[0:00] I was told by somebody who's a great authority on the subject that the problem I would have today would be using words that were too big so can you help me if I use words that are too big by putting up your hand I give you the authority to do that no response now the first thing I want you to do is this this happens to be some oil and this is oil that we sometimes take to people who are sick and we put some on their heads and pray for them that they may get better and the reason that we do that is because the New Testament says we are to do that and people are sick you're to go and to pray for them and anoint them with oil now I would like would any of you like to be anointed with oil everybody not okay well I'll do you and and you do not you all right that's very clear now the the purpose of this is is it works like this anointing is for with oil but sometimes somebody whom God wanted to mark as a very special person that nobody else knew and nobody else recognized they were anointed with oil like when David was just a boy Samuel came and anointed him with oil and he was one day to be the king and the only reason he knew he was to be king was because he had been anointed with oil nobody else in the whole country knew who was to be king boys and girls if you look out there there's a very important person up there somebody who within your lifetime is going to become wealthy and famous and powerful and one of the great people of Vancouver you want me to tell you who it is well I don't know who it is you see I but I just know that the probability is that that person is out there and nobody here knows it even the person themselves may not know it it may be a secret to them as it is to us but in a sense that's what Jesus was he was someone who had been anointed by God to be and this is to be the anointed one can you say the anointed one now let me get it very clear the anointed one now if you were to say that in Hebrew do you know how you'd say it the Messiah can you say let's try it again the Messiah and once again so everybody in church can hear it the good for you now if you were to translate it into Greek do you know how it would sound you would be the Christ the Christ you see you would be and that means that you are the anointed one now the reason I tell you that story is because once upon a time and it's still there today and was on the news last night there was a very great city one of the greatest cities in the
[4:04] whole of the world the most famous cities and it was set on a hill but even though it was on a hill it was surrounded by a great range of mountains so that there was this city on a hill and all around it was a great range of mountains and it was on the on the western coast of a great sea which was called the middle of the earth sea that is it was the sea which everybody then believed was right at the middle of the earth and Rome was on that sea and Greece was on that sea and this city was on that sea and this city was called Jerusalem a very ancient city now in the center of Jerusalem there was a temple and the temple was the greatest building in Jerusalem it was a very important building and almost everything that happened in the city happened around the temple do you go to school where do you go to school?
[5:09] what? what's the name of your school? our lady of perpetual health good so that's where your school is now if you are very sick and need to go to the hospital what hospital do you go to?
[5:28] the children's hospital and if you are uh if you're uh going to church what church do you go to? St. John's and if you're going to a shopping center what shopping center do you go to?
[5:44] which one? we got we got let me hear it again we'll let you hear it again we'll let you hear it again Kensington Square Shopping Center well now uh if you go to the bank what bank do you go to?
[6:02] the bank of Montreal the bank of Montreal thank you and uh so when people who lived in Jerusalem wanted to go to school school to church to a hospital to a bank and to a shopping center all at the same time they went to the temple because it was all those things it was the place as well as being the radio station and the TV station where you got all the news so all this was encompassed in the temple so you can imagine that every day hundreds of people were coming and going to the temple now uh when they got to the temple there was a great altar there now I have the altar represented by this uh candle here you see and all in the morning and in the evening there were sacrifices their people were very rich they brought uh they brought animals to be killed and sacrificed and burnt at the altar as a as a form of worshiping God they made their offerings sometimes if they weren't so rich they brought a pigeon or a dove or a lamb and if they were very poor indeed they brought finely ground flour and it was offered you see you see how that you can burn that on the candle as it was on and they made that offering every day morning and evening the offerings were made in our church this is all its ledge of that great offering system the sacrificial system the sacrificial system which was at the heart of it the only thing we have that is when we want God offering of what God has given us but in the temple every day smoke went up and the sacrifices were made and in addition people prayed and there was one lady there who was you heard her name her name was
