There is a Balm in Gilead with Joe Hevesy

CALL TO WORSHIP: 
One: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not
        have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
 
All: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all
      mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that
      can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 
 
One: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to
        hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 
All: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not    
      boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is   
      not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
      record of wrongs.
 
One: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

INVOCATION & The LORD’S PRAYER  

Let us pray.

Lord, we are in your presence. We are one with you and you are one with us. You have given us the gift of life for which we are truly grateful. We have shared in your abundance, felt the warmth of your love, and walked in all the paths you have prepared for us. Be with us now as we reflect on your truth. Bless us in our worship. Hear us as we pray in the words your son, Jesus, taught us…..Our Father, who art in heaven… 

October 23rd 1956 Revolution
National Holiday for Hungary
October 23rd marks the day of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

2016 is the 60th anniversary of the event with many commemorations, programs in the capital and the whole country.
​
It was a revolution against the Stalinist, communist regime and Soviet oppression that was beaten down by the Russian army. The Hungarian revolution of 1956 is one of the most significant events of the country’s 20th century history.

The Soviet army invaded Hungary, crushing the revolution in early November after a series of vicious street battles in Budapest. Imre Nagy and the leaders of the revolution were lured into a trap and arrested, and as a result of the invasion over two thousand lost their lives, more than ten thousand were wounded and around 150,000 Hungarians fled as refugees.
As an act of revenge, several hundred revolutionaries were executed by the Soviets, and mass arrests continued for months afterwards. Public discussion about the revolution was suppressed until the fall of communism, and only in 1989 did the process of rehabilitating victims began. October 23rd has been a national holiday in Hungary since 1989, and ceremonies are held throughout the country on this date to pay homage to the heroes of the struggle for freedom in 1956.

​OFFERING: 
And now, let us return a small measure of the wealth our God has blessed us with, in our offerings.
​

Offertory Prayer          
Lord, accept our meagre offerings which cannot measure up to the wealth of the lives you have created for us. Yet in all humility we recognize the value of your precious gifts, and we pray you will bless us and what we offer to return to your bounty. Amen.

​​​Special Music:  "500 Year Old Melody" - Grace & Carol

Congratulations Grace.... great job!!!

PASTORAL PRAYER  
​

Let us pray.
Lord. you are our shepherd and we your sheep. Grant us your love and your protection, not only those in our community, but especially all who suffer everywhere. Offer us all the balm of your love and the salve of your forgiveness, and welcome us into your paradise with open arms when our earthly journeys are done. We pray this in the name of your son, Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

MESSAGE with Scripture:
​ “There Is A Balm In Gilead.”

There is a Balm in Gilead

1. Where is Gilead? What is the balm?

       Gilead is a region east of the Jordan River. Balm is an ointment or perfume. In ancient times, the balm of Gilead was well-known and was traded with other countries like Egypt and Babylon. It was produced as an extract from a special balsam tree grown in orchards around that region. Sort of like the apple-growing region around here.

2. Around this time, 600 years before Christ, The people of the Kingdom of Judah, have departed from the Lord. They have built idols to worship and have no regard for the ancient Law of Moses. They are well off. They like to party, and they like their easygoing modern gods. They resent Jeremiah and his efforts to return them to the strict terms of the Law. Jeremiah tries to warn them of impending doom from Babylon, but they don’t listen. So, the Babylonians attack and destroy everything, and the land of Judah was put to the sword. And Jeremiah lamented:

Jeremiah 8: 20-22 -
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

3. This reference to balm in Gilead was a metaphor, a poetic expression asking, in effect, Why is there no balm that will save us from the effects of our sins? Of course, Jeremiah and all the people knew full well that technically there was a salve, a balm, in Gilead. But no balm that was enough to bring them comfort in their physical and spiritual pain. No, there was no spiritual balm available to them since they refused to return to The Law. And they didn’t realize that the balm they craved, was the love of God, the love that would only be released to them in the form of Jesus, 600 years later. When it finally came, it was shown to be the love of God through his son, a greater balm than had ever been experienced before.

4. Why do we talk so much about the love of God? We see so much suffering around us today, even as the early Jews, the citizens of Judah, suffered. Suffering was covered a few weeks ago by Stewart or Kevin, I forget which - my bad - and it was covered amazingly well. So I won’t dwell on it. But I can say that the love of God is displayed through His creation. The very act of creating us a world in which we have the opportunity to be like Him is an amazing reality. So, just hold that thought for a moment.

5. You see, when Jesus arrived and spread his Word, it was the spiritual balm that Jeremiah had been waiting for. It was the balm of love, and it was from God, his father. It was the new Balm of Gilead. And Jesus told us exactly how we can recognize it and, even more, how we can make use of it. His two great commandments are: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself. He doesn’t say anything that resembles the modern dictum that you have to love yourself before you love others.

