McPhail Baptist Church
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Prelude: "May The Mind Of Christ My Saviour"
Sue Sparks
May the mind of Christ my Saviour, live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling, all I do and say.
May the peace of God my Father, rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort, sick and sorrowing.
May I run the race before me, strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus, as I onward go.
Favourite Hymns
Ernie and Lynda Cox
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart.
Come almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above,
Pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.
Finish then thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation, perfectly restored in thee;
Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love and praise.
O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee
Requested by Sandra Webster
O Master, let me walk with Thee
In lowly paths of service free
Tell me Thy secret, help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care.
Help me the slow of heart to move,
By some clear, winning word of love.
Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
And guide them in the homeward way.
Teach me Thy patience—still with Thee
In closer, dearer company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong.
In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way,
In peace that only thou canst give,
With thee, O Master, let me live.
A Song of Peace
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine;
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover-leaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine;
O, hear my song, Thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
"Three Words"
Rev. Steve Zink
“God is Love” (1Jn. 4:8)
Special Music: “Count Your Blessings”
Ernie Cox
_________________________________________________________________________
Titus 2:14 (NRSV)
14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
14 He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
1 Peter 2:9 (KJV)
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
_______________________________________________________________________
"A Distinct Society"
Rev. Ernie Cox
A big Canadian flag hangs from our balcony, along with a streamer of smaller Canadian flags. But without the usual throngs of people wandering about in the Byward Market where we live, a virtual Canada Day celebration just won’t be the same, I’m afraid.
But absent the live celebrations, with the attendant crowds, we can still celebrate and think about what it means to be Canadian, and how fortunate we are to live in this great land we call Canada.
I think of a minister friend of mine who fled El Salvador during the civil war years in that country. His name was on a list with the military government. He was suspected of preaching “human rights” to his congregation.
He and his family have lived in Canada for many years now, and are happy to be living here in a peaceful country, but at the same time saddened that they cannot even visit the country of their birth to see their friends and relatives in the city of San Salvador, for fear of the gangs that still trouble that city.
I think of other immigrants to Canada, one who told me how much he appreciated being able to walk down a street without being interrogated by security police.
Another immigrant mother who couldn’t believe the generosity of our country when she received the Child Benefit for her children shortly after arriving in Canada, allowing her to keep afloat until she found work.
But for those of us who were born here in Canada, this will sound familiar: “How to know you’re a real Canadian.” It begins: “You know you’re a real Canadian when you have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.” Someone else has written that you know you're a Canadian, when someone accidently steps on your foot, and you apologize.
Some friends of mine who come from Kentucky, but lived in Ottawa for a while, told me that when they first got to Canada they had never heard of a serviette, but knew what a napkin was. They didn’t know what poutine was, and had no idea what a chesterfield was, but knew what a sofa was. And so this one rings true then, that: “You know you’re a real Canadian when you understand the phrase: “Could you please pass me a serviette, I just dropped my poutine on the chesterfield.”
I’ve entitled the sermon “A Distinct Society.” The phrase “Distinct Society” has mostly moved out of the national consciousness over the past number of years. But the Distinct Society I’m thinking of has nothing to do with politics. Rather, I'm thinking of a different Distinct Society—the Church.
And so, the question we might ask this morning is—“What makes the Church—a distinct society?”
Think of some of the things that have come out from the United States over the years said by Baptist ministers, which have negatively affected Baptists in Canada.
There was that Baptist minister who made headlines some years ago when he said that homosexuals who had AIDS should not be given treatment. Then sometime after that, a Baptist minister got in a tizzy over what he said was some kind of sexual imagery on the cover of the video, The Littlest Mermaid.
Then you remember when a Baptist minister, Jerry Falwell, said that one of the Teletubbies,
from a children’s cartoon show, was gay. Tinky-Winky is seen carrying a purple handbag, so he’s gay.
It turns out after much investigation that the so called purse was a magic bag, and Tinky-Winky wasn't gay after all.
I have to say that I’m glad Mr. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister and not a Baptist minister—for who knows what he might have said on his show if he had been a Baptist.
The Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, is still in operation, sad to say. Their website address is: godhatesfag.com. They have a big poster on their website that says: “God sent the Corona Virus Fury,” and underneath a biblical reference from Deuteronomy 28, where it says if God’s law is not followed, the Lord will send fearful plagues. But what if one of their followers was to get the Corona Virus? Does that mean that person wasn’t following God’s law?
