BELLS CORNERS UNITED CHURCH

12th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

August 15, 2021

Worship Leader: Rev. Lorrie Lowes
Music: Abe TeGrotenhuis
Sermon Theme: A New Way

The video recording 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 Music: Boree in Bflat - R. Jones Grade5 piano: Noah Berard

Welcome & Centering for Worship

Good morning! On behalf of BCUC, I welcome you to our worship service in the name of Jesus, our guide and companion, on this 12th Sunday after Pentecost. I’m so glad that you have joined us for worship!

As we continue to be under pandemic restrictions, please be reminded that the work of the church carries on. Take time to keep in touch with each other through prayers, phone calls, emails or Zoom. As well, don’t forget to check the many announcements on our website at bcuc.org to keep you informed and give you opportunities to respond.

Our sanctuary has re-opened for in-person worship service on Sunday at 10 am with a maximum number of 50 people. If you wish to attend the service and feel safe and comfortable doing so, we will be happy to see you! For the safety of all attendees, the usual health protocols will continue to be in place including masking, social distancing, hand sanitizing and staying home if you feel unwell. Take note too that our worship service will still be offered via YouTube, by email, and by telephone.

Friends, whether you are joining us in the sanctuary on Sunday morning or connecting through the wonders of technology at a different time or place, together, we are the church, united in faith. Let us join our hearts as we centre ourselves for worship.

Lighting of the Christ Candle Acolytes: James and Liam Eaton

When we gather for worship, together or apart, we come longing for connection – connection with each other, connection with the teachings of our faith, connection with our Creator, Spirit, and Guide. We light this candle to remind us all that, when we gather for worship, together or apart, that holy presence is among us.

Call to Gather & Opening Prayer

Jesus became the talk of the town and was highly criticized when he ate with those considered unclean and unacceptable.

The apostle Paul was challenged and criticized when he visited those considered unclean and unacceptable.

Acceptance, generosity, healing, forgiveness:
these are words that defined what Jesus was all about.

Acceptance, generosity, healing, forgiveness:
the early church shaped their life together around those spiritual practices as well.

Acceptance, generosity, healing, forgiveness:
may these words define our life together as a congregation and the way that each of us lives and works in this world. Come, let us worship God, who strengthens these gifts within us![1]

Let us pray:
Creating, Loving God, In Christ, you show us a way to heal and to shape a new day, and you entrust us with the gifts of faith: forgiveness, compassion, trust, and love. In the changing seasons, in the changing world, your love is constant. May our witness and prayer sustain and support goodness, justice, and peace in our worship and our work, enough for this day and for all the generations who follow us. Amen.[2]

Hymn: Come Touch Our Hearts - More Voices #12 (verses 1-4) BCUC choir

1.       Come touch our hearts that we may know compassion,
          from failing embers build a blazing fire;
          love strong enough to overturn injustice,
          to seek a world more gracious, come touch and bless our hearts.

2.       Come touch our souls that we may know and love you,
          your quiet presence all our fears dispel;
          create a space for spirit to grow in us,
          let life and beauty fill us, come touch and bless our souls.

3.       Come touch our minds and teach us how to reason,
          set free our thoughts to wonder and to dream;
          help us to open doors of understanding,
          to welcome truth and wisdom, come touch and bless our minds.

4.       Come touch us in the moments we are fragile,
          and in our weakness your great strength reveal;
          that we may rise to follow and to serve,
          steady now our nerve, come touch and bless our wills.

5.       Come touch us now, this people who are gathered,
          To break the bread and share the cup of peace;
          That we may love you with our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, our all,
          Come touch us with your grace.

Storytime: Annabelle’s Second Chance - Karen Boivin

Annabelle was a curious and energetic lamb. She loved to run, jump and play in the meadow with the other lambs in the flock. And she especially liked to explore on her own and learn new things. She searched for flowers, rocks or birds she hadn’t seen before. Her parents encouraged her learning, but sometimes they got a bit frustrated with her. They’d say, “You focus so much on your adventures that you are not always paying close enough attention. You have to be careful. Remember the time you stuck your nose in the flower and got stung by a bee. Be careful!”