6. In the front of the pulpit of little Doon Presbyterian Church in Kitchener where Sue and I worshiped for 32 years, there is an indent in the front wall in the shape of the classic Scottish arch. Contained inside the arch is a large wooden cross. And atop and around the arch in a painted banner there are the words, “God Is Love.”

Furthermore, in Genesis 1:27, it is written, “God created mankind in His own image; male and female He created them.

So, here’s the punchline, if we are created in God’s own image, and God is love, then what else can we be but love also.

In John 17: 22,  Jesus says, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one--
I in them and you in me--so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

God is love, Jesus is love. We are created in God’s image. We are love. We are one with Jesus, and we are one with God.

7. With all this in mind, how are we to express that love? How can we take the Balm of Gilead, the Balm of Love, and release it in the world? Well, that’s easy. There are a gazillion examples. The greatest most recent example is that of 11 Christians in Aleppo, Syria.


I will quote excerpts from an article in Charisma website:

At several steps on their path to death by beheading and crucifixion last month, 11 indigenous Christian workers near Aleppo, Syria, had the option to leave the area and live. The indigenous missionaries were not required to stay at their ministry base in a village near Aleppo, Syria; rather, the ministry director who trained them had entreated them to leave. As the Islamic State (ISIS), other rebel groups and Syrian government forces turned Aleppo into a war zone of carnage and destruction, ISIS took over several outlying villages. The Syrian ministry workers in those villages chose to stay in order to provide aid in the name of Christ to survivors.
"I asked them to leave, but I gave them the freedom to choose," said the ministry director, his voice tremulous as he recalled their horrific deaths."Every time we talked to them," the director said, 'We want to stay here—this is what God has told us to do. This is what we want to do.' They just wanted to stay and share the gospel.”

As Christ said, “Greater love has no man than that he give up his life for a friend.” Isn’t that exactly what Christ did?

8. We don’t have to sacrifice our lives to release the balm of love. There are many other ways. Helping others, providing comfort, donations to various causes, the list is long. But the point is, we do this not because we have to, not because we feel guilt if we don’t do it, not because we do it for ourselves; we do these things as acts of love because it is in our nature to give. We do it because when we do, the balm of Gilead is released all around us. It envelopes those we give to, and it envelopes us at the same time. When we do it, we feel right, and the world that God created out of love feels right as well.

9. There is an article in Psychology Today, called “The Need To Love,” by Dr. Raj Raghunathan, PhD. As a result of his research, Dr. Raj says this……(I quote excerpts and paraphrases from the whole article.)

“All of us have an intense desire to be loved and nurtured. The  need to be loved is vital to our future mental stability.…As findings have shown, babies who are deprived contact comfort, particularly during the first six months after they are born, grow up to be psychologically damaged.

In our pursuit of the need to be loved, however, most of us fail to recognize that we have a parallel need: the need to love and care for others. This desire, it turns out, is just as strong as the need to be loved and nurtured.

Expressing love or compassion for others benefits not just the receiver of affection, but also its giver. What’s more, it appears that even small acts of kindness generate just as much happiness as large acts. In an interesting set of studies, participants were either given $5 or $20 as part of an experiment. Participants in both groups were then asked to either spend the money on themselves or on others. Those who spent the money on others, it turned out, grew happier than those who spent it on themselves. More interestingly, the amount of money spent on others didn’t make a difference to happiness levels: those who spent $5 derived just as much happiness as those who spent $20.”

Do you remember The Widow’s Mite? Jesus pointed out to his followers that this poor widow who gave her last penny to charity actually gave more than the rich leaders of the temple who grudgingly gave a small percentage of their wealth.

10. The famous writer, humorist, and homespun philosopher, Mark Twain, said this: “The two greatest days of our lives are the day we were born and the day we discover the reason why. ”It is my opinion that the reason why is the same for us all, to discover we are created in order to release the balm of Gilead, the balm of love.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 
“I Believe.” - Elizabeth Churchill.
​

Reflection. 
The balm of Jesus is released in love through the acts of all our people.
Today, when Chenaniah plays their music, they release their balm.
When members of our lay ministry lead us in worship, they release their balm.
When the choir sings hymns of praise, when the congregation joins in song, they release their balm.
When soloists share their special gift, when our youth take part in skits and music, when we offer dinners and potluck food to our community, we release our balm.
This is what it takes to be a church family.
Bless our family, Lord. Amen.

​Announcements:  Thank You to Joe Hevesy for leading us in worship today.

Thank You, also to Elisabeth Churchill, Grace Sutton and Carol Bye for sharing their gifts of music.

     Thanks to everyone involved in hosting last Tuesday’s Presbytery supper, service and meeting. We have a great team!