Sunday, April 30, 2023 - Worship Service
Order of Service
We welcome all gathering for worship this morning or later in the week. Whether you attend in-person, worship on ZOOM or YouTube, or are a viewer on Rogers TV20 - please know that we consider everyone to be a part of our worship experience and an integral member of our St. Andrew's Guelph community.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this morning's service, both in-person and virtually.
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About Our Pulpit Guest - The Rev. Dr. Robert N. Faris, B.A., M.DIV., M.TH., PH.D. Moderator of the 147th General Assembly
Bob Faris is a lifelong Presbyterian with an ecumenical spirit and a calling to be open to the new thing that God is doing in our time. This has included more than 35 years of innovative ministry within The Presbyterian Church in Canada that has been focused on understanding and working toward the improvement of lives and communities negatively impacted by social injustice and colonialism.
Raised in Newmarket and Sarnia, Ontario, Bob completed his undergraduate studies at Queen’s University. Both his late parents were Elders and Bob felt the call to ordained ministry early in life. His involvement in the Presbyterian Young People’s Society and Camp Kintail led to his ordination to camping ministry as the first fulltime Director of Kintail in 1984. His creative ministry influenced a new generation of leaders and set Camp Kintail on a path toward long-term development as a model of church camping.
Bob’s passion for the life of the global church was fed in his studies at New College in Edinburgh where he received a M.Th. in 1987. The following year, he responded to a call to serve with the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique as a professor at the Seminário Unido de Ricatla, the first Canadian Presbyterian to be appointed to Mozambique. After language study in Brazil, he spent six years in the context of Mozambique’s civil war and its move toward multiparty democracy, as well as the ending of apartheid in neighbouring South Africa. His admiration for the courage and witness of Christians in Mozambique in the face of immense violence and poverty led to his doctoral thesis at the University of Cape Town in 2007, which was later published with the title, Liberating Mission in Mozambique: Faith and Revolution in the Life of Eduardo Mondlane. His experience in southern Africa also opened his eyes more fully to the legacy of colonialism in Canada and particularly the catastrophic harm done to Indigenous Peoples.
Bob has been a key ecumenical leader at a time of significant challenge and change. He was Director of the Canadian Churches’ Forum for Global Ministries and the Churches’ Council on Theological Education in Canada. He also served as Convener of the General Assembly’s “Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee” and the “E.H. Johnson Memorial Fund Committee”. He chaired the Board of Cooperation Canada Mozambique, was a member of the Governing Board of the Canadian Council of Churches, was a delegate to the Uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, and accompanied the Moderator’s visit to Lebanon, Israel and Palestine in response to the Kairos Palestine document.
In 2011, Bob was called to St. Andrew’s Church in Toronto. He shares in worship leadership, coordinates large Out of the Cold and Refugee Sponsorship programs, has provided innovative leadership in adult education and has fostered a partnership relationship with Marabella Church in Trinidad. He has had a significant role in St. Andrew’s growth among a younger demographic living in condos and working downtown and its deepening commitment to being an intercultural and inclusive congregation. He has also taken leadership in the Presbytery of East Toronto and in this time, he served on the General Assembly’s Committee on Church Doctrine.
Over four years, Bob served as Co-Convener of the General Assembly’s Special Listening Committee re. LGBTQI, known as Rainbow Communion. As a gay man, Bob has personally experienced the harm done to people who identify as LGBTQI in the church. He has sought to live with integrity while calling the church to change its doctrine and practice that has diminished and harmed God’s beloved LGBTQI children. He rejoiced when all twenty-three recommendations of
Rainbow Communion were adopted in 2021 as well as the Remits which allowed for same sex marriage and the ordination of people in same sex relationships.
Amid the many challenges and periods of grace experienced during the pandemic, Bob continues to look forward to responding to God’s call in ministry and to sharing the journey into this new time that lays before us all.
Announcements
Words of Welcome
Introit – Christ is our cornerstone - D. Throne
Call to Worship
Hymn #482 Christ is made the sure foundation - Westminster Abbey
Opening Prayer & Assurance of Forgiveness
Sacrament of Baptism
Baptism is a gift from God. With visible signs and words of promise, God moves toward us to claim us as children of the new covenant and members of the household of God. In baptism, God acts to unite us to Christ, to deliver us from the power of sin and death, and call us into a new life of growth and service.
In the sacrament of baptism the church recognizes God’s covenant of grace. We receive God’s gift with reverent joy and respond in faith and obedience.
Remember the words of Peter on the day of Pentecost:
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls.”
