Worship
for the Lord’s Day
May 10,
2020
Happy
Mother’s Day
A Note
before we begin this day’s worship:
Today is Mother’s Day. Perhaps place a picture of your own mother through
the year’s before you. We are also going
to be talking and focusing on rocks. If you
have any stones near at hand, bring one in and place it next to the picture of
your mother.
Let’s
begin:
Opening
Prayer
Gracious
God, on this day remind us that we are witnesses to the eternal love of Christ
and remind us that we are responsible for caring for each other. We are called to lift up rather than tear
down; to support rather than abandon, to reach out when others have turned
away. Become for us once again, the
solid foundation upon which we build our daily lives. Give us hearts of love that, in all places
and times, we may be a witness to the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Hymn Rock of
Ages
Prayer
of Confession
Lord
of abiding love and infinite patience, be with us this day. We have come from times of stress,
difficulties, as well as times of hope and joy.
We bring to You our concerns and our fears, and You offer us Your
healing mercies. Remind us that Your
blessings are poured out in many ways, through many people. Give us the confident faith that reaches
beyond our own lives to help others. We
know that we will have struggles and difficult times, but help us, Lord, to
place our lives in Your care, to trust in Your comfort and guidance. Forgive our stubborn resistance to Your
compassionate love. Forgive us when we
sink into our own selfishness and pettiness.
For it is in those times that we often turn our back on You. Bring us back to You, to the awareness of
Your eternal love. Heal us again and
place us on the right path. For we ask
this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN
Words
of Assurance
Christ,
our cornerstone and our salvation, offers to us hope and comfort. You can place your trust in God, for God will
lead you, comfort you, protect you. You
are a living stone, part of the holy priesthood. God is with you and will lift you up. Rejoice and be glad; you are loved by God. AMEN
Pastoral
Prayer
Holy One,
on this day we celebrate the role that mothers and mother figures have played
in our lives. We thank you for the
present love and the memories of our mothers and grandmothers, for all the
women who have nurtured us and cared for us in our lives. Keep us mindful of those for whom this might
be a difficult day – for the loss of their own mothers whether that loss
occurred just this week or if it happened many years ago. We pray for those who cannot visit their
mothers because of distance or because of our current situation during this
coronavirus pandemic. We pray for
mothers who have lost their own children or cannot visit with them at this
time. Open our hearts continually to
Your love through others. Help us reach
out to one another in ways that are possible right now. Jesus reminded his disciples that they always
have a place in his heart and that there is a special place for them in God’s
realm.
I lift my own prayers up to You now….
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, forever.
AMEN.
Scripture
Readings
Old
Testament Reading: Psalm 31:1-5, 15,16
1In you, O Lord, I seek refuge; do not let me ever be put to
shame; in your righteousness deliver me.
2Incline your ear to me; rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge
for me, a strong fortress to save me.
3You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake
lead me and guide me,
4take me out of the net that is hidden for me, for you are my
refuge.
5Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me,
O Lord, faithful God.
15My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my
enemies and persecutors.
16Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast
love
New
Testament Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10
2Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that
by it you may grow into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted
that the Lord is good.
4Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet
chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to
offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For
it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen
and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7To
you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The
stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” 8and
“A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.” They
stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in
order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a
people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
Sermon
– Living Stones
(based
on 1 Peter 2:2-10)
I have
always been fascinated by buildings. I
sometimes think that if I hadn’t gone into ministry, I might have been an
architect. I’ve even designed a few of
my own, in my head and on paper – not that they will ever be built. But I’ve enjoyed doing it as a sort of hobby.
One of
my most precious books is a book that was written in 1910 called Artistic
Homes.
I’ve
owned it for over 30 years and leaf through it every now and again, looking at
all the amazing home designs from the turn of the 20th Century. One of the things that fascinates me about
buildings are the stonework of them. I
grew up outside of Philadelphia in Downingtown and West Chester and many of the
buildings were made of a particular kind of stone called Serpentine Stone. It has a beautiful greenish tint to it.
Pictured
above – A home in Chester County, College Hall at the
University of Pennsylvania, and Church of the Holy Trinity in West Chester.
One day,
many years ago, I was watching some stone masons working on a wall that
surrounded the property of one of these beautiful old buildings. The wall was made of the same serpentine
stone as the house. Each stone maker
selected from the pile of stones and placed in on the wall, carefully making
sure that it would fit into just the right spot. If it didn’t quite fit, he’d turn it around
or turning it upside down, contemplating a better fit, maybe it would go best
horizontal or vertical. Sometimes he’d
reject one stone and pick another. Once
in a great while, he’d take a mallet and a chisel and strike it just at the
right spot to remove a burr or an edge that was keeping the stone from fitting
perfectly. Mesmerized, I honestly could
watch stone masons for hours at their craft; selecting and rejecting,
fine-tuning and placing the perfect stone into its rightful spot.
Our New
Testament reading today comes from 1 Peter.
The first letter, addressed to persecuted Christians living in five
regions of Asia Minor, exhorts the readers to emulate the suffering Christ especially
during difficult times. The author
reminds them to remember that Jesus rose from the dead and is now in glory. The Christians are urged to repay evil with
goodness and to love one another. They are
cautioned to safeguard their reputation as good citizens of high morality,
thereby removing all doubt about the injustice of their sufferings. The letter is attributed to Peter, although
the question of authorship has not been solved to the satisfaction of most Biblical
scholars, but perhaps the writing was done by a secretary of or spokesman for
Peter.
In the
particular passage that we read this morning, the author tells the readers to
make of themselves like living stones, built up into a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood. It concludes with us being a
nobody or a nothing without God, but now we are God’s people, chosen and
precious.
In
thinking about those stone masons, selecting and refining each stone to put
into its perfectly correct place in the house or on the wall, I believe that
God chooses us in much the same way.
Each stone or each person nothing special on its own, just part of a
giant pile of other common stones. But
then chosen by the great Stone Master, turned and examined, honed and perfected
to fit beautifully into place of a spiritual house. Once set in place to become part of that
magnificent building.
God is
working His purpose out in each of us.
God is using our special and unique gifts, perfecting them. God is testing us, trying us, and even lopping
off some of our hard edges so that we might fit perfectly into the spiritual
house God is creating.
In
homage to today’s celebration of Mother’s Day, God does not do this alone, but
has created parents to fulfill part of that duty. Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts and other important
female figures in our lives have also contributed to that stone mason work in
us. They have helped shape us, they have
helped create in us the people we are.
We give honor and special recognition for their work in us.
I know
that this year is a particularly difficult Mother’s Day and the emotions that
surround Mother's Day are more complicated than usual. People with elderly moms
they can't visit. Moms stressed by
working from home while home schooling. Perhaps those who have lost their moms
recently without being able to be there, or organize a funeral due to
coronavirus restrictions. For some, it is
high school or college graduation weekend; they are home with mom, yet with
some bittersweetness. We name the pains,
the joys, the complications, but still know that we are being formed and shaped
for a greater good.
We are
being made into a spiritual house of a holy priesthood, perfected and beautiful,
for the purpose of spreading the Good News of the gospel and God’s amazing grace
and love.
Benediction
Go forth
in peace, dear ones. Bring hope to this
world. Go forth in love; bring joy to
this world. Go forth in the knowledge
that God goes with you, loving and guiding your steps. AMEN.
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