Sunday

Feb. 9, 2020 / 12:30PM

Fifth Sunday of Epiphany (Year A)


Knox United Church

kxcalgary.com


Liturgy

Greg Glatz / Liz Rees


Table

Brenda Arndt


Music

Heather Adam


Sound

Niall Vos



You Are a Shining Light (Pharis & Jason Romero)

Take it easy and slow in these short days, as you best know

All the rivers and gentle pines are whisperin' sure and quiet

You are a shinin' light, a shinin' light


I wonder with all my heart where love goes when times get hard

Does it wander and does it roam 'til it finds in you a home?

You are a shinin' light, a shinin' light


When the moment gets dark and heavy you know you are not alone

You are a shinin' light


Take your troubles and take your trials

Ride that train babe, hard and wild

You're a rocket, a gleaming star

Singin' hymns in a one man choir

You are a shinin' light, a shinin' light



Welcome & Passing the Peace

We are all treaty people, and we meet today on Treaty 7 land that we we share with all our relations.


Knox United Church is an Affirming congregation in the United Church of Canada. If you’re lesbian, gay, bi, trans, two-spirited, queer, and/or straight––we affirm and celebrate who you are!



Cigarettes (Heather Adam)

Water makes pavement glitter

And slips through the soles of old shoes

While power lines hum

Chickadees somehow stay in tune

Smell the rain

I get it under my tongue

Ain’t no tap gonna give that taste to anyone


I saw flowers in the alley

You saw a bar

Maybe that shows just how different we are

I almost asked if you’d been

Rolling your pain in cigarettes

watching It burn to ash

time and time again

Well I did that with grief in some way

Till I realized I was just coughing

and feeling the same


And I’ve been thinking lately

That the spotlight is just lonely

How the days ain’t worth much

If we’re just taking our stories

Rolling them up

And watching the burning

It’s such a fickle thing


I wonder what I can do

To show a different shade to you

Without breaking down

The colour you choose

Rain makes rivers on my sleeve

That drip down to puddles big

Streaming to the bow

There's Wisdom in there,

Its just a kind I don’t know


Salt of the earth

Oh I’m sure you heard

In a wooden pew childhood

Or read it in a thick book

And I don’t know what I believe

But he must’ve laced our tears with

It for some reason


It’s been awhile since you’ve shown me a bruise

From living life fully with nothing to prove

The rain smells like rich earth, like a reaching rose garden

It’s turning pavement to late night diamonds

I say you can’t buy that

You can’t buy this

And all you can say

Is “I hate being wet”



Today’s Lesson

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. –– Margaret Mead


In Quotation

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. –– Martin Luther King, Jr. (minister/civil rights leader, 1929-1968)


All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. –– Francis of Assisi (1181-1226, founder of the Franciscan order)


Often you can see power lines running alongside the street. Unless current is flowing through them, there is no light. The power line is you and I! The current is God! We have the power to allow the current to flow through us and thus to generate the light of the world––Jesus––or to refuse to be used and, thus, allow the darkness to spread. –– Mother Teresa (1910-1997, founder of the Missionaries of Charity)


People who are the salt of the earth get up and go to a job that they hate. –– Gene Simmons (rock music/business icon, b.1949)


Nobody likes having salt rubbed into their wounds, even if it is the salt of the earth. –– Rebecca West (Irish author, 1892-1983)


Text

Matthew 5:13-17

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”


"You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”



If You Find (Heather Adam)

If you find yourself

Weeping with willows and birch

Take comfort in the bowing branches

How they reach down to the ground

Looking at you as if you’re some heaven

Like you’re a sunny day, golden


If you lose your kite

Tip your hat to the wind

Say under your breath

You gave it as a gift

Let it sink in

Let that sink in


If you find yourself with a pen

Eager to speak but feeling nothing

From the writing

Keep going till your hands aching

Because sweetheart

Only time knows

What you’re on the way to making


If you find yourself

Cut trying to jump a fence

Put on a bandage

And start climbing

Sweet peas do it slow

And rising up and blooming

Is all they know


If you find yourself

Weeping with willows and birch

Take comfort in the bowing branches

How they reach down to the ground

Looking at you as if you’re some heaven

Like you’re a sunny day, golden



Guided Meditation & Prayer

This time is for you. We encourage you to be courageous and vulnerable by going inward and asking God to move.



The Table

You are invited to light a candle, make an offering, and eat the bread and grapes. Every part of this table is open to you. Every part of this table is optional.



Guiding Light (Foy Vance)

Well the road is wide

And waters run on either side

And my shadow went with fading light

Stretching out towards the night


'Cause the sun is low

And I yet have still so far to go

My lonely heart is beating so

Tired of the wonder


There's a sign ahead

Though I think it's the same one again

But I'm thinking 'bout my only friend

And so I find my way home


'Cause when I need to get home

You're my guiding light

You're my guiding light


Oh, well the air is cold

And yonder lies my sleeping soul

By the branches broke like bones

Well, this weakened tree no longer holds


Well, the night is still

And I have not yet lost my will

Oh and I will keep on moving 'till

'Till I find my way home






A New Creed

We are not alone,

we live in God’s world.


We believe in God:

who has created and is creating,

who has come in Jesus,

the Word made flesh,

to reconcile and make new,

who works in us and others

by the Spirit.


We trust in God.


We are called to be the Church:

to celebrate God’s presence,

to live with respect in Creation,

to love and serve others,

to seek justice and resist evil,

to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

our judge and our hope.


In life, in death, in life beyond death,

God is with us.


We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.


"A New Creed" is an affirmation of faith used widely in the worship services of the United Church of Canada. It was originally adopted in 1968 by the 23rd General Council. Originally known as "A Contemporary Expression of Christian Faith," it began with the line "Man is not alone." It was amended in 1980 to make its language inclusive, and again in 1995 to add the words "to live with respect in Creation."

The creed is not meant to replace the ancient Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed, but to act as a supplement to these statements of faith.




Questions? Suggestions?

Contact Greg Glatz at gregglatz@kxcalgary.com or 403-269-8382.


PAX at Knox is an emerging ministry of Knox United Church.