Service of Thanksgiving, Baptism & Membership Transfer
October 13, 2013 | Anita Retzlaff and Patrick Preheim
Child Dedication of Tom Shepherd Love & Simon Timothy Leis
Anita: The Bible tells us that children are a heritage, a gift that comes from God. Jesus has a special concern for children. He says, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” (Mk.10:14)
Patrick: In this season of autumn thanksgiving we are grateful for the opportunity to join with you, Emma and Matt and Marlie and Ben, in gratitude for the great gift of your sons, Tom and Simon, given to your care.
Anita: Because your families are not isolated units but rather significant parts of this congregation’s life, we commit ourselves to provide friendship, encouragement and mentorship for Simon and Tom as they grow into meaningful Christian faith.
Today their parents bring them for our blessing and make their promises as parents.
Patrick: Ben and Marlie, Matt and Emma, do you accept your child as a gift from God? If so say we do.
Anita: Do you accept the divine trust placed in you for the care and nurture of Simon and Tom and do you commit yourselves, with the help of God and of your church family here, to take seriously the task of Christian nurture in your home and in the church?
Patrick: Do you promise to encourage your sons to seek out the vocation that God has in mind for them and to support them in their journey of faith?
Patrick/Anita: (Simon) (Tom), may the love of God and the gracious spirit of Christ and the fellowship of God’s people bless your life!
Patrick: As a congregation we commit ourselves to walk with Tom and Simon as mentors and companions on this journey of faith. In preparing to take on this task we will speak together our words of commitment that you will find printed in the back of our blue hymnal # 791.
Congregation – You have offered your child to the strong and tender…..
(dismiss children)
Sharing by Parents
Anita - Prayer
Almighty God, source of all wisdom and strength, guide and support Marlie, Ben, Emma and Matt so that they may, by loving care, wise counsel and consistent example, provide security and love for Simon and Tom. With gratitude this day, we offer to you O God, our thanks for the generous care and abundant delight of family; of brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and the people of God who become our family of faith. Help us as a congregation to join with the families that support these parents to be a light to their childrens' paths and may your Spirit lead them to a strong and resilient faith in you, the One who calls each one by name. Amen.
Baptism Service of Matt Wiens and Marie Little
Patrick: Father Bosco Bournier once said, “The history of salvation is nothing more than the accumulation of the responses of individual men and women to the call of their baptisms”. (in Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints, p. 443). Today we celebrate two more whom have chosen to live in the light of this salvation history and make public their confession through the rite of baptism. Baptism is an act of God, of the individual, and of the Church. God works through baptism to strengthen the ministry of reconciliation to which he calls his people: a ministry of healing within us and through us. Baptism is, however, something we choose. In this ancient ritual we express our affirmation of all God has done: in creation, in Christ, in our lives. The church, a gathering of fellow disciples, is the context in which this public covenant is made for we are all pilgrims on a similar journey. We give thanks for the steadfast love of God, for Marie and Matt’s decision to accept Jesus as central to their lives, and for the community which supports each other in spiritual growth and in ministry to the world.
At this time we invite Marie Little and Matt Wiens to share a portion of their stories.
Marie and Matt share their stories from pulpit
Anita: I would invite Matt and Marie to the centre. It is part of church tradition that the congregation participates in every baptism. In any service of baptism we are invited to remember our own baptisms: that God chose us long before we chose God, that we have said “yes” to Christ and do so again, that we are part of a community pursing kingdom goals together.
As Marie and Matt respond to the questions we ask, we are all invited to quietly reaffirm our own baptismal vows. Matt and Marie---
Do you believe in God—creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ—revealer of God’s love and purpose for the world? If so say “I do”.
Patrick: Do you renounce the evil powers of this world, repent of sin, accept God’s forgiveness, and seek to live by the teachings of Jesus? If so say “I do”.
Anita: Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, receiving our support, sharing your support with us, and engaging in ministry with us? If so say “I will”.
Patrick (Anita gets water pitcher and towels from the table): Would you please kneel. Matt, on your confession of faith we baptize you with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. May God continue to baptize you with the Holy Spirit from above. Invite Matt to rise.
Anita (Anita gives water pitcher to Patrick): Marie, would you please kneel. Marie, on your confession of faith we baptize you with water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. May God continue to baptize you with the Holy Spirit from above. Invite Marie to rise.
Patrick: Would friends, family and congregational leaders come forward to lay hands on these two as we pray for them.
Anita: (prayer)
(After prayer Marie and Matt sit behind the communion table)
Member Acceptance – Emma and Matt Love
Anita: The church is made up of those who respond to the call of the crucified and resurrected Jesus. We walk together because of the Holy Spirit that brings us into fellowship, and because in the church we find a community that becomes a uniting body. In our walk together, we share each others’ joys, and sometimes each others’ disappointments and sorrows, knowing we are one in the Spirit. This morning Emma and Matt Love join our congregation as members entering into the life and witness of this community.
