​ 
08/14/2022
Gathering
 
MUSICAL OFFERING
 
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
 PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Kay Werner, Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller.
PRELUDE
 
*CALL TO WORSHIP                                                
L: In a world where division is a way of life, we are asked to
     choose whom we will follow.
P:  We choose the Lord!
L:  There will be challenges in that choice.
P:  We choose the Lord!
L:  Come people of God.  Let us worship and praise our Author of Life.
P:  We choose the Lord-- We offer our lives to you, Gracious God.
All:  Praise and glory to God.  Amen.
 
 
*GATHERING PRAYER
O Lord.  All around us is the great cloud of witnesses, your saints who have gone before us. They urge us to lay aside the sin that clings and to run the race before us with perseverance and humility.  Give us, this day, the tools and assurance we need to run well and strong in your glorious name.  Amen .
 
 
 
*HYMN                                 Morning Has Broken                                         #469    (You may be seated.)
 
 
 
CALL TO CONFESSION                                     
God has planted a vineyard.  He’s tended it, given rain and blessing upon it.  He’s built walls to protect it.  But, too often, we, the vines so tenderly nurtured, refuse to produce the sweet grapes our Lord seeks.  Let us recognize our own failings and turn to our God for forgiveness.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
How often, O Lord, we pat ourselves on the back for the success and blessing that you have poured into our lives.  We put on blinders of self-interest, focusing on our own comfort and desire.  We fail to offer our care to others.  We nurse resentments while feeling superior to our neighbors.  Lord, we know that these are not the things you expect from the vineyard you have planted and nurtured.  Have we produced wild grapes that are bitter to your tongue?  Forgive us, Lord and help us to do better.  Amen
 
WORDS OF ASSURANCE                                 Isaiah 1:18, NIV
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish by may have eternal life.  God did not send his son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Hear the good news.  In Jesus Christ we are forgiven and once again invited to grow the sweet grapes of righteousness and faith.  This is our Savior’s love for all the world.
SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
 
PASSING THE PEACE
(Please greet those around you as we all say these words in unison.)
May the peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
 
INTERLUDE
 
Word
 
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
 
Quiet our hearts, Loving Lord.  Put away the distracting thoughts from our minds.  Allow us to hear the gift of life and hope that you offer to us.  May the words we hear strengthen our soul and allow us to serve you with all our being.  Amen
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Isaiah 5: 1-7
1.Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.  2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?  When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?  5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.  I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.  6 I will make it a waste;  it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.  7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
 
 
        Luke12: 49-56
 
I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
 
SERMON                                       Choosing Yes.  Living Yes
 
All families have stories.  A popular story in my family is of my dad taking my three children to the small-town general store when he and Grandma were caring for them while my husband and I were out of town.  He told them they could have any candy they chose.  The oldest two quickly picked out the treat they wanted, but my youngest daughter who was about 3 or 4 at the time couldn’t choose. There were too many options:  M&Ms, Snicker bars, Milky Way, Milk Duds, Three Musketeers or even a Pay Day.  With every possible selection she would say No to all these others.  Finally, she got so frustrated that she sat down and cried.  And Grandpa was baffled about how to help.
Have you ever had so many options before you that selecting was difficult?  That it paralyzed you and sent you into a panic?  I believe some of that is at the base of our scriptures this day.
Faith is actually all about making a choice.  It means saying “yes” to God and also saying “no” to many things that are a normal and attractive part of our society. I’m not talking about drugs or gambling or infidelity or alcohol.  I’m talking about things that are much more subtle. To say “yes” to God means saying “no” to self-absorbed consumerism that doesn’t consider how our accumulation of resources contribute to the abuse of others, or at least it doesn’t contribute to their well-being.  It means no to thinking we have complete autonomy regarding our time or our bank account.  It means no to playing fast and loose with the truth, even if what we’re saying is not Technically a lie!
Yes to following Jesus, and no to putting our own comfort or our own bank account as our highest goal.  Yes to accepting God’s forgiveness, and no to holding on to our resentment towards our neighbor.  Yes to feeling the comfort and healing of God, and no to supporting practices that harm others—even those whom we will never know or meet-- locked at the edge of society.
Yes to Jesus means we reorient our lives.  We let go of me-first thinking and our blind acceptance of racism and prejudice.  We pay attention to the way our practices impact our earth and fellow creatures.  We let go of radical independence because God is now the boss.  We no longer think of our time or our money as strictly our own.
There are lots of positive, joyful reasons to say Yes to God.  It’s an incredible blessing that is poured into our lives, but at least at the beginning, some of the Nos seem difficult and problematic.  How attractive these things might seem.
And that’s the problem we call sin.  God invites us to accept his gift of life and faith and healing and presence. There’s meaning and joy in the yes that we offer to God.  But that doesn’t mean that all those other things quit calling our name, quit winking at us and motioning us forward.   “Just this once,” it whispers.  “No one needs to know. You deserve this. You have to go along with things.  It’s your job or you might offend others, or you don’t want to be the stick in the mud, do you?”  The whispers can be subtle.  It is so seductive.  It seems so reasonable, but ultimately it’s asking us to say “yes” to the very things that God to which has asked us to say “no.”  It’s not because God doesn’t want us to have fun or enjoy the moment, but rather because these things destroy life and health in some capacity.
That was the problem in ancient Israel.  These ex-slaves whom God had called out of Egypt and given a land and so many wonderful opportunities had wanted to have things both ways.  They wanted their faith and God’s blessings, but they also wanted more and more and more.  More wealth, more land, more livestock, more servants, more comfort, more power.  And to acquire more, they needed to look out for their own advantages.  They couldn’t squander their money on orphans and widows, on foreigners and sick people.  They couldn’t let go of the reins that drove their lives to allow God to guide them.  To acquire more meant that they needed to jump at every opportunity, big or small.  They needed to keep the goal of MORE foremost in their focus.
They were saying “yes” to all these things, not even realizing that in so doing they were saying “no” to the most basic principles that God had asked of them.  They were turning away from centering their lives on God.
When Isaiah came forward telling the story of the vineyard, there were people nodding happily. They understood completely the situation of putting in the hard work and not seeing it pay off.  It was a business venture that had gone sour.  They understood about pouring their hopes and their sweat into a project to see it fail.
And then we hear God’s voice inviting the people to judge what he should do.  He did everything possible and expected sweet grapes, but instead got wild and bitter fruits.  What should he do? Then God answers for himself.  He will tear down the protective hedge.  He will eliminate the walls that protected it.  The vineyard will be trampled.  No longer will he pull the weeds or prune the vines.  It will grow up in thorns and brambles.  He won’t even waste his rain upon it.  It will become desolate.
And then, if they hadn’t figured out the metaphor yet, God makes himself explicit.  The vineyard is them!  It’s Israel and Judah, the two nations of God’s people.  They had turned away from God’s desired justice.  They had said “yes” to sin which means they hadn’t really said “yes” to God.  Punishment is coming. Armies will begin swooping in.  Israel will soon be wiped off the map by Assyria.  While Judah will survive a bit longer, Babylon will have their way with the southern nation in years to come.  Isaiah will cry out against their sinful ways, but the people won’t really be able to hear him-not yet, not until disaster strikes.
“Yes” to God means “No” to selfish ambition, even if that self-centered way of being has become a standardized way of life for a whole society.
In our New Testament reading, Jesus is on the way to the cross so that the people of God can witness the power of God for life and for forgiveness and for joyful community.  In the section for today, Jesus is attempting to teach about God’s call to us.  About what it means to say “yes” to God.  But he also recognizes and warns that saying “Yes” does not always come easy or without a price.  It’s not a new thought.
Even when Jesus was still a tiny baby being brought to the temple for the first time, Simeon said, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed.”  In other words, his message is of God.  His message is life, but not everyone will be able to receive this message in its fullness.  When that happens in families there will be division.  One side won’t understand why the other is now turning away from things that seem so central to our way of life—so rational, so accepted. “Don’t give money to the poor.” They might say.  “The poor don’t deserve it, and you can’t afford it.  Don’t waste your Sunday morning going to church—Don’t you want to spend it with me?  Don’t go on that mission trip.  Let’s go on vacation, instead.  Don’t talk to those people. What will our friends think?”  And the list goes on and on.
Jesus seems to want us to know that there is often a cost to this faith thing.  He wants us to be prepared for the fact that others might not understand our “Yes,” even those who are closest to us.  He wants us to be ready to stick by our “Yes” which means we offer our “no” to other things.  He wants us to stay the course even when it’s tough.
But here’s the good news.   If we can clearly understand the “yes” we have made to God and realize that it also means some “Nos,”  then we are in a much stronger place to keep the faith even in the midst of conflict among those closest to us.  In some cases that conflict might be short lived—once others see the way we are living in communion with God and the joy and meaning it brings, they might get on board—but not always. The fact of the matter is that they, too are free to choose and it’s their right to choose another way other than God.That’s the sad and scary part.  Sometimes our “Yes” to God means we lose relationships.  Sometimes.
The good news is that God walks through the fire with us and helps us find the path that will either allow us to retain these important relationships or to find new ones that feed us.  I think that’s one of the most valuable parts of being in a church community—there are others around us who understand our struggles and who can support us.  When we say “yes” to God we learn that those other things that we thought were important and valuable lose their appeal.
I’m not sure my daughter ever got her candy that day.  There seems to be some disagreement between her memory and that of her grandpa who said he did select for her.  What she did get was a loving Grandpa, a big nap and a story that continues to be told, sometimes to her embarrassment, even 40 years later.  I hope that we can do a better job of choosing and then living with our choice than she was able to pull off.  I believe that recognizing the meaning of “Yes” to God which also mean “No” to things that harm our world and the way of life for many is a basic faith task.
 God’s vineyard is carefully tended, let’s grow sweet and abundant grapes for the Lord. Choose well me friends.  Choose “Yes” and experience the joy of walking with our God. Amen.
 
*HYMN                                                      Precious Lord, Take My Hand                       404
(You may be seated.)
 
Eucharist
 
OFFERING OUR LIVES
 
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow                   #592
 
*HYMN                             Be Known To Us in Breaking Bread                             #505
(You may be seated.)
 
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE
 
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
 
L:  Lord God we seek to be your vineyard, fruitful, abundant, and filled with life.
P:  We want to produce the sweet grapes of your righteousness, the fruit that     sings your grace to all the world.
L:  So we come before you this day to eat and to drink,
P:  To share in your death, to know the joy of your resurrection.
L: Jesus gathered his disciples in an upper room.  He broke the bread declaring that it was his body broken for them.  He poured the cup, saying that it was the blood of the covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sin.
P:  He offered these to his friends gathered at the table with him.
L:  ‘Eat and drink’ he said, and ‘do so in remembrance of me.’
P:  We eat and we drink and we remember the great love that Jesus offered into      our world.
L:  We eat and we drink to be a part of that love and to be filled with a spirit that   
enables us to faithfully live as God’s people.
P:  Thank you, Lord.  Amen.
 
RECEIVING THE BREAD AND CUP
 
COMMUNION PRAYER
 
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
*CLOSING HYMN:    O Jesus I Have Promised.                                           #388
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
 
*POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Presbyterians practice open communion which means anyone who seeks to be in a relationship with Christ is welcome at the table regardless of denomination, age, or status. The communion elements are already in your pew, and you will be instructed when to eat the wafer and when to drink the juice.
 

​ 
08/07/2022
Gathering
 
MUSICAL OFFERING
 
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller.
PRELUDE
 
*CALL TO WORSHIP                                                 Psalm 33:18, 20-22, GW
The Lord’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy.
We wait for the Lord. He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts find joy. In his holy name we trust.
Let your mercy rest on us, O Lord since we wait with hope for you.
 
 
*GATHERING PRAYER
Lord, we come with hope seeking your mercy. We acknowledge that you are the source of all that is good, and we give thanks for those people you have put in our lives to help us along the way. May we truly put our trust in you as we seek joy and strength for living our days. Amen.
 
