WELCOME
Communion Worship Service
Good morning First Baptist. We welcome you to worship this morning. Be sure to remember your brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the week as you pray for them, and as the Holy Spirit brings their faces to your mind. Be sure to also connect with them in the ways that are possible. And if you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please don’t hesitate to contact the church through the church telephone and leave a message. (519-733-4144)
Songs
Call to Worship
There is a season for everything, and this is the moment we’re in right now. Whatever we’re carrying, joy, grief, hope, or questions, God meets us here, just as we are- in this season. Let us worship.
Songs
Prayer
CONFESSION:
God of every season, we confess that we don’t always live fully present to you. We rush ahead when you call us to wait, and we hold on when you invite us to let go. We admit the ways we resist change, the ways we numb ourselves, the ways we forget that you meet us right where we are. Forgive us for the moments we trust our own control more than your faithful presence. Turn our hearts back to you, and make us open again to your grace. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE:
Hear the good news: God is present in every season of life, in beginnings and endings, in certainty and doubt. In Jesus Christ, we are met with grace, not condemnation; with mercy, not rejection but with forgiveness that makes room for new life. Know that you are forgiven, loved, and held by God. Thanks be to God.
Finding a Meaningful Life
Learning to Live Within the Seasons
Today's Message: Pastor Marlee Page
Good morning, church. There’s a song many of us know, even if we don’t realize where it comes from. “To everything… turn, turn, turn. There is a season… turn, turn, turn.” That song has found its way into movies, radio stations, playlists across generations. And the reason it endures isn’t just the melody. It’s because it names something deeply true about our lives.
Life moves in seasons. Things change. Moments shift. What once was isn’t anymore and what is, won’t stay the same forever. That song is almost entirely drawn from Ecclesiastes 3. And if the first two weeks of this series asked us to stop settling for the wrong sources of meaning, this week asks a different, but equally honest, question: What do we do when we realize we’re not in control of the seasons of our lives?
Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 3:1–13
To everything there is a season,
AÂ time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time to be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3Â A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5Â A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6Â A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7Â A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8Â A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.The God-Given Task
9 What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? 10 I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.
12 I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3 may be the most familiar passage in the entire book. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” And then comes the list.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to uproot.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to keep and a time to let go.
What’s striking is how ordinary this list is. No grand achievements. No spiritual highlights. Just real life. Ecclesiastes isn’t explaining why each season happens. It’s acknowledging that they do. It’s very matter of fact and honest. Seasons happen. And that alone is freeing.
We Don’t Control the Seasons
This is where Ecclesiastes quietly confronts us. Because so much of our anxiety comes from believing we should be able to control timing. When things begin. When they end. When they change. We want to decide:
- when healing should happen
- when clarity should arrive
- when grief should be finished
- when growth should finally show results
But Ecclesiastes reminds us, we don’t get that power. And that’s not a failure. It’s part of being human. The Teacher isn’t shaming us for that. He’s freeing us from the illusion that control was ever ours to begin with.
Meaning Comes From Receiving the Season You’re In
Here’s the subtle wisdom of Ecclesiastes 3: The Teacher doesn’t tell us to escape seasons. He invites us to receive them.
That means:
- there are seasons you don’t rush
- seasons you don’t cling to
- seasons where faith looks quiet instead of loud
- seasons where obedience means waiting, not doing
And here’s a hard truth -many of us learn the slow way: We often lose meaning not because the season is wrong, but because we’re trying to live in a different one. We want spring when it’s winter. We want harvest when it’s still planting time. We want answers when it’s still a season of questions. We want to sit this one out when it’s time to dance. Ecclesiastes gives us permission to stop fighting the season we’re in.
God Is Present in Every Season
This is where hope enters the picture. Because Ecclesiastes does not say life is random. It says life has seasons, and God is present in them. Later in the passage, the Teacher says that God has “made everything beautiful in its time.”