Sometimes Annabelle’s curiosity took her so far that she could no longer see the flock. Her parents would panic. The shepherd who looked after the flock would whistle and whistle to get her attention so she’d come trotting back. The other sheep were getting less and less patient with Annabelle’s wandering.

“Always make sure you can see the flock and the shepherd,” her parents would say. “It’s only polite to them both.”

One day Annabelle heard something that sounded kind of like a bee, but then she realized the humming was coming from the flapping wings of a tiny little bird. She had never seen anything like it before. Its little wings were a blur and its body shone with colours of neon blue and green. Annabelle was fascinated and she didn’t want to lose sight of it. She bounded through the meadow after the hummingbird, watching as it stopped briefly at various flowers to dip in its beak which was huge compared to the size of its body. And some of the flowers were amazing too; some like slippers in pinks and orange, others like big red trumpets. She had never seen anything like this before!

Wait…she had never seen anything like this before. Annabelle looked around her. Where was she? The sky was getting dark; not only because the day was ending but because thunderclouds were gathering; a storm was on the way. Annabelle knew the shepherd would be leading the flock back to the farm for safety. Where was the flock? She had no idea from which direction she had come. Thinking back and all the stops she made following the hummingbird she knew she had come a long way. Annabelle started to be afraid. “Maybe they will leave me here!” she thought, “In the dark, and the rain, amidst the wild animals that come out at night. Oh no!” She started to cry.

Meanwhile Annabelle’s parents were frantic. Where is she! They called “Baa, Baa!” but heard nothing back. The other sheep, however, were fed up with once more having to wait for Annabelle. “Baa Baa!” they said, “Why should we wait for her when she never seems to care that she bothers us with her wandering. Leave her there and that will teach her a lesson.”

The shepherd often talked to the sheep and he thought he understood them even though he couldn’t talk sheep and they couldn’t talk shepherd. He thought by the way they bleated that they were angry and afraid and wanted to get moving. Only Annabelle’s parents seemed concerned she was missing. “Now I know Annabelle has caused us some trouble in the past, but we can’t leave her out there,” he said. Then much to the sheep’s displeasure and anxiety, the Shepherd went off across the meadow searching back and forth for Annabelle. It was a long search and the wind was whipping up. The storm was coming!

Annabelle had wedged herself between some big boulders to try to keep safe but it made her even harder to see. Eventually she heard the shepherd’s whistle and she let out some desperate bleats as loud as she could. When he found her she was so relieved. But as they made their way back she had plenty of time to think about how mad she must have made the other sheep and how worried her parents must be. She was very sorry she hadn’t taken her parent’s advice and been more careful, and caring about the rest of her flock. What would happen when she got back to them?

She was met by some very angry looks from the other sheep; as was, she was surprised to find, the shepherd! Great, she had also made the flock angry at the shepherd for coming to find her? How would she ever live this down. Thankfully Annabelle’s parents looked more relieved than angry; maybe that would come later.

The shepherd said to the sheep, “Let us rejoice, that the one that was lost has now been found!” But the sheep didn’t look much like rejoicing; even her friends turned their back to her.

“Today,” said the shepherd, “I think Annabelle has grown up a lot and I am going to let her lead us out of the meadow.”

The shepherd indicated to Annabelle to go ahead down the path in the direction of the farm.

“I’m too little to do that,” thought Annabelle, but away she went. It took a lot of focus to keep going in the right direction, there were lots of interesting flowers and rocks along the way, but she knew she had a job to do. She kept looking back too to make sure that everyone was following. And she had to admit it was annoying when they had to stop because a little lamb had wandered off.

Eventually Annabelle led them all safely back to the farm…with a little help from the shepherd. She wasvery proud of herself. And having led them all successfully back, the other sheep didn’t seem angry at her anymore. Annabelle had learned so much that day.

Hymn: I Am Walking A Path of Peace - More Voices #221

I am walking a path of peace (3X)
Lead me on. Lead me on.

I am walking a path of love (3X)
Lead me on. Lead me on.

I am walking a path of hope (3X)
Lead me on. Lead me on.

I am walking in wisdom’s way (3X)
Lead me on. I am home.

Prayer for Illumination Reader: David Stafford

God of fresh starts and new beginnings, God of hope and promise, flesh and spirit entwined to become one with you through Jesus Christ: As heaven and earth connect, so too may we, through responding to your word.