 
 
*HYMN                                 O God, Our Help in Ages Past                            #210
(You may be seated.)
 
CALL TO CONFESSION                                 Isaiah 1:16-17, NET
16 Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight.
Stop sinning. 17 Learn to do what is right. Promote justice. Give the oppressed reason to celebrate. Take up the cause of the orphan. Defend the rights of the widow.
 
 
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Our society is too often guilty of these same things that caused God pain in Old Testament times. Therefore, Let us confess the sins of our world to the Lord.
 
Merciful God, in your gracious presence we confess our sin and the sin of this world.  Although Christ is among us as our peace, we are a people divided against ourselves as we cling to the values of a broken world. The profit and pleasures we pursue lay waste the land and pollute the seas. The fears and jealousies that we harbor set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation. We abuse your good gifts of imagination and freedom, of intellect and reason, and have turned them into bonds of oppression. Lord, have mercy upon us; heal and forgive us. Set us free to serve you in the world as agents of your reconciling love in Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
WORDS OF ASSURANCE                                 Isaiah 1:18, NIV
“’Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be clean as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Through Jesus Christ we are cleansed, forgiven, and set free.
Thanks be to God!
 
SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
 
PASSING THE PEACE
(Please greet those around you as we all say these words in unison.)
May the peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.
 
INTERLUDE
 
Word
 
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
 
As the scriptures are read, may our hearts and minds to open to receive your Word, O God. Amen.
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Colossians 1:1-14, NLT
 
1 This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
 
2 We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.
 
3 We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
 4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, 5 which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
 
6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.
 
7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. 8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
 
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
 
11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
 
Luke 10:25-37, CEB
25 A legal expert stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to gain eternal life?”
 
26 Jesus replied, “What is written in the Law? How do you interpret it?”
 
27 He responded, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.”
 
29 But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
 
30 Jesus replied, “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. 31 Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way.
 
 32 Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. 33 A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. 34 The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ 36 What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”
 
37 Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”
 
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
 
SERMON                                       Thanking God for You
 
I don’t usually recycle sermons, but July 10 I had the opportunity to preach at the Church of the Brethren in Lanark IL. I wanted to also share that message with you.
 
The week I might have started preparing for July preaching appointments, I was instead back home in Beloit, WI, sitting either in my motel room or in my mother’s hospital room. The call had come that mom wasn’t expected to last more than another day or two. I booked a room, packed quickly, did what absolutely had to be done at home, called my daughters, and drove home.
When I got to the hospital mom had just been moved into the special care unit where there were fewer patients, quieter private rooms, and nurses trained for this last stage of life. Over the next week, mom hung in there on nothing but ice chips and occasional pain meds. Tali and Sean came for a couple of days, Jessika called twice, dad and I took turns with our meal breaks. Two pastors visited and a couple of close neighbors we had known since they were born. There were prayers and expressions of love from many. The nursing staff were exceptionally kind, gentle, caring, and compassionate not only toward mom but also toward us.  Mom slipped away peacefully when she was ready to let go.
 
In the midst of this experience, there were people who lived out the greatest and second greatest commandments and those who became good Samaritans for us. There were also many people in my life for whom I want to thank our God. They became living examples for me of where I could do better as well.
 
Let me tell you first about a couple of women whose living expression of their faith made a difference for me that week. As mom lingered, my motel plans had to change a couple of times. When I was set to go home a second time, I could tell mom was declining rapidly and the end was near. It didn’t make sense to go home that night, so I booked another room in a third motel only a couple hours before checking in. When I arrived the room was reserved but the pre-payment hadn’t gone through yet. The warm-hearted woman behind the desk told me not to worry. She’d try again in a bit. I told her why I was there; she gave me kind words of encouragement and said she would pray. When I told her the next day that mom had passed, she extended her sympathy with a genuine warmth and kindness that felt like a verbal hug. I thank God for this woman and for the rest of the staff who were the best examples of motel hospitality I have ever experienced.
 
That first night when mom was moved into special care, the nurse who had just come on duty was Jolie. She settled mom into her new room with gentle care as well as expressing her compassion and concern for dad and I. Jolie was with mom again her last two nights, continuing that gentle care and compassion. Jolie was the one who called dad and I at 6:00 in the morning. Jolie was the one sitting with mom when mom couldn’t hang on any longer. I thank God for Jolie, for the faith she expressed, but especially for the way she lived that faith for mom and for dad and myself. I also thank God for the rest of the nursing staff who were caring and gentle and kind and did their best, even when they were busy, to keep my mom as clean and comfortable as possible while also being considerate to us and to our guests. They made those last days so much easier than they might have been.
 
I thank God for those who came to visit. I thank God that my daughter and son-in-law could be flexible with work to make a quick trip to Beloit from Chicago spending a couple days with us. They really were a big help. I thank God for the former neighbor who drove up from Chicago to sit with dad, so I could go home for a night. I thank God for the friends and churches who prayed for us. I thank God for the women who took care of my home while I was away. I thank God for the support and love I felt from family and friends.
 
Most of all I want to thank God for the mom who raised me, who taught me many things, who took me on trips, who did crafts, who worked hard, who shared her faith, who gave me so many wonderful positive life lessons and memories, who loved me without question or judgement. I thank God for my mom, but I also thank God for my dad, who became my stepdad when I was 17. I thank God that he accepted me and did his best for me in spite of our differences. I thank God for what he brought to my mother’s life, for the faith and church service they shared, and especially for how well he took care of my mother as her health declined. I could not have asked God for a better man to love my mother.
 
As you can see, there are many people in my life for whom I give thanks to God, not only as my mom was dying, but throughout our lives.
 
In Colossians, Paul expresses his thanks to God for the people of Colossae even as he prays for them. Think for a moment about the people on your prayer list. You might have family or friends you pray for regularly. Perhaps you offer a traditional God bless prayer. Dad and I prayed one with mom at night in her hospital room, just as she used to pray with me at my bedside when I was little. You might also have a list of prayer requests, people you pray for when they are ill, distressed, in crisis, in transition, or in grief. As you are praying for them, are you also giving thanks for them? Are there individuals or groups of people who are part of your grateful list? For example, in my neighborhood Monday is garbage day and also the day the park across the street is cleaned up and mowed, so on Mondays I pray for and give thanks for sanitation workers and other city employees.
 
As Paul prayed for the Colossians he went on to mention their faith in Christ and their love for others. We know these are important as Jesus expressed the greatest commandments to love God and love others. From whom did you learn about Christ? Who set an example for you by living out their faith and inspired you to do the same? Who do you see helping others without demanding recognition, but quietly caring for others out of their love for the Lord? I invite you to bring some of these to mind this week and take the time to offer God thanks for each of them. If you have the opportunity, you might also say thank you to them for being that kind of blessing and example in your life. Paul was aware that the message the Colossians heard from Epaphras had born fruit in their lives. He prayed they would continue to grow in loving and serving God, to live faithfully and joyfully, forgiven and loved, as heirs to the kingdom of light. May we also pray these blessings on those for whom we give thanks to God.
 
The NIV Biblical Theological Study Bible claims, “The gospel continues to grow because it speaks to the universal condition of all people regardless of their cultural, ethnic, or socioeconomic background.” This means our living witness for Christ is meant for whoever crosses our path, whether they are just like us or just the opposite. God loves and cares about all peoples and all creation; therefore we are called to extend God’s love without labels or exclusion.
 
If we live out the grace and mercy we have received by how we treat others, they too will come to know Christ through us or be encouraged to grow in Christ along with us. As I heard recently in another sermon, preachers can’t take the gospel everywhere by themselves. The world is reached by how each one of us live in front of those whose lives cross paths with ours. What kind of message does your life offer?
 
In the midst of all the encouragement I received after mom’s death, God offered me a challenge. One area where I could definitely grow is to be more compassionate and caring in my encouragement to others. I could take time to offer a word of comfort or blessing on that social media post as so many did for me. I could be more intentional about sympathy cards. I could call someone who I know is grieving or discouraged. It’s not that I don’t do these things sometimes, but I know I could do more and I could extend my circle of caring wider when the Spirit is nudging me to do so.
 
Did you notice Paul was praying for and thanking God for people he had not personally met? It was Epaphras who taught them about Christ. Paul “heard” about their faith and their love. He was writing to strengthen and encourage them. Our compassion wasn’t meant to be limited to immediate family or a tight circle of our closest friends. On the other hand, I am not suggesting invading someone else’s privacy for the sake of “your” mission. What I am saying is we can all learn to listen for the Holy Spirit and watch for the opportunities God puts before us. Then respond to the situation as Jesus might have responded: to love people as you find them and lend a helping hand when you are able.
 
The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us that our “neighbor” whom the commandment asks us to love could be anyone. It could be a complete stranger. It could be someone we think is an enemy. As the Believer’s Bible Commentary puts it, “To the Samaritan, a Jew in need was his neighbor.” Though Samaritans and Jews did not get along, in fact did not trust each other, this man put all that aside to help the person in front of him. He had the means to help, so he did. Nothing else got in the way.
 
So many things divide us. People disagree about politics and ethical issues. People argue about what should be legal and what shouldn’t. People distrust those whose background, status, or opinions differ from their own. We humans have a long way to go toward being of “one mind in Christ” as Paul prayed for in another letter. But our differences don’t need to get in the way of extending the love of Christ to another person. What we have in common is a better starting point. Even if we cannot find any other point of agreement, at least this much is true. We were all created by God, and we are all loved by God. If I am offering my love to God by showing God’s love to my neighbor, what else do I need to know?
 
The people who cared so well for my mom in the hospital didn’t know her. The people who helped me at the motel didn’t know me either. We might have guessed some of our differences by the way we look, but we had no clue about each other’s politics, opinions, lifestyle, or background. None of that mattered. They could have done their jobs just to meet requirements, but they went beyond that because of who they were in their inner being. Some of them expressed a faith that might be similar to my own; I have no way of knowing what the others believed. But I can tell you that their behavior honored their creator by giving their best to take care of the person in front of them without bias or prejudice. That is an example any of us can follow.  But for us, there is more to it.
 
I believe there is a significant reason Jesus put these two commandments together out of all that is recorded in the Torah, the Law as it is written in our Old Testament. I think Jesus was teaching us that we love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength precisely when we share God’s compassionate, caring love with the people around us in the same ways we want to be loved. As you go into your daily lives this week, I invite you to sincerely give thanks to God for the people around you and to pray for them. But I also encourage you to pay attention to the opportunities God is giving you to show your love for God by sharing God’s love with others.
 
 
 
*HYMN                                                                 Jesu, Jesu
(You may be seated.)
 
PASTORAL PRAYER
 
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
OFFERING OUR LIVES
Lord, in gratitude for the many ways others have enriched our lives and helped us, we offer ourselves now in service to be a blessing to others. Amen.
 
 
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow #592
 
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.
 
We trust in God the Holy Spirit,
everywhere the giver and renewer of life.
The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith,
sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor,
and binds us together with all believers
in the one body of Christ, the church.
The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles
rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture,
engages us through the Word proclaimed,
claims us in the waters of baptism,
feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation,
and calls women and men to all ministries of the church.
In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives us courage
to pray without ceasing,
to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior,
to unmask idolatries in church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit,
we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to live holy and joyful lives,
even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth,
​praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
 
With believers in every time and place,
we rejoice that nothing in life or in death
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen
 
 
*HYMN                              Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing                            #538
(You may be seated.)
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
 
POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

​ 
July 31st, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Kolleen’s , Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller, and Linda Wenzel.
PRELUDE
 
*PSALTER Psalm 107:1-9, NIV
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story--
    those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
    from east and west, from north and south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands,
    finding no way to a city where they could settle.
5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
 
*GATHERING PRAYER
Lord, as you have gathered us from many backgrounds and places to be your people, so we gather this day to honor and worship you. We come singing your praise, listening to your words, offering our prayers and our lives to your service. Be present with us. Fill us once again with good things that our spiritual hunger and thirst might also be filled this day. Amen.
 
