Genesis Too Service 2016
Processional Anthem: Best Day of My Life
Call to worship
MAX:
ALL:
MAX:
ALL
God, you call us together
to sing together
to pray together
to share together
to journey together
God, open our hearts and minds
Give us the courage we need to make a holy place in our lives just for
you;
a place where can sing, pray, share and journey with our whole heart
and our whole mind
And go into the world changed for the better.
Amen.
MAX: Please join in the singing of Hymn number 62 in More Voices, There is room
for all
Hymn : MV62 There is Room For All
Scripture
CAIRO: Our service today is about learning to face your fears. It is not hard to
find stories and sayings about fear and worry in the Bible. Just listen:
MOLLY: A Reading from Jonah.
The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the
great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its
wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He
went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.
After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to
flee from the Lord.
EMILY W: A reading from Luke
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the
people.
MAX: A reading from Matthew
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the
birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns,
and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much
more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add
a single hour to your life?
EMILY A: A reading from Acts
3 As Saul neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from
heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a
voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get
up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
CAIRO: May God bless to our understanding these readings
from the Holy Word
All: Thanks be to God
Anthem: Yes Lord.
Intro:
GRACE: In our scripture readings today, we heard stories about people in the
Bible who were afraid, and we heard advice from Jesus not to worry about things
you cannot control. Jonah was afraid that if he did what God wanted him to do,
something bad was going to happen. Saul was so afraid he fell on the ground
trembling. Fear and worry are basic human emotions that can help us by keeping us
from putting ourselves in danger, but they can also keep us from achieving our
goals, from learning new things, and from leading a full and abundant life.
Here are some of the things that members of our choir said they were either afraid
of or worried about in their lives. See if any of them seem familiar to you.
MADDIE M: I’m afraid of spiders and bugs
CARLEY; I’m afraid of Inoculations
ABIGALE: I’m afraid of My house burning down when I am asleep
NADIA: I’m worried about Terrorism
GILLIAN: I’m worried about Natural disasters like earthquakes, and global
warming
WHO?/LUCY: I’m afraid of Being alone
WHO?/SIOBHAN I’m afraid of Being separated from my family
TAYA: I’m afraid of Clowns
DAVID: I’m worried about Bad skiing conditions
GRACE: Some of those are very serious subjects. To make talking about facing
our fears a little more fun and a little less serious, we are going to use our
imaginations. In this morning’s service, we would like to use the metaphor of a train
to think about how our fears affect our personal lives, and our church lives, and
maybe even come up with some ideas about how we can do what God wants us to
do even when we are feeling afraid. Maybe we’ll even find some light at the end of
the tunnel. All aboard!
Anthem: People Get Ready
CHRIS M Trains are cool. Trains are like really, really, really big toys. When you
travel on a train, you can get up and walk around and meet people. You can eat and
sleep on trains. Trains make a very soothing sound as they roll along to your
destination. And there are some things about trains that are a lot like life. For
instance, what if you are a person who is afraid of confrontation? What do you have
to learn from trains?
Story #1
ANNA: Once upon a time there was a train
(singers make two trains)
ANNA: The train was just an average train who got along well with the other
trains and enjoyed pulling people and cargo all over the country.
(Train moves to centre stage. train noise)
ANNA: But this train was very worried about running into other trains. The train
would only travel very, very slowly.
(one step, two steps, three steps, slow train sound)
ANNA: The train would listen
(train listens)
ANNA: The train would look
(train looks)
ANNA: And just to be on the safe side, the train would sit in a siding waiting for
hours.
(train moves sideways)
ANNA: just in case there was another train coming the other way
(other train blows whistle and drives through the middle of the scene)
ANNA: The passengers were very frustrated
ALEX: We’ve been on this train for three days! Somebody do something!
ANNA The engineer was pretty sure that if other trains knew the shy train was
coming down the track, some of them would be perfectly happy to move over and
let the train go by. She tried something
(little train whistle)
(big train whistle in the distance)
(little train whistle)
(big train whistle in the distance)
ANNA Sure enough it worked. Once the train learned to toot its own horn a little,
(little train whistle)
ANNA the other trains were happy to take turns waiting in the siding while the
shy train went by.
