Parish of St. Laurence, Coquitlam November 14, 2021 10:30am

25th Sunday After Pentecost

Gathering of the Community All are warmly welcomed to our worship

“As we evolve, our homes should too.” Suzanne Tucker

“Your home should tell a story of who you are….” Nate Berkus

Call to Worship

Presider: In all our weakness and strength, with our youth-filled spirits and aging bodies, All we come to be your people, O God.

Presider Strong in faith and eager with questions, singing our praise and whispering our prayers, All we come to be your people, O God. Presider Filled with saintly determination yet mindful of our human limitations, All we come to be your people, O God.

Presider Made strong in your endless love for us, we know ourselves to be yours and All we come to be your people, O God.

Presider May we truly become your people today. Amen.

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Hymn - All are Welcome

1.Let us build a house where love can dwell And all can safely live, A place where saints and children tell How hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, Rock of faith and vault of grace; Here the love of Christ shall end divisions: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

2.Let us build a house where prophets speak, And words are strong and true, Where all God's children dare to seek To dream God's reign anew. Here the cross shall stand as witness And as symbol of God's grace; Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

3.Let us build a house where love is found In water, wine and wheat: A banquet hall on holy ground, Where peace and justice meet. Here the love of God, through Jesus, Is revealed in time and space; As we share in Christ the feast that frees us: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

4.Let us build a house where hands will reach Beyond the wood and stone To heal and strengthen, serve and teach, And live the Word they've known. Here the outcast and the stranger Bear the image of God's face; Let us bring an end to fear and danger: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. 3

5.Let us build a house where all are named, Their songs and visions heard And loved and treasured, taught and claimed As words within the Word. Built of tears and cries and laughter, Prayers of faith and songs of grace, Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. 1

Presider The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the community of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. All And also with you.

Presider Almighty God, All to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gloria Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. 2

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Collect of the DayPresider Subversive God, deconstructing temples of power in which we would keep you trapped and tamed: lead us through violent times, unafraid to speak for peace, untempted by those who promise easy answers; may we follow him along who renews the world in love; through Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right

hand. All Amen.

Proclamation of the Word

Reading - 1 Samuel 1:1-20 1There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; 5but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

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9After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. 11She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.” 12As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” 15But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. 19They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

Reader Hear what the spirit is saying. All Thanks be to God.

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Psalm 1 Samuel 2:1-10

2 Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

2 “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

3 “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

4 “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. 5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons’ pines away.

6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails; 7

10 those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+2&version=NIV

Second Reading - Hebrews 10:11-25 11And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” 17he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

19Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Reader Hear what the spirit is saying.All Thanks be to God.

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Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

Verse (Cantor): Speak, O Lord, your servant is list’ning. You have the words of everlasting life.

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. 5

Gospel Reading

Reader The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark. All Glory to you Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel - Mark 13:1-8 13As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

3When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4“Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.

Reader The Gospel of Christ.All Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.5

Homily The Reverend Eric Mason

Prayers of the People

Sharing of the Peace Presider The Peace of the Lord be always with you. All And also with you.

Offertory: Canticle of the Turning 1. My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, And my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait. You fixed your sight on your servant's plight, and my weakness you did not spurn. So from east to west shall my name be blest. Could the world be about to turn?

Refrain: My heart shall sing of the day you bring. Let the fires of your justice burn. Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is about to turn!

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2. Though I am small, my God, my all, you work great things in me, And your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be. Your very name puts the proud to shame, and to those who would for you yearn, You will show your might, put the story to flight, for the world is about to turn. Refrain 3. From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone. Let the king beware for your justice tears ev’ry tyrant from his throne. The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn; There are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be dfed, for the world is about to turn. Refrain

4. Though the nations rage from age to age, we remember who holds us fast; God’s mercy must deliver us from the conqueror’s crushing grass. This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise which holds us bound, Til the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is turning the world around. Refrain 6 Contributors: Rory Cooney Text: Luke 1:46-58; Rory Cooney, b.1952, © 1990, GIA Publications, Inc. Reprinted under OneLicense A-710159.

Prayer over the Gifts Presider God our strength and our salvation All receive our gifts, our lives and the offering of our joy. Awake our souls and inspire us with your life.

Lead us on the path of wisdom and compassion. Amen.

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Celebration of our Sacred Meal

Eucharistic Prayer

Presider May God be with you. All And also with you.

