Welcome to virtual church!For the latest news and updates from Walton, please check our Facebook page, Instagram and website. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for videos of service, the choirs and more!
Please contact office@waltonmemorial.com if you would like to be added to our email list.
Today’s service will be offered in 2 formats – video and text. If you wish, you can download and print the service from this document – link – or you can read the complete service below.
The hymn-sing is at the end.
• Going to a beach, near or far this summer? We walk this journey together, so we would like to share our journey together. In the summer of 2019, we started our walkway at the front of the church by asking our Walton family if you could bring a flat stone from a beach you are going to, or from a special place you would be going to during the summer. The project was put on hold for the summer of 2021, but we are working to finish it this year and would love to receive more stones. We are hoping to dedicate the walkway and garden project in the fall.
The idea is: To fill the little walkway behind the trellis, where the angel is in the garden at the front of the church. We are asking for flat smooth stones from a beach you might visit on vacation, from your cottage, or from one of our Bronte beaches. The stones should be from the size of your palm up to the size of your hand.
Please let us know the specifics of where your rock came from, whether in Canada or beyond. Email Rev. Gill at jamescgillwuc@gmail.com with the details.
Please contact the church office to drop your rock off; do NOT add them to the walkway yourself. Thanks for walking our journey together!
• A new way to donate to Walton — Text-to-Give! Donate securely at any time just by texting a dollar amount to 84321 (eg. $5). See our Text-to-Give page for more information
• Children and youth are invited to view this week’s VBS at home lesson online. Adam and Eve may have messed everything up with their sin, but don’t worry. God is the man with a plan!
• Walton’s prayer chain is open. Confidential prayers requests can be sent to office@waltonmemorial.com
• If you need Rev. Jim for a pastoral emergency, please email him directly at jamescgillwuc@gmail.com.
Welcome to today’s time of worship. I’m Rev. Karen Inkster, a retired United Church minister and one of the Voluntary Associate Ministers at Walton United Church in Oakville. Much of this morning’s service was recorded in nearby Burlington.
I acknowledge that this land is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe first peoples. As a fifth-generation settler, I also acknowledge the need to listen to the truth and to work toward honest reconciliation.
My thank-you to those participating in today’s service as well as those who have helped in any way to put the service together.
Wherever you are on your faith journey, I pray that this time together will be a blessing to you.
One: We worship God.
All: We praise God for the gift of creation, the example set by Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
One: Sometimes we worship in a church building
All: giving thanks to God for the security of knowing God is always present.
One: Sometimes we worship in our home, at a campsite, on a plane, or in a canoe
All: giving thanks to God for the security of knowing God is present wherever we are.
Let us worship the living God!
Ever-present God, we thank you for this time to pause and to be mindful of your Presence. Open us to know your goodness, your compassion and your forgiveness. Bless us as we worship, we pray, that we may go from this time of worship ready to be your caring people in the world. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ who taught his followers to pray:
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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory
Forever and ever. Amen
How good is your memory? I’ve made a list of a few things. Take 30 seconds to read the list. Then close your eyes and see how many you can remember. No peeking!
• Pizza cutter
• Small teddy bear
• Penguin
• Toy red car
• Peanut
• Computer mouse
• Marvel figure
• Small Blue Jays helmet/hat
• Badminton bird
• Magic marker•
Loonie
How did you do? It’s difficult to remember all of them. Sometimes it is difficult to remember everything and everybody. However, God never forgets us and God never forgets to love us, no matter what is happening and no matter who we are.
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you.”
But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?
I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings. But I will not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
In accordance with all these words and with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
Have you ever tried skydiving? Is it something you might like to do? Is it on your bucket list? It’s on my list of ‘not a chance’!