[8:10] Anna any of you both Anna any any are you well the difference Anna are you well that'll do under the circumstances Anna was 84 years old and she was in the temple day and night and she hardly ate anything but what she did do was she used to pray and she was a prophetess because she knew things about God and people who wanted to know things about God would go and talk to Anna the prophetess and then there was another old man who came every day to the temple and it says of him he was very religious and upright and devout he was a good good man and he was very regular about praying and hearing the scriptures read and he was a good man and his name was
[9:10] Simeon do we have any Simons here that's about as close as we could get nobody called Simon here well Simeon was this man and he was given a secret God told Simeon a secret and the way God did it is when Simeon was praying one day God said to him God said to him Simeon I know you don't like the city and you know that it's full of greed and corruption and lust and all sorts of bad things in the city and you're looking for the consolation of the people do you know what consolation means I'm going to tell you before you're through so wait for it he was waiting for what he called the consolation of Israel and the Lord by the Holy Spirit took Simeon one day and told him a secret he was an old man remember and if you would pretend you're the old man what he told me to do and the Lord took him aside and so that's what happened
[10:24] Simeon had been told a secret and the secret was that Simeon would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointing and nobody knew who it was but Simeon knew that he wouldn't die until he'd seen him and so every day Simeon came to the temple and he said his prayers and he wondered is today the day that I'm going to see the Lord's anointed which if I said it in Greek I would say the Christ or if I said it in Hebrew I would say the Messiah so Simeon came every day looking for the Lord's anointed one the Messiah, the Christ and he wondered when it would happen and he watched every day and all he knew was that a young man and a young woman would bring a baby to the temple and when he saw that baby he would know that that was the one and so the story tells us that Mary and Joseph came from Bethlehem to Jerusalem one day and all the crowds of people were all thronging the temple there and they had special things to do you know we have crowds of people throng this little temple at certain festivals of the year and sometimes we have services where there's only one person or two people or three people well these two people came for very private reasons and the reasons had to do with the birth of their child so they brought their baby and when they came to the temple courtyard
[12:20] Simeon was there and Simeon saw them coming and his face lit up and he knew that this was the very moment that the Lord had told him all about and he went out to meet this man and the woman and the tiny baby and he took the tiny baby into his arms and then he looked up to God and he sang a song it's not a song you know and it's not a song I'm going to sing to you but it is a song we sing in church lots he took the baby into his hands and he said Lord it's time for me to go because this is your promise to build this is the Messiah he said this to Joseph and Mary who stood there with their eyes wide open hardly able to believe that their tiny baby was the one of which this old man spoke with such joy and he said in him we have seen salvation you know what salvation means?
[13:27] but I'm going to tell you wait for it he's going to be a light to lighten the Gentiles that means all the people all over the whole world whether they are what color they are what nation they are what country they live in what language they speak Simeon's this baby is to be a light for everybody in every part of the world and not only is he viewed to be a light for all the people in all the world but he's to be the glory of thy people Israel which means the Jewish people that lived in Jerusalem he's to be their glory have you know what glory means?
[14:14] have you ever been out when there's really dark heavy thunderclouds rolling in and they come and it gets very dark and the wind blows very hard and you can't see where you are this doesn't happen in British Columbia but it happens some places on the road more and then suddenly the whole sky is lit with lightning have you ever seen that?