Presider Lift up your hearts. All We lift them up to God. Presider Let us give thanks to God our Creator. All It is right to offer thanks and praise

It is right in all times and in all places to thank and praise you Creator of all. We praise you here where the Fraser River meets the Salish Sea, where city and farm, wilderness and industry are side by side. We praise you at a time when the body of earth is broken again and again.

We give thanks for our place in the story of salvation. Our ancestors journeyed with you in creation and migration. They depended on the land, were displaced from the land and displaced others from their lands. They knew you in tents and cities, on mountains and by wells, in families and in dreams, and through wilderness prophets who spoke of cedars and listened to ravens.

Together with angels and ancestors, orca and salmon, bear and raven, salal and cedar we join our voices with all creation in this ancient honour song:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Cantor, All)

Holy, Holy, Holy Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth Heaven and earth are full of your glory. are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest.

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Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the highest. 6

We give thanks to you for Jesus, whose first bed was a feed trough. He was baptized in the Jordan, tested in the wilderness, he traveled in fishing boats and told parables of farmers and seeds, labor and wages, yeast and bread.

On the night before he died, Jesus took bread, food of the poor, the work of field and hearth, he gave thanks, broke it and gave it to his friends saying: Take and eat, this is my body, given for you, do this to remember me.

Again after supper he took the cup of wine, fruit of the land, gave thanks and gave it to his friends saying: This is my blood, which is shed for you. When you do this, you do it in memory of me.

Remembering Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and awaiting his coming kingdom, we offer you this bread and this cup.

Creator, send your Spirit on these gifts so that we know Jesus in them and are gathered together with everyone who shares this sacred meal of justice and community.

Fill us with the courage and love of Jesus, that we may strive for justice and peace, respect the dignity of every human being, and safeguard the integrity of creation.

And bring us with Mary and all your Saints to your commonwealth of bird and lily, child and beggar, which is both now and yet to come.

All honor and glory are yours, Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen. 7

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Lord’s Prayer Presider And now as our saviour has taught us, we are bold to sing: All 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 as we forgive others; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, and the power and the glory are yours, forever. Amen. 8

The Presider breaks the Bread and a period of silence is kept. The silence is broken with these words.

Presider Come to the banquet for all is now ready.

Presider The Gifts of God for the People of God. All Thanks be to God.

Communion

Please know that at St. Laurence you are invited to the table. This sacrament is God’s gift to all people. Please tell your server if you prefer a gluten free wafer. If you do not wish to partake at all, you may come forward and receive a blessing. Simply cross your arms across your chest.

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Communion Hymn - As We Gather At Your Table

1.As we gather at your table, As we listen to your word, Help us know, O God, your presence; Let our hearts and minds be stirred. Nourish us with sacred story Till we claim it as our own; Teach us through this holy banquet How to make Love’s vict’ry known. 2.Turn our worship into witness In the sacrament of life; Send us forth to love and serve you, Bringing peace where there is strife. Give us, Christ, your great compassion To forgive as you forgave; May we still behold your image In the world you died to save. 3.Gracious Spirit, help us summon Other guests to share that feast Where triumphant Love will welcome Those who had been last and least. There no more will envy blind us, Nor will pride our peace destroy, As we join with saints and angels To repeat the sounding joy. 8

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Hymn - One Bread, One Body

Refrain: One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless. And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.

1. Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man no more. One bread...

2. Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all. One bread...

3. Grain for the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one for all. One bread... 9

Prayer after Communion Presider Glory to God, All whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Announcements

Sending

Blessing Presider May the holy wisdom of God Guard your ways and guide your paths May the living truth of God Enlighten your hearts and open your minds

And may the living Spirit of God Give you life, and life to the full! Amen. 10

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Closing Hymn - Christ Be My Leader

1. Christ be my leader by night as by day; safe through the darkness for he is the way. Gladly I follow, my future his care, darkness is daylight when Jesus is there. 2. Christ be my teacher in age as in youth, drifting or doubting, for he is the truth. Grant me to trust him, though shifting as sand, doubt cannot daunt me; in Jesus I stand. 3. Christ be my Savior in calm as in strife; death cannot hold me, for he is the life. Nor darkness nor doubting nor sin and its stain can touch my salvation: with Jesus I reign. Contributors: Donald P. Hustad, Timothy Dudley-Smith© 1964 Hope Publishing Company. Music © 1974 Hope Publishing CompanyTune: Traditional Irish Melody; harm. Don Hustad Reprinted under OneLicense A-710159. 11

Dismissal Presider Tend the earth, care for God’s good creation, and bring

forth the fruits of righteousness. Go in peace to love the Lord.

