Internet Chapel Christ the King Day An Ecumenical Service November 23, 2014 Glory Be to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost Lead by Deacon and Pastoral Intern Dr. Russell Porter, Ph.D., Ed.D. --------------------------------------------------Calling To the Word--------------------------------------------------- Prelude – Setting our Mind to the Call of the Word [Take a minute to relax and prepare for the Word to Follow. Read the Service below and know that you are loved] Call to Worship – Our Beliefs [Read to yourself and prepare for worship] Scot’s Confession – Chapter 1 We confess and acknowledge one only God, to whom only we must cleave, whom only we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom only we must put our trust: who is eternal, infinite, immeasurable, incomprehensible, omnipotent, invisible; one in substance, and yet distinct in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; by whom we confess and believe all things in heaven and in earth, as well visible as invisible, to have been created, to be retained in their being, and to be ruled and guided by his inscrutable Providence, to such end as his eternal wisdom, goodness, and justice has appointed them, to the manifestation of his own glory. Hymn Christ is the World’s Redeemer [Use your own hymn book to read the words of the song] For those of you not having a hymn book, the words are provided here: First Stanza: Christ is the world’s redeemer, The lover of the pure, The found of heavenly wisdom, Our trust and hope secure; The armor of His soldiers, the Lord of earth and sky; Our health while we are living, Our life when we shall die. Prayer of Confession [Read to yourself and hear your own confession] (All Spoken) Dear Lord, hear our confession. We know our sins and you are Graceful in forgiveness. We know you come to judge beyond our own civil authority and you will do so with righteousness and equity. Declaration of The Lord’s Pardon [Name your sins to yourself and ask for redemption. Deacon and Pastoral Intern Porter says to you: You are pardoned for your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost – amen] Response “Glory Be to the Father” (Gloria Patri) (Sing or read to yourself) Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen. Amen. --------------------------------------------------Service To the Word--------------------------------------------------- Reading the Word [Read from the following – use your own Bible] Old Testament: Psalm 100:4 (Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving) New Testament: Matthew 25:31 (Christ is on the Throne) Sermon Christ the King Day [Read the Sermon below] Affirmation of Faith (Sing or read yourself) With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. Amen ---------------------------------------------Forward With the Word------------------------------------------------ Blessing [Read to yourself] Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian Love The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Amen Doxology – [Read to yourself] Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen Benediction [Read to yourself] Know that you are loved by Him – Go into the world and spread the Light! Amen --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christ the King Day Sermon – Deacon and Pastoral Intern Dr. Russell Porter, Ph.D., Ed.D. [Today is Christ the King Day, the last Sunday in “Normal Time”] [Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent] Trouble in the Text In the Old Testament Psalm 100:4 we find that we can “…enter His gate with thanksgiving.” As we approach Thanksgiving day, I hope and pray that your life is blessed and that you are able to spend time with family and/or friends, or at least have a place to share our wonderful lives together. The most important prayer is that you indeed have the knowledge that Christ is the King and is the only King that we should be blessed to serve, as He serves us. For we can indeed enter His gate by knowing that He loves us, and we have someone in turn to love. The thanksgiving part is knowing that all we have to do is experience His love and be graced with others who also are loved by Him. The difficult part of the scripture, or the trouble in the text, is that some decide not to enter His gate. They may be atheists (do not believe in God or Christ or the Holy Spirit), or agnostics (are not sure they believe or don’t believe), or believe in other gods. The trouble is that even if you believe in other gods, go ahead and add Christ to your list of beliefs. You will find that Christ is indeed the one true God, or if you don’t believe it, at least Christ will love you anyway. As for the atheists, the reality is that your logic will someday be correct or it will not. No one knows if God exists, we only take it by faith. So here is the logic: 1. God exists and you are wrong, and you will not enter His gate, or 2. God does not exists, and the believers were all wrong, but the believers have nothing to lose anyway. So I go with logic 1 no matter what. And the reason is that Christ was here. He had miracles that He performed, but maybe the “statistical significance” of the proof in the Bible is not high enough for you. From a person that deals with and assesses statistics everyday, I am here to tell you “nothing is proven” – period. It is all faith. And since Christ was here and performed miracles that have not occurred since, than we know that Christ was a God. But for the atheists, the logic is not in your favor. It will come to pass that the faith will be all anyone has – so why not listen to the logic and listen to Christ and his love for all. That is the trouble in the text, it was written at a time that does not always give “light” to the current issues of today. And it does not really give us light to help those who are not trying to see the light. Trouble in the World When we go beyond the Text or the Bible, we find the same thing in the love for others. We can say we love others, but do we really. Do we stop at the intersection and provide that one dollar that is needed by the person whom has a sign that reads “out of gas.” If you have a computer to read this Internet Chapel, my guess is that you have that dollar (or you would have the funds to pay the utility bill to pay for the electricity to read this message in the first place). We don’t know if that person really has no gas, or if they are taking the dollar for their “habit” – whatever that may be. But is that for us to decide? It may be that Christ is driving that person to ask for help because there is no other way. When we do help others, we are doing it for the “least of Him” as indicated in Matthew 25:40. But do we do “enough” for others? Can we really afford that dollar? Some may say no, and they can, others say no and they cannot. And some say yes and they can, and some say yes and they cannot. It is the most troublesome when we say yes and we cannot; for when we say yes and we cannot, it is the time that we are most like Him. And why is that troublesome? Because it when we are closest to Him and we know that we should keep it for ourselves to pay those bills and pay those taxes, and pay that whatever. But the trouble in the world is not really that person, but that they are very rare, if any exist at all. Maybe a Mother Theresa type can say yes, but really cannot. But when we say yes, and cannot, He will provide the way. That is the trouble that our faith is not strong enough to say yes, and cannot, but He will provide the way. I know that I have reached that level of yes, but could not, only a few times in my own life. It is where faith was the strongest, where I walked out over the “cliff” of life, and He provided that “invisible bridge” to help me to the other side. Grace in the Text If we ever do reach that invisible bridge of faith and know that He is there, we will find also that Christ is on the Throne, as found in Matthew 25:31. For Christ is the one King that shown the real light of God upon us. Over the past four years I have worked on, and in some cases really worked in, the theology of Christ. What I found is that no one on earth comes close to His ethics for living, and His love for all. No matter whom, all are loved by Christ. No King on earth loves everyone, all 7 plus billion of us. The generalization from one King to all the earthly population in love is only found in Christ. If anyone else exists, they will tell me. Grace in the World So go into the world, knowing that Christ is King, and the only King. Go into the world knowing that Christ loves you and has died for you in only the way He could have died for you. That may have been a long time ago, but in the time of eternity, it was not that long ago. So take the comfort in knowing that He loves you, Someone is there for you. No matter what issue you are facing, know that Christ is there for you. Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels. May the love of Christ be with you now and always. Amen
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 00:23:39 +0000