(big train whistle)
ANNA: And soon the train that was afraid of running into other trains was
chugging along as fast as everyone else.
(little train goes down the aisle, fast train noise)
ANNA: Sitting in silence did not really fix anything. Communication was the
answer. The End.
Anthem: Plenty Good Room
Story #2
CHRIS M: I hope you are ready to use your imagination again. Churches can
behave like trains too. Have a look at what is happening on this train and see if you
don’t agree.
RACHEL: Once upon a time there was a train
(singers make a train).
RACHEL There were two kinds of people on this train.
There were people who did not like to go too fast
(wave)
RACHEL
and there were people who did not like to go too slow
(wave).
RACHEL: On Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, the people who were afraid of
going too fast were in charge of the train.
(train people move to position two)
RACHEL: The train travelled very slowly and safely
(slow train sounds)
RACHEL but every time the train came to a hill,
(train leans back, goes even slower)
RACHEL they got stuck.
(Train stops).(noise from the fast people, Not again! I told you so!)
RACHEL On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the people who were afraid of
going slow were in charge
(train moves to position three)
RACHEL The train was always on time, and went up hills with ease.
(train travels fast. leans back. leans forward. WHEEEEE! Slow people are
scared)
RACHEL but every time the train came to a curve,
(train leans, make noise, Look out!)
RACHEL it went off the tracks (
train crashes). (Oh no, not again).
RACHEL: The passengers were very tired of all the delays
ALEX: This train is never on time. I’m never riding on this train again.
RACHEL so the train crew decided to try a new approach.
(train goes to scrambled position, one fast and one slow in front)
RACHEL One person from each group steered the train,
(front people wave)
RACHEL When the train needed to go fast, the train went fast
(train goes fast up a hill again, slow people look afraid)
RACHEL and when the train needed to go slow, the train went slow
(train goes slowly around a corner, lean and then straighten up, fast people
look frustrated)
RACHEL and by working together,
they accomplished the most important thing: Keep the train moving. The end.
Anthem: My Lord
Story #3
CHRIS HUNT We talked together about fears to get ready for this service, and
some very interesting fears came up. Most of what people were afraid of were things
that MIGHT happen like your house burning down in the night. It makes perfect
sense to be worried about your house burning down, but it makes even more sense
to have smoke detectors, an escape plan and a fire extinguisher, just in case your
fears actually materialize. Earthquakes? Definitely scary and again definitely
something to get yourself ready for with supplies and a plan.
But there are other fears that are a little harder to handle with communication or
education or a plan. One singer was afraid that people would find them “not good
enough”. And another singer wondered what it would be like if God was not there.
One of the great things about trains is getting to know new people and have a
conversation with someone you’ve never met before. We would like you, if you are
not too scared, to just chat with your neighbor for a couple of minutes and discuss
what you might say to someone who was afraid they were not good enough. What
words could you give them to get them back on track?
Or, if you are really brave, talk about a time in your life when your faith was tested
and you weren’t sure if God was there. Part of facing your fears is being brave
enough to talk about them. Here is your chance.
Singers: join in conversation with someone in the congregation
Hymn MV85 Take Oh Take me as I am
During hymn Girls go to steps to sing Big Enough
Boys sit stage left chairs
CHRIS M. God gives us some very useful tools when our spiritual train gets off
track like that. Some of them are very old fashioned like faith, hope and joy. Some of
them are a little more contemporary like imagination and Determination, Patience
or even pretending or being a little crazy: these are all things we can use to get
through the fear until we get ourselves back on track again, and they are all things
we need as we journey with God no matter how old or how young we might be.
Anthem: Big Enough
Girls go back to chairs
Story #4 The Train of Life
MADDY K When we were talking about things that made us afraid or worried,
some of us were brave enough to talk about some very serious things.
Anthem: If I could Hear My mother
Boys go back to chairs
MADDY K quite a few of us said we were worried about death.
