Oct 29, 2023 

Prelude
Lighting the Christ Candle

 

Welcome and Announcements 

Nov 5  Monthly potluck
Dec 7 Advent Communion
Dec 24 11 am, Christmas Eve Service 

Called to Worship:
In every generation, the people of God have been blessed to find their home and resting place in God!
We gather to worship and praise the God of all people.
All creation since time began, have been blessed
to find that the place of their birth is their Creator’s hands.
We gather to worship the God of all creation.
We gather to worship and praise our God, and to
ask God to fill us with the joy of your unfailing love.
May the favour and blessing of God be upon us this day. Amen. 

Hymn:  313 O Worship the King

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Eternal God, we praise you for the wondrous, precious gift of life.  We are aware of how time slips through our fingers, yet we embrace the gift of eternity.  Help us to perceive your unseen hand in the unfolding of our lives, and to attend to the gentle guidance of your Spirit, that we may know the joy you give your people.  In this time of worship, we await the touch of your Spirit with eagerness that we may be renewed and restored with your purpose and your eagerness.  Restore us we pray as we make our confession before you…. 

Prayer of Confession:  Unison 

Everlasting God, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.  Since the creation of the world, you have nurtured us with your love.  And yet we shamefully acknowledge
that we do not always share your love with others.  We turn away from those who are different or whose actions are challenging.  Loving God, teach us to love you more fully.
For in loving you, our lives will show love to all others, even as your love encompasses all your creation, in all generations.  We pray in the name of your greatest gift of love,
Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon 

God’s love has been poured over us to heal and nourish our thirsting spirits. We have been forgiven and restored, and we are filled anew with the joy that God brings us.   Thanks be to God for all God’s mercies shown continually to each one of us. 

The Peace
Passing the Peace 

Hymn:  307  God of the Sparrow

 

Scripture:

Psalm 90: 1-17  p 929 

Sermon:  Satisfied in his unfailing love 

Psalm 90 is what is known as a wisdom Psalm, where we look at the reality of the circumstances of our lives, and trust in the mercies and grace of God to be the source of our satisfaction and joy.   

This is not a lament, because laments are a complaint against God, and has underlying tones of anger that is expressed in the midst of the difficult times.  This psalm has underlying tones of confidence in God, confidence that has been learned as God has proven his mercy during the toil and trouble of the past.   

 

The scholars seem to be divided about this psalm having been written by Moses, or prophets who have witnessed the return of the people from exile.  In either case there is an honest account of the difficulty of the people in the passage of time.  This is a psalm of confidence and wisdom because the author looks back on the problems encountered in the journey of life as a part of his confession of faith. 

Yes, we came out of the wilderness with all of its dangers.  Yes, we have endured the shame and loneliness of exile.  Yet we also know that God inhabits all of time, even the difficult days when we cannot seem to find him. 

 

There is in this Psalm what some have called the enduring mystery of Scripture which explores the relationship of a sovereign God with his sinful people, and the abundance of grace and mercy that result.   

We recall that none of us, ever, get what we deserve.  God always relents, and we are given compassion and unfailing love.  The wisdom comes by keeping our eyes on what God is already doing among us.  

 

For that reason, what the Psalmist is writing is known as a statement of faith.  The statements of faith that point to the mystery of grace and mercy are prominent in this psalm. 

1 You have been our dwelling place. 

How often in our journey through difficult days do we stop to reflect that God is our home?   

I think of the account of Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat, as the disciples fear that the ship will sink in the storm. 

We know that kind of faith, and when we display it, it makes people wonder about how much we are in touch of reality.  Yet we know that it isn’t that we don’t understand our reality, it is about that we know our God, and we have confidence that he will bring us through it.   

 

 

 

2 from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

When we trust in God bringing us through life, we do so because we know that the span of our human existence on earth, is merely a blip in time.  God views us from the point of view of his eternity.  God who knew us before we were born, and who knows us now, will also know us in the centuries and millennia yet to come.   Not only is he God from eternity to eternity, he is our God from eternity to eternity.   