The Presentation
Minister: Who comes to receive the gift of baptism?
Elder: On behalf of Session I present Mia Diamond Gomes, daughter of Antonio Gomes and Kelly Diamond.
Minister: Antonio and Kelly do you desire that Mia be baptized? If so, please each answer, I do.
Confession and Affirmation
It is our common lot that we turn away from God’s gracious and loving action in our lives. We decide that we know best for ourselves and those whom God places in our care. We act in ways that serve to destroy God’s way of justice and love for all creation. We sin and separate ourselves from God’s love. Consequently, we need to turn to God and to seek forgiveness for the ways in which we have fallen short of what God calls us to be as spouses, parents, children and neighbours.
Kelly and Antonio, do you recognize and share in this need for confession to God and the seeking of God’s renewal in your lives? If so, please each answer, I do.
Do you turn to Jesus Christ, accepting him as Lord and Saviour, trusting in his grace and love? If so, please each answer, I do.
Do you desire, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, to mature as a Christian in the church, to seek the guidance of Christ as you listen to his Word, to celebrate his death and life at the table he provides, and to engage in his mission to the world? If so, please each answer, I do.
Do you promise to raise Mia in the love and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ within the home and the fellowship of the church? If so, please each answer, I do.
The Prayer continues as the minister raises a handful of water and pours it into the font.
Almighty God; by the power of your Holy Spirit, by the sign of this water, you cleanse from sin through the death of Jesus Christ, those who receive this sacrament; you raise them to new life through his resurrection, and graft them into his body, the church.
Pour out your Spirit upon Mia that they may have power to do your will and continue forever as a servant of Christ to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit be all honour and glory now and forever. AMEN.
The Act of Baptizing
Mia, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. May the Holy Spirit be upon you, Mia, child of God, disciple of Christ, member of the church. AMEN.
Declaration and Welcome
See what love God has given us that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. (1 John 3:1) Mia, you are now received by Christ’s appointment into the holy, catholic church. Through baptism, God has made you a member of the household of God to share with Christ in the priesthood of all believers. Remember your baptism and give thanks. Be one with us in the church.
The congregation will stand, if able.
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, and sponsors, promise to guide and nurture Mia by word and deed, with love and in prayer, encouraging them to follow the way of Christ and to be a faithful member of His church?
If so, please answer, we do.
Let us profess our faith:
Do you believe in God, the Father almighty?
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.
The congregation will stand, if able.
Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ, and sponsors, promise to guide and nurture Mia by word and deed, with love and in prayer, encouraging them to follow the way of Christ and to be a faithful member of His church?
If so, please answer, we do.
Let us profess our faith:
Do you believe in God, the Father almighty?
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Water is poured visibly and audibly into the font.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
We give you thanks, O gracious God, for the gift of your Spirit and sign of water. In the beginning, when your Spirit moved over the waters, you gave order and life to your planet earth.
By the waters of the flood you cleansed the world, and established with Noah and his family a new beginning for all people.
In the time of Moses, you led your people out of slavery through the waters of the sea, making covenant with them in a new land
In the fullness of time you sent Jesus Christ, who was formed in the water of a woman’s womb.
In the water of Jordan, Jesus was baptized and anointed by your Holy Spirit.
In his ministry to the world, Jesus offered living water to the woman of Samaria, washed the feet of his disciples, and sent them forth to baptize all nations by water and the Spirit.
And now, with your people of all times and places, we wait with eager longing as we look for the city of God, from which will flow the river of life for the healing of the nations.
Gracious God, by the gift of water and your Holy Spirit you sustain all life
The Aaronic Blessing (Sung)
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you his peace. AMEN.
The Peace
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Time for Wonder and Curiosity
(The Children are invited to go to their class with Julia)
Psalm (Unison) - Psalm 23
Scripture Reading - Genesis 32: 22 - 32 (NRSV), Luke 24: 13 - 25 (NRSV)
Sermon: Meeting God in the Strangest Places
Hymn #262 Come to us, beloved Stranger
Invitation to Offering
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Offertory - Improvisation on Crusader’s Hymn arr. F. Swann
Offertory Prayer
Anthem - Hold on to the Rock - P. Choplin
Prayers of the People
Hymn #641 One more step along the world I go - Beach Song
Blessing
Postlude – Sortie on “Southcote”
We gather on the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabeg and the Haudenosaunee Peoples. We are also on lands that are part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum. We live and work, worship, learn and meet on lands that are the traditional territory of many different Indigenous Peoples who were here before the establishment of European colonies.
