​               SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
October 31, 2021
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                  
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   masks are required by Session, as well as social distancing
   bulletins are placed in the pews to help with social distancing
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship will be continuing with beverages only, in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane , , Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers,  Mike Niles, Harlan Marx had a knee replacement and Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery. Lois Seger is moving to Council Bluffs, IA to be near her daughter and will be living  in an assisted living -we send her with love, the Steven’s Family, Reed Family, Patti Thomas’s Family, Lassen Family Death Uwe’s son Robert, Family of Elise King, and Lucy Melvin hip surgery October 25
 
PRELUDE
 
*Call to worship Unison (Psalm 134:1-2 )
Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord, lift up your hands to the holy place, and praise the Lord”
 
*GATHERING PRAYER (Unison)
Lord, as we come before You, help us to leave other things behind so we can focus on You. Help us to quiet all the noises in our heads and hearts so we can hear what You have to say to us. Help us to calm all the fears in our hearts so we can do what You call us to do. We ask all this in Jesus’ name, amen.
 
 
 
*HYMN              We gather Together                                                                   No. 559            
 
Prayer of Confession (UNISON)
 We come before You God, knowing full well we have not always been an obedient child. We have said and done things we knew we should not say or do. We have failed to do things we know we should have done and we know we have no right to be here.
Yet, You have loved us and called us Your children.
 
You have promised Your love, forgiveness and grace to all those who call upon You. Because of Your promises, we turn to You, asking Your strength for this day and every day. Be with us now and at all times so we may grow in our dedication and service to You. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
 
Assurance of Pardon
(Pastor) God has promised mercy and forgiveness to all those who seek Him. Because of those promises we can say, (Unison) we are forgiven people, thanks be to God, Amen
   
THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING
 
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord God, we give because You give to us so freely. We know all we have and all we are comes from You. Bless our gifts and bless us we pray. Amen
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
Prayer for Illumination
(Unison) “Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth, thou has for me” (from Hymn of same title, first phrase)
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Mark 10:46-52
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him. “So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
 
SERMON                                  “Take heart”
 
