ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH, ORDER OF WORSHIP
August 21, 2022

Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements:

St Andrew’s welcomes you to this online service prepared by Rev. Ena van Zoeren. We pray that you may be blessed by God and nurtured for the week to come, that you may be fruitful in the Lord.

Called to Worship:
Life-giving God, heal our lives,
that we may acknowledge your wonderful mercy
Life-giving God, feed our faith, that our lives would bear fruit
Life-altering God prune our dead branches, that our faith may
grow ever more abundant
Life-altering God, feed us with your Word, that we may know
and hear your call to growth.

Hymn: 472 We are God’s people

Prayer of Adoration
Holy God, shine your light into our lives, and we will call upon
your name!
Loving Christ, turn your face toward us, that we may be saved!
Holy Spirit, restore us in your grace, that we may be blessed to
grow as your people in this world.
O God, holy Trinity, Lord of the vineyard, we ask for your presence
and your guidance. In your holy wisdom, tend the vines of our
hearts. As we gather in worship, teach us, we pray, your
righteousness, that our lives may flower with justice.
This day we acknowledge that we come as wild grapes,
yearning to grow fruitful in your love. Hear us now as we confess
the wilderness of our souls:
Unison Prayer of Confession:
Creator God, you call us to love and serve you
with body, mind, and spirit through loving your creation and
our sisters and brothers as you have loved us..
We confess that we have not loved you as we ought, nor have
we loved your people with the fullness of love you have given
to us.
Open our hearts in compassion as you forgive us that we may
more fully embrace your calling upon our lives. In Jesus
name we pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Be assured that God’s love is sufficient.
In the warmth of the sun, the fertility of the soil,
and the refreshment of life-giving water,
we have been given all that we need.
God hears our cries, and comes to save us.
Through Christ we may lay aside our sins;
through Christ, we know we are safe.

The Peace
May the Peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you….

