March 19, 2023  Lent 4 

Welcome and Announcements 

Called to Worship: #460 in the hymnbook

Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve,

to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not heed the wounds,

to toil and not seek for rest, to labour and not ask for any reward,

except for that of knowing that we do your will,

through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Hymn:  467 Praise my soul the God who crowns you

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Mighty God, to you belong the mysteries of the universe.  You transform unlikely shepherds into kings, the smallest seeds into magnificent trees and hardened hearts into loving ones.  You call us and equip us and fill us with your heart. 

Bless us with your life-giving Spirit, re-create us in your image, and shape us to your purposes, that we may be the people of your heart, and have a heart for what you desire.  We pray in Jesus name. Amen. 

 

Unison Prayer of Confession: 

Healing God, we are lost in our blindness. WE fail to look and see in others what you see in them. We have chosen to hide in darkness in order to avoid reaching out and risking acceptance. We are afraid of the light, and yet we crave it. In your light, there is healing and hope, restoration and transformation. Forgive our lack of faith and our fearfulness, O Lord. Give us courage to reach out to the light and accept its healing rays. May our lives be transformed by your mercy, for we pray this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
 

 

Assurance of Pardon 

In the light of God, all is made clear. We see how much God loves us and how much God loves all people. We see Christ, the Light of the World, in Scripture and in our lives; and although we once were blind, now we see! 

We are forgiven and set free to be all that God has created us to be.
 

The Peace
Sharing the Peace 

 

Hymn:  194 Come let us to the Lord our God 

Scripture Lessons:

1 Samuel 16: 1-13 

Sermon:  Chosen of the Lord 

When Israel wanted a king, God initially warned the people that they would not be happy.  But they persisted.  God relented and in time Saul was anointed King in Israel.   

Things were good for a while, and then Saul started showing the signs of being a person who enjoyed the power, and often used that power for ill.  The people were unhappy. 

The rules in society mandated that the next King would be the eldest son of the current King.  That meant that at Saul’s death, his son Jonathan would become King.   

But we have noticed as we explored God’s word, that God does not always do things in the expected ways.  God sought a different kind of king for the people.  God sought to make all things new in the kingdom. 

Making all things new is the way in which God reasserts his blessing on the people… and in this case that meant a new king, from a new family. 

So Samuel is sent out to anoint a new king.  He goes with great trepidation, because if Saul knew about it he would certainly have had Samuel killed. 

God relieves Samuel’s fears and tells him to announce a sacrifice and feast and to invite the household of Jesse.   

At the appointed day and time, the family and the community gathered and Samuel begans the process of singling out the son of Jesse who would be the next king. 

First, Samuel chose the oldest son.  Eliab was tall, strong and handsome. Samuel thought that he had surely found the one.  God however had other plans.  He advised Samuel not to look at the outward appearance.  God announced that he looked at the heart.  After all the evil of Saul’s heart, was the reason he could no longer serve, so God was looking for the one whose heart was soft, kind, and who would serve with loyalty, faithfulness and justice.   

The commentator Bratt points out that God is looking for a King that would know how to weep and pray with his people.  A King who cared about their lives and struggles.  God wanted a person who had a passion for justice and a heart for the lost. 

It is no wonder then, that God places an emphasis on a good heart.  This is a judgement that provides both security and challenge, in choosing a king and in choosing the servants God calls in his church. 

There is security because God sees us as we truly are.  God knows and appreciates our good intentions and the love that motivates our labour.  God knows sometimes things will come out wrong, but he will redeem the work of our hearts. 

There is also challenge for the one whom God chooses, and that is that we will need to know God and follow him closely in order to stand in judgement with God’s heart and God’s insight.   

Samuel was about to get a lesson on judging a person with God’s heart and insight. 

Not the oldest.  Not the tallest.  Not the strongest.  Not the most handsome.  Who then was the chosen one? 

The rest of Jesse’s sons who were present came one by one before Samuel.  Abinadab, followed by Shammah, and then 4 others who were not even important enough to be named.  None of them was the one God had chosen. 

Frustrated Samuel asked Jesse if he had others sons. 

Yes, the youngest, said Jesse, he is off tending the sheep.  

Do you sense the surprise in Jesse?   His oldest, strongest sons had been rejected and now Samuel wanted to see the sheep herder. 

The Lord God certainly does things in startling ways. 

A sheep herder.  A shepherd.  Someone not considered as one of the elite in society.  Shepherds had a reputation for being rough, and dishonest.  Shepherds were known for having a questionable moral compass. 

Yet Samuel tells Jesse to send for his youngest son, as the feast could not begin before he was present.   Would we have had the confidence, the patience or the courage to do the same? 

This is such an example of Samuel’s complete confidence in God.  He brings everything to a halt, until the chosen one comes.  How many of us would have doubted ourselves, or wondered if we had heard God properly.   In the absence of any more sons, we must have missed something.  Here Samuel halted everything, while another shepherd was sent out, and David brought in, cleaned up and brought to the location of the sacrifice and feast.   

When the youngest son arrives, we read a description of him.  Small of stature, glowing with health, and a fine appearance.  GLOWING WITH HEALTH. 

Can that statement also be taken in another way.  We all know people who have an inner glow that speaks to the peace, love and confidence they have.  Did the younger son glow from a heart that sought God as much as from physical health? 

This son of Jesse is also described as having beautiful eyes and easy to look at.  These are not usually qualities associated with male leadership who are usually tall, strong, decisive, and very much in control. 