ABIGALE: Thinking about what it might be like to die makes me feel
sad.
MADDY K: I don’t like to think about what it might be like if a
member of my family got really sick and died.
GARRETH: Who would show up to my funeral? What if nobody was
there?
CAIRO: Maybe grown ups don’t worry about death very much, but it is
something I think about when I’m alone, and it scares me a bit.
MADDY K: We all have great lives, and thinking about leaving it all behind is
scary. But maybe we can use trains to help us understand about death a little more.
The more we understand things, the less we are afraid of them.
GRACE This is a story about the Train of Life.
(build the train seats, TICKET sign goes up, all sit on the floor)
When we are born, it is like getting on an amazing train ride.
GEORGIA stands up, goes to top of stair, waves
GRACE: When we are born, God is there,
ISAK goes to the ticket office and waves
GRACE God gives us a ticket to board the train of our lives.
ISAK hands GEORGIA a ticket, pats her on the back,
GEORGIA shows her ticket to the congregation
GRACE: On the front of the ticket it says: “Good for travel anywhere in the
system. Please keep this ticket with you at all times”.
BELLA: All aboard please. Passengers, please keep your ticket with you at all
times.
GEORGIA hugs ticket and gets on the train
BELLA: This train is bound for the Terrible Twos and is now leaving platform
one. All aboard.”
Other travellers with tickets join the train
“God” goes through with a broom sweeping the floor.
GRACE: Sometimes you get to choose where you will go on the train.
BELLA: “This train will terminate at video games and junk food. Passengers
bound for organized sports, dance class and piano lessons, please change trains at
the next station. “
GEORGIA drops her ticket, gets off the train and stand on the stairs ISAK walks by
and picks it up, hands it to GEORGIA
GRACE: sometimes you do not get to choose where you will go on the train.
BELLA: “The next train might be headed for a long and happy marriage, or it
might be headed for an unhappy break up after two weeks of dating. Sorry. You’re
just going to have to get on board and see what happens”
GEORGIA shrugs and gets back on the train.
ISAK: tickets Please!
God walks through and checks tickets.
GRACE: everybody’s train of life is different. People travel to happy places, sad
places, quiet places, busy places….there is no limit to where you might go. Just
listen.
BELLA: Train #4 now leaving from platform 2b. All aboard for good friends and
walks in the forest.
Passengers come and go.
BELLA Those passengers not looking forward to middle age should change
trains at “baldness” or “varicose veins” and proceed to platform 6 to catch the trains
bound for “fitness regimen” and “spa treatment”
Passengers come and go
GRACE: but no matter where you travel on the train of life, sooner or later,
everybody comes to the end of the line.
CHRIS H gets on the train and sits next to Joe/Jane
BELLA The next station is End of the Line. Please leave the train at End of the
Line.
GEORGIA: But I’m not finished riding the train yet. And I don’t know anybody at
End of the Line. Oh this is terrible. (Looks at CHRIS H) Aren’t you afraid to get off the
train at the end of the line?
CHRIS H: No not really. I used to worry about coming to the End of the Line, but
then one day, I turned my train ticket over and read the other side.
GEORGIA turns the ticket over. Reads slowly
GEORGIA It says: I hope you have a great trip. I’ll see you at the end of the line.
Love God.
Travel Agent sign goes up and ISAK is there with it.
GEORGIA, CHRIS H. get off the train and meet ISAK at the TRAVEL AGENT sign.
GRACE Our faith teaches us that getting off the train at the end of the line is as
special and as full of anticipation as getting on the train when we are born. God is
there handing us our ticket when we board, and God is there to take our ticket when
we disembark. And our faith also teaches us that, even though the train of life has
left us behind, our travels are not over. The End
Anthem: All Night All Day
Conclusion:
JACOB: If you are someone who feels like your fears and worries are sidetracking
you, or making you go in circles, or are bringing you to a full stop, we hope that
hearing these stories will help you take those first steps toward getting back on
track and going full steam ahead with the abundant life that God wants for you..
