebee just lazing along on a hot summer day looking for flowers to collect nectar. Praising God doesn’t have to be loud and flashy, does it?
In the hymn that we sang last week, “Pass It On”, the last verse says, “I’ll shout it from the mountaintop!” Sometimes do you feel like that? You just want to shout out to the world, “Praise God!” You want to praise life, praise it all, and you get that feeling that just wells up inside you. Well, we might do that on a mountaintop but we wouldn’t very likely do that in our living room, on the street, or in our classroom, would we? But I think that in many quiet ways, we all praise God as well.
So I wonder… How do you praise God?
Hymn: Bless the Lord, O My Soul – More Voices #46
Refrain:
Bless the Lord, O my soul
bless God’s holy name. (2x)
1 Remember the kindness of our God,
who showers us with blessing all our days.R
2 Remember the justice of our God,
who stands with those forgotten and confused. R
3 Remember the healing love of God
who calls us to be whole and to be free.R
Words & Music © 1995 Dan Brennan, Marc Cavallero, Kevin Roth, Ken Canedo
Song # 85903 Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
Prayer for Illumination Reader: Jordan Berard
Your Word, O God, sheds light to our spirit and brings healing to our hearts. Open our hearts and minds in contemplation, in praise, in wonder, and in reflection. Amen.
Psalm Reading: Psalm 150 (Inclusive Liturgical Psalter)
Praise for God’s Excellent Greatness
1 Hallelujah! Praise the Lord in the holy temple;
praise God in the firmament of divine power.
2 Praise the Lord for mighty acts;
praise God for excellent greatness.
3 Praise the Lord with the trumpet sound;
praise God with lyre and harp.
4 Praise the Lord with tambourine and dance;
praise God with strings and pipe.
5 Praise the Lord with resounding cymbals;
praise God with loud-clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah!
Hear what the Spirit is saying to all of us! Thanks be to God!
Sermon: “How Can We Keep from Praising?” Rev. Kim Vidal
Hallelujah! We have come to the final Sunday of our summer sermon series in the book of Psalms. We started with Psalm 1 as an introduction to the psalter and what a wonderful way of closing the series with Psalm 150, which is called by many as the Grand Finale! This is a “praise” psalm that we love to recite and sing, even though sometimes the word “praise” no longer makes sense for some people. Walter Brueggemann calls this psalm a good match for Psalm 1 since, “the expectation of the Old Testatment is not finally obedience but adoration or praise.” Other scholars call Psalm 150 the “Easter alleluia turned into an entire psalm.” What does the word “praise” say about who we are as people of faith?
Imagine coming to a worship service to find the sanctuary filled with people singing and praising God? Trumpets blaring, cymbals clashing, choir singing, children dancing and every member exalting “praise God!” Psalm 150 realizes this imagination. But do we really want a service filled with these cacophonies of sounds and movements? Let’s be honest here, sometimes we’d rather have a very solemn, quiet, very orderly service. Some of us long to worship in a quiet space not a sanctuary of loud music and dancing. But we also need to realize that a worship service does not only cater to those who want solitude. Sometimes, we also have those, particularly the youth and children, who long to experience a happy-clappy, cheery worship. And we certainly can have both! At BCUC, we do our traditional worship service in a rather structured, more solemn way but we have a place for singing and playing musical instruments like the piano, organ and sometimes the flute and the violin. Thanks to Abe and the many folks who share their gifts of music. We also have intergenerational worship service which is more contemporary and upbeat. In this particular service, we have a band that plays and sings bubbly and praise music accompanied by guitars, drums, keyboard and other percussion instruments. Praising God is present every time we gather whether it’s a quiet worship or an upbeat one.
