June 18, 2023   

Prelude
Entry of the Bible 

Lighting the Christ Candle

 

Welcome and Announcements 

Called to Worship:
For the living of these days
Let us heed promptings of possibility
Let us evoke creativeness of compassion
Let us be poised for flight on soaring wings of faith and love
So come, receive the touch of God’s grace as we worship together.  

 

Hymn:  477 Your hand O God has guided

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Creator God who breathed this world into being, who is discernible within
the harmony of nature, the perfection of a butterfly's wing, the grandeur of a mountain range, the soaring eagle and humming bird, we praise you for  this world which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun, which reminds us that your creative breath is still alive and active.  Thank you for the warmth of your love, sustaining this world, and filling our lives with hope. 

May the warmth of the love we give to you fill our worship and may your grace live within us every day. 

Hear us now as we pray in confession declaring our deep need of your grace.  We say together 

Unison Prayer of Confession:
O Lord, you have indeed carried us on your wings.  By your mercy, you have delivered us from sin and death.  You have set us free from their bondage. 

Yet along the way we hesitated, complained and wandered away from you.  We forgot all that you had done.  We failed to trust and we put our hope in things that were not from you.   

Even as we seek to live faithfully as children of the new covenant, help us to live each day by grace.  May we continue to ride on your wings as you guide and empower us to serve you in every aspect of our lives.  All praise be to you, gracious Lord, because you carry us  on your wings.   Alleluia! Amen. 

 

Assurance of Pardon 

 

God brings hope where there is none, love where there is hatred, peace where there is war, sustenance where there is hunger, water where there is drought, and comfort where there is sadness, forgiveness where there is repentance. 
God is the source of all love and every act of selfless giving which fills our lives with mercy. 

Hear and believe the good news, in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.  

 

The Peace 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
Passing the Peace 

 

Hymn:  641  One more step along the world I go

  

Scripture:

Psalm 103: 1-5, 17-22  p 939
Exodus 19: 2-8  p 116 

Sermon:  Carried on Eagles Wings 

When we think of being lifted up as on Eagles Wings, we are more likely to meditate on the passage from Isaiah where we are promised that if we wait on God, we will get fresh strength and spread our wings to soar and never be weary.  That is a promise that fills us with hope and speaks to us when we are tired or in despair.  In that promise we are reminded that God is always ready to give his strength to our weakness. 

Today we encounter the gift of eagle’s wings in this reading from Exodus.   In this passage, this is not a promise of what God “will” do, it is a reminder of what God has already done and will always do.   

Moses has been up on the mountain to speak with God.  This is a momentous moment, one in which God declares that he will enter into Covenant with his people.   

Before God outlines his covenant, he wants it to be clear to every person, that this is a covenant that God has been keeping all along.  God’s mercy and grace has been with the people in the redemption from slavery in Egypt, and the danger of the journey through the desert where God fed them manna, found them water and protected them from all danger.  This promise will culminate in the promise of freedom and a place to call home.   

God tells Moses, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”  Exodus 19:  2-4 NIV 

The truth about God’s mercy and love is very clear.  When the people were prisoners and slaves God was already acting to bring them into freedom.  God was already binding their wounds, God was already healing their spirits, God was already preparing the way in the desert.  Most importantly God was already lifting the people up in his strength, helping them to soar like an eagle. 

Soaring like an eagle is effortless flight. 

Have you ever watched an eagle soar.   They just spread their wings, catch the wind, and proceed to dance, and float and swoop through the skies with complete trust that their wings and the air currents will carry them. 

These past few weeks we have explored the truth about God’s mercy and love.   We have focused on the blessing of God which is eternal.  We have been reminded that the promises of God are simply ours for the taking.  Clearly it is God’s intention that we live in his mercy and thrive in his strength.   

With all his mercies in evidence how can we help but be a grateful people.  How can we be stopped as people eager to live so that our lives are a reflection of the love God has already given to us.  

When we look back on our lives, we can see that it has been God who carried us through each storm, protected us through countless calamities and lifted us over incredible obstacles.  Even when we were not aware of his presence, God was carrying us on eagle’s wings.  More importantly, even when we did not care about God, God was carrying us on eagle’s wings.   

Those wings, as we learn in Isaiah. are always available to us when we wait upon God.  That means that we simply trust God and rely on his guidance and protection in our journey through this life.   

Waiting upon God is what the covenant that God is planning to announce will be all about.  The covenant is about what God has done, and will do for all eternity.  This covenant is meant to draw the people closer to God.   

For that reason,  covenants are a two-part contract. 

The first part is what God has done and will always do for his people.  The second part is how the people respond with gratitude and trust; praise and confidence, and yes, obedience. 

What we need to be reminded of again and again, is that we are called to obedience, not as a punishment; but rather, as means by which we are lifted up by mercy and surrounded by grace. 

That is why God says, I have already lifted you up on Eagle’s Wings and then adds 5 “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”  Exodus 19:  5-6 NIV 

What God says is clear; obey me and keep my covenant, so that I can continue to carry you on Eagle’s wings, and make you my treasured possession.  Obey me and you shall be a holy nation.  This is what God promises, and God always keeps his promise.   