Increase our depth of understanding as we receive the words of scripture this day. God of eternal life, teach us to keep on the path of righteous living, which so many have travelled before. Amen.[3]

Epistle Reading: Ephesians 4:24-5:2 (The Message)

24 And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

25 What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.

26-27 Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

28 Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.

29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

30 Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

31-32 Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.

5 1-2 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

May these words from long ago offer us wisdom and guidance for today.

Sermon: “A New Way”

As the summer sermon series on Lamentations has come to an end, I thought I would move to a New Testament reading for us to ponder this week. It is actually from the suggested lectionary for last Sunday, but it’s one I think will give us lots to think about. David read this excerpt from Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible – the one we most often use in this congregation - it is titled “Rules for the New Life”. In The Message – the modern paraphrase of the Bible that David read from today - the title is “The Old Way Has to Go”.

The Message is not always my favourite translation, but in this case I like the down-to-earth language. It makes the rules pretty clear.

And it is quite the list of rules, isn’t it! Most of them make sense at first glance: be truthful, don’t steal, don’t curse… These would all have been familiar to the people Paul was writing to. They are all in the ten commandments. They are the kind of guidelines that, if everyone actually followed them all the time, would make for a pretty peaceful and pleasant world. Paul goes beyond those rules though. He knows that there will inevitably be conflicts in our lives and then offers some guidelines for what to do when they crop up:

It’s ok to be angry, but don’t let your anger fuel revenge,
Don’t go to bed angry
Forgive each other quickly and thoroughly
Learn a life of love…
These are new.
These are Christ-centred.
Remember how Jesus commanded us to “Love your neighbour as yourself”… and even “Love your enemies”?

That “love your enemies” part has always been a difficult one to deal with. How can you possibly love someone who is an enemy? How can you love someone who has hurt you?

When I read this letter from Paul, I hear the basic foundations of Restorative Justice and Restorative Practice in real, down to earth terms. Actually, the more I think about it, the more it amazes me that we think of Restorative Justice as a new and radical concept and yet, Jesus and Paul were talking about the same things over 2000 years ago! I guess we humans are just slow learners.

Restorative Justice turns our western justice system on its head.

Our present system asks,

          What law has been broken?
          Who broke that law?
          What is the punishment?

The main focus is the law. The only person mentioned is the lawbreaker and then only to make sure the right one is being punished. Nowhere in these questions do we hear the voice of the victim of the crime. Nowhere do we hear the voice of the victim’s family, the offender’s family, or the community where the crime took place. We don’t even hear the voice of the offender. The important thing is that a law was broken and someone has to be punished for it.

It feels very similar to the way the Old Testament people viewed the justice of God. “Here are the laws. Break any of them and you will be punished!”

and the corollary:

“If something bad is happening to you - disease, injury, poverty, any disaster - then you must have done something to make God angry.”

Restorative Justice, on the other hand, is justice that heals. It aims to heal both the victim and the offender and to allow for them to make a transition back into the community as whole, productive citizens. And it gives a voice to all the victims of the crime!

Restorative Justice asks:

          What happened?
          Who has been affected?
          What are we going to do to make things right?

These questions are very different, aren’t they? They send us in a whole new direction – a Christ-centred direction.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says, “Go ahead and be angry…” He recognizes that anger is a justified response to harm. He isn’t saying, “Go give your enemy a hug and forget about the whole thing.”

No, he tells us, “Just don’t let your anger fuel revenge.”

Revenge. It feels so good in the moment but it does little to help the situation.

In the Restorative Justice system, victims are encouraged to meet face-to-face with their offenders. Now, there is a lot of work that goes on before this meeting actually takes place but it is the key process in making this work. Participation in the process has to be voluntary - no one is coerced into doing this. It is led by the victim.

When I read this, I thought, “Wow! As a victim, how could you possibly do this without wanting to strike back at the person who hurt you - or without at least being afraid of living the nightmare all over again?”

So, I watched videos of these meetings in progress and videos of victims and offenders talking about the experience.

And I did hear people who felt that way, who wanted revenge. Some victims even talked about carrying a weapon with them in hopes of finding the offender and causing the same pain for them and their families as they were feeling themselves.

