Good Morning,

My hope is that you have had a good week … and that the rain we are having this weekend has provided you an opportunity to rest!

Below are a few announcements as well as the Scripture lesson, hymn selections and reflection.  The reflection this week is entitled Servant of All.

If you would like to have a pastoral visit – in person, by phone or over Zoom – please reach out and we will set a time to be meet.

With Blessings

Patrick

Announcements

Bible Study:

Our 6-week study of the Book of James will begin on Wednesday, October 20^th.  We will be meeting at the church at 7:00pm.   Our hope is to provide a virtual option over Zoom for those who are unable to meet at the church in the evening … stay tuned!

If you are interested in participating, please send me an e-mail expressing your interest sometime this week.  When we see who wishes to be engaged, we will settle on a time and place to meet.  In your response, please indicate your preference to meet in person or over zoom.  And, as always, if you have other questions, please let me know.

Remembrance Day service of worship

Our Remembrance Day Service of worship will be held on Sunday, November 7^th.

Remembrance Day masks

Brenda had created a special mask for Remembrance Day.  Members of the congregation are encouraged to pick one up at Service next week and wear it during the week before Remembrance Day as well as during our service of worship on Sunday, November 7^th.

In appreciation of Brenda’s time and talent, Session would encourage all who are able to make special goodwill offering.  While these creations are priceless, a minimum donation of $10.00 per mask would be gratefully received.

Covid-19 Double Vaccination Protocol

Under the guidance of the Presbytery of Brampton, Session has adopted a new double-vaccination protocol.  What this means is that for the safety of the members of our congregation, anyone attending a service of worship will be required to be double vaccinated.  The exception to this rule is children under the age of 12 for whom the vaccination is not available.

We will also continue to follow the public health guidance including keeping physical distance, not socializing inside the sanctuary and wearing masks during service.  We also expect that anyone who is exhibiting symptoms or who has been travelling will remain home for the week.

Weekly Reflection:

I will continue to e-mail the Scripture lessons and Reflection each week.  Additionally, I will attach links to the music that we will be using during the worship service.

With Thanksgiving & Blessings

Patrick

Service of Worship – October 17, 2021

#626: Lord of All Power

Organ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIAntiPiwJs

#635:  Brother, sister, let me serve you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JahFRDrSCs

#634: Will you come and follow me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiXnbOORTAU

Gospel Mark 10:32-45

³² They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³ saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; ³⁴ they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”

³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”  ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ³⁹They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; ⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Reflection: Servant of All

Over the last couple of years one of my favorite TV shows has been Lucifer.  Yes, that Lucifer:  the devil himself!  The premise of the series is that the devil needed a vacation from being the King of Hell and went, where else, but Los Angles – the City of Angels … or according to many, the city of fallen angels!  As you would expect the devil was handsome, suave and debonair.  And his life was filled with all sorts of carnal pleasures including the obvious sex & drugs.  You could say that Lucifer was a self-focused narcissist who enjoyed power and privilege!

Now the reason why I am bringing this up this morning, as we begin to reflect upon the request of James and John, is because Lucifer had a special skill.  In conversation with mortals, he would ask them “What is it that you desire?” and the people who he asked would disclose their secret ambitions – those things that they most truly wanted in the world.

But here is the interesting part – every time that Lucifer asked a person what they desired, his expectation was that everybody would respond in the way that he would respond:  out of anger or a desire for vengeance or in a way that exposed their self-focused intentions or their desire  that others would be punished.  However, more often than not, when people were asked “What is it that you desire?” they disclosed things that were honorable and worthy of praise or in many cases to things that pointed toward their deepest fears: I want to be a good parent to my children.  I want to make sure that my business does not fail, so that people have jobs.  I want to be loved.  “Oh,” would be Lucifer’s response each time … a perplexed expression upon his face indicating that he could not conceive that someone’s ambition could be rooted in some motivation other than their own personal gain.

Ambition.  What is it that you are striving to achieve?  And what is your motivation for wanting to achieve a particular outcome? What is it that you truly desire?

I believe that these are questions that were held in tension when James and John approached Jesus and asked him. “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And Jesus said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you? … What is it that you truly desire?” And James and John respond, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”   (pause)

We need to stop here for a minute to understand what we think that James and John are asking for … and why we have those expectations.

There are a few options to consider. The first is that James and John are oblivious to what Jesus is all about.  That their expectation is that Jesus mission is somehow related to the achievement of worldly power and prestige.  And that in their ambition to be seated on the right and left side of Jesus, they are expressing their desire to have power and prestige as the world would define it.  And the response of the other disciples?  It was to become angry with them because they also believed that they deserved the power, prestige and glory!