 
*HYMN                     Sing Praise To God Who Reigns Above                                  #483
 
 
*INVITATION TO CONFESSION                                    Colossians 3:1-11, NIV
“Since you were brought back to life with Christ, focus on the things that are above—where Christ holds the honored position—the one next to God the Father on the heavenly throne. 2 Keep your mind on things above, not on worldly things. 3 You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 Christ is your life. When he appears, then you, too, will appear with him in glory.  5 Therefore, put to death whatever is worldly in you: your sexual sin, perversion, passion, lust, and greed (which is the same thing as worshiping wealth). 6 It is because of these sins that God’s anger comes on those who refuse to obey him. 7 You used to live that kind of sinful life. 8 Also get rid of your anger, hot tempers, hatred, cursing, obscene language, and all similar sins. 9 Don’t lie to each other. You’ve gotten rid of the person you used to be and the life you used to live, 10 and you’ve become a new person. This new person is continually renewed in knowledge to be like its Creator. 11 Where this happens, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, uncivilized person, slave, or free person. Instead, Christ is everything and in everything.”
 
Let us confess our shortcomings to the Lord:
 
Merciful God, you intended us to live as new creatures in Christ, and yet old habits are hard to break and the ways of the world around us are hard to avoid.  We slip into thought patterns and behaviors that don’t suit our new nature, because they do not honor you. We may easily say we don’t have any of the sins named in one particular scripture, but we might just as easily ignore some other attitude or habit that is equally disrespectful to you our Creator and Savior. Forgive us once again for all that is sinful within us. Cleanse us and heal us that we may better live as your children in this world. Amen.
 
 
*WORDS OF ASSURANCE                                  Colossians 3:3-4, NIV
Let us remember scripture’s promise. “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life. When he appears, then you, too, will appear with him in glory.” It is through Christ we are forgiven.  Thanks be to God!
 
*SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
 
INTERLUDE
Word
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS        
Hosea 1:1-11, GNT
11 The Lord says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him  and called him out of Egypt as my son.  2 But the more I called to him, the more he turned away from me.
My people sacrificed to Baal;  they burned incense to idols. 3 Yet I was the one who taught Israel to walk.  I took my people up in my arms, but they did not acknowledge that I took care of them.  4 I drew them to me with affection and love. I picked them up and held them to my cheek; I bent down to them and fed them.  5 “They refuse to return to me, and so they must return to Egypt, and Assyria will rule them. 6 War will sweep through their cities and break down the city gates. It will destroy my people because they do what they themselves think best. 7 They insist on turning away from me. They will cry out because of the yoke that is on them, but no one will lift it from them.  8 “How can I give you up, Israel?  How can I abandon you?  Could I ever destroy you as I did Admah,  or treat you as I did Zeboiim?  My heart will not let me do it!  My love for you is too strong. 9 I will not punish you in my anger;  I will not destroy Israel again.  For I am God and not a mere human being.  I, the Holy One, am with you. I will not come to you in anger.  10 “My people will follow me when I roar like a lion at their enemies. They will hurry to me from the west. 11 They will come from Egypt, as swiftly as birds, and from Assyria, like doves. I will bring them to their homes again. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
 
Luke 12:13-21, CEB
13 Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”14 Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me as judge or referee between you and your brother?”  15 Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. 17 He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! 18 Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods. 19 I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 This is the way it will be for those who hoard things for themselves and aren’t rich toward God.”
 
SERMON                                  “The Danger of Greed”
 
“Mine!” It’s a word humans seem to adopt early in life, even as toddlers. Eventually it is followed by the word “More!” because we never seem to be satisfied.
 
We want more; we want better. Then in pursuit of the most and the best; we accumulate stuff. We stuff our lives with stuff!
 
The parable Jesus told about our accumulated stuff always reminds me of my dad’s friend, Leonard, once teasing me that my dad was looking at a property with three barns on it. Three barns will hold a lot of stuff. But dad already has a property with two houses. The little house mom and I used to live in is filled with stuff, and the basement of the house they built further back is full of stuff. I can’t blame dad for too much of this though. While the appliances he acquired when he was a Frigidaire repairman or some of the clothes he has never used are dad’s responsibility, not all of the stuff is his. Some of it is mine, my grandparents’, his mother’s, and his aunt’s. We all left our stuff in his care, and he is stuck with it. Mom and dad worked hard in their 80s to start sorting through all this stuff. There were rummage sales and donations and trash bins. Her last few months dad would bring mom a box of old papers: letters, magazines, and such, because she could still work through that from her chair. I give him credit for working away at it, but I don’t honestly see an end to it, even when it becomes my task or my daughters’.
 
But as I picture all of dad’s stuff in my mind, I have to look at my own. As my favorite pastor back home used to say, “When I point a finger at you; there are three more pointing back at me.” I also have too much stuff though I cut it in half leaving the parsonage, more moving into the apartment, and lots more leaving the apartment. But there is stuff from a storage locker I need to remove from your room upstairs. Some of it landed in my garage along with stacks of boxes from moving to the house. Then my basement filled up with stuff from Jessika’s apartment. I need to be working at sorting through my stuff just as much as dad does.
 
If you look again at the parable from Luke’s gospel, he uses the word greed and describes it with the barns full of stuff in this story. Ouch! I don’t think of my family as greedy. But I would have to question that when I open a shopping website in search of something I want. “No Kolleen you don’t need another shirt, you have dozens!” And I close the tab, well except this week. So, confession: I bought shirts, shorts, and pjs this week, but I will wear them for a decade or more. The concept behind my annual search for things to donate out of my cupboards and closets is based on this principle. “If I’m not using it but someone else could, why is it in my closet?” A recent purge of accumulated jewelry felt great since I hardly wear jewelry in my retirement.
 
We don’t think of ourselves as greedy, and yet…Jesus tells us to “guard against all kinds of greed,” because “life does not consist of an abundance of possessions.” (Luke 12:15) The Greek word for possession refers to property or wealth. I found a curious phrase in one definition, “indulged in.” It is true that I indulge in more than I need. The word used here for abundance means “overflowing” and “excessive.” It can mean “lavished” or summarized as “more than enough.” (All these definitions come from NIV Exhaustive Concordance.)
 
Do you begin to see some distinctions? There is nothing wrong with having the stuff we need. But when we become obsessive about possessions and accumulating more, then we have a problem. There is an attitude issue here. It might be worth asking “Why do I want more? Why do I think I need more?” In fact a common question to ask oneself when making a purchase would be, “Is this a want or a need?” I might go on to ask myself, “Is this just going to sit on a shelf? Or is it going to improve my quality of life?” What may seem like a waste of money and space to someone else, might improve my quality of life. The indulgence I see that way in my own life is music, but as I treat myself to the next Kpop album I want, I wonder what my daughters are going to do to get rid of them someday.
 
One concept I want to convey as a Christian exploring the sin of greed comes from Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4:12. The Contemporary English Version reads like this, “I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little.” The word translated here as plenty is the same Greek word as in the parable meaning wealthy. It is that overflowing abundance which is more than enough. The word translated here as poor also means humble. The word used at the end of this verse, “want” has a harsher meaning: to be lacking or deprived. It is having less than enough. Paul knew both extremes of this continuum. He learned how to live at either end or in the middle. But most of our society dreams of living on the upper end of that scale and pities those at the bottom. The culture around us has taught us to value abundance and wealth rather than humble means. I was surprised when I looked at the verse in Greek to discover that the word included in many translations, the word “content” doesn’t have a Greek word behind it. Many English translations have added that concept because the next phrase means whether I’m satisfied or hungry. Let me share a couple more translations that might be closer to the original intent. “I have learned the secret of how to live through any kind of situation.” (ERV) or the full clause, “I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (ESV) What I get out of this discovery is that Paul wasn’t telling the Philippians to stick a happy face on a painful situation. His emphasis was more on learning the secret to survive it. His secret of course comes in the next verse, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Multiple versions translate Phil. 4:13 this way.
But I like this realistic version, “I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.” (CEB) That verse got me through the first half of this month and will hopefully get me through the PET scan on Friday.
 
We too may know times of want and times of plenty, or find we are lacking something in one area of life while we have abundance in another. Paul has shared with us his secret for surviving what we lack. So the next question is what do we do with our abundance. Luke tells us Jesus’ answer is NOT to build bigger barns. I think the obvious biblical answer is to share with those who have less.
 
Possessions are not the only things about which humans are greedy. If I think about what else is listed among the seven deadly sins, I think greed is behind many of them. If envy is wanting what someone else has not only in terms of possession but also characteristics, talents, status, etc., then that is also a kind of greed. Isn’t gluttony being greedy about food? Isn’t lust being greedy about the gift of our sexual nature? What about the lust for power? It is the greedy desire for excess that leads us to sin in various areas of our lives.
 
But this is not only true for individuals, it is true in society among groups and structures. Think about it historically. Greed drove the acquisition of power and empires. Greed divided people into classes or caste systems. Greed accumulated great wealth while driving others into poverty. Greed decided my way is best, so let’s invalidate yours. Sadly those attitudes still exist all around us.
 
There is nothing wrong with influence or property or intelligence or education or money or anything of the sort. It is how we think about it and how we use it that makes the difference between serving God or being greedy. Whether it is as a person or as a people, if we use the resources with which we have been blessed to bless others or to care for the earth, that is mission and service. But if we horde them for our own pleasure or to be better than someone else, worse yet in a way that would abuse someone else or the earth, that is greed!
 
In the parable of the barns, as I am going to call it, the morale of the story seems to be that all the accumulation and hording was pointless. The person in the parable did not live long enough to use what was saved. It calls to my mind the stewardship parable of the talents. What was invested on the master’s behalf increased and those servants were praised for using it wisely. But the one who buried the small portion he had received just wasted it. Burying it was of no use to anyone. In this story the amounts given to each steward are not the point. The point is whether each one wasted or invested whatever they were given. So too it would seem that what is stored in the barns of our gospel story is also wasted, for it is never put to use. Greed did not accomplish much.
 
What follows the parable of the barns in Luke 12, is Luke’s version of a favorite section of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. “And life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap; they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:23-24) This passage invites us to trust God rather than worry too much about our needs. It’s the lesson God tried to teach the Hebrews during the Exodus. Gather what you need for today, but don’t be greedy about it. It’s good stewardship to be fiscally responsible for the future, but not to be obsessive and miserly about it. God was the one who gave Egypt seven years of abundance to store up and survive seven years of famine. But God was also the one who made sure the widow of Zarephath had just enough oil and flour each day to share a meal with Elijah.
 
I think the antidote to greed is generosity. When you have more than enough then you can spare something to share with others who are in need. That should be true of power and influence and a voice in decisions as well as sharing from any abundance of food or clothing or shelter. The spiritual gift of generosity includes not only the e to share but also the ability to earn and manage resources. Again those resources can be anything from food to influence. There’s a Wesleyan principle related to all this; in short form is recommends, “Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”
 
I invite you in coming days to consider the variety of resources at your disposal. How did you earn them? What do you save for future needs? What can you give to meet another’s need? Remember that not all of your resources are tangible items, some are your gifts and abilities. Take inventory of what you have as a household, as a church, as a community, as a wider society and people. Then invite the Holy Spirit to guide your use and investment of all you have. In the process may you notice how truly blessed you are by God!
 
 
*HYMN                                    More Love to Thee, O Christ                             #359
 
 
*PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
        Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
        thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
        Give us this day our daily bread.
         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, now and forever. Amen.
 
OFFERING OUR LIVES
Gracious God, you have provided all we truly need in this life and oft times blessings far beyond just those needs. We give you thanks and praise for loving us and caring for us as now we offer all that we are and all that we have back to you in lives of thanksgiving and praise. Amen.
 
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow                 #592
 
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
 
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting. Amen.
 
