welcome to church online

march 29, 2020

It's wonderful to have you join worship here today!


You can follow the order of service below at your own pace

or coordinate with a fellow member to work through it at the same time together


May the Lord bless us as we meet here - albeit it virtually - to worship our Lord!

call to worship

If you're experiencing technical difficulties seeing the song videos, scroll down below the media player or click here

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family news

It has been good to hear that so many of us are finding ways to connect through email, phone, social media and video chat.

  • The directory is available on this site to help us all keep in touch.
  • If you haven't yet, consider joining the private facebook group, Travis has been hosting interactive live videos and there will be more this week - a check-in and sermon follow up on Monday at 4:30 pm and a Bible study on Wednesday at 10 am.  
  • On Tuesdays and Thursday you can also look forward to musical encouragement from Daniel and from some of our worship team members - hosted on this website and on the facebook group page.
  • Coming soon there will also be an opportunity for our kids ages 2-5 to connect with each other once a week over video chat (see Victoria for more info).
  • Digital updates will be sent out at least once a week via email.  Contact the office to sign up for the e-newsletter.

If you'd like to serve by running errands, doing phone check-ins, sharing prayers or contributing to this new Sunday service format, let the office know.

Prayer

Let us pray.  

"Lord, please make Your presence felt as we worship You here together.  Though time and space may separate us, we pray that You would unite us through Your Spirit, living in each one of us.  Please bless those with personal prayer concerns.  Thank you for all the prayer being lifted up by our prayer team as they gather over the internet each Sunday morning."

scripture readings

Ezekiel 37:1-14, Psalm 130,  John 11:1-45


Ezekiel 37:1-14


The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”


So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.


Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

 

Psalm 130


Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.

    Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

    to the voice of my supplications!

 

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

    Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,

    so that you may be revered.

 

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

    more than those who watch for the morning,

    more than those who watch for the morning.

 

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

    and with him is great power to redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel

    from all its iniquities.

 

John 11:1-45

 

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

 

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.  But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”  After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”  The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”  Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

 

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.  Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.  The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.  He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  Jesus began to weep.  So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

 

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.  Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”  Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

 

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

out of the depths

Psalm 130

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sermon

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want to share communion live?

Use email or social media to invite others to join you

at a virtual meeting via facetime / zoom / skype / google hangouts

and work through the elders' guide together (see below).


Some of the elders will also be hosting virtual Communion gatherings

at various times on Sunday.

To find out more, contact them here.

A GUIDE FROM THE ELDERS

FOR communion AT HOME OR ONLINE

This guide is aimed at helping those that wish to partake in the holy act of Communion either at home with your family or in an online chat setting.  It should take approximately 10 minutes.  This is only meant to serve as a guide.

 

If you are partaking at home or with a small group, have your bread and juice/wine ready.  

In the same way, if you are partaking in online setting, have it with you to partake together as one group.

 

1. Greetings and welcome to all present

 

2. Sharing at the table

If you’re leading this Communion meeting, share a few words from your own experience on where you have encountered or seen the goodness of Christ expressed in the past week.

 

3. Group prayer

If you want to use your own prayer please do so. 

We’ve included the Lord’s prayer as means for the group to pray together


Jesus taught us to pray in this way:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours

now and for ever.

Amen.


4. Scripture reading

Please feel free to use any scripture.  We’ve suggested Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and by burden is light.

 

5. Sharing the meal

Jesus says in John 6:51: 

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."


SHARING THE BREAD

a. If you’re leading, read Mark 14:22:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying “Take it: this is my body.”

b.  If you’re leading, share a prayer of thanksgiving for the bread

c.  All participants take the bread as one, follow by a time of prayer and reflection.

 

SHARING THE FRUIT OF THE VINE

a. If you’re leading, read Matthew 26: 27-28:

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.  This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

b.  If you’re leading, share a prayer of thanksgiving for the cup

c.  All participants take the cup as one, followed by a time of silent prayer and reflection.

 

6. Closing

If you’re leading this Communion meeting (and feeling brave) end with a hymn or give closing thoughts

 

7. Parting blessing

If you want to use your own prayer or text please do so.  

We’ve suggested the Benediction of Aaron from Numbers 6: 22-26

The Lord bless you, and keep you:

The Lord make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.

Amen.

offering

One of the ways we worship God is through giving.  

If you usually give via cash or cheques, you may want to switch to digital methods at this time.


Cheques can be mailed to 3460 Shelbourne Street, Victoria, BC, V8P 4G5


To make an electronic donation, send an e-transfer to donations@shelbournestreet.com


Let us pray: 

Lord, we thank you for all your blessings and for the joy of being able to give. 

We are mindful that so many are facing financial hardships and uncertainty and lift them up to You.

We pray for wisdom to use this offering well, in ways that bless those in need and further Your kingdom.

Amen.

parting blessing

It's been wonderful worshipping with all our brothers and sisters at Shelbourne Street today.


May your week be filled with blessings, and my the Lord give you all you need to love and serve your neighbours this week.


Don't forget to keep encouraging each other via phone, email, and through the facebook group.

If you need help to get started, contact the office.


Looking forward to worshipping with you again next week!


Now, here's one more song to lead us out into this week.

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