[14:41] let me take you back east with me sometime and I'll show you how it happens the whole sky was lit with lightning and they could see everything everywhere and Simeon said this child is going to be like lightning to his people and he's going to light up their darkness so that suddenly they will see everything and understand everything for the very first time and so Simeon told that to Joseph and Mary about their baby now the three words that I want to tell you about just as we conclude the first is consolation and consolation is the word which means coming alongside somebody it's the word which really describes the last verse of that lovely Christmas hymn away in a baby and out this is how it goes be near me Lord Jesus
[15:45] I ask you to stay close by me forever and love me I pray bless all the dear children in your tender care and bid us for heaven to live with you there that's the same kind of prayer that Simeon said he wanted God to come and console him and to be near him could we pray that prayer as we sing that one verse you must all know it be near me Lord Jesus be near me Lord Jesus try it with me be near me Lord Jesus I ask you to stay close by me forever and love me I pray bless all the dear children bless all the dear children in your tender care and feed us for heaven to live with you there and that's what consolation means that God will come and be near us even as we pray the Lord Jesus will be near us so when you say that prayer you're asking for consolation the next word is a word that the old woman used because she was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem and you know what redemption means it means that if you are a slave you're a slave and every day you have to do what your master said in a sense you're all slaves you have to do what your mothers and fathers and school teachers tend to do but when he talks about redemption it means that somebody comes along and pays your master a sum of money and says alright now you can go free free that's what redemption is to pay for you to go free so Jesus was to come to console them and to pray for them to go free now you're not ready to go free yet but there will come a time when Jesus will set you free and when you have that freedom you will know you will know that it's a freedom which you can only handle in the as Jesus draws near to console you and the last word that I want you to hear is salvation you know what salvation means remember that the temple was a kind of a hospital place where people came when they were sick or when they were unhealthy in some way and there was a lot of sick people around and there were people dying because they didn't have very good medicines and all sorts of things like that even when you do have good medicine you sometimes die but people were dying and what salvation means is that somebody will come and take away all sickness and all death and give you a life which can never be taken away from you that's salvation and those are the three things that Simeon said the story of Simeon tells us
[19:09] Jesus came to do and we try them all once I know they're hard words consolation redemption and salvation could you say them once again with me and I hope they will stick in your minds consolation redemption and salvation and then the old man the old man gave the child back to Joseph and Mary and with a kind of quiet smile he went away to death because that's what he prayed the Lord had given to him and he said Lord it's time for me to depart I have seen the fulfillment of your father and even today when I go and visit people when they're about letting them die it's sometimes a great comfort for them to read the same words that Simeon said come to the place where you can pray
[20:16] Lord you have fulfilled your promise let me depart in peace and that's what we sometimes pray to you get what God is calling you to get to be with him I have one word to say to your parents so you go back and tell them to pay attention will you and then I'll say it to them hey this is the word for parents to take home and adults uh it's it's just this the lovely part of this story It's just this.
[21:04] The lovely part of this story seems to me that Simeon was daily in the temple praying, that Anna was praying and fasting and never departed from the temple, that Joseph and Mary came up to the temple to do according to the custom.
[21:21] And as you face a new year, you must build into your life those customary devotions by which you come regularly into the presence of God through the reading of Scripture, through prayer, through worship.
[21:38] And it's as you do those things that God meets you in the special way that he met Joseph and Mary and in the special way he met Simeon with Joseph and Mary.
[21:53] That's when it happens. When in the ordered life of our prayer and worship, God meets us and answers us in a way which is more deeply fulfilling than anything we could know.
[22:12] We're going to receive the offering now and we're going to sing the Huron Carol which is printed in your bulletins. and we're going to sing the Huron Carol who is with our prayer and poems with Jesus and Mary in two minds.
[22:27] He's still playing Director and Paul knows us on She is praying to us and fi in the work and acting is not available for forgiveness. It's probably my cake.
[22:46] Amen. For there light the stars proved in, and one ring hunters heard the hymn.
[23:25] Jesus, come, He is born, Jesus is born, He excels His glory beyond.
[23:38] In the lodge a broken mark of tender bay was found. The maggot of a rabbit's skin in raptors' beauty round.
[23:54] The halls of the earth brings to God the angels so proud, bow and high. Jesus, come, He is born, Jesus is born, He excels His glory beyond.
[24:16] He is born, the wintertime, His thoughts so round and fair. As was the rain of glory of the helpless infant fair.
[24:34] The chains that fire baked for Him down, The gives the saints and 영화 half after Him restored. Jesus is born, he excels his glory of.
[24:55] O children of the forest, we go south of the hill. O we shall our grander, be one great for you.