It sounds stupidly similar to when Pat Robertson once said that God could send a hurricane to wipe out gays in Miami, Florida. But how would a hurricane know to target gays and not straight persons?
And then I noticed posters of Muhammed Ali, and Aretha Franklin on the Westboro Baptist website, depicting Ali and Aretha burning in hell. There was no explanation as to why Ali and Aretha went to hell instead of heaven. And so, we can thank God there are no Baptist churches in Canada like the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.
But what are the things we’re to be known for as a church? Baptists talk about something we call Baptist Distinctives. We believe and fought for separation between church and state. It's called Church freedom.
We believe that Christians should be able to interpret the scriptures for themselves. We call that Bible freedom.
We believe in local church freedom, meaning that no national body can tell McPhail Baptist church what to do. We're self-governing.
We cherish Baptist by immersion but we accept other modes of Baptism.
Baptist church buildings and lands are owned by local congregations, and not a national church. There is no national Baptist Church of Canada, just Baptist churches.
And so, we cherish and value those distinctives.
But as important as those things are, those things are not what we are to be known for. Our text in 1 Peter tells us that we are a special people. The King James version of that text puts it differently, it says we are a "peculiar" people.
Well, no doubt there are those outside the church who think Baptists are somewhat peculiar, and I have to say I've known a few peculiar Baptists in my time. But in our other text from the New Testament, we are told that we are a special people, a distinct society. However, the text goes on to say we are to be distinct for our good works.
The Canadian Secular Alliance has a policy paper that says “The promotion of religious opinions should not be viewed as a charitable activity, and “advancement of religion” alone should not be grounds for an organization to be recognized as a charity.”
Meaning that unless a church is giving money and support to charitable causes, the Canadian Secular Alliance advocates taking away the status of the church as a charitable institution, and the church would no longer be able to issue tax receipts for church donations.
There are other groups advocating that churches not performing genuine charitable acts should have to pay property taxes.
Now, it may be that some churches do not send money out from the church for charitable purposes, most likely because they have had to concentrate on trying to keep their buildings in good repair. Eventually, many of these churches either have to close or rent out their facilities to other church groups in order to stay open.
But the church property tax issue and the question of charitable status for churches is not one the Canadian Government seems overly concerned with. Because the Canada Revenue Agency knows that if churches had to pay property tax, most churches would be put out of business, and millions of dollars would cease to be raised in cities across Canada for the purpose of supporting charitable causes.
The Canada Revenue Agency accepts the fact that churches help to alleviate poverty, that we contribute to the general welfare of the community, and that we support hundreds of worthy social causes outside the Church. It’s a known fact that it would cost the government ten times what it costs churches to host “Out of the Cold” programs which so many churches now host.
And there’s a report from Statistics Canada showing that the more religiously inclined people are, the more they give to ALL charities—not just to religious groups— than those who don’t belong to any religion. In fact, if you’ve even been audited by the Canada Revenue Agency asking for you to provide proof of receipts for your charitable givings, it’s because you were red-flagged by a computer which determined that “you gave too much” when set against the charitable giving standard of Canadians in general.
We sent thousands of dollars out from our church in 2019. Money to support the settling of Syrian refugees through Matthew House. Money to food cupboards. Money and food to help the youth of our city through the ministry of the Door. Money and permanent shelter for abused women, in McPhail House next door.
Thousands of dollars in Bursary money to students wanting to get a good post-secondary education.Thousands of dollars for a Baptist husband and wife team working on the front lines in Lebanon, helping to settle Syrian refugees, amongst other duties.
We can be proud to part of a distinct society, which is Christ’s Church, as long as we’re distinct for the right things. For when we get down to it, it doesn't much matter what distinctives or beliefs we hold, for in the end the only distinctive really worth being known for, is that of compassion and love.
I mean, what was it the Apostle Paul said about love? "If we have not love, we are nothing." And then when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, he summed up all the commandments in telling us to Love God and Love our neighbour.
Over the last number of years, we have heard much about AMERICA FIRST. In 1924, an Episcopalian Bishop preached a sermon in the Washington National Cathedral, which he entitled America First. But his America First was completely unlike President Trump's America First.
Here's what the Bishop wrote:
America First, not just in things material
But in things of the spirit.
Not merely in science, invention, motors, skyscrapers,
But also in ideals, principles, character.