*HYMN Take My Life                                        #391
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
 
*POSTLUDE
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
 

​July 24th, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Kolleen , Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller, and Linda Wenzel.
PRELUDE
 
*CALL TO WORSHIP
L:  God is doing a new thing.  Can you see it?  Can you hear it?
P:  It settles in our midst.  It makes our hearts tingle!
L:  A new path springs forth, a way in the wilderness--
P: Life and hope and healing!
L:  Let us gather before our God of new possibilities.
P:  With confidence may we step onto this path of new hope,
L:  Where rivers in the desert give drink to God’s people.
All:  Glory to our God.  Amen and Amen.
*GATHERING PRAYER
O Lord, as we pray “Your Kingdom Come; Your will be done.” Let us experience a hint of that new realm as we gather this day.  Let us sing your praise and invite your healing into our lives and within our community.  May we be nourished and equipped in your power and glory forever more.  Amen.
 
*HYMN Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty                                  #482
 
Call to Confession
Like children stomping in mud puddles, we come before you, Lord, dripping with sin and despair.  How we want to be washed clean, but we can’t do it of our own accord.  Hear our confessions, Loving God, and help us to be scrubbed afresh.  May the blessing of your grace offer us the new life we seek this day. Amen
Prayer of Confession
 
           You stand at our shoulder, Lord.  How you want to give us the gifts of life      and hope and healing!  Yet we turn away to the clamor of our world.  We            pour our energies into things that do not satisfy; we support practices that diminish life for others; we carelessly abuse your good earth for our personal comfort.  Still you open your arms to invite us in. You listen for our cries and point us in directions of healing.  Forgive us for our stubborn refusal to lay our whole lives before you.  Help us to embody the prayer you taught us and to experience the joy of your kingdom come-- on earth as it is in heaven. Amen
 
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
 
The heart of God rejoices when his children open to the gift of forgiveness.  We are God’s by grace.  We are washed clean in our Lord’s amazing love.  Let us rejoice in the new life given through Jesus Christ, our Savior.  Thanks be to God.                     
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
Prayer of Illumination
 
Lord, quiet our hearts and still our thoughts as your holy word is read and proclaimed.  Help us to hear and recognize that we are raised with Christ in the power of new life and new possibilities. May we discover the possibilities you have for us and rejoice in your amazing love. Amen.
 
INTERLUDE
 
 
Word
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Isaiah 43: 16-21
 
16 This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again,   extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.
 
                   Luke 11: 1-13
11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:” ‘father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.  9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
 
SERMON                                  “Prayers for New Beginnings ”
I am so pleased to be your new interim pastor!  I am an interim.  I think that’s an important distinction.  Certain parts of being a pastor are universal—preaching on Sunday (even though I am only able to be here 2 or 3 Sundays per month)—loving you, helping you to feel God’s presence in the different moments of your life.  There are also some things that are unique to the role of interim.  Primarily it’s walking with you in the midst of the unknown, in a transition time.   You are moving from what has been towards what will be.  That’s always a little scary because we humans get really comfortable with our habits and traditions.  We claim our own spot in the sanctuary and our own way of doing things and it’s hard to think about changes to that.  We ask, “will it be OK?  Will we each find our place in the new design?  Will we be able to have what we need?  I think transitions in ministry is even more challenging because our entire society is in transition about the way we think of church.  Church has fallen out of vogue for much of our society.  That means we have to do things differently on many different levels.
A couple weeks ago when I was visiting with one of your more senior members she told me about the incredible number of children who attended your Sunday School brought in the palms and the long parade of bright shiny faces waving those branches.  She lit up when she told about that and mentioned that everyone had to arrive early to get a seat in the sanctuary.  Latecomers had to sit on chairs around the edges and couldn’t see as well. 
Today those youth programs have gone away, so we might well ask, NOW WHAT?  Now how do we do the important work of teaching the faith to our children and grandchildren?  Or do we?  Maybe we just throw up our hands and consider it an impossible task!
Seeking the new way of doing things in order to accomplish the goals of our faith is the work of the church today, and it’s absolutely the work of a church in transition between pastors.  That means I will need to learn about what has been, as well as what energy you have for being the church in the future.
The people to whom Isaiah is writing have a rich and vital history.  They are God’s people, the ones whom the Lord had selected for himself.  They are the sons and daughters of Abraham.  They are the fulfillment of God’s promise made to this pillar of the faith.  They are the offspring of the Hebrew slaves whom God led out of bondage—through the Red Sea, giving manna in the desert.  They are the recipients of the law which God spoke to the people and then wrote with his own hand of stone tablets.  They are the powerful nation that King David established.  But all of that is in their past.  Now they sit in Babylon, a defeated people.  God had allowed these heathens to conquer them as a punishment for their lack of compliance to God’s laws of justice and compassion.  The Babylonians had rounded up any who had any leadership capacity and marched them across the desert.  It was a brutal march, and new they sat in a foreign land watching foreign gods bless their captors.
OK.  The punishment was deserved, but what now?  Had God turned his back on them for all time?  Had God selected a new people?  Would they ever know the pride and the joy of worshipping in their temple?  Oh wait, the Babylonians had destroyed it!
Some of the priests and visionaries were saying that God would allow them to return to their beloved Jerusalem—even after all these many years.  But how would they be able to return?  It was a desert, a wilderness with no roads, harsh and difficult to pass without massive support.  How could they even think about returning?
That’s where the prophet who we now call Second Isaiah  comes in (This Isaiah is actually writing some 100+ years after the first, so probably not the same guy.)
Isaiah brings a new word from God.  Earlier he had spoken God’s comfort upon the people.  Now he brings a word about their future.  In chapter 43 he tells the people that God will gather them from all the corners of the earth.  He would claim his people, “whom I created  for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
He then reminds them of their own experience, how God was a critical part in their escape  from slavery.  “Thus says the Lord who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior”  He’s talking, of course about the Red Sea corridor which opened to allow the escaping slaves to walk across on dry land.  Then it closed over top of the pursuing army.  “They lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.”  This was such a celebrated part of their history.  Can’t you just feel the people settling into this story that was so important to them?  This was a part of their identity, so what comes next must have been quite a jolt.
God said, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.”  Wait a minute God had said they should always remember these things.  They had a whole feast day to remember this.”  God said, “I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth.  Do you not perceive it?”
This new thing has been framed in the richness of their story, escape across the Red Sea.  God said, “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches.”
Do you notice anything?  This is a reverse Red Sea Crossing.  Before, God had carved out dry land in the midst of water.  Now God is making a highway in the desert, offering the presence of life-giving water and calm in a hostile land.  It’s a new thing, but it’s another version of the Red Sea!  God gives life and hope and meaning to his people.
Sometimes we think about such stories as all in the past.  That’s what God did then!  But I maintain that it’s just as present today.  How will God call us forward to live in new ways to experience his grace and goodness and to offer it to the world around us?  I doubt it will be a massive Sunday School, plays that celebrate Christmas or Easter, or a parade of palms.  But what will it be?  How will God call us forward to serve him right here in Clinton, Iowa?  Discovering that will be our task together in the coming months.  And then, of course we will need to work with imagination and courage to put one foot in front of the other to enact that new reality.
Remember the folks who sat in Babylon?  They would need to put on their shoes, grab their babies and elderly, and put one foot in front of the other to get back to Jerusalem where they would need to rebuild the temple and a new way of life.  They likely encountered road construction along the way. Detours caused by poor signage, weather delays, a few flat tires, even unscheduled bathroom breaks.  There were likely times when they needed to retrace their path to a juncture where they would take the other fork in the road.   At other times they would need to wait for God to clear the rock slide that had blocked their path.  They were active participants.  They weren’t sitting on a train or a plane allowing someone else to drive the vehicle.  They were out there moving forward with God.
And that will be our task—to listen, to discern, to participate, to recheck our bearings to make sure we haven’t wandered off course.  There will be times when we find ourselves at a dead end.  Things didn’t go as planned.  That’s not a reason to throw up our hands.  It’s a new learning that leads to the next step forward.  I happen to believe that we learn more from our mistakes than for our success!  But either way, God is leading us!
Prayer will be essential.  Prayer is the act of laying our lives before our God.  Prayer allows God to make adjustments in our software so that we are better able to follow where he leads.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus’ disciples ask him to teach them to pray.  One might ask, doesn’t everyone know how to pray?  Don’t you just open your heart and mind and allow all that is there to pour into God’s lap?  You don’t filter.  You just put it out there.  But that’s personal prayer.  The disciples are asking about corporate prayer for the entire community.  Jesus offers what we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray it almost without thinking.  The words feel polished and comforting because we’ve said them so often.
But this is a radical prayer.  To fully delve into it is a whole other sermon, but suffice it to say that it’s a prayer that invites God’s design for our world to fully come into being.  Many of us might struggle with whether that were a good thing.  There would be a leveling of our society and our world.  There would be a completely new way of thinking about our culture, our economic system, governmental system and so much more.  Daily reliance upon God becomes the norm, and that leaves a lot of anxiety about what happens tomorrow.
As a congregation in transition, we invite God’s realm into our ministry.  So there will be ambiguity, questions, discomfort and likely difference of opinion.  We need to expect that and to recognize that it’s a part of the process.  We need to work hard to lift up one another—even when we disagree because those disagreements will often create a better product than when everyone is gung ho on a plan.
God is in our midst.  God is our wagon master as we move along this path in the desert.  God will provide streams of water and manna to nourish us—body and soul, but to make this journey we will need everyone to come along.   You are each an important part of the process.  Your thoughts and dreams, your hopes and struggles will inform us and help us to find God’s way for us.
In the coming weeks we will be asking you to answer some questions.  We hope to invite you in to think together in groups so we can build relationships, as well.  I hope you will find those opportunities instructive and fun.  I think fun is an important part of this process, so that’s my plan, too!!!
 
God is good.  God is doing a new thing here at First United Presbyterian Church and I’m so please that I get to be a part of it.  I think I speak for Kolleen, too, that we look forward to the journey.
 
Praise to our Lord of new beginnings and new life.  Amen
 
 
*HYMN   Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples                                            #434
 
Prayer of Dedication
How you bless us, Lord, with life and opportunities, with our daily bread and gifts beyond our imagination!  As we bring our offerings before you, our hearts sing with gratitude and praise. May these gifts  bring your kingdom to earth and    glorify your holy name.  Amen.
 
Litany of New Beginnings.
J :  First United Presbyterian Church, let us claim our identity.
P:  We are a people of God; blessed by our Creator; Called by our Lord, Jesus Christ; Equipped and accompanied by the Holy Spirit.
K:  We call ourselves the stone church with a warm heart! We are God's people Receiving Christ, Reaching Out, Sharing Love.
           P:  Our history is rich and filled with faith and joy.  We have been a part            of God’s love, breathing life into the community around us.
           J:  We are at a crossroads, but your call has not been revoked.  Your mission            has not been set aside.
P:  God holds our future and is preparing us to take the next steps into a new ministry, a new way of being, a new call to service in Christ’s name.
K:  As part of that preparation, this congregation has stepped into a relationship with a new interim pastor.   Pastor Joyce, will you accept this opportunity to serve this congregation and walk beside the good people of First United Presbyterian Church?
J:   I will.  I will love them, pray for them, encourage them, and do my best to help them to know God’s presence in their midst.  I will ask questions, listen carefully, pray diligently and strive to faithfully serve in ways that open the doors of God’s new beginnings and new hope for First United Presbyterian Church.
P:  We thank God for all that has brought us to this point and for God’s presence as we move forward with Pastor Joyce.
J:  Pastor Kolleen, you have been a much beloved part of this congregation, and now you step back into the pulpit on a part time basis.  Will you speak God’s word of grace and goodness to God’s people?
 K:  I will.  I will preach with imagination and love.  I will seek to be open to the Spirit’s guidance, and I will pray for this church to find those new roads in the wilderness.
J:  People of God, Kolleen and I are but 2 voices, 2 pray-ers, 2 energies for Christ.  Will you be a part of this movement?  Will you speak your love?  Will you pray for this congregation?  Will you offer your energies that together we might march the pathway God is preparing for us?
P:  We will actively participate, share our hopes and dreams, pray our faith and love, and offer our energies to serve Christ and to discover God’s new mission for us.  We will listen and care for Pastor Joyce and Pastor Kolleen.  We will invite others to join with us, and we will hold out our hands in friendship to our fellow members and new people alike.
K:  God is not finished with us.
J:  God is doing a new thing, and we will be a part of God’s design and God’s grace.
ALL:  Praise be to our God of New Beginnings.  Praise be to our Savior who calls us forward.  Praise be to the Spirit who walks with us along the way.  Amen and Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
    Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
    thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our daily bread.
    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, now and forever.    
    Amen
​
*HYMN                      Arise, Your Light is Come                                                   #411
 
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING             
 
*POSTLUDE
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
 

​ 
July 17th, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Kolleen’s family with the loss of her mom, Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Karla Singer (Rich Lewis Niece), Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller, Barbara Russell and Family, Manon Family, and Linda Wenzel.
PRELUDE
 
*CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 84:1-4, CEB
How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord of heavenly forces!
 
