Valentine's day with Nancy and Randy Campbell

Happy Birthday to the Valentine's day Princess!!!

She made all the decorations and even the special Valentine's day crown 
 for a special Princess!

To read the Drama moment please see lower......

PRELUDE: Chenaniah

CALL & RESPONSE:                        (based on Psalm 89)

ONE: God of our hearts, here we are to worship. We've come with thirsty hearts, praying that Your Word will satisfy us.

ALL: We come with aching hearts, praying for good news to comfort us. ONE: We come with overflowing hearts, praying for a chance to share Your love.

ALL: You, who know our hearts and hear our prayers, be with us now in this hour of worship.


PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD'S PRAYER:

0 most merciful and gracious God, from whom comes all that is good, we praise You for Your mercies, for Your goodness that has created us, Your grace that has sustained us, Your patience that has borne with us, and Your love that has redeemed. Help us to love You and to be thankful for all Your gifts.

Father, we thank You for bringing each of us safely to this place this morning. We gladly surrender our lives to You in worship and praise. As we gather together, we remember those who are not with us today. For those who are sick we ask for healing. And for those away from us we ask for Your blessing to be on them.

We invite Your Holy Spirit to move freely amongst us. Come dwell in each of our hearts. Equip us, challenge us, comfort us, teach us. Inspire us as we learn more about Your majestic ways. Father, as we meet now, may we behold Your beauty and encounter Your grace. We ask all this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray together:

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 our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

The Offertory Prayer:   
0 God, from whose open hand we all have received much; we ask You to accept this offering of Your people. Remember in Your love those who have brought it. Remember also those persons and purposes for which it is given. So follow this offering with Your blessing that it may promote peace and good will, and advance the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Psalm 25: 1-5                Page 863

Psalm 25:1-5
New International Version (NIV)

Psalm 25

Of David.

1 In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.
2 I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.
4 Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 118: 1-7                  Page 956

Psalm 118:1-7
New International Version (NIV)
Psalm 1181 

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    his love endures forever.
2 Let Israel say:
    “His love endures forever.”
3 Let the house of Aaron say:
    “His love endures forever.”
4 Let those who fear the Lord say:
    “His love endures forever.”
5 When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
    he brought me into a spacious place.
6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?
7 The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
    I look in triumph on my enemies.

Genesis 21: 1-7                 Page 29


Genesis 21:1-7
New International Version (NIV)
The Birth of Isaac


21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[a] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.


MEDITATION:        Letting Go

Letting go is never easy. Perhaps you have experienced the letting go of some of your prized possessions. Perhaps you have lost a loved one. Some may have lost jobs. Others have had relationships which have ended. Some of you may have experienced the loss of a child going off to college, starting their careers, getting married, or enlisting in the military.

At different times in our lives, we may have to learn to let go of relationships, loved ones, friends that move away, homes in which we grew up, teachers we liked, the old comfortable T.V. chair, and maybe even some of our dreams and goals when we were younger. Think of the times you've been de-cluttering and how you've hesitated throwing out that chipped plate, or giving your old coat to Good will. In the back of your mind you still want to keep a hold on these treasured items.

But the hardest thing to do is letting go of your children. I remember my kids' first day of school, and how I cried, because they were going on to the next phase of their life. I remember how worried and concerned I was when they left for CEGEP. They would be living on their own and only coming home on the weekend. And then, when they got married, moving on to begin their life with someone else, that was probably the hardest 'letting go' of all.

So just imagine, if you possibly can, how Abraham must have felt when he awoke one night and heard a voice calling him with a terrible message. The message was so terrible that Abraham thought he was having a bad dream. "Abraham," said the Lord, "take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to Mount Moriah, and there offer him for a burnt offering.

Could he really be hearing God? The God who had given him and Sarah a son in their old age? The God who said, "In Isaac shall your name be carried on", and "You shall become many nations and many people"? How could it be, if he was to slay his son and offer him, like a lamb, as a burnt offering?

Now Abraham knew that some fathers in the land offered their eldest son as a burnt offering, but it was to their false gods. As far as Abraham knew, the true God had never asked for a child, or any human being, to be offered to Him as a burnt offering. Could it be, Abraham thought, that he was listening to one of those false or evil gods? Or perhaps it was the devil, asking him to destroy his only hope, his only son.

Abraham struggled in his mind, and he prayed. He had known God so long, he had heard his voice so many times, that now he knew he couldn't doubt. He knew that it was his God speaking to him. And he thought, "If God tells me to do this, then I must obey. He can raise Isaac from the dead, if He will."

So Abraham went and woke up Isaac from his sleep and led him out of the tent. He didn't want to waken Sarah, Isaac's mother. He just couldn't bear to tell her what God had told him to do. Silently in the night, with Isaac and two of his young servants, and with an ass loaded with dry wood and fire in an iron basket, Abraham started on his three day journey.

Finally they came in sight of Mount Moriah. (Mount Moriah is where Jerusalem is today) Abraham told his servants to stay while he and Isaac went to worship, and that after they had worshipped, they would come back. He tied the wood on Isaac's back, he took the fire and a knife in his hand, and started with Isaac up the steep hill. (Are you picturing what this must have been like for Abraham, knowing what he was about to do?)

