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Even though the shepherd metaphor may not connect to the daily experiences of many people in today’s cultures, it nevertheless has continuing power. Through today’s good shepherd passages, we are able to connect God’s ultimate care with the love of Christ, who loves in “truth and action.” What does it mean to be led by Christ – caring for others with the love of Christ? To what are we being called by the voice of the good shepherd?

Sharing Announcements

A Time of Greeting

Prayer of Approach (Unison)

God, loving shepherd, caring companion, you who are ever-present with us in all of life’s adventures: we gather here to celebrate our faith as Easter people. We celebrate that you care for us unconditionally, and love us no matter what; that you seek us out when we are lost and teach us to care for one another as you care for us. Accept the praise we offer, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

Prayer of Transformation & Assurance of Pardon

God, when we feel useless and despairing, you lead us from the dark valley and you give us our confidence back. When we have no wish to join in, but try to go it alone, you lead us back to community and you show us the joy and the satisfaction of working with others. When we refuse to meet a challenge or to get involved in a just cause, you lead us from the place of denial and you give us the courage to stand with the oppressed. When we neglect our life of faith and cannot find time for worship or prayer, you lead us back into faithfulness and you enable us to see our priorities as disciples of Jesus Christ…(Silent Reflection)

Prayer of Illumination

Other lessons for your personal consideration from today’s lections are: From the Psalms – Psalm 23; From the Epistles - 1 John 3:16-24

Anthem “This Is the Day of Rejoicing”

John 10:11-18 From the Christian Scriptures Pg. 132

All: Thanks be to God

A Message: “By What Power Did You Do This?”

Mission Moment Rae Wahl

We Respond In Giving And Gratitude

Our Church Tithes and Offerings

Dedication #518 “As Those of Old Their First-fruits Brought”

Prayer of Dedication (One)

Prayer of Thanksgiving, Intercession & Lord’s Prayer

One: May the Father of the human family go with us and sustain us in our family life.

All: May the Mother of the church family go with us and nurture our common life together.

One: May the Parent of all humankind go with us and show us how closely related we have become.

The Life And Work Of The Congregation

Friendship Rosters: Please sign the Friendship Roster this morning. It is a helpful record of your worship presence and a way to share special concerns (ie. prayer requests, name tag requests, etc.).

Edythe Hewitt Unit UCW will meet this Wed. May 10 @ 2:00 p.m. at the home of Fran Cove (#460, 2879 - 13 Ave SE).

Church Yard Clean-up will take place on Friday May 12^th starting at 5:30 p.m. Many hands make light work. All helpers welcome.

Westminster U.C.W. Blossom Time Tea & Bake Sale – this Saturday, May 13^th from 2 - 4 p.m. Tickets: $3.50/person, available at the door.

Westminster’s Spring Brunch will be held next Sun. May 14^th. Tickets available in the Hall following worship and from the office during the week. Adults $5, Children $3, Families $15. There are helper's signup sheets in the hallway leading to Memorial Hall.

Westminster Plant & Garage Sale – Saturday May 27^th. Please select items to donate to the sale. All income goes to Mission & Outreach programs. Let’s make this the biggest sale yet. It’s the time to start seeding plants and remember, we will not be selling consignment items, but we will be grateful for articles donated. Also, if persons wish they may rent a table for $15.00 to “staff” themselves. These tables will be on a “first come – first serve” basis. Income from the rental tables remains at the discretion of the renter.

Donated items can be brought to the church on Friday, May 26 from 9 – 4:00 p.m. (no clothing or perishables. Plants welcome). Contact Linda Carney 527-7005.

Attention Canyon Camp Resource staff – positions available are: Camp mom or dad, camp medic, nature leader, chaplain, craft leader and lifeguard. Paid staff – positions available are: custodian, head cook, assistant head cook. Campers – applications are on the bulletin board for camps dated: Jun 9-11: Women’s retreat

Any who are seeking membership within the congregation of Westminster, either through transfer or reaffirmation of faith, please speak to James.

We have an education opportunity for a Sunday School Coordinator(s) for September (a job description is available). Opportunities also exist for teachers for the Fall. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Jane or Lesley Berg.

