Video: “Wonderfully Made”
Songs of Response: How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art;
Because of Your Love
Intro to Baptism/Profession of Faith
Baptism/Professions of Faith
Songs of Response: Grace Flows Down; Be the Centre
Offering/Offertory: Video: “I Believe”
Prayers of the People
Scripture: James 2:1-26
Message: Street Faith: Don’t Get Taken in By Looks
Song of Response: Multiply Your Love
Blessing
Song of Praise: How Great is Our God (Chorus)

Beauty surrounds me
Beauty confounds me
So I drink it all in

To all those who came before me
And those who were before them
They all are behind us
And memory reminds us
Of why we are who we are

Our opening video (Wonderfully Made) is both a homage to fathers (Sunday being Father’s Day) and an introduction to the professions of faith that will happen later in the service. As we reflect on “…why we are who we are”, we are moved to respond “…how great is our God! We continue with a reminder of Christ’s great love: “…because of your love, we’re forgiven; because of your love, our hearts are clean; we lift you up with songs of freedom; forever we’re changed because of your love”.

It is our privilege this week to witness several individuals take an important step in their faith journey through baptism and profession of faith at our 11:00am service. It is our joy to join them in this simple song of praise:

“Amazing grace how sweet the sound
Amazing love now flowing down
From hands and feet that we’re nailed to the tree
As grace flows down and covers me”

As we hear the professions of faith and are reminded of our own promises, we join together with a song that invites Jesus to “…be our centre, our source, our light, our hope, our song, our vision, our path, our guide – the reason that we live”.

Our sermon text reminds us that “…we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone”. (James 2:24), and so we respond with a song that reflects our desire to see Jesus’ love multiplied through our actions: “…through our simple words and deeds, let love be multiplied”. Following God’s blessing we end as we began, with the declaration “…how great is our God!”

This project “Street Faith” was inspired by a challenge. Visuals for church were needed for a sermon series called “Street Faith”. I researched graffiti art on the internet and I found much of it is hard to read. Letters are scrunched together and behind them were blasts of colour. This is the first time I have ever created art using spray paint, and I have never worked this large before.

There ended up being symbolism within this piece, and sometimes it was a surprise. As planned, the words ‘believe’ and ‘persevere’ form the shape of a cross. Many times there are arrows placed randomly in graffiti. I guess this red arrow could show that we move forward in life as we believe and persevere; the red symbolizing Christ’s life/death for us. The cityscape adds a sense of balance to the piece. The city represents the place where ‘street faith’ takes place.

My name is Eric and I am a grade 12 student graduating this year. I am an artist who loves to go past the boundaries and explore new ideas in many ways. I enjoy working independently while creating my pieces. After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in the art industry. My family is a clear example of where I get my influence to create my art.

No matter how hard we try to imitate life through art work, life will always be a more artistic piece. The life of an artist is one big piece of art even when we are not creating. God has given me the gift of my artistic ability so that I can express my life through art and express my art through life. As an artist I believe that I am able to appreciate what God has given to me even more through the creations He has made. As his artwork I am able to create pieces to show just a small fraction of how much I appreciate the life He has given to me.

Gathering Song: Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
Call to Worship: Psalm 91:1-4
Song of Praise: Faithful One
Reading: Psalm 15
Song of Response: For the Beauty of the Earth
Prayers of the People:
Offering/Offertory: Father of Lights
Scripture: James 1:2-27
Message: Street Faith: Not Every Test is A Temptation
Song of Response: None Other
Intro to Communion
Communion/Communion Song: Better is One Day
Blessing:
The Doxology

“…praise is rising, eyes are turning to you; we turn to you;
hope is stirring, hearts are yearning for you; we long for you”.

We begin with a song that welcomes “…the God who saves us”; the God present with us and ends with this invitation: “…come have your way among us; we welcome you here Lord Jesus”. Words from Psalm 51 continue to help us reflect and rejoice in God’s salvation and we respond with a song of gratitude to the Faithful One: “Lord of all I depend on you; I call out to you again and again; you are my rock in times of trouble; you lift me up when I fall down; all through the storm your love is the anchor; my hope is in you alone”.