Then Isaac asked his father, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" Abraham couldn't bring himself to tell the awful truth to Isaac, and so he said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."

Upon reaching the top of the mountain, there was nothing to do but to tell his son the truth. As you can well imagine, Isaac was astonished and dismayed, but he was an obedient son. Isaac, himself, was like a lamb. He said to Abraham, "Father, if God has told you to do this, then you must do it."

Together, they built an altar of stones and laid the wood on it. Then Abraham bound Isaac as he would a lamb, and he laid him on the wood. In complete agony, he reached for his knife, ready to plunge it into his son's heart. Just then he heard a voice call. It was God's voice. Abraham said, "Here I am." God spoke again, saying, "Lay not your hand on the boy. For now I know that you love God, seeing that you would not keep back your only son from Me."

What a relief and a joy these words brought to the heart of Abraham. Dazed, and relieved, Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. Quickly unbinding his son, he caught the sheep and offered it on the altar instead of Isaac.



The place where this altar was built, Abraham called Jehovah-jireh, meaning 'the Lord will provide.' The offering, which seems so strange, showed Abraham, and Isaac also, that Isaac belonged to God, for to God he had been offered, and in Isaac, all his descendants had been given to God. Abraham saw and understood what God's plan was. The lamb Abraham offered and the son he was willing to offer pointed forward to the Lamb, the Son, that God would provide, to die for the sins of the world.

The offering showed Abraham and all the people after him, that God didn't want children or men or women killed as offerings for worship. And while all the people around offered such sacrifices, the Israelites, who came from Abraham, and from Isaac, never offered them, but offered oxen, sheep and goats instead. These gifts, which cost so much toil, they felt must be pleasing to God, because they expressed their thankfulness to Him.

John Calvin writes, "The Lord indeed, is so indulgent to our infirmity, that he does not so severely and sharply try our faith: yet he intended in the father of all the faithful, to propose an example by which he might call us to a general trial of faith." We know that God won't test us as He did Abraham, yet He nevertheless will bring trials into our lives to strengthen our faith and bring us assurance. If you are facing a test of faith today, know that God can sustain you if you trust in Him.

When I think of the faith that Abraham had and the courage it took to obey God's command, I marvel at what happens when true faith is exercised. And there are probably many people here this morning with stories of God's answer to their faith. Abraham did not withhold from God , and God did not withhold Himself from Abraham. If we want to deepen our relationship with God, let's not withhold ourselves from Him. Maybe you feel challenged by God to take a kind of spiritual audit, not of your possessions, but of your life. If so, ask yourself, "Is there anything that I would withhold from God?"

Abraham was able to be faithful to God, because he knew God. What started as a burden later became a blessing. God honoured Abraham's faith and gave him a greater promise than before. For us, in these days, we probably won't be asked to offer one of our children on an altar of stone as a burnt offering. We do know that trials will come, and we may never know why; but we can rest assured that the God of Abraham is the same God we serve, and He always knows what is best for us!


BENEDICTION & CHORAL AMEN:     
May the love of the Father, the tenderness of the

Son and the presence of the Spirit gladden your heart, and bring peace to your soul, this day and all days.

POSTLUDE: Chenaniah

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go."

DRAMA MOMENT


VALENTINE'S DAY

1.       Come along. Don't daily.

2.      What's your all-fired hurry? Where are you taking me?

1.       Well, for the fifth time, we're going to Tony's Restaurant.

2.      Hey, I remember Tony's. That's where I asked you to marry me. That was a long, long time ago. You and your folks were living in that mansion.

1.       We lived in a trailer.

2.      It was a double-wide. And you had a fuzzy little cat.

1.      It was a dog.

2.      His name was Fido.

1.       He was a Chihuahua and his name was Pedro.

2.       You wore a beautiful pink dress.

1.        It was yellow.

2.        Strapless, as I remember.

1.         It had a big collar and puffy sleeves.

2.        All I remember is you were as pretty as a picture. Remember how they all looked at you when we drove up in that old Chevy?

1.        It was a Ford.

2.        You really turned heads in those days.

1.        Why, thank you.

2.        I had spent all my money buying the diamond ring, so I was glad when you only ordered spaghetti.



1.        Lasagne.

2.       I was so nervous that when I finally gave you the ring, my hands were shaking.

1.      (takes his hand) Mine too.

2.       Seems like yesterday. I remember it as clear as a bell. (stops, looks around)
Say, you don't suppose they tore it down?

1     Tore what down?

2     Charlie's Restaurant.

1      Tony's.

2.     Like I said, (points ahead) Tony's Restaurant is right there where I remembered it.

We usually only go to Tony's on Valentine's Day. That's when I asked you to marry me. Seems like yesterday. I remember it clear as a bell.

1.     Do you know what today is?

2.    Friday? No, Saturday? Oh, what's difference does it make?

1.    Clear as a bell.

2.   Hey, Toots.

1.    What?

2.   Just in case I forgot to tell you today, I want you to know I love you.

1.   That's what I like about you, Honey. You never forget the important things!