I wondered why they would want to take part in such a meeting. Here are some of the things they said:

“I wanted him to know that it was not the State of Texas that he had done this to, it was us.”
“I wanted to know why.”
“I wanted him to see me as a human being and not a piece of meat.”

And then they spoke about what happened through the process of meeting and interacting with the person who had caused them harm:

“I always pictured him as some kind of monster. The moment I saw him everything changed. He looked so young.”

“You start seeing the criminal as a human being, not just a crime.”

The offenders also had things to say about meeting their victims face-to-face:

“It was the first time I really had to take responsibility for what I did. All the time I was in jail my mother thought I was innocent, that someone had framed me. I had to finally come clean with her.”

Another man talked about how you have to play the role of the hard criminal when you go to jail. There’s no room for weeping remorse there.

He said, “When I met my victim it broke down the wall I’d built around myself.”

This process looks at a crime as a wound that must be healed rather than an act that must be punished. It acknowledges that crime wounds everyone, not just the parties directly involved. It is more than the breaking of a law. It is the breaking of the peace of the community. This process is one of building relationships, of repairing the damage done.

Howard Zehr, one of the founders of the Restorative Justice System, describes it this way: “When a wrong has been done, it needs to be named and acknowledged. Those who have been harmed need to be able to grieve their losses, to be able to tell their stories, to have their questions answered - that is to have the harms and needs caused by the offence addressed. They - and we - need to have those who have done wrong accept their responsibility and take steps to repair the harm to the extent it is possible.”

“Go ahead and be angry,” says Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, “You do well to be angry - but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.”

This is the forgiveness part of the equation. Forgiveness is a tricky thing. It’s probably one of the most important things Jesus asks us to do - and one of the hardest.

How many times do we say to our children, “Tell your brother you are sorry!”, to which we get a mumbled, “Sorry” and then we look to the offended child, expecting them to say, “That’s ok.” Is there really any remorse or any forgiveness happening here?

The whole point of Restorative Justice is - it’s not OK! You have caused harm and you need to both take responsibility for doing it and find a way to make it ok again.

Forgiving doesn’t mean letting the offender off the hook. It means taking the burden off yourself. And in the practice of Restorative Justice, it means a community working together toward healing.

This doesn’t mean that incarceration is off the table. Sometimes that’s still necessary to make everyone feel safe and to ensure that plans for rehabilitation are followed through. Sometimes a “time out” is absolutely necessary for everyone involved before they can deal with getting together.

That’s a familiar discipline technique used by parents, isn’t it? I am a big fan of “time out” as a strategy when dealing with kids. It gives everyone, including the parent, time to cool down so that the situation can be handled out of love rather than anger. After the “time out” though, we need a “time in” - where all voices can be heard, plans can be made for repairing the harm, and the transition back into the loving relationship of the family can happen for everyone involved.

The Restorative Justice route takes a lot more time and effort than the traditional model. Perhaps that’s why we’ve been slow in coming to it. But, if everyone affected is included in the process, it’s worth that extra time and effort. It is a route to continued peace rather than just a short pause in the conflict.

Restorative Justice is not a new concept by any means. It is the basis of Justice Circles or Sentencing circles in the native cultures of our country. It formed the basis of the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings around our Indian Residential Schools. It is the basis of the Maori traditional practice in Australia and I believe it was what Jesus was getting at when he talked about loving our enemies and forgiving quickly and thoroughly.

Most of us here will not be involved in the Restorative Justice System directly but we all live in a world where people harm each other. We can use the principles of Restorative Justice to think and act in everyday life. Howard Zehr lists “Ten ways to live Restoratively”:

1. Take relationships seriously, envisioning yourself in an interconnected web of people, institutions, and the environment.

2. Try to be aware of the impact - potential as well as actual - of your actions on others and the environment.

3. When your actions negatively impact others, take responsibility by acknowledging and seeking to repair the harm - even when you could probably get away with avoiding or denying it.

4. Treat everyone respectfully, even those you don’t expect to encounter again, even those you feel don’t deserve it, even those who have harmed or offended you or others.

5. Involve those affected by a decision, as much as possible, in the decision-making process.

6. View the conflicts and harms in your life as opportunities.

7. Listen, deeply and compassionately, to others, seeking to understand even if you don’t agree with them. (Think about who you want to be in the situation rather than about just being right.)