AJ’s Loan Cupboard is a private charitable society that loans out various types of medical equipment as well as additional items (free of charge, with no time limitations and no questions asked). To donate items (or financial donations), or to access items, call 580-5580. Brochures are on the ramp.

Your prayers this week are requested for Susan Bowyer and Vauxhall Pastoral Charge and Pastoral Charge Supervisor: Elizabeth Brown.

Our Order of Ministry This Morning

Nursery Attendant.................................................... Tara Johnson

.......................................................... Wally & Vivian Bergstreser

Scripture Reader.................................................. Jackie Schlenker

Elder-in-Charge....................................................... Gordon Bruins

Stewardship Thought For Today

Stewards see every decision, including

how we spend and share time and money,

tied intimately to who we say we are

– as individuals and as faith communities.

[A note about this message…a trip to http://www.united-church.ca/ will allow you to read the account of the signing of the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and supporting material. This message concludes with a quote from Bishop John Shelby Spong and will have the tone and content of the work he has shared in many of his books and will be familiar to those of you who have read his work.]

Common sense says, bad stuff is going to happen in life and the practical mind may say: ‘we need to get over it!’ We need to Move on. But the power of the Holy Spirit working in us asks us to find a way to breathe life into the pain of another…or to find in the refreshing spirit of God strength to allow life to be breathed into us…not the easiest thing in the world to do, but certainly the work of Christ among us, and within us and through us.

This week something good happened… the National church issued a press release to indicate our most current commitment to the work of offering energy and resources to alleviate the pain caused by our part in the life and times of Native Residential Schools.

June 18^th is “First Nations” Sunday but the action of the general council of the United Church of Canada this week invites us to take assessment of our ongoing journey as a church and our commitment to being the church in our relationship with First Nations folks.

Today I want to journey into this conversation holding up before us the question and claim held up in the reading from Acts.

Let me regroup: In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter & John, had just been hauled up on the carpet to account for themselves. In particular, to account for the healing of the lame man who used to beg outside the Temple. After being detained overnight, the religious authorities and those of the High Priestly family gathered Peter and John before them and said, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

It’s a great question! Keep it in front of you. “By what power or by what name did you do this?”

In a statement released Monday, The United Church of Canada announced that it will sign the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

The United Church press release reads in part: "This is a historic agreement that recognizes and begins to address, in a comprehensive package, the harm done to Aboriginal individuals and communities by the Indian Residential School system," said the Rev. James Scott, the church's General Council Officer for Residential Schools. "It is important for former students, for our church, and for our nation."

The unanimous decision was made by the church's General Council Executive, which met in Toronto, April 28-May 1, 2006, after a recommendation to support signing the Settlement Agreement was brought to the executive by the United Church's Residential Schools Steering Committee.

Scott points out that Although the United Church had previously participated, along with the government, in hundreds of individual abuse settlements with claimants, it had always been unwilling to enter a formal bilateral agreement with the Canadian government.

Our reluctance was based on several concerns, raised particularly by Aboriginal members of the United Church, including

* that bilateral agreements with the government did not include the Aboriginal voice and did not necessarily serve the interests of former students

* that it was more faithful for the church to accept its full responsibility and liability with respect to claims rather than to seek the protection of a "cap"

* that an agreement focused on abuse claims did not recognize or address the wide range of other harms suffered by many former students of Indian Residential Schools

However, the members and staff of the Residential Schools Steering Committee recommended support of this Settlement Agreement because it addresses these concerns and in particular

and * the obligations undertaken by the churches are acceptable to the Aboriginal leadership and the aboriginal community believes * we believe the agreement is in the interests of former students

. He says So, the church supports this multi-party, comprehensive package because it addresses not only compensation but also healing programs, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and commemoration. "And the Aboriginal voice was front and centre in reaching this agreement," he said.

Scott emphasizes that while the United Church agreement defines the church's legal and financial obligations, "it does not limit the church's moral responsibilities as they relate to our active and long-term commitment to build right relationships of trust, respect, and equality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples."

"It is to the work of healing, justice-seeking, and reconciliation that we must now turn our attention and our resources.

This work will challenge our theological and cultural assumptions as well as our pocketbooks, but it offers the promise of transformation," says Scott.