 
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to face the last days of His life. Mark says there was a large crowd following him. The crowd may have been there for many reasons but Jesus was focused on what lay ahead of Him. Mark then introduces Bartimaeus the blind beggar, not only does he name him but he identifies the father, Timaeus, as well. There are a couple of reasons Mark does this, 1) because blind people are almost always beggars and, as such, are close to invisible in that society. they had no social significance nor standing of any kind and not really worth anyone’s attention. 2) we discover at the end of the story Bartimaeus, once he had been healed, became a follower of Jesus. There are several healings in Mark’s gospel but this is the only one recorded that later became a follower of Jesus and so he is unique in several ways.
Word spread quickly through town that Jesus was making his way there. clearly, because there was a large crowd following Him, word about Jesus was also making its way through. People were caught up in the things Jesus was saying and doing. Rumors were rampant that this Jesus just might be the long-awaited messiah of Israel. Everyone wanted to be close to the excitement, to see and hear what Jesus might do next.
When Bartimaeus heard it was Jesus, he began to cry out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me” the title “son of David” was not one commonly used in speaking about the Messiah but several places in the Psalms hold up a special relationship between the greatest King of Israel and the Messiah who was coming to bring in the day of the lord. These places seem to tie the Messiah to Jerusalem in a special way because David is often referred to as, “a man after God’s own heart”
When the crowd heard Bartimaeus cry out, they tried to silence him. After all, he is only a beggar, Jesus surely had better things than deal with that sort of person. There are no doubt many important people in the crowd following Jesus, surely, Jesus will deal with them. No one has time to spend on dealing with a beggar. Bartimaeus has different ideas. The more the crowd tries to silence him, the more he cries out. If the word was out about Jesus, then the many healings he had performed had been heard of. Perhaps, Bartimaeus thought, just perhaps if I yell loud enough, I will be heard and Jesus will heal me as he has healed others, after all, I have nothing to lose by trying.
Jesus, hearing him said, “call him here” the one the crowd had tried to silence, the one whom people tended to ignore, the one who is ordinarily on the outside of everything was now the focus of everyone’s attention. Out of all the people who were following Jesus, out of all the people who were gathered from the town itself, this beggar was the one Jesus called. Everyone’s attention was now on full alert, what was Jesus going to do now that he had called this blind beggar forward?
When Bartimaeus heard this, Mark says, “so, throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus” at first, this sounds very casual but it has real significance for a person in Bartimaeus’ position. The cloak was the thing that kept the sun and rain off a person. The cloak was the thing that gave them warmth at night, the cloak was the thing they sat on during the day while they were begging to keep themselves from the rocks on the ground. For a blind person to throw that aside was dangerous. They might not ever find it again unless someone else helped them. He was in such a hurry to get to Jesus he cast aside one of his most precious possessions and went to Him.
When he got to Jesus, Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?”” when we read this, we think the answer is obvious. The man is blind, he is forced to beg for his daily food. Surely, anyone can see he wants to be given his sight. He wants to be back in the society from which he has been excluded because of his blindness. Jesus, however, wants Bartimaeus to claim what he wants. One of the things they teach in counseling classes is not to finish a person’s sentence for them. A person is trying to say something and struggling to find the right word and the temptation is to say the word you think they are struggling for. You are cautioned not to do this because the word you think of might not be the word they want but when they hear you say something they will tend to accept that word as their answer. Jesus wants Bartimaeus to give his answer to the question not to accept the answer of someone else, not even Jesus.
“My teacher, let me see again”. We have to stop a second, Bartimaeus and Jesus have not met before, Bartimaeus has never heard Jesus preach before today and yet he calls him, my teacher. Clearly the things Bartimaeus has heard have impressed him to the point he was willing to cry out in the midst of a large crowd. To call someone your teacher implies a relationship of some sort. Bartimaeus was willing cry out with all his heart because somehow, he had the idea or the hope Jesus would do something about his situation. At first, all he could do is say, “son of David, have mercy on me” but now, when Jesus asks him directly, he is able to state what he wants, “let me see again”
“Go, your faith has made you well” Jesus says. notice Jesus did not touch him the way he has touched others when they were healed. He did not make clay and rub it on his eyes the way he did when he healed another blind person. All he did was tell Bartimaeus to go, go back to his family, his home, his occupation, his friends. All the things that were part of his life before his blindness were now available to him. Now, he was cured. Jesus had heard him cry out above the crowd even though they had tried to silence him. He had heard what lay behind the word “teacher” and had seen him leave his cloak behind in order to get to Jesus. All these things added up to a person who was ready to take a chance to be healed and so Jesus was willing to send him on his way home.
The finish was, indeed, a happy ending. “Immediately, he gained his sight and followed him on the way” mark says. now, Jesus had just told him he could go. He had been healed. He had what he had asked for. Jesus did not ask anything of him. He was free to do whatever he chose. There was nothing keeping him with Jesus now that he was healed.
Instead, he followed Jesus. If you had asked him a few days before what he would do if the blindness ever left him, he probably would have talked about going to his family, his town, his friends. He would have spoken about how good it would be to see all those things again. Perhaps now, he would appreciate them in a different way having been blind for a while. Now, he had met the teacher. He had felt power enter him and he had his sight back. Now, all he could think about was seeing more. Hearing this teacher for himself rather than relying on the reports of others about what the teacher was saying and doing and learning what it would mean for him to be a follower of this teacher.
We’ve heard and read this story many times. We knew, from the beginning, how it was going to end. What do we need to hear from this story? what is there we can hang onto? What can we share about the story that will help us, and others around us from day to day? The crowd tells Bartimaeus to hold on, what can we hold on to in this story?
First, Bartimaeus was identified by name. that is not usually the case for blind beggars of that time. Generally, they were nameless. People who were not usually even seen in society let along given any consideration as a person, a person with family and a life of their own. Sometimes, we consider ourselves to be nameless when we think about God. There are billions of people on the earth, so why should God have any interest in me or my situation in life. There are many people more important, more influential, more worthwhile than me. There is noting special about me that would give God any reason to notice me or give me any consideration. In Isaiah 49:1 we read, “the lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb, he named me” the concept of God knowing each of us before we were born was long a concept within the Jewish faith which the Christian faith has adopted into its own thinking. The idea that along with creating the heavens and the earth God has created each of us and that each of us has a special place within God’s plan. This concept stands with us to help us understand we are not nameless before God but that each of us is loved and special to God.
Bartimaeus was heard and called by Jesus. The social status of a beggar was nothing to command anyone’s attention and yet, Jesus heard him. Not only heard him but called him forward. When we pray, sometimes it seems all the noise in our lives can drowned out even our own cries. Surely, we sometimes say, God can’t hear me over all the other noise around me. There are people who are facing hunger, wars, floods, much more crucial things than me. Why would God hear me when there are all these other cries? Yet, we are urged again and again in the scriptures to bring our concerns to God. We are assured he will not only hear, but he will call each of us forward to come before him with the things that are on our hearts and minds. We are assured he will hear and respond.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants him to do for him. In the same way, God wants us to name what we want from him. Yes, God knows all things, yes, God knows what lies ahead for us but still we are to ask with the confidence of a child asking a loving parent for something. The child knows that even though the answer may not be the one they expect or want, still the loving parent will not give them something that is bad for them. We do not ask because God does not know what we want or need, we ask because sometimes, when I put something into words it sounds very different than when I am just thinking about it. Sometimes, when I put my prayer into words, I realize I am being silly or selfish and need to reconsider what I am praying for. Saying directly what I want from God makes me think seriously about what I am asking for from God.
Jesus granted the prayer because of the faith Bartimaeus displayed. We are urged to pray urgently and with faith but we have all seen very faithful people pray diligently and not get the answers they had hoped for. It is easy to lose faith because of that. Every parent knows you cannot always give a child everything they ask for. You love them, you want them to be happy, you want them to love you but the thing they are asking for is not possible for many reasons. In the same way, God does not always give us what we ask for even though we ask with all the faith at our command. Sometimes, we have to understand God sees and knows things we do not know. The best proof of this is, when Jesus was in the garden before all the events of the crucifixion began, he prayed, “father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want, but what you want” it is clear Jesus did not want to go to the cross and die the horrible death before him. He prayed it might be removed from him and yet, he was willing to put himself in God’s hands. All our prayers need to keep in mind God has a plan which works for the best of all concerned. it is difficult to see sometimes but nevertheless true.
We need to always remember to defer our prayers to God’s will.
           Last, when it was all over, Jesus told Bartimaeus he could go. What he had asked for had been given. There was nothing left unfinished. He was free to do as he wished. Instead, Bartimaeus followed him. He does not show up in the list of disciples, indeed, we never hear or see his name again. Yet, Mark records he followed Jesus. When we become disciples, we do not lose our will. We are always free to leave. God has created us with a mind to make choices and we are always free to do as we wish. The call for each of us is to continue to follow. Sometimes we do it with open eyes and sometimes we do it because we have been doing it for a while and it seems like the thing to do. Each of us has a choice to make every day. We are free to go, God will not stop us if we choose to leave. Yet, as we continue to choose to follow we gain in our understanding and strength to continue to follow.
Like Bartimaeus we are charged to “take heart, get up, he is calling you.” God has called each of us just as surely as Jesus called Bartimaeus that day. We are called to follow as best we can. Like Bartimaeus our names may not be recorded in any great acts of courage or dedication but as we follow we attend the meetings, teach the Sunday school classes, serve on the committees and, in general do the things that keep the church moving in the direction God has called us to go. Each of us serve in our own ways and by doing the things God has given us to do we are answering the call God has given us.
 