8. Engage in dialogue with others, even when what is being said is difficult, remaining open to learning from them and the encounter.

9. Be cautious about imposing your “truths” and views on other people and situations.

10. Sensitively confront everyday injustices including sexism, racism, homophobia, and classism.

I think Jesus would approve of this list! Imagine a world where everyone thought and acted this way, where decisions were made based on the good of the community and the environment rather than the economics or the power of a few. To me, this sounds a lot like God’s Kin-dom on Earth.

There will always be crime in the world. There will always be injustices and imbalance. It is how we deal with those things that make the difference. The way we deal with these things are the lessons our children and others around us will learn about dealing with conflict in their own lives. “Don’t go to bed angry,” says Paul because the way we deal with these things will make the difference between a good night’s sleep or a night of tossing and turning - the difference between waking up to a new beginning or another day of suffering.

We have a great example in God and in Jesus for how to live this Restorative Life. God forgives. God always gives us another chance to start anew, to transform into something brand new. As we deal with the conflicts in our lives, whether we are the victim or the offender, we know that God shows us the path to healing relationships. Listen once more to what Paul tells us about God:

“Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”

What a blessing it is to have this extravagant love and this perfect example.

Amen

(The quotes used in this sermon are from: The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr)

Prayers of the People & the Lord’s Prayer

Holy One,

We give you thanks and praise for the beauty of Creation, for the wonders of the natural world, for the love of friends and family, and for the many ways we are blessed each and every moment. Help us to never lose sight of the dream you have for a world where each person can see those blessings every day.

We pray for those who are suffering in this world – those who must struggle for basic necessities, those who are sick, those who are grieving, and all those in need of care and comfort.

We pray for the leaders of our city, our country, and throughout the world, that they may put the common good ahead of personal ambition, that they will lead with compassion, and work for a brighter future for all, a brighter future for this planet that is our home.

We pray for this congregation, our faith family – for each member here with us today, in person or through technology, for those who are traveling, for all who are celebrating and all who carry burdens in their hearts.

We pray with thanks for the easing of the pandemic and with hope that we can be patient and diligent still so that this continues to improve. We pray for all those dealing with the effects of climate change, particularly the devastating fires in our own country and in other places around the world.

Hear us as we commit to following your call to peace and justice, to love and compassion. Give us the strength and courage to use our hands, our feet, and our voices to further the building of your kin-dom here on earth.

All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ who offered this ancient prayer to his friends:

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

Our offering today and every day, is an act of love. We give from what we have and as we are able; but always, we give in hope, faith, and love. As a sign of our gratitude to God, we share our gifts of time, talents and treasures this morning, strengthening the ministry of this church. If you are not on PAR and wish to send in your offering and donations, you can drop them in the mailbox 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 Prayer

God of love and grace, may these gifts we offer from our hearts and hands be used to spread that love and grace in the world. Bless the gifts and the ministries we offer today and every day as we journey together. Amen.

Sending Forth

And now may the blessing of a second chance, the deepening awareness of God’s presence within and all around, the strength that comes through faith and the abundance of God’s love shared with others, be with each of us as we leave this time and place of worship to be a blessing in all the places life calls us to be. Go in love, for you are loved. Amen.[4]

Hymn: Voices United #371 - Open My Eyes that I May See – Erin Berard: vocal & flute

1. Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth thou hast for me,
Place in my hand the wonderful key, that shall unclasp and set me free

Chorus:

Silently now I wait for thee, ready my God thy will to see,
Open my eyes (ears, heart), illumine me Spirit divine.

2. Open my ears that I may hear, voices of truth thou sendest clear;
And while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything else will disappear. Chorus

3. Open my mouth and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
Open my heart and let me prepare love with thy children thus to share. Chorus

Departing Music: Scamp - C. Norton Grade5 piano: Noah Berard

Zoom Fellowship – 11 am

[1] Susan Lukey, Gathering Pentecost 1 2021, p41. Used with permission.

[2] Wendy MacLean, Gathering Pentecost 1 2021, p44. Used with permission.

[3] Roxanne Williams, Gathering Pentecost 1, 2021, p50. Used with permission.

[4] Bob Root, Gathering Pentecost 1 2021, p53. Used with permission.

Sunday Worship Service - August 15, 2021