(Matt and Emma Love share their stories of faith)
Patrick: Matt and Emma, are you voluntarily and willingly uniting with this congregation; will you worship, serve and share in its ministries; support it by your earnest prayers, attendance, loyal service and faithful stewardship, as God gives you strength? _________
Patrick: Marie and Matt, please join these two up here. We thank God for the providence that has brought us together for friendship, worship and service. We welcome you fully into our fellowship so that we may more completely live as God’s people. We commit ourselves to be sisters and brothers in Christ as we share counsel, responsibilities and mission.
[HWB #777] Congregation: As we now receive you into the fellowship of the church,
we make this covenant with you….
Congregational Prayer
#721 HWB
Offering (Will the ushers please come forward)
O God, to those who have hunger, give bread.
And to those who have bread, give a hunger and thirst for righteousness that they too may be blessed. Amen. (Luke 6.21 says that the hungry are blessed)
Communion
“The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:33
We come to the table of our Lord today with thanksgiving. The harvest is nearly in if not already completed—and it has been bountiful harvest at that. Those joining Nutana Park Church have testified to God’s presence in the world. Beloved hymns, powerful scriptures, the Spirit of God have ministered to us in the midst of our worship. It is right that we meet at the table of Eucharist —thanksgiving— on thanksgiving weekend. The taking of communion, too, will be meaningful. And yet the elevation of our Spirits in celebration of the triune God through worship is not the fulfillment of our work. Do you notice how often work appears in this short passage from John’s gospel?
The people want to know what work they need to do in order to please God (6.28). Jesus says that “it is the work of God that we believe in him whom he has sent” (6.29). The people question precisely what work is it that Jesus has done to warrant their belief (6.30). The sign, Jesus replies, is that life has come to the world (6.33). The work of belief has its culmination and fulfillment as God gives life to the world through us.
Life appears in the terminally ill cancer patient because she knows the end is not the end. Life appears for a man hungering and thirsting after righteousness who is turned away at the Jordanian border because his denied entry actually contributes to the ministry of reconciliation finding cracks in the Green Line wall. Life appears for the man immobilized by illness and yet is able to fly in his mind. These are actual examples from this past week of the life which Christ’s Spirit has given to our world. Belief translates to life: for us, for our community, and as Jesus said for the world.
Belief in this bread come down from heaven is the beginning of a world wide revolution. The hopeless will sense hope. The unloved will experience love. The hungry will be fed. The lost will be offered a way home. Thanks be to the one who has given us bread from heaven. Amen.
Anita: The ordinance of communion in which we participate symbolizes belief that Jesus makes a difference in our lives and our world. It represents our unity in Christ. The celebration of the Eucharist links us with believers across the centuries and around the world. In this ancient rite, just as many grains of wheat and many individual grapes come together to form one loaf and one cup, so too the people of God, coming from many places and backgrounds, are made into one church, the body of Christ.
Patrick: On this Thanksgiving weekend we come to the table grateful for the work of God and Jesus in our lives and our world. We eat and drink at the table of our Lord expectant that this ritual, like baptism, will give life to us, our loved ones, and our communities. On that day when the events of John 6 took place, 5000 were fed with varying levels of comprehension as to what that bread might mean. In like fashion, all who hunger or thirst today are welcome at the table of Jesus. May this bread come down from heaven deepen the faith and understanding and service of all who receive.
Prayer: Let us join together in prayer. Loving God, may we be conscious of your presence among us that we may eat and drink together in the knowledge that you redeem our lives from all that is destructive, that we might choose life as a gift of the Spirit and that we be made whole. Amen.
Anita: In obedience to the invitation of Jesus we come to the table of our Lord with thanks and praise. Hear the words of faith given in our scriptures:
For on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Patrick: In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
(Raise the elements) The gifts of God for the people of God!
Anita: We pray for the bread. As this broken bread scattered on the top of the mountains and gathered together became one, so let your Church be fed that all the world might experience new life. For the kingdom, power, glory and might are yours; now and forever. Amen.
As you serve the person next to you offer them the peace of Christ. Hold the bread so that we might all eat together. (distribution – including the servers)
Have all been served? This is the bread come down from heaven. As you eat, remember the life offered to you and the world.” Take and eat.
Patrick: Let us pray for the wine. In this cup, grapes are now mixed with one another. They, being joined together, quench thirst and give joy. The cup of thanksgiving with which we give thanks, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Bless it so that we might taste your salvation, and one day drink the new wine in your kingdom. Amen
Take care to hold the tray and deliberately serve the person next to you. The inner circle is grape juice. Hold the wine so that we might all drink together. (distribution including the servers)
Have all been served? This wine is the blood of Christ. As you drink, remember him who said, “whoever drinks of me shall never thirst again.” Take then and drink to the offered for us and the world.
Anita: Thank you God, for the great gifts of bread and wine that call us to remember your life poured out for the world. In gratitude for your presence with us we offer ourselves for those who still hunger and thirst. Unite us now with those whom we worship today, our sister congregations in the Mennonite Church, and the whole church of your Spirit around the world. Lead us into the path of Jesus who feeds us and loves us and never forgets us. Hear us now as we pray as you taught your disciples to pray saying, “Our Father….”
Benediction
Patrick: Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