 

 

3 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan. 

That doesn’t really sound like a confession of faith, and yet….We do not shy away from the depth of God’s knowledge of who we are.  We acknowledge our pain that he knows our deepest failing.  WE know that we deserve his wrath and in our prayer we mourn.  Our pain pours out of us with moaning and groaning.  In that moment, we are bold to come before God.  We come with confidence, not in our own goodness, but in, and only in, God’s mercy.   

 

4 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 

This is the substance of our prayer.  That we may gain a heart of wisdom.  That we will learn more about ourselves and about God in the difficulties we encounter.  When we dwell in the mercy of God, then we can see the temporary pain and sorrow in a different way.  The eyes of faith direct our thoughts and our footsteps so that we trust in our encounter with God along the way.   

One of the truths that I often acknowledge in my own journey through life is that “none of us, gets out of this life unscathed”.   

We know sorrow.  

We know grief. 

We have difficult days. 

We make mistakes, some of them huge! 

We know illness. 

WE know despair. 

 

Into this truth, we hear the words of this psalm, which the commentator McCann says shows that, “daily dependance on God is capable of transforming the human perception and experience of the passage of time as something other than an oppressive reality to be endured.”   

 

And the truth is that we know that, even as we grit our teeth and endure until we find solid footing again.   

The psalmist reminds us that God hears our prayers at all times. 

That prayer is simply this:     

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,  that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. 

This is the 5th part of our confession of faith, when we say that God satisfies us with his unfailing love.  We need nothing else. 

Just as sunshine comes with the dawn, we are reminded that the “morning” will bring the fulfilling and joyful experience of God’s love. 

 

More importantly we will find joy and fulfillment and purpose.  Our lives point back to our relationship with God and our participation in his work.  This is our hope and our good news.   

In that hope we gain wisdom, and we are satisfied with a wise heart.  We are satisfied in the steadfast love from God in the dark days as much as in the joy-filled days. 

In our joy we join hands with God and the works of our hands prosper and we see that we can and do make a lasting difference, because God blesses our labour.   

When we see and understand all this, we arrive at the good news that the hope of the world is grounded in God’s compassion and steadfast love.   

From everlasting to everlasting we are the beloved of God, we dwell in his presence and he directs our footsteps and the work of our hands.   

We belong to the God of mercy and we are richly satisfied in that relationship.  There is nothing more that we need.  Nothing.   

Amen 

 

 

 

Hymn:  321 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

 

Offering and Offertory
Doxology 830

Offertory Prayer 

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

In the midst of frightening times when words of war soar to the heavens and anger seems to be the way to treat others and to respond to difficulty, be with us, merciful God. We seek your peace and healing love. Help us to see the signs of your activity in the world, among your church, and in our hearts. We praise and thank you that whenever we turn to you we are restored in your grace and mercy and that your love flows in us and through us.   

In that love, we ask you to hear the prayers we bring you this day. 

We give thanks for your grace and mercy: 

 

With hope for the healing you will bring among us, we pray for:  

 

 

With confidence in your care for the hurting world, we pray for:  

 The people of Maine
the people affected by Hurricane Otis 

 

The people of Israel, and Palestine; all the middle East
The people of Ukraine and the leaders of Russia and Ukraine 

 

We are indeed grateful that in the midst of darkness your light of joy abounds in our hearts and in our prayers.  We pray in confidence as Jesus has 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 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:  663 God whose giving knows no ending

 

Charge and Benediction 

The way is long, let us go together
The way is difficult, let us help each other
The way is joyful, let us share it
The is Christ’s for Christ is the Way, let us follow
The way is open before us, let us go; 

With the love of God 

The grace of Jesus Christ 

The power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen 

 

Sung Blessing  Go now in Peace.