 
 
 
*Hymn                Called as Partners in Christ’s Service                                No.343
 
 
                                      
 *AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
He is seated on the right hand of the Father,
And he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
​MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
Sending
*HYMN                           Lord Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing      No 538
                                   
 * CHARGE & BLESSING
Go out in the world in peace, have courage, hold onto what is good, return no one evil for evil, strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak, honor the suffering, honor all people. Love and serve the lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. May the love and amazing grace of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be with us and upon us now and all the days of our lives, Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
October 24, 2021
GatheringMUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                  
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   masks are required by Session, as well as social distancing
   bulletins are placed in the pews to help with social distancing
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship will be continuing with beverages only, in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane , , Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers,  Mike Niles, Harlan Marx had a knee replacement and Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery. Lois Seger is moving to Council Bluffs, IA to be near her daughter and will be living  in an assisted living -we send her with love, the Steven’s Family, Reed Family, Patti Thomas’s Family, Lassen Family Death Uwe’s son Robert, Family of Elise King, and Lucy Melvin hip surgery October 25
 
PRELUDE
 
Call to worship Unison (based on Psalm 46:1-3 )
 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult
 
GATHERING PRAYER (Unison)
Lord God, as we come to worship and praise You, help us to put aside all the distractions of our lives. The worries of our lives, the frustrations of each day, the angry words we have heard or spoken. All these distract us from You and we want to focus on You. Give us Your peace. Amen
 
 
*HYMN              All  people that on earth do Dwell                                                                     No. 220             
 
Prayer of Confession (UNISON)
 We come before You, O God, not because we are worthy, but because You have called us to come to You. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves, we have not turned the other cheek when someone assaults us with blows or words. We have not forgiven seven times seventy. We have failed You again and again.
 
We pray You to see into our hearts and know we want to follow You. Forgive and restore us that we may be Your servants in all we say and do. Amen
         
 
Assurance of Pardon
The mercy of the Lord endures forever. As far as the East is from the West, so far has God removed our sins from us.
 (Unison) Because of this we can say we are forgiven people, thanks be to God, amen.
   
*THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING AND OFFERTORY   
 
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Lord God, what we give is not ours. We give because You have given so freely and fully. We give not only these gifts, but we give ourselves to be used by You to do Your work. Amen
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
Prayer for Illumination
Lord God, open our ears and our hearts that we may truly hear You. Amen
 
 
 
 
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Mark 8:27-33
27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
 
SERMON         “you are setting your minds not on divine things ”
 