Not everything easy. Not everything enjoyable. But beautiful- meaningful. In its time. Which means even the seasons we would never choose are not wasted.
God is present in:
- beginnings and endings
- growth and loss
- joy and grief
- certainty and confusion
And the Holy Spirit meets us not just when life makes sense, but especially when it doesn’t.
Our Resistance
If we’re honest, most of us resist seasons that feel slow, unclear, or painful. We pray for them to end quickly. We assume we’re doing something wrong. We compare our lives to others and wonder why their season looks easier. But Ecclesiastes invites us to a different posture. Not control. Not resignation. But trust. Trust that God is at work even when we can’t yet see what He’s forming. And this is where Communion meets us so powerfully.
Communion is not about escaping time. It’s about remembering that God entered time. At a specific moment. In a specific body. For a specific purpose. Jesus lived through seasons too. There was a time to be born. A time to grow. A time to teach. A time to suffer. A time to die. And on the night He was betrayed, at exactly the right time, He took bread and a cup and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
Communion reminds us that God does not stand outside our seasons, untouched. He steps into them. Into suffering. Into waiting. Into loss. Into death. So that no season would ever be empty of His presence.
Invitation to the Table
As we come to the table today, I want to invite you to bring your season with you. Not the one you wish you were in. Not the one you’re pretending to be in. The real one. If you’re in a season of joy, come with gratitude. If you’re in a season of grief, come honestly. If you’re in a season of waiting, come trustingly. If you’re in a season of confusion, come open-handed. You don’t have to rush this moment. You don’t have to fix anything first.
This table reminds us that meaning is not something we manufacture. It’s something we receive.
Preparing Our Hearts
Let’s take a quiet moment. Ask God: “What season am I in right now?” and, “How are You inviting me to trust You here?”
Closing Thoughts
There is a time for everything. And whatever season you’re in right now, joy or grief, clarity or confusion, waiting or change, God has not missed you.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that we don’t have to rush the season, to fix the season, or escape the season to find meaning. Meaning is formed as we trust God within it. And that’s why we come to the table. Because Communion is where we remember that God stepped fully into time, into brokenness, into waiting, into suffering, so that no season of our lives would ever be empty of His presence.
So as we prepare to receive the bread and the cup, I want to invite you to bring your season with you. Not the one you wish you were in. Not the one you think you should be in. The real one. Come remembering that meaning is not something you manufacture, it’s something you receive and Christ meets us here.
Communion
On the night He was betrayed, at exactly the right time, Jesus gathered with His disciples. In the middle of uncertainty, in the middle of fear, in the middle of a season they didn’t yet understand, Jesus took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after supper, He took the cup and said,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”
Through this bread and this cup, we remember that Jesus entered our time, shared our humanity, and gave Himself fully for us. So today, we come not because we have it all together, but because Christ has given Himself for us.
Prayer Before Communion
Let us pray.
Gracious God, we come to this table carrying many seasons. Some of us come with joy. Some of us come with grief. Some of us come tired, uncertain, or waiting. As we receive this bread and this cup, meet us here by Your Spirit. Remind us that You are present in every season of our lives. Nourish us with Your grace. Strengthen us with Your love. We receive these gifts with gratitude, trusting You to form meaning in us even here, even now. Amen.
Receiving the Bread
The body of Christ, given for you.
Receiving the Cup
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Prayer
Let us pray.
Faithful God, we thank You for meeting us at this table. Thank You for the gift of Your Son, who entered our time, walked through our seasons, and gave Himself for us. As we go from this place, help us to trust You in the season we are in. Teach us to receive life as gift, to wait with hope, and to walk with confidence in Your presence.
By Your Spirit, shape us into people who live with gratitude, humility, and trust. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You, now and forever. Amen.
Song
Benediction
Go now, not chasing what cannot satisfy, but receiving the life God is giving you. Sometimes, that takes courage. Go, knowing God goes with you. Amen.