Hymn: 763 To show by touch and word

Scripture Lessons:
Isaiah 5: 1-7
Luke 13: 6-9

Sermon: The Parable of the Fig Tree
So little tree, here we are again. I know that you have
dreaded my every appearance. You have endured with
pain everything that I have done for you. But today is the
last time, I promise, I just have to take these last few
wrappings off and then you will be ready for a fresh start.
That’s what this has been all about. A fresh start, Grace
and Redemption.
It all began when the master came to me and
said, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for
fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it
down! Why should it use up the soil?’ NIV
He sounded so much like the prophet Isaiah, proclaiming
that God would destroy Israel because they didn’t bear the
proper fruit. You see, little tree, we are all called to bear
fruit, that is what our Master looks for. When we don’t
bear the fruit we are called to bear, he gets angry. With no
fruit, we are all unable to fulfill the purpose for which we
were created.
Fortunately for all of us, the Master, even when angry, is
still merciful. His greatest gifts to us are mercy and grace.
Fortunately, the Master agreed to give that mercy to you
as well. That’s why I have been coming these past
months, to help you grow in that grace so that you will
once again bear fruit.
I left the Master that day and came to have a good
look at what had been happening with you.
You were a magnificent looking tree. Tall, straight, with
lots of branches and many leaves. You cast a shadow that
families loved to gather under for picnics and where
workers loved to rest in the coolness of your shade. I
know you were proud of these accomplishments and that
you liked the praise that people gave to you; but what you
didn’t realize was that by putting all of your effort into
growing into a tree that cast a big shadow, you were
denying the purpose for which you were created. You
were not bearing any fruit.
So I started with a good pruning. I took off a lot of
your height, because if fruit did grow there it would not be
accessible for people to pick and that would be a waste.
Then as it rotted it would fall to the ground and germinate
starting new trees at your base which would take up the
nutrients that you needed. Yet, I know how proud you
were about your stature, and how much you hated
becoming a little tree, but it was important, but as you see
it was important.
Then I went in and removed a lot of branches. Some
were damaged and that was an easy choice, but you had
such an overabundance of branches and so many leaves
that it prevented the sun from shining its warmth on you
and helping the nutrients to flow to ripen any fruit you did
have on your branches.
I know you looked so scraggly and sad when I was
done. People came by and commented. They complained
that your shade was gone, they said you looked funny and
maybe deformed. Young lovers who celebrated their
betrothal under your limbs stopped coming.
It was hard on you to hear those complaints and the
insults from those who had previously praised you. It was
hard on you to hear those same praises being given to
another tree. It was hard on you to be neglected by
children who used to play in your branches. It was hard to
see the picnicking crowds sit under the other trees. It is so
hard to let go of wanting the praise of the crowds and to
look only for the praise of your Master. We need to
remember, little tree, that the Master looks for fruit, and
when we produce the right fruit, we are honoured by him.
So I left you to lick your wounds; but that didn’t mean
that I was done.
A few days later I came back with a shovel and I dug
around your roots. I loosened the soil. I removed the
suckers that had started to grow at your base. They were
taking energy from you, energy that you will need to bear
fruit. The important thing in all that I did was your
ultimate growth.
And again, I left you to lick your wounds; but that
didn’t mean that I was done.
A few days later I came back with a cart full of camel
dung, which I spread liberally all around your base. After a
good digging in and liberal watering I again left you to
allow those nutrients to soak into the ground that I had
prepared.
Again, you bore the insults of those who had
previously praised you. The youth were especially blunt in
the insults they hurled at you. And a lot of what they said
was true, you did stink to high heaven. Please remember
that my purpose wasn’t to hurt you, but rather to ensure
that you had more of the right food and nutrients to bring
good solid growth that would ultimately benefit you. And
yes, I still wasn’t done.
I came back a few more times with more camel dung.
I know you didn’t appreciate it at all, but for your own
good I came back again and again and spread that dung
all around the base of your trunk. Again, you endured the
complaints about the smell. But for me that smell was the
fragrance of health. Your denuded limbs were the sight of
you opening up to the grace of the Master and the turned
dirt at your base the sign of a new lease on life that would
be possible for you.
I left you to stretch your limbs in the sun, and to
absorb the strength and nutrients from the rain and the
camel dung. That must have felt like a lonely time for you.
Even though you didn’t like me coming by, I was the only
one who spoke kindly to you in those days of painful
growth.
I know you didn’t like being called little tree, it
seemed like an insult. It’s not you know. It’s a sign of the
Master’s care and concern, who loves the least of these in
a very special way. You became less than that big, tall,
strong, proud and useless tree in order to know the love
and care of the Master in a special way.
A few months ago, there was an unusual cold snap, I
came and bound you up with a warm wrapping. I wanted
your newly cut limbs to feel warm in spite of the cold and
cutting winds.
Again, you endured the harsh comments and complaints
of the people. Hopefully by now you have realized that
what people say matters less than what the Master says.
So little tree, today is a special day. When I take off these
wrappings, I will leave you to luxuriate in the coming of
spring. I have prepared you for this season, where the
coming warmth will cause buds to grow and blossoms to
flourish. Soon the bees will come and when they come it
is possible that everything could change for you.
I have pruned you.
I have loosened your soil.
I have fertilized you.
I have protected you from harsh weather.
Little tree I have done everything that I could. The rest is
up to you.

Hymn: 491 God bless your church with strength

Offering
Doxology
Offertory Prayer

Loving Gardener,
we offer ourselves, our lives and our wealth into your nurturing
hands. Receive the devotions of our labors, the fruits of our vines,
and all that we are and know, that we may make a difference:
in our homes, in our communities, and in our world.
Receive these sacrifices, as a pledge to live our beliefs,
through Jesus Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
God of all blessings, source of all life, giver of all grace:
We thank you for the gift of life: for the breath that sustains life,
for the food of this earth that nurtures life, for the love of family
and friends which make our lives rich, most of all we thank you for
your Word given in Scripture and fulfilled in Jesus, without which
there would be no life.
We thank you for the mystery of creation: for the beauty that the
eye can see, for the joy that the ear may hear, for the unknown
that we cannot behold filling the universe with wonder, for the
expanse of space that draws us beyond the definitions of our
selves. WE hold that world before you, as it is ravaged by fire,
floods, earthquakes and other disasters. Bring your healing touch
not just to the earth, but to all its inhabitants.
Lord God, friend of those in need, your Son Jesus has untied our
burdens and healed our spirits. We lift up the prayers of our
hearts for those still burdened, those seeking healing, those in
need within the church and the world.
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We thank you for this day:
for your promise: to be with us,
to be our God, and to give us the joy of your salvation.
In that joy we pray now 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 for give 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 forever.
Amen

Hymn: 646 Lead me Jesus, I will follow

Charge and Benediction
Go forth into the world,
singing a love-song in the vineyard of life.
Remember the Gardner who nurtures your faith
and provides for your needs.
Grow into the promise of Christ,
secure in the knowledge that you are loved.
And may the grace, peace, love and mercy of God, fill your whole
being, now and forever, Amen.

Sung Blessing

Take O take me as I am; Summon out what I shall be;
Set your seal upon my heart and live in me. (2x