Mark 8:27-33 “you are setting your minds not on divine things”
The eighth chapter of Mark is a dividing point in the gospel. Up to now no one, including Jesus, has mentioned the word Christ or Messiah. From here on, we will hear it many times. Up to now, no one has talked about what lies ahead for Jesus. From here on, everything points to the cross and the suffering Jesus will endure. From this point on, Jesus is more and more intent abut telling his disciples, and us, what it means for Him to be called Messiah and what it means when we declare ourselves His disciples. He makes it clear his is not an easy path nor is it easy to be His follower.
Mark tells us Jesus was in Casoria Philippi when this incident took place. For us, this is merely a name. for the people of the time, there was some meaning. A temple had recently been built there for the worship of Cesare, who had declared himself to be worshiped as a God. In the past, the area had many temples dedicated to the worship of various Baals of the past. There were many places where worship could be given. It was in the midst of all this Jesus asked the disciples, “who do people say I am?”
That question was easy. All they had to do was echo the word on the street and there was no shortage of opinions out there. clearly word about the things Jesus was saying and doing was circulating among the people and there was no shortage of opinions about what these things meant.
“Some say John the Baptist, others, Elijah, and still others say you are one of the Prophets” from these answers we can see there was no one who did not agree Jesus was more than the average person proclaiming what they said was a word from God. Clearly, this Jesus was something out of the ordinary. John the Baptist was one most of the people had known because he was a contemporary of Jesus. John had, in fact, baptized Jesus. John had also rallied against Herod because Herod had taken his brothers wife. Because of this, Herod had John killed. The opinion that this voice had returned was a challenge to Herod. Elijah on the other hand was a voice from the past. Elijah was regarded as the last of the great prophets of the past. He had witnessed about the fall of Israel and its subjugation among other nations. The other prophets the disciples mentioned were an assortment of voices that had been judged to be witnesses to what God was doing or was about to do. The opinion of the masses, then, was this Jesus was part of succession of voices which had, in one way or another, been
witnesses to God’s work among the people.
From there, Jesus begins to get more personal with the disciples. “But who do YOU say I am?” they had been following him for some time, they had seen the miracles he had performed. they had seen him challenge the scribes and Pharisees; they had seen him come away unscathed by the attempts to trap him into saying something they could use as a charge against him. They had a up close and personal view of Jesus and had some time to talk among themselves as they saw these things unfold. What was their take on the things they had heard and seen? What did they think it all meant?
It's hard to imagine there was not a very pronounced silence following this question. It may have they were trying to decide what the “right” answer was. It may have been no one wanted to be the first to answer for fear of their answer being inadequate. As is true today, students are often reluctant to answer questions put by their teachers. The custom of that time was even more limited as students were  usually not allowed to speak to their teachers and so the question was unexpected and it took some time to consider how they could answer.
Finally, old bull in the china shop Peter replied, “You are the Messiah” when we read this we tend to cheer for Peter. He has finally said what all of us have known since we began reading the Bible. Jesus IS the messiah, from now on surely things will be headed in the right direction. Surely, we think, Jesus will pat him on the head and say, “what a good boy you are” that’s what we tend to think as we read this, what we get is something quite different.
Instead, what we get is Jesus telling the disciples NOT to repeat what Peter just said. Our first reaction to that is to say WHAT? Surely what Peter said is true. Surely the point of being a disciple is to tell others who and what Jesus really is. Why does Jesus tell them not to repeat the most important thing we can say about Jesus? To say the least Jesus response is one most of us  have wondered about. It is the last thing we expect when someone had identified Jesus as the Messiah.
To give my answer to the question I have to step aside from the story and share a personal story. it was during the quarter final exam in a college trig class my sophomore year in college. While I don’t remember the exact question, I remember
clearly what I did. I looked up the wrong function of an angle, then multiplied by the numerator rather than the denominator and, somehow, got the right answer. Because the professor asked us to show our work, he marked it wrong, but he did include a note saying, sometimes two wrongs do make a right. That is the reason I believe Jesus told the disciples and Peter not to repeat what just had been said: they had the right answer, but the work that got Peter to that answer was wrong.
We have to remember out understanding of the Messiah is very different than the common thinking of the Jewish people of that time. Their thinking was the messiah was going to restore the glory days of Israel. Their image was the days of King David when Israel was a force to be contended with, not a captured nation. The messiah was going to restore the peace, financial welfare and esteem of the country. The messiah was going to make Jerusalem great again. This messiah was gong to be the one who would correct all the things that were wrong and give Israel back a time of peace and prosperity, unfortunately, this was NOT the type of Messiah Jesus was going to be and so he instructed them to be silent until he could explain what type of Messiah he was going to be.
Then Jesus laid out for them what His version of the Messiah was to be: “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly” this was a shocking thing to hear. All their lives they had heard this one definition of the messiah and the hope that held for Israel. Now the one Peter had just called the Messiah was giving them a picture that was totally the opposite.
It should not surprise us Peter began to rebuke Jesus. After all, the messiah was going to restore the glory of Israel. The messiah was going to give us the good old days when we can bask in the glory of our nation rather than existing as a captured nation under Rome. Everyone knows the messiah is going to give us great things, how could a messiah that was going to suffer and die accomplish anything? A messiah that was going to be rejected by all the ruling authorities could hardly be the one they were waiting for. The statements Jesus was making could hardly be true of the Messiah we have been told was going to come.
 Jesus, in rebuking Peter, laid out what the difference was: “You are setting your minds not on the divine things but on the human things.” Jesus was telling Peter he was listening to the voices of the world and not really listening to what Jesus had bee saying. Yes, peter gave the right answer to Jesus’s question, but the way he got to the answer was all wrong. You need to step back and truly hear what I have been saying in all I have done. you need to understand the price you will pay if you understand what the Messiah truly is.
What, then, does it mean to focus on Human things rather than divine? How can we separate these things? Clearly, Peter did not understand it at this point or Jesus would not have rebuked him. What are the things Jesus lays out which we need to keep in front of us?
Jesus commands, he does not suggest, he does not recommend, he commands we pray for those who seek to do us harm. Because I often focus on human things, I have a lot of trouble praying for the leaders of Al-quida, I have trouble praying for the leaders of the Taliban, I have trouble praying for those who spread false information about vaccinations. They do so much damage, they lead others down a wrong path. I struggle continually to set my mind on the divine thing Jesus commands.
I want to have revenge, or at least see people who do things I believe harm me to have some sort of come-uppance. Jesus demands, he does not suggest, does not recommend, does not say it would be a good idea, he demands I forgive them in the same way I want to be forgiven by God for doing the things I do that offend God. That is focusing on divine, not human things.
I want to be popular, or at least liked by those around me, particularly by people who have positions of power. Jesus is saying he will be criticized because he is always seen with “the wrong people”: he was seen with gentiles. With lepers, he freely associated with women, with all the people who were usually dis-regarded by the rich and powerful. He was not only with them, he touched them, he had dinner in their homes. Surely, were things every good Jew was taught to avoid at all costs. After all, contact with them made a person unclean. That is looking at things from a human point of view not divine.
We hear the words when Jesus says take up our cross and follow him but our reaction is to say something along the lines of, “Surely, we are not called to suffer but to be secure and comfortable” these things are just too difficult, Jesus MUST have meant something different. As we do this, we echo what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19: “for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” it is the difference between the human and the divine answer to Jesus’ question: who do you say I am?
When Jesus went to those who were outside the usual definition of acceptable, he was showing the difference between the divine and the human. We tend to go to those who deserve to be helped. Jesus went to those who tend to be ignored. He was showing God’s mercy being extended to all. Even those who are unacceptable from the human viewpoint.
His disciples often did not understand what he was doing. How many times do we read about them discussing the things Jesus had just said or done and they did not get what was happening? Our temptation is to get away from people who do not understand or appreciate what we are doing. That is the human point of view. Jesus continued to teach them, to urge them along the direction he wanted them to go. We begin to understand that even though I do not always understand or appreciate the things he is saying, he will not desert me. Because he did not separate himself from them even though they did not get his message, he will not separate himself from us, even though we do not always get the message. Even at the cross, one of the last things he said was, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing”. Those words serve to remind me that there is nothing I can do that will separate me from God’s love.
We have felt the power of forgiveness when someone we have harmed forgives us. we know the burden that is lifted from us. we feel the release when we forgive someone who has done something to us. there is a weight lifted from our lives that is very real. We feel the power of the divine point of view.
We come to worship because we understand we do not have the ability to see things from a divine point of view. It is much easier to see things from a human point of view. After all, that is what is around us all the time. It is easier to remain within the bounds of the way things are going rather than rocking the boat. Doing things in that way, however, does not bring us the inner peace we like to tell ourselves it does. There is something that does not sit well within us when we see things from the human point of view. We understand we need to do something different.
When we start a new exercise program, it always feels difficult. We are stretching muscles we did not know we had. In general, it feels like a lot of work. The easy thing to do is give up and go back to what we were doing before. Because of what the doctor tells us, however, we stick with the program and it becomes our routine. We find ourselves finding the benefits of the program rather than the difficulties. We find ourselves doing the exercises we despised because we can tell the difference it makes.
When we try to see things from the divine point of view, all we can see are the impossibilities, the difficulties, the strangeness of what we are doing. When we come here and ask God for the ability to see things from the divine point of view, we find our eyesight beginning to change and we see the things Jesus calls us to do every day,
 