[25:14] I pray for the great and the great children we stand upon. Jesus is born, he excels his glory of.
[25:36] O we shall our grander, be one great for you.
[25:51] O we shall our grander, be one great for you.
[26:06] O we shall our grander, be one great for you. O we shall our grander, be one great for you. O we shall our grander, be one great for you.
[26:19] O we shall our grander, be one great for you. your blood Jesus, and all, Jesus, and all, and all.
[27:07] Amen. We have, if you'd like to be seated, we have received Christmas greetings from a number of people who in the past have been either members of our parish or have visited our parish.
[27:59] And I'd like to let you know that these cards and newsletters are on the front pews here at the choir area. So after the service, if any of you would like to come up and have a look at them, if you know and would like to find out a little bit of news, by all means do so.
[28:15] David Bronwyn, Ben and Joshua Short, who live in Manly, Australia. Andrew and Margaret Rockett, who live in Toronto. David and Jill Hicks and Faith, Noah and Baby X, who live in Milton, Ontario.
[28:30] I've never heard of anyone called Baby X before. Bishop John and Mrs. Barbara Takita, the Bishop of Tokyo, who visited us this past September. Scott and Judy Gilbreth and Baby Pauline Joyce, who live in Whitehorse, Yukon.
[28:46] Brian and Sue Salter and Jesse and Baby Nellie, who live in Quenelle. Dick Lucas, Rector of St. Helen's Bishopsgate in London, England. Beverly Stafford, who lives in Mallorca and is to be married in January 1990.
[29:02] Jim Louise, Sarah and Timothy Walton, who live in Prince George. Steve Hopkins, who is in Jamaica working for three months with Youth with a Mission. Tom and Monica Taylor, who are living in Bangkok, Thailand and working there.
[29:17] Roger and Sue Chilton and their three children, Christopher Hugh and Rachel, in Sydney, Australia, and soon to move to northern New South Wales to become a deacon in an Anglican church there.
[29:29] Bob and Valerie Pancratz and Tiffany in Hamilton, Ontario, where Bob is an assistant pastor of a large Presbyterian church and where Valerie also helps with Bible studies and music programs.
[29:41] Kendall and Elizabeth Harmon, who live in South Carolina. Rosemary and Michael Green, who live on the other side of Vancouver. Jim Wardroper, an organization known as M2, and Jim Wardroper's organization, ACTS.
[29:57] As I say, these cards and newsletters are on the choir pews, so please come up and have a look for yourself after the service. Right, I wonder if we might pray now, please.
[30:08] Come, let us worship and bow down.
[30:24] Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture.
[30:36] Father, we are glad that we can be here this morning.
[30:50] We are glad that as a family, parents and children, relatives and friends, that we can take time now to bow before you, our God.
[31:06] We are grateful for the encouragement of your word, and we thank you for your shepherding.
[31:19] in our prayers this morning, we want to pray for the troubled parts of our world.
[31:33] It's very difficult for us to know how to pray for the things that we know and have seen on television.
[31:49] And I think it would be appropriate if we, children and parents and friends and relatives, might take a moment of silent prayer to put in your words what you would like to pray for the people who are suffering, are suffering losses, are suffering in struggle to become liberated people, and to know freedom.
[32:38] So we pray, knowing something of what it means to us to be free this morning.
[32:48] So take a moment now and pray. Amen. In your mercy, Lord, hear our prayers.
[33:19] God of power and truth and peace, we pray thy blessing on our elected leaders throughout our land.
[33:40] We pray for them that they will know your guidance in the decisions they make. We pray that as we are so aware about the leadership that has gone awfully amiss, that all our leaders will be alerted to the subtleties of life, of decisions, and of hidden agendas.
[34:20] I pray in your mercy, Lord, hear our prayer. Now, Father, we also want to pray for our premier this morning, and pray that he will know your word to him about the decisions he has to make.
[34:44] Be to him all that he needs. to our leaders here, we are always very aware of the wonderful city that we live in and the very definite need that the leaders who govern us need very much to know your guidance, too.