All In the name of Christ. Amen. 12

The flowers at the Altar are given to the Glory of God and in thanksgiving for the life of Nigel - husband, father and

grandfather by Julie Lemon and family.

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First Reading - 1 Samuel 1Elkanah and his two wives, an obviously dysfunctional menage-a-trios! Elkanah secretly gives a double portion, we don’t know of what, to one wife, hoping the other does not notice. Has this man no sense? The moment would be funny if it were not for the sad fact that, in a society where a woman's worth was measured by her ability to bear children, Hannah has not yet conceived. To make her life even more miserable, she is never allowed to forget this by the relentless taunting of the other wife Peninnah. So it went on, as the text says, "year after year". Elkanah then proceeds to make thing even worse . He asks Hannah why she could possibly be unhappy when she has a wonderful husband like himself, thus demonstrating that he has absolutely no understanding whatsoever of her unhappiness. We can of course be pretty certain that none of Peninnah’s taunting is done when Elkanah is within earshot!

But let’s be patient. Scripture never backs away from showing the realities of human nature and human relationships, showing time and time again how God uses people to bring about surprising things, sometimes even great things.

Second Reading - Hebrews 10 When the first generation of Christians, most of whom had been Jewish, went to worship, at first in the Temple before the Romans’ destroyed it, they felt they were going into the presence of God. To help them feel forgiven and accepted by God, they felt they had a friend and ally in high places - the risen Jesus. How they felt as they came to worship is described in lyrical and moving terms.

Listen for a moment to hear how you and I might feel when we enter the place where we worship. “... with a true heart…with a full assurance of faith…with our hearts sprinkled clean…our bodies washed with pure water…holding fast to the confession of faith without wavering…provoking one another to love and good deeds…meeting together to encourage one another. Imagine if we all felt like that this Sunday!

The Holy Gospel - Mark 13:1-8If I were the head of the Episcopal (Anglican ) Church of Scotland I would like to send out a suggestion, that in every parish of the Church this Gospel passage be read this Sunday. Why? Because of what’s going on in Glasgow right now - COP26. Lets look at this text...

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Teacher, what large stones and buildings! No wonder that disciple felt overawed. Herod's Temple was brand new, finishing touched still being complete. It had taken two decades to build it. The Temple area was six modern city blocks long. At its south end it was 120 feet high. Vast aqueducts soared in over the Judean hills bringing water. No wonder even Rome thought of it as a wonder of the world. So you can imagine how his small group felt at Jesus' response. "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another!” You can hear the sound of jaws dropping. After the group of disciples got their breath back, someone asked if there was a timeline to this. Soon? far in the future,? when?

Jesus answers using language they would all know from the village rabbi’ s school back home in Galilee. Apocalyptic language, as we have come to call it. Jesus is speaking…”There will be many Messianic movements all claiming to be true…There will be wars…Nations will experience great instability…The Earth itself will show disturbances…Earthquakes…Famines." Every word expresses the agenda of COP26.

But then, after pausing to let what he has just said sink in, Jesus astonishes every one (a crowd might have gathered by this point). Almost as an afterthought, very deliberately and with deep emphasis, He says “ This is but the beginning of the birth pangs”.

Read this as our Lord speaking to a time like our time in 2021, a time of much dread, of massive and unrelenting change, especially climate change. Our Lord is saying to us that we must see in this time of great turmoil the possibility that God, as the Lord of Creation, is bringing a vast new reality to birth, in which that same God of Creation calls for the cooperation of humanity.

Herbert O’Driscoll

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Resistance

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed…. The good news must first be proclaimed to all nations…. You will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. The Holy Spirit will speak through you….. - from Mark 13:7-13

Jesus describes the birth pangs:a new world is being born out of this one.But then he goes on to say:You are the midwife of the world being born.You are the mother giving birth.You are the new birth.In this world of hate and greed and fearyou are the Resistance.You are a revolutionary,not by heroic acts of destruction or rebellion but by acts of grace and mercy.It is love that subverts the world.Every moment of beauty or generosityundermines the foundation of this world of consumption and conflict.Every act of gentleness and forgivenesstears down the walls of the Empire,not one stone left on another.The Spirit overthrows the world through you. Resist the empire of violence with acts of love.Even the smallest ones are powerful.Not merely lovely, the widow’s mite is dynamite. 

by Steve Garnaas-Holmes

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