*Hymn                Called as partners in Christ’s service”                         No.343
 
                                      
 AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
He is seated on the right hand of the Father,
And he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
 
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
​
 
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
Sending
*HYMN                          Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing                                No 538                            
                                   
  CHARGE & BLESSING
Go out into the world with love, render to no one evil for evil. May the blessing of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.
 

​SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
October 17, 2021
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                  
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   masks are required by Session, as well as social distancing
   bulletins are placed in the pews to help with social distancing
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship will be continuing with beverages only, in Calvin Hall
 
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane , , Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers,  Mike Niles, Harlan Marx had a knee replacement and Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery. Lois Seger is moving to Council Bluffs, IA to be near her daughter and will be living  in an assisted living -we send her with love, the Steven’s Family, Reed Family, Patti Thomas’s Family, Lassen Family Death Uwe’s son Robert, Family of Elise King, and Lucy Melvin hip surgery October 25
 
PRELUDE
 
Call to worship (based on Hebrews 4:12 )
The word of God is living and active. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart
GATHERING PRAYER
  God of unchangeable power, when you fashioned the world the morning stars sang together and the host of heaven shouted for joy. Open our eyes to the wonders of creation and teach us to use all things for good, to the honor of your glorious name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
 
 
HYMN              Great is Thy Faithfulness                                                                No. 276
 
 Prayer of Confession
       Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: Cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen
 
Assurance of Pardon
My friends, God has listened to our prayer of confession and offers to each of you his loving forgiveness.
 