[35:14] they need to know how to handle and cope with the poor, what they should do.
[35:29] What about the hungry? and what about housing? Now, these are very basic needs, and we pray very much that you'll always keep our leaders aware of the physical and human need right around us.
[35:55] Now, Father, another matter that is just about to happen to us is our forthcoming mission.
[36:11] In three weeks, we will want to extend to our friends and neighbors and family invitations for people to come and hear a very vital word about Jesus Christ and their life and what it all means.
[36:40] Now, Father, we're very fortunate here in that every Sunday we hear about your mercy and grace in Jesus Christ.
[36:51] And for many of us, we have known new paths and fresh ways. Now, we pray for the extended family that comes that you will very much hover over them and that you will give Mr. Chapman your word for this time.
[37:17] Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers. Lord, we pray for our prayers and we pray for our prayers. Now, Father, we are very aware that we have our Sunday school people with us this morning and we thank you for the children.
[37:36] We thank you for the leaders. We thank you for all that assist in teaching people, children, families about God.
[37:47] praying together. So we thank you that we can come here as a corporate body praying together.
[37:59] Now, Father, it is great to hear the wonderful greetings that we've received this morning. Friends from all around the world wanting to send their greetings to us and their prayers.
[38:18] And now, we very much would want to pray for these people that have enlarged our lives and broadened our horizons.
[38:32] We pray that you will be to them all that they need. now, Father, we, it is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to thy name, to declare the steadfast love in the morning and thy faithfulness by night.
[39:01] In the name of Jesus Christ, we bring our prayers to you this morning with thanksgiving. Amen.
[39:23] Hello once again and good morning. How great it is to see you all here this last Sunday of 1989, in fact, the last day of 1989. About five o'clock this morning, it was raining so hard and so miserable, I thought it was fitting that we should be seeing the old year out and yet, as so often the case, we had the ray of sunshine that came through during our service and I guess that reminded me at least of God's blessings on this parish and on us all.
[39:52] Tonight, there's a regular 715 service for the evening service and we encourage you to be here and a special service at 1130, the New Year watch night service, which is a 45-minute service commencing at 1130 and it takes us into the next year and in this case the next decade.
[40:16] It's a wonderful service so if any of you can be here, we'd welcome you. I encourage you to take your bulletin and read through it. There's all kinds of information there you might want to be updated on.
[40:28] There's one I'd like to bring your attention to. The annual shelf list for the library is in progress and a return of borrowed books is encouraged. Now this normally doesn't apply to anyone, right?
[40:41] Everyone returns the books after they've through with them and I certainly know in our family that's the case except that yesterday I just came across a book, opened it up and said property of St. John's Library. So, you know, we all forget and I encourage you to look through your library, find any books that belong to St. John's and return them so somebody else can enjoy them.
[41:04] Finally, we've enjoyed the decorations of this church over the Christmas season so lovingly and carefully done. Now comes the time to prepare for the new year and the decorations must come down.
[41:19] There's a special occasion for that and anyone who can afford the time we'd encourage you to come and participate at Tuesday at 9.30 in the morning to give a hand to take down the Christmas decorations.
[41:31] I invite you to come over to the Trendle Lounge for a cup of tea or coffee and as I said earlier to have a look at the cards for any of you who would like to look up one or more of those cards.
[41:41] we find the words of our concluding hymn there in your leaflet entitled Bring to the Lord. High school to try on ee noble year sea and day Let us pray.
[42:45] Let us pray.
[43:15] Let us pray. Let us pray. Praise Him beneath the dome of heaven. Why, cymbal sounds, and torus calls, let praises plead for God begin.
[43:38] With strings and brass and wind rejoice. Then join His praise with full accord.
[43:53] All living things, great world and most. God, every reason, praise the Lord.
[44:09] And will you kneel? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[44:48] Amen. Let the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[44:59] Amen. Verse 2 Thank you.