Sharon has tried skydiving. She told me how scary it was to stand at the open door of the plane knowing it was her turn to jump. She had to muster up every bit of courage she had before she jumped out into the air. However, the scariest part came next. The parachute was to open automatically 10 seconds after she jumped. If it didn’t there was a cord she could pull and hope it worked! Sharon tells me that waiting for the parachute to open was the longest 10 seconds of her life! And when it did open? Such relief! She was safe! Secure! The parachute opening brought a wonderful feeling of security.
Security is important to us, not just when doing something scary like skydiving. Security is something we all need every day as we live in our insecure world. The good news for us is that there is One by our side who will bring us a security even far more dependable and far more necessary than a skydiver’s parachute opening!
The great King David wasn’t immune from needing security. He planned to build God a secure house of cedar, like his own. By today’s standards that would mean a 6 bedroom, 4 bathroom home on waterfront property with a hot tub and swimming pool, three-car garage and a state of the art security system!
The Ark of the Covenant was the most treasured symbol of God’s Presence for the people of Israel. However, it was housed only in a tent which could easily have been destroyed. Instead of a tent, King David wanted to build a secure house like his own for God. Part of David’s motivation came from his love for God. Some of it also may well have come from his need for a secure God.
We’re not all that much different from David. We want a secure faith.
Unlike David, who at the time of this story was experiencing a time of peace, our enemies are still camped around us. We have made great progress in combating the Covid virus due largely to vaccines. However, some people continue to suffer long-term effects of having had Covid. Some grieve the loss of a loved one. Also, in some places Covid still rages on, killing thousands. Racism and other forms of discrimination still fester within our communities. The homeless still camp out for many reasons, including the lack of affordable housing. Conflicts of all sorts still fracture our family relationships.
In the presence of our enemies we want a faith which is secure. We want a faith with a sturdy foundation and a strong framework that can withstand the stresses of life.
The problem is that sometimes we seek this secure faith in less than helpful ways. We might try to put God into a nice, neat box. This is who God is and what God is like. We may try clearly to define what is right and what is wrong in God’s eyes. We may seek simple answers to complex problems, thinking that will solve the problem.
This does give us a sort of security but is this kind of security what God wants for our faith? Today’s scripture suggests that it is not. God refused David’s offer. What kind of God rejects a sturdy, secure and beautiful house? The same kind of God who traded a well-crafted cradle in a palace for a manger in a stable and a golden throne for a cross. God rejected David’s offer for security because of the kind of security David wanted. David was seeking a security that came with material security and with playing it safe.
God, however, seeks another kind of security and God offered that security to David. God promised him that one of his descendants would build a temple. Although David’s son Solomon built a physical temple for God, God’s promise would ultimately and spiritually find fulfillment in another one of his descendants, Jesus. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus reflect a love that brings us a dependable and lasting security.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s ultimate “yes” to humanity. It assures us of God’s unconditional and eternal love for each of us and in that assurance we find ultimate and eternal security. This doesn’t mean that all our problems and fears will disappear. It does mean that God’s love strengthens us, encourages us, inspires us and sustains us when our faith seems weak and when life’s problems surround us.
Security rooted in God’s eternal, unconditional love also removes us from the necessity of having to put God into a nice neat box or to know clearly what is right and wrong because God’s love is strong enough to withstand our questions and our doubts. We are invited to use our brain, to think, to talk with others, to wrestle with problems. The result is a faith that not only can withstand the struggles of life and the challenges of faith but can also grow and mature through them.
The security offered to us by God is rooted in God’s love. However, it is not rooted in staying in the same place. One of the advantages for the people of Israel in having a tent to house the Ark of the Covenant, was that it could easily be moved from one place to another. God invites the church today to be on the move. That doesn’t necessarily mean physically, although it could at times. It means to be on the move in terms of our attitudes, our understandings, our ways of reaching out into the world with God’s love.