My very being longs, even yearns, for the Lord’s courtyards.
My heart and my body will rejoice out loud to the living God!
 
Yes, the sparrow too has found a home there.
The swallow has found herself a nest
 where she can lay her young beside your altars.
 
 Lord of heavenly forces, my king, my God!
    Those who live in your house are truly happy; they praise you constantly.
 
*GATHERING PRAYER
Oh, Lord, our God, our Creator and Savior. You indeed are our dwelling place. You have provided the world in which we live and everything we need to sustain that life, but you also invite us to dwell with you in sacred space, in a relationship of trust and love. You covenant to be our God if we will choose to be your people. You encourage us to live as in your kingdom here on earth, and you welcome us to your eternal home when this life is complete. For our life in you we offer our thanks and praise. Amen.
 
HYMN          Oh Worship the King                                          #476
 
CONFESSION          from Colossians 1:21-22
“Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude. 22 But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without sin, fault, or blame.”
Since Christ has made a way for us, let us confess our sins and shortcomings to God.
 
Gracious and most merciful God. We confess that we have separated ourselves from you by the way we think, by our attitudes, by our actions, and by our inaction. Though we profess our love for you, we do not always live in agreement with your teachings. We do not always understand what you want from us or for us. We get lost in the ways of the world and fail to hear what the Holy Spirit would remind us. As a society we wander down many paths that are not your intention for us. Father, forgive us for the times we do not know what we are doing. Lord, have mercy upon us for the times we know too well but choose our own way instead of yours. Open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts to better live for you. Amen.
 
 
*WORDS OF ASSURANCE                       from Colossians 1:20
Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.
 
Through Christ we are forgiven.  Thanks be to God!
 
*SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
Prayer of Illumination
You ask us, Lord to bear one another’s burdens in gentleness.  But to do that we need first to understand the nature of your hope for our world.  As scripture is read and proclaimed whisper that hope into our ear and give us the wisdom and courage to reach out to our neighbor that we might share their struggle and offer your grace. Amen
 
INTERLUDE
 
Word
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS          Genesis 18:1-10a, Good News
 
18 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day, 2 he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them. Bowing down with his face touching the ground, 3 he said, “Sirs, please do not pass by my home without stopping; I am here to serve you. 4 Let me bring some water for you to wash your feet; you can rest here beneath this tree. 5 I will also bring a bit of food; it will give you strength to continue your journey. You have honored me by coming to my home, so let me serve you.”
 
They replied, “Thank you; we accept.”
 
6 Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick, take a sack of your best flour, and bake some bread.” 7 Then he ran to the herd and picked out a calf that was tender and fat, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready. 8 He took some cream, some milk, and the meat, and set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, and they ate.
 
9 Then they asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
 
“She is there in the tent,” he answered.
 
10 One of them said, “Nine months from now I will come back, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”
 
Sarah was behind him, at the door of the tent, listening.
 
 Luke 10:38-42, CEB
 
38 While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. 40 By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.”
 
41 The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. 42 One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.”
 
SERMON                                  “A Ministry of Hospitality”
 
I’ve always thought Abraham’s care for his three visitors to be a prime example of hospitality. It fits the hospitality culture of a nomadic desert people. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible notes that Abraham offered protection in the form of shade, amenities in the form of foot-washing and nourishment by preparing a meal. The notes go on to explain, “Custom mandated such hospitality from a host when travelers passed through since public accommodation was scarce and the climate threatening.” (Notes for Genesis 18:5) Similar hospitality today whether in our home or our yard would likely include shade, air-conditioning, or a fan this time of year. We don’t offer foot washing, but the availability of a bathroom is essential. If not a meal then typically a beverage is offered and perhaps snacks. Our guests may not require all of these, but making them available if needed is pretty standard hospitality. It is worth noting, however, that Abraham’s hospitality goes beyond standard. It is the finest flour, wheat not barley which would have been more common, and enough to bake several loaves of bread. The meat would be freshly butchered from a tender calf. This represents a feast, not their daily diet.
 
“Hospitality was one of the most highly regarded virtues of the ancient world” (NIV Quest Study Bible Notes) and continued to be significant throughout biblical stories. Among those who offered hospitality to Jesus, we are familiar with the story of Mary and Martha whose brother was Lazarus. Jesus often came to their home at Bethany when he visited the area. These sisters each offer hospitality in their own way according to their “gifts and graces,” by which I mean the strengths and personalities God gave them. These sisters might seem to us to be polar opposites. One is in the kitchen and one in the living room. One is on her feet; the other is seated, on the floor no less. One is busily preparing a meal; the other is listening with respect and reverence. But would I ever say one is offering hospitality and the other is not? No! I would not say that! Martha’s hospitality is in a form we expect. She is preparing food for her guest, and we know going back to Abraham’s story that is a standard practice of hospitality. But Mary’s hospitality is also important. She is giving her guest her full attention, listening intently to what the teacher has to say. When Jesus chides Martha for expecting Mary to join her in the kitchen, I think Martha’s fault was in not recognizing that Mary’s hospitality was of equal worth. I believe Jesus appreciated the meal being offered, but appreciated the devotion of Mary’s open heart even more. Martha was intent on feeding Jesus’ body. Mary was focused on letting Jesus nourish her soul. Both are valid hospitality, but while one is standard perhaps the other is rare. We might also note that “Women in ancient Judaism were usually not permitted this privilege.” (NIV Study Bible Notes)  So, for Mary to have the courage to sit and listen as a disciple and for Jesus to acknowledge and praise her choice is significant for the times. Martha did what she believed she was expected to do. Mary took a rare opportunity to heart. Both did so with sincerity and genuine love for Jesus.
 
I want to look at three perspectives on hospitality. From these Bible stories let’s consider how we offer hospitality to God and to others, but let’s also take a moment to consider the hospitality God offers to us.
 
Our opening Psalm declared “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord.” (Psalm 84:1) The dwelling place where God resides and provides hospitality is not only in the heavens, but also here on earth. Whether we are talking about the paradise God intended our world to be, the Eden described in Genesis 1 or God’s heavenly realms described in Revelation 21-22, the dwelling to which God invites us a place of beauty and peace where everything we need is already provided. Psalm 104 speaks of God’s hospitality in creation, food for all creatures, wine, oil, and bread for human beings to enjoy, trees for bird nests, rocky shelters for other animals. God’s hospitality is rich in God’s plan for this planet Earth on which we live, but God also has an eternal plan for our life beyond this. A favorite funeral text from John 14:2-3 tells us that among the many rooms in God’s house, one is prepared especially for each of us, and Jesus will bring us there.
 
Sometimes when we focus on the things that don’t meet our expectations or desires we miss God’s hospitable providence. Even in the flood God had Noah build an ark. Even in the wilderness God provided water and food. Even when Jonah was tossed overboard in a storm God gave him shelter in the belly of a whale in spite of Jonah’s disobedience. Even during a famine or when Elijah was on the run God saw to it he had food and shelter, sometimes directly but also through the widow of Zarephath.
 
In your own quiet time today, I invite you to think of all the ways God has provided hospitality on this earth for you whether directly or through human hands. You might push yourself to consider your own “Even when…” list. How has God still offered you hospitality even in the midst of adversity?
 
Even though they were nomads in an arid place, God made sure Abraham and Sarah had tents and shade and grain and meat. Genesis 18 claims it was “The Lord [who] appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre.” When Abraham offered hospitality out of that bounty to the three travelers before him, he was offering it back to the Lord.
 
I think again of Mary and Martha and see the balance they suggest as we offer God both our service and our reverence. Sometimes we work hard serving the Lord not only in the church but also in our homes and in the world around us. That is our Martha hospitality. Sometimes, however, we just sit in God’s presence and listen to God’s Word or to God’s Spirit or simply witness the beauty of God’s world. These worship filled moments are more like Mary’s hospitality.
 
In a relationship such as we have with God, the hospitality we receive we can also return. If we accept God’s covenant proposal to be our God, then we respond by being God’s people. We offer God a place in our lives. We make room for God in our busy schedules. We invite God’s wisdom into our decisions. We seek God’s assistance as we go about our work. We welcome God’s Spirit to nudge and guide us. We hold God’s Word in our minds to influence and to comfort us. We put physical reminders of God’s spiritual presence around us in our homes. We let God’s teachings inform our actions.
 
I think the art of hospitality is making a bit of room in our lives for someone else to occupy. It is essential that we make such room for God because it is God who makes it possible for us to offer such space to anyone else.
 
Sometimes what we offer to others will be physical space, just as Abraham offered under the shade tree to his visitors or Martha offered in her home to Jesus. It’s like the kitchen table next door when I was growing up, where everyone gathered for Georgia’s chocolate chip cookies and a whole lot more. It’s like Wednesday night youth group at our home in Albany when my daughters were in high school. An assortment of teenagers showed up after school and hung out for a while, then ate together, and even learned a bit more about life and Jesus. It’s like my high school friends welcoming me into their home the evening after mom died, even though it was late after their grandkids’ ballgames, and even though I hadn’t been in their home for a few years. It’s like your upstairs kitchen now being used to prepare summer meals and Calvin Hall hosting a PEO or an AAUW meeting. All of these are examples of hospitable physical space.
 
But sometimes we offer more than space. Sometimes we offer food or drink. Rebekah showed hospitality when she drew water for Abraham’s servant and even his camel. It was the sign that servant wanted to find the right woman for his master’s son, Isaac. Another woman, this one of Samaria, was willing to draw water from the community well for Jesus when he asked. Her hospitality was rewarded with an offer of living water. Think how many more stories in the Bible relate to sharing a meal together. Joseph fed his brothers when they came for help in Egypt. Esther prepared a banquet for King Xerxes before presenting her request. Jesus was notorious for eating with “tax collectors and sinners.” He also told many parables that involved feasts.
We remember Jesus for feeding thousands and for sharing a special meal with his disciples. Think how many times you have enjoyed a meal with your family or friends. Table hospitality is significant and something any of us can offer whether we cook or cater or take a friend out for a meal.
 
But hospitality can also meet more than physical needs. There is a concept of hospitable space that is less tangible but equally important. It goes beyond giving our time or a listening ear, though it includes both of these. It is sometimes referred to as holding space, sacred safe space for another person. It can be a place to unburden oneself of grief or guilt or fear or doubt or frustration. It can be a place of learning or healing or maturing. It is what God offers us in the gift of prayer. It is what my coach offers me when I receive Spiritual Direction in our monthly phone call. It is what we can offer each other over a cup of coffee or sitting on the porch, leaning over the backyard fence, or in a desperate phone call. When we allow another person that safe space to be themselves whatever their needs or hurts might be in that moment, we have offered a significant gift of hospitality. This kind of hospitality is to be offered without judgement or scolding, but simply accepting, perhaps even sharing another person’s pain. Everyone needs that hospitality of safe, sacred, space. I think it is the truest meaning of the word sanctuary.
 