   
*THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING AND OFFERTORY   
 
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Creator God, we offer you our gifts this day.  We ask for you to bless these gifts and those who gather to offer them.  Receive what we have given that the church may use it for the good the congregation, in the name of Jesus we pray, Amen
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
Prayer for Illumination
O Lord our God, your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Give us grace to receive your truth in faith and love, that we may be obedient to your will and live always for your glory; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen
 
 
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Isaiah 53:4-12
Surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people, he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.                   
 
 10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Mark 10:35-45
35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
 
 
 
SERMON                         “What is True Service”
 
The suffering servant, this is the reading we have from Isaiah today, there are a few verses we miss, but we have here the most important piece.
The beauty of the text shows forth the beauty of the action taken.  This action, this story is the prophetic depiction of Jesus.  This is the scripture that the people of Jesus day had as reverence to the Messiah to come.  But this wasn't the messiah they wanted or hoped for.  They wanted power not servitude.  They wanted a military ruler, not a pacifist who would teach you to turn the other cheek.  They wanted someone who would be able to overthrow Rome and remove them from control over them, not someone who saw peace as something to be achieved internally.  Jesus just wasn't
what they were looking for.  He didn't follow the rules they followed.  He did not conform to their image.  He did not take the easy way out.
James and John, now here are two ambitious young men.  But you cannot get anything if you don't ask.  They have been with Jesus since the beginning. We often hear of John referred to as the one who was closest to Jesus in friendship.  Peter did become the leader, but John is the one who Jesus loved.  In the letters of John in the Bible we get the teaching of how God is love. John was also the one Jesus turned to before his death to take care of Mary his mother.
These two brothers wanted to have the seats of honor.  They wanted to be there to see what Jesus was going to be seeing.  They wanted to have some power, though they really did not know what that view was going to be.  They thought only of this world when they asked the question.  They had not remembered the "Suffering Servant" that was predicted by Isaiah.
Most of the images portrayed by Isaiah are hard to imagine.  It had to be especially so for these men.  They have been doing so many wonderous things in the last 3 years.  They had been traveling with the one they knew was the Messiah.  They were there to learn from him what it meant to be his true follower.  But they still got things wrong.  Much like we do when we look at the life we live and the one we are called to live by God as a follower of Jesus.  It is made clear to us by Jesus himself in our gospel today.
I want to back up just a moment and look at the images of what was going to happen to Jesus.  I am not going to explain or talk about them, I just want you to hear the images again and give you a few seconds to think about what you know Jesus went through on that last day here on earth.
We thought of him as stricken as one smitten by God and afflicted.
He was pierced for our offenses,
Crushed for our sin,
Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all
Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth
When he was cut off from the land of the living and smitten for the sin of his people,a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers.
The LORD was pleased to crush him in infirmity
These are the images of the suffering servant.  This is what and who Jesus was.  This is what he came to be and do.  But why?  Why is this what it means to be a true servant?  What are we who follow him supposed to do?  What is the reason for all this?
It is right there in the reading.  This is why Jesus did all that he did.  Why he spent three years wondering around preaching, teaching, performing miracles, curing people, casting out evil spirits.  He did all these actions to get to this final point.  To be this servant.
Here is the answer:  Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear.
So, what does it mean to be a servant? Are we expected to do what Jesus did?  No, he didn't say we were supposed to be just like him.  Though the Apostles and many who followed after them, even to the present day do suffer many of these same afflictions, that is not what Jesus predicted for us.
To be a true follower of Jesus is to be servant to all.  Everyone we encounter should know who we belong to.  They should see by our actions that we have a Lord who would do anything and everything to ensure that we one day are with him in paradise.
When James and John asked him if they could sit one on his left and one on his right, they were missing a big piece of the picture.  Frist of all the picture was created before Jesus even came to earth. The plan has been from the beginning of creation.  Jesus was not in charge of choosing where people would be or how they would be.  He was in charge of being sure we all knew just how much our God truly loves us.
This is how Jesus answers the question: "whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
 
Jesus was telling them that they would suffer, perhaps not as much as he did physically, but already they had given up everything to be one of his followers.  They were to serve the people.  Bring them in and teach them.  Just as he had done for them.  They were to continue to teach and guide and do what he taught them and to teach others to do so after them.  It was not something that would end.  He wanted his story to go to the ends of the earth, to touch all the peoples of the world.
 
This is still the way of it.  This is what we are called to do.  Serve our neighbors, be what is needed, preach Jesus when needed and treat the world with love.
It seems easy doesn't it?  Yes, we sometimes suffer for what we believe.  We sometimes receive all that is needed as well.  If we are truly servants of God we know that we will never want for what is necessary for us to complete the act of being servant.
 
