Mission & Service Worship Service to accompany the new Mission & Service video “Perfect Little Thing” Scriptures are from Epiphany 3A Hymn: “I Have Called You by Your Name” (MV 161) “How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord” (VU 504) Call to worship and opening prayer: We enter this time of worship with open hands and open hearts. God is calling! O God, you call us to make a difference, you call us to be the hands and feet of Christ. You call us to use our gifts to mend the world. Guide us on the path, lead us onward to sing of your love to a world in pain. Amen Scripture: Main text: Matthew 4:18-22 Supporting texts: Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27 (VU 754) 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Sermon: Come and Follow Our gospel lesson for today is the story of Jesus calling his first disciples. In the ancient world, disciples were people chosen to follow a particular Rabbi. Historically all children would go to school and memorize the Torah—the first five books of the Bible: Genesis to Deuteronomy—by age ten. At that age, children would then go on to learn the trade of their families, except for the best of the best, who would continue to study and learn and memorize the rest of the Talmud from Joshua to Sirach. Then, at fourteen years of age, the best of the best would become the disciples of a particular Rabbi. Each Rabbi had a slightly different interpretation of the scripture. These interpretations are like the yoke of the Rabbi, and each disciple would take up the yoke of the Rabbi and follow, allowing the dust of the Rabbi to wash over them. Here Jesus is choosing the disciples that will take up his yoke and follow him. But what is significant about this passage is not so much the calling, but who receives the call. Simon Peter, Andrew and John and James, the sons of Zebedee, all are fishermen when Jesus encounters them, which means they are not following another Rabbi. They are fishermen, not the best of the best, and yet Jesus calls them. If Jesus is calling people who are not deemed the best of the best, it means that Jesus is calling us. The

disciples were not chosen as the best, and yet within each of them Jesus sees their potential. Jesus sees the perfect little thing that is contained in each disciple that he calls. As a group, the disciples are a group of misfits, but that is what is so amazing about them! Jesus doesn’t call the best of the best, Jesus calls those who deep in their hearts have a yearning to shout out their faith. Each of is formed with gifts that we discover when we walk on this earth as followers of Jesus, each of us is challenged to answer the calling to be the perfect little thing, each of us is challenged to shout hallelujah! We are challenged to answer the call, to use our gifts to live out God’s mission. This is what it means for us to be followers of Jesus. God weaves each of us within our calling to become the perfect little thing that we are. We are woven together as the people of The United Church of Canada. We are woven together to mend lives through our support of Mission & Service. The very act of weaving happens when we take pieces of yarn and interlace them into a beautiful pattern of cloth, brought together in strength. Each of us is a beautiful strand that is woven together, creating a strong and beautiful tapestry of God’s gifts. God knits us together, for we are wonderfully made. In our ministry, we weave together those with whom we work and worship, creating a beautiful tapestry of healing and hope, acceptance and new life. We can create a tapestry of love, patience, kindness that offers healing to the lost and the least. We are all different and who we are as a church is different. There are many colours, shapes and textures that make up a beautiful tapestry. When all the different parts are woven together, something is created that is more beautiful than any one part alone. In the United Church, one thing that brings us together is Mission & Service. We have the strands of hunger woven with community kitchens and gardens, we have the web of displacement bound together by a sense of belonging; each story is unique, and each story is a part of who we are as the United Church of Canada. I would invite you to place your finger on your wrist or on your neck below your ear, feel your pulse, and feel your heart beating. The heart beat is our lifeline. In the United Church, Mission & Service is our lifeline, our United Church of Canada pulse. When we take that lifeline—that pulse—and nurture it, we become heart healthy. It is the same in the church. When we take the Mission & Service lifeline and nurture it through our support of our many ministries, then we as a church become heart healthy, and when we do that, the tapestry of ministry becomes larger and more vibrant, enabling us to truly do God’s mission as a church family! The passage from Matthew shows us that we all have gifts to share. Today we live in a world where there are many conflicts, but there is a clear message for us as well: each of us is called to shout from the rafters about all that God is doing in the world. God has called many into the margins, and we give thanks to the many who have answered God’s call to become disciples. Our Mission & Service-supported ministries have said yes to God’s call. We are called to share the stories of our ministries and partners, to take up the yoke of faith and follow in the way of Jesus. Each and every day our Mission & Service-supported ministries speak God’s word of hope, God’s word of

peace with the margins. Each and every day our Mission & Service supported ministries shout a hallelujah of thanks for all the perfect little things on the margins. Let us pray this prayer, based on the lyrics for Perfect Little Thing by Karla Adolphe. O God, we are ready to sing that love song We are ready to shout it out, and yet we hold back in our singing, When we hesitate to celebrate the perfect little thing that we are Free us, O God, to lift our voices in hallelujahs Call us back to praise You as the perfect little thing that You call us to be! We are ready to shout and mend the world. Hallelujah! Amen Watch: Perfect Little Thing: our heart and soul is Mission & Service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cS6fBWRSLc&feature=youtu.be Or Offering Hymn:

“What Can I Do?” (MV 191) “In Gratitude and Humble Trust” (VU 544)

Offering Prayer: We sing hallelujah, O God, for all the ways we make a difference in the world. We shout it out, O God, in celebration of your mission on earth! Bless these offerings of our hands and hearts. Use them and us to fulfill the purpose of the church to do God’s mission. Amen Prayers of Thanks and Asking: Generous God, you call us into relationship with each other and with you. You call us to a world in need of support and cooperation. As we worship today, we are mindful of the many places in need of that support. Places we now lift up to you (name places in the world in conflict, or natural disasters) We are so thankful for the many ways we can mend the world in need, We give you thanks for Mission & Service of the United Church of Canada partnerships at home and in the other parts of the world We are thankful for long term relationships that are making a difference in people’s lives For our part in that story. Often we are cautious about taking the leap of faith. Of taking that step to sing our love song as part of God’s Mission Help us to sing out, help us to shout hallelujah! Allow our commitment to Mission & Service to wash over us, reminding us of all that we do together We can feel so alone, and yet as a United Church, we are not alone. Remind us again that we live in your world, a world in need of community and cooperation A world in need of mending, a world in need of hope. Remind us that our shouts of hallelujah offer hope to the hopeless, healing to the lost. We shine as your perfect little thing, we shine as bright as the stars in the night sky, Our faith is as wide as the horizon of stars, as deep as the clear blue ocean, as strong as a forest of trees encircling us in love. Remind us again of our commitment as a follower of Jesus As we pray the Prayer of Jesus:

(VU 916 A Paraphrase) Hymn: "Arise Your Light Is Come” (VU 79) “Sisters Let Us Walk Together” (MV179) Commissioning and Benediction: Listen! God is calling! We are here to answer! Listen to the still small voice speaking! We are ready! God is speaking! God is calling us! We are God’s children, called, chosen to make a difference in the world. We will go where God leads us! As we go, we go knowing that we do not go alone, We answer God’s call, surrounded by the love of Christ and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. Go in peace! Amen