Under the United Church agreement, The United Church of Canada agrees to contribute a total of $6,890,000 toward compensation and healing, much of which has already been paid…{more than 80%.}

Scott says the United Church will be actively involved in the healing, reconciliation, and commemoration components of the Settlement Agreement, such as the national and community events related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"We will also continue to attend adjudication hearings for abuse claims to bear witness to the claimant's story and offer words of acknowledgement, apology, and support," says Scott.

Being proactive does not mean being dogmatic. As a faith community, we have participated in the negotiations on the Settlement Agreement remembering our accountability to those who have been harmed. This has involved the incremental steps of learning to be present to those we do not know, learning to listen to what survivors feel and need for healing, and being open to the gifts and leadership of former students in the process of reparation and reconciliation.

In seeking direction from scripture on what it means to take responsibility for harm done, many texts suggest that we must be proactive in setting things right with our brother or sister.

As a church, we have been in the process of "remembering" the role that we played in the residential school system and the impact of those schools on our Aboriginal sisters and brothers.

As our awareness has grown, so has our obligation to seek out those who have been hurt and to do what is necessary to make things right. Waiting for folks to sue us is not sufficient.

We are mindful that Jesus' teaching suggests that reconciliation with our brother or sister is a prerequisite for reconciliation with God. Right relations with God is tied up with, and perhaps dependent on, our willingness to rebuild right relations with our neighbours. This is hard work.

Years ago we embarked on a journey to help bring Native children into the modern world and to do that by gathering children in schools, teaching them English and helping them become modern Canadians.

By what power did we do this? We did it by moving as we thought we should as those led by God to walk with folks in need …we did what we thought was right … was the power of God with us? Absolutely!

Today we talk about our efforts to help heal the wounds that came out of that system. By what power do we do this? We do it by the same power of the spirit in our lives and the lives of our collective church wisdom. Is the power of God with us now? Absolutely!

There are passages that speak of God's mind being changed but I don’t believe that is what we are dealing with here. We are on a journey to discover nurture and share our gifts. The gifts we sought to nurture and share and discover as a young church in the last century were being honored.

Perhaps the biggest lesson here is that faith evolves…it’s a great lesson for folks who want to hold God in a form of revelation that is centuries—even millennia—old.

I don’t think that anyone would disagree with the statement that, ‘as a church we felt that we were doing good when we were asked to participate in the native residential school program’.

Time has a way of offering perspective that simply isn’t available without the passage of time.

God speaks to us in our time and place… by example: Ancient ancestors saw the need for a blood sacrifice to put things right and the Judeo Christian culture was not the only place where that was true. Blood sacrifice was a part of many cultures. We have moved on in many ways and with more progressive and contemporary theologies.

So in this post Easter age, why can we not see the cross, not as a sacrifice, but as an ultimate expression of the humanity of one who was so whole he could give his life away; one who wanted to demonstrate that even when you kill the love of God, the love of God still loves its killers?

Why can we not get away from that message of guilt and control that is found in the pious but destructive phrase, "Jesus died for my sins"?

I believe that the future of Christianity rests on our ability in the Christian Church to escape the language of sacrifice and punishment and begin to think in terms of finding in Jesus the power to live fully, the grace to love wastefully and the courage to be all that we can be.

The action of the United Church, this week and the way we live into our stated commitment shall exhibit the evidence of us being church in this time and place.

By what power or by what name did we seek to do this? ‘There is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we may do these things.’ That name and the spirit that is the power of the name is Jesus of Nazareth. By that power we are the church! Amen.

We Gather To Worship God

Sharing Announcements

A Time of Greeting

Prayer of Approach (Unison)

We Listen For God’s Word

Prayer of Illumination

Anthem “This Is the Day of Rejoicing”

John 10:11-18 From the Christian Scriptures Pg. 132

All: Thanks be to God

A Message: “By What Power Did You Do This?”

Mission Moment Rae Wahl

Our Church Tithes and Offerings

Dedication #518 “As Those of Old Their First-fruits Brought”

Prayer of Dedication (One)

Prayer of Thanksgiving, Intercession & Lord’s Prayer

Our Order of Ministry This Morning