My friends the best way to end this is to share with you another scripture.  If you are a true servant you will be aware of the needs of those around you, your neighbor.  You will be humble and not boast.  You will follow the teachings of Jesus.
 
And above all this you will remember this one line that each of us knows, I am certain.  It is the last verse of Paul's great teaching on love from 1 Corinthians 13: 13.
 
"So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
 
 
 
*Hymn                          In Christ There is No East or West                                 No.439
                                       
 AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed, Ecumenical Version
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
He is seated on the right hand of the Father,
And he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
 
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
 
 
*HYMN                               Take My Life                                                                                                   No 390
                                   
  CHARGE & BLESSING
And now, may the grace, mercy, and peace which proceeds from God the Father, through  Jesus Christ, the Son, and into the Holy Spirit within us,  may it rest and abide within us, now and forever more. Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.

​SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
October 10, 2021
Gathering
MUSICAL OFFERING
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Let me remind you quickly of our protocols for everyone’s safety.                  
·  Attendance was taken by Ushers as you entered.
·   masks are required by Session, as well as social distancing
   bulletins are placed in the pews to help with social distancing
· Offerings may be placed in the plate by the doors.
· Please write your prayer request on the Yellow cards.  An usher will pick them up during the 1st hymn.
· Please join us after service for fellowship will be continuing with beverages only, in Calvin Hall
 
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Jack Braden, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Valerie Jerez,  Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Jane , , Amy Jacobs, Bonnie Pillers,  Mike Niles, Harlan Marx had a knee replacement and Tom Kelly who is recovering from surgery. Lois Seger is moving to Council Bluffs, IA to be near her daughter and will be living  in an assisted living -we send her with love, the Steven’s Family, Reed Family, and Patti Thomas’s Family
PRELUDE
 
Call to worship (based on Psalm 146)
Let us praise the Lord this day!
We will praise the LORD, singing praises to God all our days.
Happy are those whose help and hope are in God.
May the Lord feed us, open our eyes, and lead us in righteousness.
As the Lord watches over us, so also does God welcome the orphan and widow, the poor and the oppressed.
May all feel welcome as we gather in praise of our God.
 
GATHERING PRAYER
Gracious God, we open our hearts to you to offer praise and to hear you speak to us, that we may follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Amen
 
HYMN              God of Grace and God of Glory                                                                             No. 420
 
                
 
Prayer of Confession
Holy God, you have loved us unconditionally and have commanded us to love one another. But, we confess that our love for one another has
faltered, and sometimes failed altogether. At times we turn away from those           not like us; at times have disdain in our hearts for the unlovely,
           or for the            poor and despised. Forgive us for those times we show love   only to those who love us. In Christ we pray, Amen.
 
Assurance of Pardon
The love of God is poured out in Christ whose forgiving grace is unconditional. God forgives us of all sin.
   
*THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
 
THE OFFERING AND OFFERTORY   
 
OFFERTORY PRAYER
God of all good, we are thankful for your many blessings, and offer ourselves and a portion of what you have given to us, that your love and mission may continue in our church, our community, and our world. Amen.
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
Prayer for Illumination
Lord, help us to set aside distractions. Speak to our hearts as we listen to your word and apply to our faith and action. Amen.
 
 
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
 
Mark 7:24-31
24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”  30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.  Jesus Heals a Deaf and Mute Man31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
This is the gospel of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
 
James 2:1-10, 13-17 
22 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? 8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
 This is the word of the Lord.
 Thanks be to God.
 
 
SERMON                         “Faith without Favoritism”
 