Not merely in the assertion of rights,
But in the glad assumption of duties.
Not flouting her strength as a giant,
But bending in helpfulness over a sick and wounded world
like a Good Samaritan.
Not in splendid isolation,
But in courageous cooperation.
Not in pride, arrogance, and disdain of other races and peoples,
But in sympathy, love, and understanding.
And so, only in that spirit and hope, can we say with all our heart
and soul---"America First."
Maybe someone should send that to Mr. Trump. Because it's not America First, or Canada first, or Hungary, or Poland or Russia first. It's People First. Compassion and love, caring for others that makes a country great.
I finish with this.
When East Germany was still under communist rule, a German family applied eight times to the Ministry of Education to have their children accepted into University. Eight times they were refused. The head of the Ministry of Education was Margot Honecker, the wife of East Germany’s former premier, Erich Honecker.
The German family applying for University was never told why they were turned down each time, but it wasn’t hard to figure out. The father of the family was a Lutheran pastor.
However, in time, when the Berlin Wall began to crack, the Premier and his wife were unceremoniously dismissed from office. They were evicted from their luxury home. They suddenly found themselves without friends, without resources, and without a place to go.
And who was it who came to their rescue? The Lutheran pastor whose children were refused entrance to University by the Premier’s wife, Mrs. Honecker.
The Honeckers had no place to go, they were shunned by their former communist friends, and so the Lutheran pastor issued an invitation to the Honeckers to stay with his family for a while.
The Honeckers accepted the Lutheran pastor’s invitation, and although they weren't converted to Christ from atheism, nevertheless, they were grateful enough to fold their hands, and bow their heads when the family prayed together for meals.
And so, no matter whether we're Lutheran, United Church, Presbyterian, Baptist or whatever, if we're going to be distinct and known for anything, let us be known for the love of Jesus in us, and sharing the compassion and love of Jesus with others.
THANKS BE TO GOD. AMEN.
"O Canada"
Lynda and Ernie Cox
Hymn: "Come, Let Us Praise The Lord"
Sue Sparks
Come, let us praise the Lord, with joy our God acclaim,
His greatness tell abroad and bless His saving name.
Lift high your songs,
Before His throne to whom alone all praise belongs.
In worship bow the knee, our glorious God confess;
The great Creator, He, the lord of Righteousness.
He reigns unseen,
His flock He feeds and gently leads in pastures green.
Come, hear His voice today, receive what love imparts;
His holy will obey and harden not your hearts.
His ways are best,
And lead at last, all troubles past, to perfect rest.
Announcements
Your ministers have been exercising their creative powers of late outside of their usual Sunday duties:
-Ernie has a feature article in a local Byward Market paper—The Echo. Here’s the link to the paper, Echo Online (scroll down to page 21): Article
-Steve has been collaborating with a dance company in New York City called Encounters Dance. He has provided original music for dance works filmed during the quarantine. The filming locations include NY and Brazil. The music was recorded in Ottawa and Ireland. The three most current videos can be seen here: stevezink.com
-CHURCH TREASURER NEEDED: Our current treasurer Steve Sparks would like to retire from the position of Treasurer by the end of the current year, or sooner, if a replacement is found. If you know of anyone who would be interested in the position, please let us know.
-UPPER ROOM: The Upper Room devotional for July/August is now available. If you would like a copy please let us know by leaving a message on our church phone: 613-235-7617 and we’ll arrange to get a copy to you.
-A BABY GIRL! Congratulations to Rev. Lah Say and Mu Yeh Wah, on the birth of Rebecca Say, born this past Thursday, at 3.5 kg. 7 ¾ pounds. Mother and daughter doing well. A new sister for Kenneth and Christina.
-We are excited to now offer an e-transfer option for McPhail offerings. If you would like to make use of this option, offerings can be sent via online banking to offerings@mcphailbaptist.ca If possible, please include your envelope number in the memo line. A special thanks to Steve Sparks and Samantha Helman for setting this up for us! For those who would prefer mailing in their offering, funds can be sent via post to: McPhail Baptist Church, 249 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, ON. K1R 6H6 We are deeply thankful for your ongoing support of this ministry!
Benediction
Ernie and Lynda Cox
Postlude:
"Overture to the Royal Fireworks Music by Handel"
"Overture to the Royal Fireworks Music by Handel"
Sue Sparks
Comments
Post a Comment