A favorite parable reminds us that the hospitality we offer to others is as if we have given it to the Lord. You probably know the one I mean, where those who offered the hospitality of food or drink or clothing or being present with someone who was sick or in prison were told that as they did for the least of the people around them, they did it for the Lord. God has offered the ultimate hospitality to us, making space for each of us in this vast universe, but also in the intimacy of a relationship with God. If we choose to belong to the Lord, we will make hospitable space for the Lord in our daily lives. In the midst of that, we also share hospitality with the people God puts in our lives, as another way of returning our love to our God. One more example of what hospitality can do is the story of Zacchaeus, that wee little man who climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus walk by. When Jesus asked Zacchaeus to share the hospitality of his home and dinner, Jesus also extended to Zacchaeus that sacred hospitality that allowed Zacchaeus to become a new man, no longer a tax collector who cheated people for us own wealth, but a generous man who relearned how to love God and neighbor, because Jesus took the time to meet him.
 
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandments of our Old Testament law are to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. There are many ways to interpret this and live it out in our own lives. One such expression of this love is hospitality as we offer space for God to permeate our whole being and as we extend that hospitable space to the many neighbors of our world just as we also accept that hospitable love for ourselves.
 
 
 
*HYMN               Lift High the Cross                                                                                                #407
 
PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
OFFERING OUR LIVES
Lord, as you have provided for all our needs, may we also learn to provide hospitality to those who come our way. By doing so may we be offering the best of ourselves to you. Amen.
 
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow #592
 
AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting. Amen.
 
*HYMN                      Called as Partners in Christ’s Service                         #343
 
 
 
 
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
 
*POSTLUDE
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
 
 
​
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

​ 
July 10th, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, , Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller,  Kolleen’s Family, and Linda Wenzel.
 
PRELUDE
 
*Call to Worship
L:  What must we do to inherit eternal life?
P:  Love the Lord with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind. And our neighbor as our selves.
L:  Let us open our hearts and souls, our strength and our minds to God’s amazing love.
P:  Let us offer our worship and praise that we might gain the power to truly love our neighbor as our selves.  Amen.
*Prayer of Invocation
O Lord, we come before you, not as prophets or priests, but as ordinary, every day people who need your touch and who seek avenues of grace.  Bend low, Loving One, and infuse our worship with your Spirit of life that we might gain the power to offer your hope and healing into our world.  Amen.
 
 
*HYMN O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing                #466
 
 
Call to Confession
We don’t want to think of ourselves as sinful beings.  We live decent, responsible lives!  Yet the nature of humanity is to fall short of God’s desire for us.             Let us confess our sins before our Gracious Lord, knowing that God hears and     offers us the gift of healing and wholeness.  Let us come before our Creator.
 
Prayer of Confession
Gracious Lord.  The world is a place where the loudest voice is very often the dominant one.  It’s so much easier to go along than to fight for your holy design.  Forgive us for the many times we’ve thrown up our hands and kept silent, even when we knew that people were being harmed and your good earth was being desecrated.  Forgive us for assuming we had no ability to speak your love into hurtful situations.  Forgive us for our lack of courage and our unwillingness to risk.  Help us to do better, Lord.  Help us and love us, we pray.
 
Words of Assurance
God does love us.  God sent his Son to a cross that we might know ourselves forgiven and washed clean.  Let us claim this gift of redemption that we might begin again to do the will of our father and care for our neighbor. Amen.
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
Prayer of Illumination
Spirit of Hope and Healing.  We invite you into our hearts and minds as God’s holy word is read and proclaimed. Help us to hear that which we need to be the people you call us to be.  Amen.
 
INTERLUDE
 
Scripture:
Amos 7: 7-17
7 This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied.  Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.  9 “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined; with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.” 10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “‘Do not prophesy against Israel,  and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ 17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,  and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country.  And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”
Luke 10: 38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
SERMON                   Who is my Neighbor? 
 
If you have ever been around construction, you’ve probably seen one of these.  It’s a level; used to answer the questions --Is it straight? Is it square?  Is it true?  Is it right?  Amos uses a plumb line to address these questions, but I couldn’t find a plumb line.  A plumb line is a string or line with a weight at the end that drops by the force of gravity to assist the worker to build the wall straight.  The level I have here is a modern day version of that.   To some degree both of our scriptures for today deal with the question of building a strong, straight life built on God’s desires for us.
Amos is shown several prophetic visions that are metaphors for what God is seeing in his people, Israel.  The first 2 are pretty disturbing.  Swarms of locust or showers of fire are descending on the nation to destroy it.  But Amos pleads with God on behalf of the people and God relents.  The third is the plumb line.  This time God is showing Amos (and us) why he is so intent on tearing down his people.  They have built their lives and their society in a way that is crooked and bent and not at all as God intends.  God tells Amos he is measuring the nation.  Twice before God has relented, but not again.  Now he has objective proof of their corruption.  They have turned their backs on justice and compassion and caring for the vulnerable or living in a fair and equitable manner.
Think about it for a minute.  God is holding up a measure—a plumb line—to determine whether his people are doing that which is expected of them.  That would  be a frightening thing.  I don’t feel a lot of confidence that our society could pass such a test.  With gun violence at an all-time high, immigration issues leaving thousands in limbo and suffering, racism, prejudice of all forms, the rich getting richer off the backs of the poor.  What would God say?  What would God’s plumb line look like if measuring our society?  It’s scary.
The plumb line here is being used to judge that which was already happening.  But I note that a plumb line is also a tool that is used to build straight and true.  I think our gospel scripture provides an example of that for us.
Do you notice that it begins with a lawyer, one who is trained as an expert in the law?  He’s asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Now for many of us eternal life is that reward we hope to receive when we die and go to heaven. I want to suggest, however, that it’s much more than that.  Here is what Jesus says about eternal life when he is praying for his disciples before his death.  This can be found in John 17:3.  “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  Do you notice that there’s no mention of heaven here?  That doesn’t rule heaven out, but the emphasis is on relationship and that begins right now.  The verb that we translate as “know” is the same verb used in the Genesis story when we hear that “Adam knew Eve.”  It’s a deep abiding and intimate knowing that clicks on all levels of our being.  It’s interdependence and participation and acceptance of the whole person.  It’s to be in relationship.  What Jesus is saying is that to have that type of relationship with God changes everything.  It gives meaning and direction and purpose.
I wonder if that lawyer wanted that, or if, like many in today’s world, he just wanted a ticket to the streets of gold—heaven when we die?
Jesus invites him to answer his own question.  What do the scriptures say?  His answer—“To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  Perfect.
But the lawyer wants to eliminate all ambivalence.  He doesn’t quibble with the loving God with all our being part.  Instead he turns to that horizontal piece of the equation.  Who is my neighbor?  It’s sort of like drawing boundaries.  Who’s in?  Who do I have to love?  Who’s out and who can I walk away from?  How much easier his life will be if he can simply drill down on that detail.  Then he can merrily turn his back on any who are outside of that circle.
But Jesus isn’t going to play that game.  The plumb line he holds up is a parable.  It’s one of our favorites.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was an especially dangerous route with lots of places for the bad guys to hide and jump out to ambush travelers.  And that’s exactly what happens.  This man was robbed, stripped of his clothing and beaten.  They leave him half dead on the side of the road.
A priest came along.  Now a priest was a man trained in the ways of God.  He was held in high esteem.  But when he saw the man he passed by on the other side.  (Now before we shake our heads in disgust, we maybe need to give the poor guy a break.  Perhaps he was afraid that that robbers were still there waiting for someone to come to this man’s aid so they could attack them, as well.  Or perhaps he was being cognizant of the law in Leviticus that said a priest should not touch a dead body lest he have to undergo a process of cleansing.  If the priest thought the man dead and had a priestly duty to perform, he might have passed without going to the man.)
Next came a Levite.  A Levite in todays world might be thought of as an associate pastor, or the priest’s helper—maybe a church administrator.  He was also held in high esteem and thought of as a godly man.  But just like the priest, he passed by.  Maybe he had some of the same issues as previously listed.
Finally it was a Samaritan who came by.  And here’s the shocker; he immediately went to the man and cared for him.  There was so much animosity between the Jews and Samaritans.  Samaritans didn’t worship at the temple.  They only considered the first 5 books of the Old Testament as their scripture.  Both sides considered the other as outsiders and sinners.  But this man dresses the man’s wounds, puts him on his donkey—which meant he was that much more of a sitting duck for the robbers.  He took the man to an inn where he cared for him over night. The next morning he paid the innkeeper, not only for the night just passed, but for caring for the man going forward, and he promised to pay whatever else was needed when he came again.
This Samaritan didn’t just put a band-aid on the wound or give the poor guy a lift to the next town.  He went the next step to really make sure this man had the best he could offer.
And Jesus asks.  Which one was the neighbor to the man beaten and robbed?  Be the neighbor!  Be the one who doesn’t look and measure who should receive one’s compassion and care.   Be the neighbor!  Be the one who has compassion because of the humanity which we all share.
And that’s the plumb line that Jesus offers.  Are we the neighbor who loves regardless of where that needy individual lives?  Regardless of what language they speak or the color of their skin?  Regardless of whether they deserve our care?  Regardless of whether offering that care is convenient or within our budget?
Are we the neighbor who becomes God’s hands and feet in that moment?  Because loving God with our heart, soul, strength and mind (and I would add check book) means we participate with God in these moments when God calls us forward to act.  When we act we are offering not just our care—we’re offering God’s love and grace.  We’re telling that other person that they are valued and loved.  They’re worthy and special before our Creator.
I want you to notice one more thing in this, as well.  In this story the Lawyer recited this most important command that is found in both the Old and New Testament.  In it we are instructed to love our neighbor as ourself.  That means God wants us to love ourselves.  He wants us to have a positive self-esteem.  He wants us to let go of those nasty whispers that so many have repeating in their heads—the whispers that tell us we’re not good enough, pretty enough, lovable or capable.  Those self-repeating voices need to be banished because we are so beloved by God.  We need to love ourselves so we can also love our neighbor.  God loves us all.
A plumb line falls into our midst.  It shows us what is straight and true and good, and it also serves as the criteria which offers judgement on the faith we live.  We can’t address every problem in our world, but God calls us forward to address many around us.  God asks us to be a neighbor.
Let us each find our own ways to care for our neighbors, both as individuals and as a congregation.  Let us love our God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our strength and all our minds.  It’s a joyful way to know the love and the meaning of our God.
Praise be to God.  Amen.
 
 
*HYMN                   I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me                                               #369
 
PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting. Amen
 
*Prayer of Dedication
Thank you, Lord, for the many blessings you have poured into our laps.  Most specifically we thank you for the gift of grace in Jesus Christ that washes us clean and sets us free.  As we return to you a portion of this bounty, we pray that you will use us to announce your love and grace to all the world.  Thank you, Lord. Amen.
 
*HYMN        God of Grace and God of Glory (verses 1-4)                         #420
 
Sending Forth
 
* Benediction
 
*POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
 
Please stay for a very short  congregational meeting to elect Sue Pinkston to the nominating committee Thank you!
 

​June 26, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Avis Severson (Kolleen’s Mom), Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Karla Singer (Rich Lewis Niece), Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller, Barbara Russell and Family, Manon Family, and Linda Wenzel.
 
PRELUDE
 
*Call to worship        adapted from Psalm 77
As we gather to worship, we may also feel like the psalmist who wrote:
“I cry aloud to God, that God may hear me…
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord.
Has God’s steadfast love ceased forever? Are God’s promises at an end for all time?  Has God forgotten to be gracious?”
Let us call to mind the deeds of the Lord. Let us remember God’s wonders…
Let us meditate on all God’s mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the people. With your strong arm you have redeemed your people.
Let us call to mind the deeds of the Lord.
We will remember your wonders.
 