Psalm 15 asks: “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” and answers: “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right…” As we fall far short of that standard, truly our hope is in God alone and the salvation provided through his son, Jesus Christ. Our response? Confession. Humility. Gratitude. In For the Beauty of the Earth we thank God for his many wonderful gifts and particularly “…for yourself best gift divine; to the world so freely given; agent of God’s grand design: peace on earth and joy in heaven”. Gratitude continues with the giving of our money gifts and we acknowledge that “…every good and perfect gift comes from you” – a contemporary song setting of James 1:17 (Father of Lights).

In response to the message from James 1 (Not Every Test is A Temptation) we remember: “…O Lord, I am weak, but in you I am strong”, and make a commitment: “…I will be faithful, I will be true”. We rejoice in our salvation through celebration of the sacrament of communion and make the joyful declaration: “…better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere”. God’s blessing provokes this response: “…praise God, from whom ALL blessings flow – Amen!”

Welcome/God’s Greeting
Gathering Song: Holy, Holy
Invocation: Based on Psalm 126
Songs of Praise: Bless His Name; Meet With Me
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-25
Song of Praise: Forever
Cadet Report/Cadet Camp Video
Prayers of the People
Offering/Offertory: With Grateful Heart My Thanks I Bring
Scripture: Matthew 3:1-6; John 3:23-30
Message: John, Our Model???
Song of Response: Be Unto Your Name
Blessing:
Song of Praise: Be Unto Your Name (Reprise)

We open our service with God’s words of greeting, “Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come” and sing our response “…holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Lift up his name with the sound of singing… for he is worthy to be praised”.

Psalm 126:3 says “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Our invocation (or invitation) is based on those words, and our longings for God’s presence are reflected in the spoken response, “Come quickly, Lord”. The invocation is also an acknowledgement that God is present and this is joyfully reflected in Bless His Name: “…Lord, we come to meet with you again; to worship with one voice in adoration; you deserve our every praise that echoes in this place, you’re the worthy one; so come let us sing for joy, let us shout aloud to our King; come let us worship God, lifting holy hands, bless his name” and in Meet With Me: “…as I wait, you make me strong; as I long, draw me to your arms, as I stand and sing your praise, you come, you come and you fill this place”.

We continue with the Paul’s advice for holy living from the book of 1 Thessalonians: “Always be joyful; Never stop praying; Be thankful in all circumstances; Do not stifle the Holy Spirit; Do not scoff at prophecies; Hold on to what is good; Stay away from every kind of evil” and we realize again that we are not holy and that we will fail, but that God is faithful. Forever reminds us that “…by the grace of God we will carry on” and so we praise him: “…forever God is faithful; forever God is strong; forever God is with us, forever”. We hear how God has been faithful in the lives of the Cadet boys and their leaders and praise and thank him for blessing that ministry. A spirit of gratitude continues as we worship by giving our money gifts and with the words of With Grateful Heart: “…With grateful heart my thanks I bring; before the great your praise I sing… the work you have for me begun; shall by your grace be fully done; your love forever will endure; your mercy, Lord, is every sure”.

In the book of John (3:30) he says, “He (Christ) must become greater; I must become less and so we close with Be Unto Your Name which reminds us who he is and who we are: “…we are moment, you are forever; we are a vapour, you are eternal; we are the broken, you are the healer” and we again respond the only way we can - with praise and worship: “…holy, holy Lord God Almighty; worthy is the Lamb who was slain; highest praises, honour and glory be unto your name”.

Seasons of Life in Christ: Autumn - 1 John 3:11-24

Speaker: Ken Boonstra

Pentecost, like autumn, is a season of harvest. The Holy Spirit produces in us a harvest of the fruit of love.

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