This is a response that would be anticipated by Lucifer who expected that human motivation is always and only for personal benefit or satisfaction.  And then we notice that the whole scene where James and John are confronted by the others devolves into a petty squabbling match between the self-serving, self-centered narcissistic little men who Jesus calls his disciples.  This is a frequent and common interpretation of this passage and fits neatly with its ending, where Jesus teaches the opposite to be true … whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.  (pause)

A second way, a different way of considering this passage, takes into consideration the relationship between Jesus and The Sons of Thunder … for that is how Jesus referred to the brothers.  James and John were among the first disciples called by Jesus, and they immediately left their nets and followed him.  They followed Jesus through the region of Galilee and saw him heal the sick and restore people to right relationship.  They observed him preach with authority in the synagogues and argue the finer points of the Jewish Law with the Scribes and the Pharisees.  They experienced how Jesus challenged the authority of the religious establishment and heard him predict that he would be persecuted because of it.  Perhaps, when Jesus asked them if they knew what they were requesting and if they were committed to following through… from their place of knowing Jesus, perhaps both James and John believed that they could, and intended that they would, follow Jesus.

You could also expect that the Sons of Thunder, like us all, sometimes acted before they understood all the implications of their decisions.  However, and here is another thing to consider, James and John were there when Jesus calmed the storm.  They were there when Jesus walked on water … and quelled their fears.  They were there when Jesus fed the 5,000 … and fed their spiritual selves as well.  And James and John were also there on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured – and the voice from the cloud declared that, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”  James and John had experienced Jesus in all his celestial glory … is it really a stretch to consider that their deepest desire would be to experience more of that?

Ambition.  What is your motivation for wanting to achieve a particular outcome? What is it that you are striving to achieve?  What is it that you truly desire?

Throughout the series Lucifer, we experienced the transformation of the devil: we saw him became vulnerable in relationships; we noticed how he learned how to love and to be loved, and we witnessed him struggling with and resolving the issues that he had with his father – yes, that Father – God himself!  However, perhaps what was most inspiring and hope providing was the statement that Lucifer made at the end of the series when he chose to return to hell.  “Perhaps what hell needs,” Lucifer said “isn’t someone who punishes.  Perhaps what is needed in hell is a healer.”

It almost sounds preposterous that the devil could have a change of heart. Some would say that it goes beyond his nature … and that some people simply are beyond being saved.  And why would they not think this way, for isn’t that what the world teaches?  Hasn’t the world taught us that people are not to be trusted?  That tigers can’t change their stripes?   That people who commit crimes should be punished?  Hell, wasn’t it John Calvin, the great Protestant reformer himself, who taught the doctrine of Total Depravity:  that humans because of their fallen nature are unable to choose by themselves to follow God or refrain from evil?  Of course, Calvin also taught about the gift of God’s grace … but somehow the grace and mercy of God, seemed to get lost in the translation over the years.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise to us, that we still find it unrealistic and a little unbelievable, that people – would decide to go where others are in pain, would choose to go where people need to be healed, would desire to help those who need to be helped.   And yet, it shouldn’t be a surprise to us that people are motivated to go to places of pain where healing is needed… because isn’t that what Jesus choose to do?  And isn’t that in whose image we – each and everyone of us – were created?

Ambition.  What is your motivation for wanting to achieve a particular outcome? What is it that you are striving to achieve?  What is it that you truly desire?

Let me tell you another story of ambition and motivation.  It’s a story about a young man and his father.  The young man was a student of politics and had had his first taste of power being elected as a Vice-President of his University council.  He enjoyed the privilege and the notoriety that came with the position and could envision a future that provided more of the same.  It was about that time when he discovered that his father too had been active in student politics and had also held positions of leadership.  He learned as well, that as an adult, his father had been active politically and was well connected with one of the major political parties in the province.  And more than that, that his father had been encouraged to run as a candidate in the provincial elections – in a riding that was considered a safe seat.

The young man did not comprehend why his father did not aspire to such a place of power and prestige.  Why he was not motivated to hold such a place of influence.  The son considered his father to be a good man, an educated man, a religious man … and so could not conceive why his father was not motivated to achieve more.

Time passed, the father died, and the luster of power was tarnished for the young man who had now grown into middle age.  What had not been clear about his father’s ambition and motivation started to become clearer … for the son began to understand that the father was an ambitions man … and he began to understand as well what motivated him to focus on the outcome that he did.

The second son of a father who was illiterate, the father learned from an early age the importance of being able to read.  He learned, as well, a trusting faith from a father who attended a service of worship everyday. The son attended university and became a teacher.  He was married and raised a family.  And while he worked and raised his family, he completed his Master of Education … at a time when a master’s degree was a rare accomplishment.  He joined the faculty of the College of Fisheries in the Department of English and created a reading lab.  At a time when the illiteracy rate in Newfoundland was the highest in Canada, he taught adults how to read.

From his father the son learned the lesson of ambition … and he learned as well from where his motivation had come. Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. (pause)

May our hearts be open to hear the calling of God – and may we be motivated to listen.  May our spirits be willing to follow in the footsteps of Jesus – and may we be ambitious in our desire to be Servant of All.  Amen