This young boy, as we will see, has different qualities.  He will overcome a giant with 5 small pebbles.  Hardly seems qualified.  Yet we have seen God chose the least qualified before.   Moses stutters and has blood on his hands.  Ehud was left handed.  Deborah was a woman.  Jephthah was the son of a prostitute.  God it seems, choses those who are overlooked and deemed unworthy. 

When Samuel sees him, the lad is brought to him and is anointed with the sanctified oil.  Then the Scripture says, “and the Lord came powerfully upon David.” 

Did you note this is the first time we learn the name of the youngest son?  His name was not as important as was the suitability of his heart.   

We should not be surprised by the way that God acts, and about whom he chooses to do his work.  God has always worked in the most unexpected ways and through the least likely of all people. 

We saw it in leaders throughout the ages and when we look back into David’s family tree we see this played out again and again.   Jacob over Esau.  Rachel over Leah.  Joseph over his older brothers.  When we read the family tree of Jesus, on both the male and the female side, we see a host of the most unlikely people.  Clearly God’s criteria for suitability is not what we think it should be.   

In the case of David, the things we subsequently learn about him, do not inspire us with confidence.  Already identified as an unsavory shepherd we learn in 1 Samuel 22 that he was a leader who was looked up to by the rabble rousers, the malcontents and the disenfranchised.  He was favoured by those in distress and those in debt and those who were discontented.   

We can see that he was judged for the company he kept, just as Jesus was judged for associating with sinners, tax collectors and women of ill-repute.   

The commentator Classens writes, “here on the fringes of society is the next leader of Judah to be found—a worthy predecessor for the Messiah who will be born in a manger and whose first visitors are the shepherds who were outside in the field.” 

God always seems to be making the point that the one he chooses is the one that the people would judge to be unworthy.  When Isaiah prophecies about the Messiah he describes a suffering servant, a bruised reed and a dimly burning wick.  Not a glowing description of a Messiah. 

The fact that these unlikely choices happen again and again shows us that God’s power is revealed through those who are vulnerable leaders.  But also that this vulnerability is the source of their strength, because they rely wholly on God.   

This is good news for us.  The journey through Lent challenges us to look at leadership in new ways.  On Wednesday I listened to an online lecture at the Centre for Missional Leadership.   

It was clear that the leader is not that a perfect person, but that they are perfectly aligned with God  In the lecture last week we were told that a leader needs to be a servant who is authentically connected with God, and thus will in turn bring about a transformation.  Like Moses and the people in the desert.  Like the way in David was a king after God’s heart.  Like Jesus was a leader who died for his people.   

The goal is to serve God heart and soul and body.  The goal is to serve God’s people heart and soul and body.  The goal is to spend and to be spent.   

Those who are called in leadership will not make any sense to the world.  But they will make sense to God who sees what no one else sees.  They will make sense to those with whom they serve as the love of God is revealed through them again and again.   

When that comes together then the leadership will be visionary. 

The story of God’s salvation is bigger than we can know.  It has been revealed through unlikely people through the ages, reaches its pinnacle in Jesus and continues through the Holy Spirit who rules in each of our hearts. 

We have all been anointed, and the Holy Spirit is powerfully working among us.  That is something that brings each of us great joy. 

Praise be to God.  Amen.  

 

Tenebrae Liturgy  see insert 

 

Hymn:  585 Christ you call us all to service

 

Offering
Doxology

Offertory Prayer 

We give you thanks for guiding us to this place: where we may rest inside the bounty of your grace, where we are filled with the good gifts of your goodness and mercy.  We offer you these gifts, that you might bless them and send them out into every part of your world  in need of your light. Amen. 

 

 

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

O God,  your love is boundless and reaches into the unknown and distant places of the earth.  You choose the unlikely to be your servants.  You have chosen us to be your servants.  We are humbled by the trust you place in us, and we seek to be equal to the calling. 

We praise you that your love is intimate, you know us well, and you touch the hidden fears in our lives and bring peace, hope and healing.  You touch the joy in our lives and multiply it with the joy of your presence.  We sing your praises. 

We thank you that your love is present here in the praying and caring of this community of your people.  Thus we have confidence to pray before you, bring both joys and concerns. 

JOYS 

CONCERNS 

THE WORLD AND PEOPLE THAT YOU LOVE 

We pray for the people of Edmonton and all those who grieve for the police officers killed executing their duties.  Comfort all who mourn, and be with all the first responders as they continue to give their all in the work they do.  

We pray for the people of Brazil and Peru recovering from landslides.  Aid them in the rebuilding.   

And for the people of California following unprecedented flooding following an atmospheric river.  Help them to rebuild.  

We pray for those recovering from flooding following Cyclone Freddy in Mozambique and Malawi.  We pray for rebuilding, but also for treatment for the cholera that has followed the floods 

We pray for the town in Quebec grieving after a truck plowed down pedestrians in the street.  Surround them all with comfort.   

Today we thank you for hearing our prayers and assuring us that your ways of love and mercy are still surprising, and working in and among us in unexpected ways.  We thank you that you have called us, anointed us in the Spirit and works through the love that we share.  We praise you in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray 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 our debts as we forgive our 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:  204 Thou didst leave thy throne

 

 

Charge in Unison: 

Go forth from this place with hearts open to God.  Weep and pray with those whom you meet.  Live with a passion for justice and a deep compassion for the lost.  Know that God will be with you in all that you do in his name.   

Benediction 

May Grace, Peace, and Mercy from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be with you forevermore.  Amen 

 

 

Sung Blessing

Go now in peace