“Faith without Favoritism”
A young boy was standing in a church foyer looking at a plaque with several nameplates attached to it. The pastor walked by and he asked, “What are those names there for?”
Looking at the plaque of the names of veterans, the pastor answered, “Well, Jimmy, those are the names of members of our church who over the years have died in the service.”
He thought for a moment and asked, “Which one, the 9 or 11 o’clock service?
It is appropriate to remember and to honor groups of people who have served us, and churches are one place where we do that. But as we see in our gospel and epistle readings, genuine faith is about showing honor to all.   (Prayer)
As we read in Mar 7, Jesus travels up the Mediterranean coast a bit with his disciples into Tyre, formerly Phoenicia and now modern day Lebanon. He is there to bring the good news, but is taking a break. Not easy. His fame follows him and a woman of Syrian and Phoenician descent, a Gentile, finds him and bows before him. She begs the Lord to exorcise the demon from her daughter. Is it a true demon or an illness of some sort, as the child lies in bed at home? We aren’t told.
Jesus answers in what appears to be not only an unkind, but rudely judgmental way.
Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” WHAT? We know it was a kind of test of her faith. He’s the Messiah to the Jews, and she is a Gentile. The Gentiles were sometimes referred to as dogs in the Old Testament. What right does she have to receive anything from him, the Messiah to the Jews?
She is not offended, but instead answers, “Sir, even the dogs under the table get to eat the children’s crumbs. She believes and asks in so many words, “Throw me a crumb of your compassion and power for my daughter.” Jesus hears her faith in those words, and as she leaves him, she returns home to see that the demon has left her daughter. Jesus wants all to see that God has compassion for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.
It’s a rather subtle gospel lesson on not playing favorites compared to James letter. The half-brother of Jesus, James, may be a lot of things, but subtle is not one of them! Chapter 2, v. 1: “My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” WOW! James wonders if such church going folks are even true Christians when they play favorites!
He illustrates this way: A person with gold rings and fine clothes shows up in your gathering, at home or at church, and also a poor person in dirty clothes. Whom to you notice and fawn over? The rich one? offering that person a seat of honor, but telling the other, “Sit at my feet.” James adds, “If you do that, you are judges with EVIL (yes, he uses the word “evil”) thinking.”
James explains (in so many words), “God chooses the poor to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him. But the rich… aren’t they the ones who oppress you, who drag you into court, who blaspheme the excellent name invoked over you? Notice, James is making a “judgment” here.
“Instead, brothers and sisters, ‘Fulfill the royal law… You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Showing favoritism is sin. Judgment will be without mercy to any who show no mercy.’ ”
James pounds his verbal gavel with this truth: (paraphrase) “If you say you have faith but do not have works, will that faith save you? Don’t quote meaningless platitudes to the poor and send them away. Instead, put your ‘money’ so to speak where your mouth is: Clothe the naked, feed the hungry. Because, faith without works is dead. And by implication, so are you!” So says James to his audience. And today, we are that audience!
Jesus exorcised a demon from this Gentile little girl. Two chapters earlier he healed the daughter of Jairus, a synagogue official who knelt before the Lord asking for her life. These miracles of compassion were answered prayers for a notable leader of the Jews and for a Gentile woman. And, by the way, both of the ones healed were children, both were girls. There is no favoritism with the Lord.
The Apostle Paul is a little less bombastic than the Apostle James, perhaps. But in Romans 12 Paul writes:
3 “For by the grace given to me I say to every one among you not to think of yourself more highly that you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment….”
10 “Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor”
16 “Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not claim to be wiser than you are.”
Associate with the lowly… let’s go back to James’ example. Two people show up at
church. One is obviously wealthy. The other is on welfare. One is important. The other is impoverished. The one has social graces. The other is awkward. James wonders, do we fall all over ourselves to make the one feel welcome? And do we fall all over ourselves trying to avoid the other?
Maybe we aren’t that obvious. I hope not. But, do we show more attention to married couples who visit than to singles? Do we fawn over families with little children but perhaps overlook the widow who visits? Would we welcome the nicely dressed couple but ignore, or maybe even show disdain for someone dressed like… well I hate to pick on anyone’s style so I won’t offer one! However I do remember my dad several decades ago not liking young men who had beards! Or, let’s say, the one visiting happens to be an extreme right-wing evangelical? Or a dyed in the wool extreme socialist? Or whatever labels are floating around right now that are like a burr under your saddle or mine? You know who might be your opposite! We all have our opinions… but when it comes to welcoming those seeking God, do our opinions cloud our faith and come out as showing favoritism?
Brennan Manning in his book, The Signature of Jesus, shares the following story from his own life:
In January of 1987 the mail carrier delivered an invitation from the US Senate and House of Representatives to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in the Washington Hilton with President and Mrs. Reagan and other government leaders. I was asked to speak at two dinners preceding the breakfast and at two seminars the following morning.
My wife, Rosalyn, read the invitation and remarked, “Brennan, I knew you when your were nothin’!” [My daughters] Simone, eighteen, and Nicole, sixteen, were heading out the door to school. Simone shouted back, “You’re still nothin’.” And Nicole added, “You’ll never amount to nothin’!”
How’s that for family support?! Not much danger of Manning getting too full of himself in that household. Actually I’ve read a few of his books and got to meet him at a retreat. Brennan Manning is a humble man with a great sense of humor. He’d need one with his family’s dynamic!
Friends, we’re all nothin’ next to God, AND we are everything because of God. So, let’s not be haughty, or think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Let’s associate with the lowly, and the not so lowly if they will allow it. Let’s welcome the stranger who just might be an angel in disguise. Bottom line, may we have the eyes of Jesus and walk in welcoming faith without favoritism.
 
 
 
*Hymn                          We Are One in Mission                                           No.435
                          
Affirmation of faith
We believe the words of Christ:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
 
​           For they will be            filled.
           Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
           Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
           Bless are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
 
 
 
 
 
MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever. Amen.
Sending
 
*HYMN                               What Does the Lord Require                                                      No 407
                                   
  CHARGE & BLESSING
And now, may the grace, mercy, and peace which proceeds from God the Father, through  Jesus Christ, the Son, and into the Holy Spirit within us,  may it rest and abide within us, now and forever more. Amen
 
POSTLUDE
*Stand as you are able.