Walton, like many congregations, has been on the move this past year and a half. We have moved from our church buildings to doing many things, including worship, virtually. We haven’t forgotten our church building and we miss seeing people face to face. However, we have learned new ways to worship, to grow in faith, to be together when we aren’t physically together and to share Christ’s love with the world. Our Covid church days can be a springboard for us to stretch ourselves further and further, and to seek new ways of sharing God’s love with others the church may have missed sharing it with in the past. The security which gives us the courage to be on the move, comes from the amazing, all-embracing, eternal love of God as shown to us in Jesus Christ.
Jack couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to fly in an airplane. How could you trust an airplane to keep you safe?! Then his teenage grandson became interested in airplanes and thought he might like to become a pilot. It took a lot of convincing but finally he convinced his grandfather to go on a short airplane ride with him. His grandson assured him that the pilot knew what he was doing and would have a co-pilot. He also had lots of flying experience so they would be safe. When the day came for the flight Jack had to muster up all his courage to step through the door and into the plane.
The flight was a good one with no problems and with a smooth safe landing. Jack’s family was anxious to hear what he thought of the flight. “Well,” he said “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But I’ll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!”
We can dare to put our whole weight down on our journey of life, because we are embraced with a security that comes from God who loves us unconditionally and eternally.
So let us put the whole of our weight down!
Comforting and challenging God, we thank you for the gift of today. We praise you for creation – for green grass, colourful flowers, the songs of the birds, the warmth of summer days and the refreshing breeze of summer evenings. Instil in us, Creator God, the desire to take good care of the world you have entrusted to us.
We thank you for the diversity of the human family. Ease the tendency to fear those different from us, encourage our desire to understand others more fully and assure us that our differences bring multiple blessings to all.
We thank you that Canada finally is acknowledging the pain we caused and continue to cause the Indigenous people of this land because of residential schools and other forms of discrimination. Help each of us to bring reconciliation to the fractured relationship between Indigenous people and settlers.
We thank you that the effects of Covid are lessening in our community. However, we raise up to you our concerns for other places where this virus still rages on. Instil in the human family the desire to see people in all parts of the world vaccinated and kept safe.
We thank you for your desire for peace and harmony. We ask that you raise up leaders in the Middle East who will work together so Israelis and Palestinians can share that land fairly and in peace.
O God, our lives are a blend of challenges and opportunities. Whatever is happening in our world, our country, our lives, we ask that you help us to place our security in you.
Hear now our silent prayers…
We pray in the name of the living, dependable Christ. Amen.
As we are grateful and blessed to live in peace, with clean water, homes, health care, safe schools and many opportunities, we give back some of our riches to help our neighbours, Lord. The offering will now be received.
♥ by secure online payment from your debit or credit card. Click here to go to our donation page to make a single or recurring donation. Multiple funds can be included in one donation by using the “Add Donation” button
♥ Text-to-Give – Donate securely at any time just by texting a dollar amount to 84321 (eg. $5). See our Text-to-Give page for more information.
♥ by cheque through the mail slot at the Church office entrance or by Canada Post
♥ by monthly PAR payments. To sign up contact stuart@waltonmemorial.com
Lord, we ask you to take what we are able to give today and share it with others who need to know your love and compassion and generosity in this world. Help us to be your hands and heart in our communities, in our province and in our country. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Let us go into this day and the days ahead to share the love of Christ with all we meet. Be assured that you are not alone. The Lord, your God, goes with you. God will never fail you nor forsake you.
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Love of God, and
the Communion of the Holy Spirit
be with each one of us today and forevermore.
Amen.
This morning on Facebook and on YouTube, we’re sharing a video where Linda shares with us several of our favourite hymns! Sing along!
• Gather Us In (Lift Up Your Hearts #529)
• All Are Welcome (Let us Build a House) (More Voices #1)
• Take, O Take Me as I Am (More Voices #85)
• The Church’s One Foundation (Voices United #331 verses 1, 2, 4, and 5)
• Go To the World (Voices United #420 verse 2)
Here is Rev. Jim’s mid-week update for Wednesday, July 14th