Remember to do your homework and give yourself the knowledge and skills you
need for tomorrow. Remember to toot your horn once in a while; let people know
that you are there. Remember to ask for help and remember that sometimes, you
can help others when they are afraid. Fears are not always a bad thing. They let us
know when there is trouble ahead. But God has made us capable and given us what
we need to face trouble when it comes; and God has promised to be with us through
the good times and the bad, all the way to the end of the line.
JACOB Let’s sing together hymn number 216 from More Voices.
Hymn: MV216 Wherever You May Go
Invitation to the Offering
ALEX: This congregation has a long tradition of providing the people of Victoria
with a place to celebrate the blessings in their lives and to find the strength to deal
with the challenges in their lives. You are invited to make an offering to the life and
work of this place. And don’t be afraid to give generously.
Offering Dance: How Can I Keep from Singing
Offering hymn 541 v 1 only
Middle two dancers receive the offering
Prayer over the gifts
ALEX: Let us pray
ALEX And ALL :Everything we have comes from the Creator. May these gifts
be used in faithful service to a generous and loving God. Amen
Prayers of the People
Please join me in prayer.
Creator God, thank you for this day and for the opportunity to gather together in
safety to celebrate your presence in our lives. Thank you for this church and the
people who bring their gifts of time, talent, friendship, imagination and money here
to ensure your work is done in this part of Victoria and beyond. Thank you for the
warm welcome we have received here and the many smiles and friendly faces that
have made our time here fun and enjoyable. And thank you for letting us travel in
safety as we come and as we go.
God, all of us thank you for the good things we have in our lives: for family, for
friends, for enough food to eat and a comfortable home. Help us to remember that,
where there are people without loving family, without friends, without the food they
need and without a place to sleep at night, you have called us to be your hands and
feet in this world. Whatever we do to ease the hurt and want of the people around
us, it is as if we are doing those things for our brother Jesus himself. Even a child can
see how much sense it makes to follow a God who asks us to be connected to each
other and to you and to live together in unity and love, and we thank you that you
bring purpose and meaning to our lives.
God, being your hands and feet in the world takes wisdom and courage and
strength.
God, we need the kind of wisdom that comes from you. Help us to see where the
problems are in the world. Not just the problems that worry us every day on the
television and radio. Help us to see the people in need in our own city, in our own
neighbourhood, at the bus stop and in the grocery store, to recognize the people
who are living with uncertainty, with sadness, with loneliness and with anger
because they are afraid. God, help us lead them to lives without fear.
God, we need the kind of courage that comes from you. Help us to put our fears
aside and do the things we need to do to make the world more like the one you
intended for us.
Give us the courage to speak out when we need to, and to be quiet and listen when
we need to. Give us the courage to see where our talents lie and where our
weaknesses lie, so that we will know when it is time to step up, and when it is time
to stand aside, so that your work can be done. Give us the courage to see beyond the
end of things, to see beyond fear to the hope and joy that come with starting again.
God, what we really need is the courage to face resurrection, the courage to start
again, the courage to carry on. That kind of courage can only come from you.
God, we need the strength that comes from you, and that is why we are here today.
You have promised that when we gather in your name, you will be here with us. God
reach out to every person in this room and let them know your love, let them know
your peace, let them know you are with them today and always. Help us to
remember that when we do your work in the world, we are not doing it on our own.
You are there with us. When we are afraid that we will fail, you are there for us. And
when we are afraid that we will succeed, you are there too. God, so many of us are
afraid of what might be, what might come, what might happen. Remind us that, with
you, good things are possible; good things might be; good things might come; good
things might happen. For all those good things, past, present and future, we say,
Thanks be to God.
And now let’s join in singing together the prayer that Jesus left for the church.
Lord’s Prayer VU959
CHRIS H: Please join us in singing Hymn 82 from Voices United. Living in the
Light.
Closing hymn VU82 Living in the Light (omit verse 3)
Blessing (Cheryl Black)
Anthem: Love Train/Put a Little Love