The word praise has two meanings. The first one pertains to a secular culture where people offers personal praises to express appreciation or gratification on something tangible – be it wealth, happiness, success, beauty or fame. Giving and receiving praise is inherent in each one of us. The roar of the crowd when their hockey team shoots a goal. The cheers of a family when a child receive an award. The loud applause as the singer performs an encore. We love to hear people praise us – to hear those words of appreciation and plausible comments that make us feel good. Congratulations on a job well done! Wow- did you colour your hair? you look terrific! Is that a new car you are driving? You sing so well! Praise is something we all desire. In Reflections of the Psalms, C.S. Lewis said: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed…”
However, in the context of the Psalmist, if we understand praise as our ultimate expression of worshipping and loving God, then praise as expressed in Psalm 150 becomes more meaningful and relevant. This is the second meaning of praise. Praise in the psalmist’s imagination is not primarily about us – not our achievements, not our beauty, not our fame, not our wealth; but it is about God and what God stands for: be it justice, love, peace, healing, reconciliation – all those values that are life-giving – those that enhance relationships in all forms. Craig Satterlee’s comments make sense. He said: “When praise is grounded in God, rather than in our feelings and human circumstances, praise is participation in God’s mighty deeds…While our praise starts in worship, it continues as God’s people go forth into the world. Our praise extends from our worship to every aspect and arena of life.”
What is this practice of praising God? We praise God in order to offer reverence. Philosopher Paul Woodruff says that “Reverence is the virtue that keeps people from trying to act like gods. Reverence is the recognition of something greater than the self- something that is beyond human creation or control, that transcends full human understanding.” God fits that bill for sure… Reverence stands in awe of something – something that dwarfs the self, that allows us -human beings to sense the full extent of our limits – so that we can begin to see one another more reverently as well.
Psalm 150 begins and ends with “hallelujah”, a word that means more than simply "praise God". The word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God. We praise God through joyous songs and through musical instruments. No wonder Psalm 150 mentions a variety of musical instruments – lutes, harps, strings, cymbals – all these to aid in praising and boasting in God.
The Protestant Reformer, Martin Luther, wrote: “Next to theology I give to music the highest place and honour. Music is the art of the prophets, the only art that can calm the agitations of the soul; it is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.” Whether it's a praise chorus or cantata; a hymn, an anthem or a doxology, whenever people gather together to worship God, you'll find them singing and making music together.
Most of you know that I have a great love for singing and playing the guitar. I love how the notes and chords sound together and how the rhythm that each song or each sound creates. I love how the lyrics and the melody mysteriously combined to express something deep in my heart and soul. Just like what the hymn, His Eye is On the Sparrow declares, “I sing because I’m happy. I sing because I’m free!” Singing for me certainly is a wonderful way of praising God. A song bubbles out when I’m in a wonderful mood. A song fills my heart when I see the beauty of God’s creation. And maybe what has been the most important for me is that when I feel as though life has been challenging and depressing, when I’m afraid, or worried, or grieving; a song comes from deep in my soul to assure me that I’m held in God’s heart. I’ve come to believe that a song is a deep expression of faith. A song can be a reminder to my heart and soul to keep believing, to keep praising, to keep holding on – a kind of promise that, if I just keep on singing, with God’s help, I will make it through.
Psalm 150 talks about God’s acts of power and excellent greatness. I think these are sufficient reasons why the psalmist reminds us to praise God. Lorrie mentioned in her story time how everything that have breath praise God. The birds, the trees, the flowers, the insects, even the oceans and the rivers - all have a way of acknowledging and praising the God of creation. Apart from singing and music, we praise God through our prayers – both spoken and unspoken. And if life is a prayer, we make sure that we live our lives worthy of praising God. Eugene Peterson, author of The Message summarizes it well: “All [true] prayer, pursued far enough, becomes praise. Any prayer, no matter how desperate its origin, no matter how angry and fearful the experiences it traverses, ends up in praise. It does not always get there quickly or easily — the trip can take a lifetime — but the end is always praise...”
Some of us have moments when we feel discouraged by life’s circumstances. When we experience low points in life – illness, death, stress, financial difficulties , social isolation or personal problems- it is hard to offer praise. There are times when praising God may seem too difficult, but take heart - keep on hoping anyway - whispering a prayer of praise can usher in a sense of comfort and peace. Praising God in the hard times doesn’t minimize or deny heaviness of heart, but it does open us to new perspectives and nudges us act. When Jesus was at his lowest point in life, he cannot keep from praising God through his life story. He knows that it is through his loving heart and his radical life that connect him again and again with God, his rock and refuge. He cannot keep from praising God because it is his way of acting out his revolutionary faith.
What about yourself? How do you praise God?