*HYMN “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”  #276
 
 
 
Call to Confession
In this season after Pentecost, we read this from Galatians 5:13-16:
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence. Through love become slaves to one another…. Live by the Spirit I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.We know God knows our every thought and deed. So. let us also look within,            and confess our sins before God.
 
Prayer of Confession
           Gracious God, you offer us so much: a purpose that affects eternity, the Spirit who fills and empowers us, and the salvation of our souls. Forgive us when we choose to withhold love from others, when we choose not to forgive, when we look back with envy and ahead with fear. Help us to trust you in the good and bad times, in the times of abundance and in the times of scarcity. Help us to know that you have not left us as orphans, but have to come us to continue to use us in your kingdom purposes. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen.
 
Words of Assurance
In Christ we are not only forgiven, we are set free from sin’s power over us. We now live by the Spirit. Let us also walk in the power and guidance of God’s Spirit, and bear the fruit of the Spirit as Christ did.
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
INTERLUDE
 
Scripture:
2 Kings 2:1-2
2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel. “But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
 
2 Kings 2:6-15
6 Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on. 7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.” 11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. 15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him
Luke 9:51-62
51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them[a]?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village. 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
SERMON ““When the Glory Days Seem Over”
 
One man said to his friend: "Say, you look depressed. What are you thinking about'!"
"My future," was the quick answer.
"What makes it look so hopeless?"
 "My past"
Well, there could be two reasons for that 1) the person's past. Was not so great and he or she sees no hope that anything will change. Or, 2) the person's past was so glorious that he or she doubts it will ever be that great again! Both perspectives can feel hopeless!
These are the Days of Elijah... so goes the Christian song. Our Old Testament text is the story where Elijah is taken up and Elisha is standing on a riverbank, looking up to an empty sky, and down at Elijah's cloak. Elijah did amazing things in his life. How will Elisha ever hope to fill his shoes?  The people cheer, but also wonder, will Elisha be as great as Elijah? Are Elijah's days of glory in Israel over?
For most of us it may not be past glory that we hang onto, but familiarity and comfort.   People put their trust in Jesus, and then find themselves going back to their old ways, things that worked in the past to give them a sense of security. Even though the old has past and the new has come, there is comfort in old patterns, and many Christians do not progress spiritually because they are afraid to trust God to lead them into new relationships, new ways of thinking, new ways of using what God has given them, new ways of being. In other words, they [we] prefer the past.
That is what is happening in our gospel story. People want to follow Jesus (new wav) AND stay comfortable (old wavs) A commercial bas a couple entering a dining area at an inn, where people are all snoring over their tables. It’s not a Bed & Breakfast, but a Bed OR Breakfast, and they say, "I'm glad we chose bed.”, The point is the word ''and" is often very important
In our gospel some people they want to follow Christ, and hang onto their possessions, follow Christ and keep their comfort, follow Christ and say goodbye, and cling to their families, and keep the past, and so forth. Jesus says, "Well, I have no home. Let your dead bury the dead. Plus, if you take the plow and tum back you are not fit for the kingdom of God." When something similar happens later in the gospel Jesus adds that terse three-word verse, "Remember Lot's wife." Easy to memorize, Lu. 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife." She is the woman told not to look back while fleeing from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But she turned back and became a pillar of salt. In other words, "if you follow Me," says the Lord, "There is no turning back." Hmmm, I wonder how many followers Jesus picked up that day!
Jesus himself “had set his face to go to Jerusalem," because he knew it was the time of his imminent demise, or as Luke puts it, the time for him to be taken up, that is, up to heaven. In many ways the glory days of Christ were over. The huge crowds, the sensational miracle the accolades from, masses -all that was mostly behind him. Now, in the words of the Old Testament prophecy, he had "set his face like a flint'' towards Jerusalem, towards the increasing resistance to his teachings, towards the increasing-difficulties with Roman authorities, and ultimately towards the events of Passion week and the cross. But Luke holds out the promise he would be "taken up."
No doubt, the eavesdropping disciples didn't like to hear Jesus talk like this. They had seen him walk on water, raise the sick and the dead, level the Pharisees with wisdom and authority, and now he was scaring people away? "We like the good old days better!"
Even for Jesus, glory comes and goes. Same with the church. In American history there have been times of revival, it seems every few decades. There are the Methodist revivals of the early 1800s. We remember the rise of the Billy Graham Crusades; I attended a couple of them. There was the Jesus Movement of the early 70s, while hippies and anti-war demonstrators were advocating love and anarchy, young people were turning in faith to advocate love through Jesus Christ. Currently, I think we are in between times of Christian renewal. The good old days of Christianity in this country seem gone maybe for good. You know, those days of bursting Sunday Schools and new church buildings springing up by the thousands all across the country in all the new suburbs-­ those days when almost. everyone went to church, or at least, had learned basic truths of the gospel.
So we might think we should try to make Christianity more appealing, easier, consumer-friendly, more accommodating to busy schedules and more politically correct. After all, we don't want to chase away any of the few followers the Lord has, do we?  We are in what philosopher’s call ''post-Modernism," where the church is fighting against secularism, just as Elijah fought against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, like Jesus faced the opposition of the Jewish elite. In our day, post-modems tell us that there really are no moral absolutes, that truth is relative, and institutions like the church are irrelevant dinosaurs. After all, faith is a matter of personal preference, the Bible IS just literature, and everyone should be able to do what is right in their own eyes "as long as they don't hurt anybody." How does the church thrive in such a world?
The same way it always has. We proclaim the love of God without compromising his truth, without lowering his standards. We trust the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of people who still need the Lord. Fa1th is personal, and communal.   We trust with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. And with other believers we become the body of Christ
Watering down the gospel and pretending commitment to Christ and his kingdom doesn't matter is not true discipleship. Looking back only to the glory days insulates us, but leaves us with rocking chair faith and an inability to reach out to those who still need Jesus. It might be safe, but it's boring!
Jesus set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem against the advice of his closest friends. He didn't make any bones about the difficulty of following in his footsteps as people came up to join him. He simply requires that we count the cost first. He wants our whole heart soul and mind, not just space on our calendars.
Of course, the church of Christ will always need some new ways of doing things to be able to meet people where they are, not where we wish they were. It might be as simple as praise music vs. hymns, or coffee house informality vs. cathedral formality. But it’s probably much deeper. When people see our faith is real and vibrant, when people see how much we love our neighbor, then we have something to offer. With the Spirit's leading, we can employ those innovations that may touch people that maybe were not reached by our grandfather's way of doing church.
A good dose of realism is helpful, but let's not give up! We will pray. We will continue to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. We will listen and obey and share our faith. The times have changed perhaps but people haven't, and certainly the Lord has not People are still empty inside and need Jesus, not a watered-down version, but the one who set his face towards Jerusalem, towards the cross, for our sake.
Lord, we seek to follow the words of the great Apostle Paul:
My beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Forgive us when we decide to "retire”. From serving you because we like the old days better. Refresh us, that we may be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in work for your kingdom. Our labor is not in vain. You have laid up for us the crown of life. May we rejoice to see the fruit of our labors in the lives you have allowed us to touch U:it your grace. May we continue to count the cost and remain faithful to your calling. We love you more than life itself, dear Lord May our love and faith be contagious in this ever-changing world.  Amen.
 
*HYMN                      “God of Our Life”                                                                                              #275
 
PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
Dedication of the Offering
Lord, as you have blessed us richly in so many ways, please accept these offerings an act of worship. May our offerings help shift our focus from our own needs, and be used to help fulfill your purposes in our community and in the world. Amen.
 
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting.
Hymn “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” 
 
Sending Forth
 
* Benediction
 
*POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
 

​June 19, 2022
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 those not vaccinated  as well as 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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett, Jo Lefleur, Judy Welcher, Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx, Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner & Kelly Families, Avis Severson (Kolleen’s Mom), Ukraine, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan, Karla Singer (Rich Lewis Niece), Bonnie Pillers, Deb Weller, Barbara Russell and Family, Manon Family, and Linda Wenzel.
 
PRELUDE
WORDS OF WORSHIP
(Unison) “I will bless the Lord at all time:  His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name forever. Amen (PS 34:1-3)
 
GATHERING PRAYER
(Unison) Great and Loving God, we come to You because You have invited us, loved us, forgiven us, and redeemed us. Help us as we are gathered here, to hear what You have to say to us. Amen
 
*HYMN Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee #464
 
CONFESSION AND PARDON (Unison)
   We confess, our father, we do not live up to the family name. We are more      ready to resent than to forgive, more ready to manipulate than to serve, more ready to fear than to love, more ready to keep our distance than to welcome, and more ready to compete than to help. At the root of this misbehavior is mistrust. We do not love one another as we should because we do not believe You love us the way You do. Forgive us our cold dis-belief. Make more vivid to us the meaning of Your love at the cross. Show us what it cost You to give up Your Son that we might become Your children. We ask this in the name of Jesus our righteousness. Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
      (Leader) God has promised forgiveness to all who truly seek it. As we have opened       ourselves and asked God’s forgiveness we know.
      (Unison) God has heard and forgiven us and we are truly God’s forgiven    people.  Amen.
 
PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
 
OFFERING PRAYER
Lord God, you have blessed us with many gifts.  Take these offerings and our lives as our gifts to You. Amen
 
INTERLUDE
 
Prayer of Illumination
Lord God, open our hearts and minds that we may hear what You have to say to us. Amen
Scripture:
Luke 8:26-39
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” 29 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. 32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned 34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.  38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.
SERMON    “Declare what God has done for you”
 
*HYMN                      “Lord, Speak to Me That I May Speak”                                          #426
 
PASTORAL PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
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, now and forever. Amen.
 
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting. Amen
*HYMN            Savior, Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise”                     #539
 
Sending Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
Go out into the world in peace, render to none evil for evil but render good for evil. Seek peace and comfort for all people. Now, the Lord bless and keep us in His love now and forever, Amen.
 
 *POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Some of today’s liturgy came from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship.

​SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
May 1, 2022
Third Sunday of Easter
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 those not vaccinated  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 in Calvin Hall
 
PRAYER REQUESTS
Gary Iverson, Bob Bock, Joan Boyd, Wanda Hirl, Marilyn Neymeyer, Joan Pinkston, Maxine Wagner, Annette Conzett,  Jo Lefleur,  Dr Dyke, Harlan Marx ,Lois Seger, Jon Ryner, Abagail Niles, Helanah Niles, Werner& Kelly Families, Avis Severson (Kolleen’s Mom) Ukraine, Doug Nelson, Arlene Pawlik, Angela and Tristan , and Jake Pinkston
 
PRELUDE
 
*CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 30:1-5, NLT
I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me.
    You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health.
You brought me up from the grave, O Lord.
    You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
 
Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.
 
*GATHERING PRAYER (from the Book of Common Worship)
Almighty God, through your only Son you overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life. Grant that we who celebrate our Lord’s resurrection, may, through the renewing power of your Spirit, arise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
 
*HYMN                            Thine Is The Glory                                                         #122
 
 
*CONFESSION
Let us confess our sins to the Lord:
 
Holy God, forgive the times we fail to see you at work around us,
Fail to see your purpose and intentions for us,
Fail to see those you would have us protect or help,
Fail to see those whom you have sent to teach or assist us,
Fail to see where we fit in your plans for this world.
 
Forgive us the times we struggle on our own without turning to you,
The times we ignore the resources around us,
The times we are timid in reaching out to others,
The times we don’t acknowledge your presence with us,
The times we doubt what you can do in and through us.
 
*WORDS OF ASSURANCE Colossians 1:13-14, GW
“13 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. 14 His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.”  Thanks be to God!
 
*SONG OF PRAISE Gloria Patri #579
 
*PASSING THE PEACE (facing those across the aisle from you)
Left: May the peace of Christ be with you.
Right: And also with you. May the peace of Christ be with you.
Left: And also with you.
(You may be seated.)
 