Have you noticed that every time God renews the covenant, he promises to do more, give more and be more for his people? 

To Abraham:  the father of many nations 

To the people of Israel:  a treasured possession, a holy nation 

To the people who follow Jesus:  the most blessed people of God and his righteousness, grace, mercy and forgiveness. 

All of these promises are about how we are carried on the wings of God’s love. 

The first promise of the covenant:  you will be my treasured possession. 

Do we fully comprehend what that means?  How far will God go for his treasured possession?  This isn’t about God owning us, this is about what God will do to protect us. 

The parables that Jesus tells are a witness to how God takes care of his possessions. 

In the parable of the lost sheep, we learn that God will search, and search until he finds the sheep and brings it back to the safety of the sheepfold and the comfort of its familiar companions.  And then what does the shepherd do?  He announces to his neighbours that the sheep was lost and now is found and we are reminded that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one lost sheep being found, than all the sheep who remained safely in the sheep fold.   

In the parable of the Lost coin, the woman sweeps and cleans and turns her home upside down to search and when she finds it—she then calls her neighbours in to rejoice with her and again we are reminded that the rejoicing in heaven over one lost person being restored to the kingdom is a great thing. 

In the parable of the prodigal son, we are reminded of a greater mercy.  The son had deliberately turned his back on his father’s household, taking his share of the inheritance and wasting it in licentious living.  But when he comes to his senses, the father welcomes him home with a kiss and kills the fatted calf and hosts a banquet of rejoicing.  We are reminded that when the lost is found they are returned from the dead.   

It is clear that the covenant that God is about to make with his people is about celebrating that they have been returned to him.  They are redeemed from a life of slavery and restored to a life of grace and mercy.   

The commentator Limburg suggests that by offering the people a covenant God is setting the stage for the full gift of mercy and grace he will bring through Jesus.   

That is the story of God and his people.  God is always seeking for ways to provide us with mercy, grace, strength, joy, love and every other blessing that is in him to give.  We are his and he showers us with blessing.  Even when we stray.  Especially when we stray. 

There is in the message that Moses is charged to bring to the people a recognition that God has already done all that needed to be done to redeem the people.  God has already established the relationship and brought the people home to himself.   

The boundaries have been established.  God will love and protect his people no matter what the cost and in return the people will love and respect God and live in his ways. 

But the boundaries also include grace and mercy, for when the people fail to keep the covenant and stray to follow their own way, God waits with patient mercy to receive them when they come back.  He will continue to carry them on Eagle’s wings until they come back into the nest.   

The Covenant, also known as the 10 Commandments is not about controlling and punishing the people, it is about providing a relationship of protection, guidance and safety.  These are rules meant to keep the people safe.  If the people stray, then God looks for his treasure.  Therefore, these rules are the source of our greatest joy.  The source of redemption and grace and the ability to soar with God.   

This is why the second part of the promise is very important.  God promises that his people will be a holy nation.   The relationship we have with God is that he will make us holy, and that we will live holy lives.  That is what the covenant will make possible, for us to live holy lives, filled with the grace and mercy of God and through which God’s grace and mercy will be seen by the world.   

More than that, this covenant will nurture our relationship with God as day by day; and year by year we learn more about his grace and mercy and grow in our ability to trust him and serve him.   

We hear his voice.  We listen. 

We learn to listen for his voice, and we obey. 

We obey and we learn about the full grace available to us in the covenant. 

In that grace we become a holy nation, a royal priesthood, the children of God.  The beloved who soar on wings like Eagles.   

Glory be to God, we are his forever.  Amen 

 

Hymn:  440 For all the love

Online: Lord for the years

Offering and Offertory
Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer 

 

We thank you O God, that we live securely in your touch:  the touch of love,
the touch of healing, the touch of compassion, the touch of reassurance,
the touch that says you lift us up in your mercy, and guide us with the power of your Spirit.  It's all in that touch through which you lift us up to the heights, Holy One.  On wings like eagles you enable us to soar with the possibilities of revolution, of transformation both within our own souls and within this world which needs so much care. 

Hear the prayers we bring today, that your world will be revitalized and transformed, and that your mercy may be known in every life.  

 

Joys 

Concerns 

Victims of Bus accident in MB/first responders
Victims of Buss accident in Prince George
Victims of a refugee boat near Greece 

Fires 

 

 

 

We need your strength to not grow weary as we continue to hope for new life amidst old attitudes and injuries.   

We long to run and not grow faint as we work for your compassion and wholeness for all people, and all creatures, and the very earth. 

Lift us up to the heights, Holy One, so we may again catch a glimpse of the vast possibilities of your Grace even as we pray for it here on earth.  We lift our voices now, praying as Jesus taught us, saying,  

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive your debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever.  Amen 

 

 

Hymn:  472 We are God’s people

 

Charge and Benediction 

May you run and not be weary.
May you rise up on the wings of eagles.
May you know without doubt
that the everlasting God goes with you! 

Sung Blessing  

575 Lead me Lord

Lead me Lord, lead me in your righteousness
Make your way plain before my face
for it is you, and you, God only
who makes me to dwell in safety
Public Domain
Three Fold Amen