Today as we listen, recite and reflect on Psalm 150, may God continue to put praise in each of our hearts: a song of wonder for all God has done; a prayer of joy for how much we are loved; a breath of hope and assurance to remind us that God is with us; a life of praise to express all that is in our heart. We cannot keep from praising! Hallelujah! Amen.
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer Rev. Kim Vidal
Let us join our hearts in prayer.
Here in this moment and place, O God of praise, we come to you. We are yours in the silence of our being. We are filled with new awareness of your great love and compassion. Gentle God, we greet you with deep gratitude for this time together, this community of faith, and this place where we live. We feel the warmth of summer surrounding us, as the sun touches our skin... as it sparkles on water...as it enlivens the rich colours around us... As the gifts of summer nourishes the earth, so we look to your love to nourish us – to help us gain strength to face challenges, to find joy even in times of struggle, and to stretch and grow in your love. May your love blossom forth into our hearts so we can lovingly and faithfully serve others and the world.
God of tender care, we pray with those who are praying. We join the spoken and silent prayers that come to you from the communities where we live; from sanctuaries and street corners; from happy parks and prison cells, from hospital rooms and festive tables, from voices throughout the world. With bowed heads or heads held high, standing boldly, sitting or kneeling quietly, we pray to you in earnest gratitude. We ask for your guidance and rest in your comfort. Hear this our common prayer and those of our hearts which we offer.
God of compassion and healing mercies, we pray for those who are crying for help; for those of us whose bodies and spirits need healing. We pray for women and men who seek love and support from others; for children who sleep in hunger; for all who are imprisoned by walls or worries, for all those who are hopeless because they feel rejected; for those who are grieving – for the Stinson Family in the passing of our beloved Reta. Bless us with courage that we may help lessen or eradicate the suffering of the world.
God of overflowing joy, we pray with those who are singing praise! We rejoice with sunset watchers, beach walkers, travelers, campers and cottagers, music lovers, children playing, new and expecting parents, old friends and family members, all in whom your life-giving Spirit wells up and overflows. For your steadfast love and continual goodness to us, we give you thanks O God. Hear this our prayer and those of our hearts which we offer. These we pray in the name of Jesus Christ who taught his friends and followers this prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kin-dom come, thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kin-dom, the power and the glory,
Forever and ever,
Amen.
Invitation to Offer: Lorrie Lowes, DM
I now invite you to offer your gifts of time, talents and resources as expressions of your gratitude to God’s blessings. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the slot by the kitchen door of the church or mail them to BCUC. You can also send in your support through e-transfer. Thank you for your continued love and support to BCUC.
Offertory Hymn: Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow Voices United #541
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
praise God, all creatures high and low;
give thanks to God in love made known:
Creator, Word and Spirit One.
Words 1674 Thomas Ken, Music 1551 Genevan Psalter
Offertory Prayer:
God of grace, it is our delight and our devotion to offer these gifts to you.
Accept this joyful offering as a token of our abiding love.
May we use it to bring peace, justice and healing to all the world, Amen.
Sending Forth: Rev. Kim Vidal
With the blessing of God: Creator, Christ and Companion,
Sing and go into the world and share God’s love
with friend, neighbour and stranger.
Let our praises in words, in songs and in actions
witness to the Sacred in all walks of life,
knowing that Christ walks with us. Amen.
Hymn: Sleepers, Wake (verse 3 only) VU 711 (Wachet Auf)
Let all creatures sound thy praises,
now earth its voice with heaven raises,
with harps’ and cymbals’ joyful tone.
Gates of pearl swing wide before us,
thy guests who join that blessed chorus
of angels that surround thy throne.
No eye hath seen, nor ear
was yet so blest to hear such rejoicing!
Henceforth may we eternally
sing hallelujahs unto thee.
Words 1598 Philip Nicolai translation © 1970 Jay Macpherson
Music 1513 Hans Sachs adapt. 1599 Philip Nicolai, harmonization 1731 J.S.Bach
Departing Music: Praise the Mother, Praise the Father Too
Praise the Mother
Praise the Father too
Praise the Lord of all
And the source of you
Praise the River
Ever flowing through
To the ocean of who we are.
repeat
Hey ma-ma hey-ya,
um-bay, um-bay (4X)
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-733214. All rights reserved
Zoom Fellowship hosted by Lorrie at 11 am. Link has been emailed. See you there!