 
INTERLUDE
 
Word
 
SCRIPTURE LESSONS Acts 9:1-20, GW
Saul kept threatening to murder the Lord’s disciples. He went to the chief priest 2 and asked him to write letters of authorization to the synagogue leaders in the city of Damascus. Saul wanted to arrest any man or woman who followed the way of Christ and imprison them in Jerusalem.
 
3 As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
 
5 Saul asked, “Who are you, sir?”The person replied, “I’m Jesus, the one you’re persecuting. 6 Get up! Go into the city, and you’ll be told what you should do.”
 
7 Meanwhile, the men traveling with him were speechless. They heard the voice but didn’t see anyone.
 
8 Saul was helped up from the ground. When he opened his eyes, he was blind. So his companions led him into Damascus. 9 For three days he couldn’t see and didn’t eat or drink.
 
10 A disciple named Ananias lived in the city of Damascus. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
 
Ananias answered, “Yes, Lord.”
 
11 The Lord told him, “Get up! Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street, and ask for a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. He’s praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
 
13 Ananias replied, “Lord, I’ve heard a lot of people tell about the many evil things this man has done to your people in Jerusalem. 14 Saul has come here to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to put anyone who calls on your name in prison.”
15 The Lord told Ananias, “Go! I’ve chosen this man to bring my name to nations, to kings, and to the people of Israel. 16 I’ll show him how much he has to suffer for the sake of my name.”
 
17 Ananias left and entered Judas’ house. After he placed his hands on Saul, Ananias said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way to Damascus, sent me to you. He wants you to see again and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
 
18 Immediately, something like fish scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. Then Saul stood up and was baptized. 19 After he had something to eat, his strength came back to him.
 
Saul was with the disciples in the city of Damascus for several days. 20 He immediately began to spread the word in their synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.
 
John 21:1-19, CEV
Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberias. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and the brothers James and John, were there, together with two other disciples. 3  Simon Peter said, “I'm going fishing!” The others said, “We will go with you.” They went out in their boat. But they didn't catch a thing that night.
 
4 Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was. 5 Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?”
“No!” they answered.
 
6  So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.”
 
They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.
7 Jesus' favorite disciple told Peter, “It's the Lord!” When Simon heard it was the Lord, he put on the clothes he had taken off while he was working. Then he jumped into the water. 8 The boat was only about 100 meters from shore. So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged in the net full of fish.
 
9 When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it. 10 Jesus told his disciples, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” 11 Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore. In it were 153 large fish, but still the net did not rip.
 
12 Jesus said, “Come and eat!” But none of the disciples dared ask who he was. They knew he was the Lord. 13 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave some of it to his disciples. He did the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from death.
 
15 When Jesus and his disciples had finished eating, he asked, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than the others do?”
 
Simon Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I do!”
 
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus said.
 
16 Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
 
Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you!”
 
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus told him.
 
17 Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
 
Peter was hurt because Jesus had asked him three times if he loved him. So he told Jesus, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.”Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep. 18 I tell you for certain that when you were a young man, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will hold out your hands. Then others will wrap your belt around you and lead you where you don't want to go.”
 
19 Jesus said this to tell how Peter would die and bring honor to God. Then he said to Peter, “Follow me!”
 
 
SERMON Open Your Eyes and Cast Your Nets
 
Some days the hardest thing to do is to open my eyes in the morning. I’m in denial that it is daylight, that I need to get out of bed and get started with the day. I might lay there and think about the things I need or at least intend to do. That might be enough to cause me to shut my eyes tighter and roll over toward the wall and the window. But there is this curious thing about sleeping eye level with a window to my backyard. I get curious. I get curious enough to move the pillow, reach for the shade and open my eyes to the world outside. If I’m lucky I’ll see the squirrels or the bunnies scampering about. I might spot the birds in the trees or on the utility lines. I’m happy if there is sunshine. It was worth opening my eyes.
 
I want to keep that thought in mind, that it was worth opening my eyes, because sometimes I’m not so sure I want my eyes opened. There is a phrase we use; we say something was an “eye opening experience.” Sometimes that was a positive experience; it usually teaches us something. Sometimes we are reluctant to learn a truth about ourselves or the world around us that asks us to change. Some examples come to mind.
 
The movie “Hidden Figures” a few years ago was an eye-opening experience for me, a reminder that we usually don’t hear the full story behind events in the news, that there are people behind the scenes who are every bit as much the hero as the people whose pictures are next to the headlines. It was also a reminder that as a society we push groups of people past the margins where we don’t see them, and it is for no good reason as far as I can tell. It made me ask why we hear some stories and we don’t hear others. I admit I still don’t pursue those other stories, but I also trust the news less recognizing that it will only tell me what that particular news source wants me to hear.
 
Another eye-opening experience back in 2003 was landing in a Peoria hospital needing a stent. That led to several lifestyle changes.  My diet changed a great deal. I started taking prescription medicines. I tried some exercise routines. I tried to destress. I was more successful at changing my diet than the other two. I needed to change it again several times in the years since because of other health concerns. But I think I did begin to pay more attention to my health overall when I could afford to do so. It’s a long-term ongoing process as all of you know in your own lives.
 
Saul was a Jewish scholar and persecutor of those who followed Jesus. On the Damascus Road he had an eye-opening experience that began with going blind. Perhaps you know in your own life that God will sometimes use drastic measures to get your attention. That was the case with Saul. Certificate in hand to arrest Christ followers at Damascus, Saul was suddenly struck by a blinding light and heard Jesus’ voice asking why Saul was persecuting him. That was pretty to the point. Then opening his eyes, Saul could not see, not for three days. Jesus directed Saul to the home of Ananias, whom Jesus had also prepared for this encounter. Following Jesus’ instruction, Ananias placed his hands on Saul’s eyes, and Saul could see.  Then Ananias invited the Holy Spirit into Saul’s life and taught Saul about Jesus, so that Saul could “see” in another sense, to begin to accept that Jesus was the Messiah and worthy of Saul dedicating the rest of his life to telling others about Jesus. After this time Saul became better known as Paul.
 
I wonder where God is asking us to open our eyes. Is it to see something we need to change in our own lives, behaviors, or attitudes? Is it to something in the world around us, to open our eyes to prejudice or injustice, to environmental or stewardship issues? Perhaps it is to the needs of someone close to us or someone along the margins of our lives whom we have failed to see. Perhaps it is to new possibilities when we just want things to go back to the way they used to be. Toward what vision is God asking you to open your eyes?
 
Peter had already been through some eye-opening experiences. Sometimes he could see beyond his own earthly wisdom, like when he recognized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. God had opened Peter’s spiritual eyes that day. But other times Peter couldn’t see past his own nose enough to trust God’s plan, like when he cut off Malchus’ ear or when he denied Jesus’ in the courtyard. Peter was spiritually blind that night.
 
After Jesus was crucified, Peter went to the tomb when the women reported that Jesus had risen. Peter saw the empty tomb with his own eyes, and probably wondered what was next. He wasn’t yet ready to move ahead without Jesus to guide him, but that would come.
 
One of my favorite resurrection stories is our gospel lesson today, Breakfast on the Beach as it was called in a children’s musical version I recall. Peter had grown weary of sitting in the upper room, just as you grow weary when you have to stay home for long during a recovery or during the pandemic. Peter was a man of action, so that day he stood up and announced, “I’m going fishin’!” When we are stressed it sometimes helps to go back to familiar things we enjoy. Peter was a fisherman by trade, so that’s what he did. Some of the others joined him; I’m guessing his brother Andrew went with him and we know the other set of brothers, James and John who used to fish next to them were there that day. A few more disciples decided to ride along.
 
It was good to get out on the water in the boat, but as the long night continued, they might have gotten discouraged about their foolhardy adventure. They caught nothing all night long. It was dawn when they spotted a fire on the beach. Who was out building a fire already that morning? A somewhat familiar voice called out from shore, “Friends, have you caught any fish?” The answer was NO. The voice called to them again, “Cast your nets on the other side, then.”
 
Pause to think about that a minute. How often when something doesn’t work do we humans just keep trying the same thing. If we just work harder. If we just try longer. But like the fisherman who caught nothing all night, perhaps our labors are fruitless because we need to try something a bit different, cast our nets on the other side as it were.
 
Peter and the others surprisingly heeded the advice and were rewarded with such a haul of fish they couldn’t hardly pull the net into the boat. It was that full! Amazing how a little effort can yield such results when it is aimed in the right direction.
 
Now Peter realized who that man on shore must be. Impulsive as always, Peter jumped in the water, running against the waves toward shore. “Jesus!” He had to get to Jesus.
 
After breakfast, Jesus took Peter aside and had a significant conversation with him. Over the years I have appreciated scholars pointing out that Jesus asked Peter this question, “Do you love me?” three times, just as Peter had denied Jesus three times in the overnight hours before the crucifixion. Peter was given the opportunity to affirm his devotion and dedication to his risen Lord once for each time he had denied him.
 
We, too, are given opportunities in our daily lives to affirm our allegiance to our Lord, not only with our devotions and other spiritual practices but with our daily lives. Each time Peter responded, “Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus gave him an assignment. “Feed my lambs; tend my sheep; feed my sheep.” The fisherman whom Jesus promised to teach to catch people was now to become a shepherd to those people who identified themselves with Christ. This is the reason bishops in my denomination are given a staff that looks like a shepherd’s crook. It is because they continue Peter’s call to shepherd God’s people.
 
We also use a shepherd’s skill when we care for others. Whether you are a parent or grandparent, a group leader or the one who gathers your friends together, you, too, are like a shepherd. When you give good advice or listen to someone’s pain or help someone find their way, you are feeding or tending Jesus’ sheep by caring for one of God’s children. If you continue to cast your caring net in the direction God’s Spirit guides you, you just might be surprised at how that “catch” adds up over time. I’m always surprised when I think back over my years just how many lives God has allowed me to touch.
 
As you go about your daily lives, may your eyes be open to see what God has for you in the world around you, and may your spiritual eyes be open to see God at work in the world and to recognize spiritual truths. May you cast your nets of caring wherever God directs you, so that you become not only a fisher of people as Jesus first invited Peter, but also a shepherd of God’s people as Jesus later asked of him. Eyes and hearts open, may you daily follow Jesus.
 
 
 
*HYMN Open My Eyes                                             #324
 
PASTORAL 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,
forever."      -- Amen.
Eucharist
 
OFFERING OUR LIVES
 
*DOXOLOGY Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow #592
 
*AFFIRMATION Apostle’s Creed (Ecumenical) p. 14
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 into hell.
On the third day He rose again.
He ascended into heaven
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
And He will come 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 life everlasting. Amen.
 
*HYMN        I Come With Joy                                                 #507
 
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE 1 Cor. 5:7–8
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia!
 
GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise,
…
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels
and with all the faithful of every time and place,
who forever sing to the glory of your name:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
 
You are holy, O God of majesty,
…
Accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy offering of ourselves,
that our lives may proclaim the One crucified and risen.
Dying Christ destroyed our death.  Rising Christ restored our life.
Christ will come again in glory!
 
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us
…
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
all glory and honor are yours, almighty God,
with the Holy Spirit in the holy church, now and forever.
Amen.
RECEIVING THE BREAD AND CUP
 
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Living Christ, as you open the scriptures to us you make yourself known inthe breaking of the bread. Let us now go forth from this place, fed at your table and filled by the Spirit, to walk with you all the days of our lives, and proclaim the glory of your resurrection to all the world. Amen.
 
Going Forth
 
*CHARGE & BLESSING
 
*POSTLUDE
 
* Sections of the service preceded with * are times to stand if you are able to do so.
Bold text is to be read together aloud as a congregation.
Presbyterians practice open communion which means anyone who seeks to be in a relationship with Christ is welcome at the table regardless of denomination, age, or status. The communion elements are already in your pew, and you will be instructed when to eat the wafer and when to drink the juice.