Worship
Service for June 27, 2021
Here is today’s worship
service in its written form. Click here
(when highlighted) for the YouTube link for today’s worship service at
Bethesda. Today’s sermon is a cross
between a eulogy for my sister, Joy, and an attempt to be faithful to the
meaning behind today’s scripture passage on generosity found in 2 Corinthians
8:7-15.
You can join us for corporate, in-person worship at Olivet
(9:45am) and Bethesda (11:15am).
Prelude
Announcements
Sounding of the Hour (at Bethesda only)
Call to Worship
L: With the cross before us and the world
behind us, let us follow the crucified and risen Lord.
P: AMEN.
Lord, have mercy.
L: Those who would save their lives will lose
them, and those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ will save them.
P: AMEN.
Christ, have mercy.
L: We worship You, O Christ and adore You,
because by Your cross You have redeemed the world.
P: AMEN.
Lord, have mercy.
Opening Hymn – For the Beauty of the Earth
Prayer of Confession
We confess,
merciful God, that we speak words of peace, but our deeds bring division. Our lips honor You, but our hearts are far
from You. We are ready to trust You when
life is peaceful and prosperous, but when the storms of life come upon us, we
seek our security in the gods of power, money, and prestige. Forgive us and restore us, good Lord, that we
may be Your faithful people and proclaim once again that You are a God full of
mercy and compassion, for the sake of Christ.
(Silent prayers are offered)
AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: There is healing in God’s
forgiveness. God’s steadfast love has
the power to redeem and make us whole.
P: Thanks be to God. AMEN
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer
Healing Lord, there are so many situations we have
encountered which require healing and restoration. We try to do the best we can, but we cannot
rely on our own strength and skills to bring about the complete healing
that is so desperately needed. Help us
to place our trust in you. Help us
to work effectively to promote situations of healing and hope. We have
come before you with so many concerns on our hearts. There seems to be no end to the desperate
needs of your people, O Lord. Yet you
love and hear all of us as we pray. You surround us with your love and healing
mercies. You lift us gently and give
us courage to work for you in ministries of peace and love. We praise and thank you for all of this
as we offer this prayer in Jesus’ Name.
In God’s amazing grace,
God hears our every prayer. Now, with
one voice, we pray together saying…
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.
Hymn – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
Scripture Reading(s):
OT – Psalm 130
NT – 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Sermon –
Ode to
Joy
(based
on 2 Corinthians 8:7-15)
This past Christmas my sister gave me
a book called, The Beauty of What Remains by Rabbi Steve Leder. I have a zillion of books on my “to read”
list and was embarrassed in late February when my sister asked me if I had read
it and thought whether it would be something she should read. A month later, after the shocking diagnosis
that my sister’s cancer had returned and had metastasized, I finally picked up
the book. In the prologue, Leder said
that during his three decades of tending to more than a thousand grieving
families, he had learned a lot about death, which in turn had taught him a lot
about life. So, he decided to share his
insights about the ways death gives meaning to life with his congregation. He said, “that sermon on death turned out to
be the most popular sermon I have ever delivered from the pulpit”. Requests for copies poured in from all over
the world which planted the seed to write a book. One year later, to the day when he delivered
that sermon, his father died.
He
remembered that his father would often say to him when trying to teach a life
lesson, “Steven, where you are, I’ve been.
You don’t know shit.” Leder says,
“My father’s death forced me to realize that what I know about death and how it
informs life was the result of seeing other families’ loved ones die – other
families’ grief, not mine. Sure, I had
seen a lot of loss, but vicariously, one degree removed from the truth. I was an experienced rabbi well-schooled in
the craft of death. But my dad was right
– you don’t know shit.”
Although
I have officiated at hundreds of funerals myself over the course of my 30 plus
years in ministry, before my sister passed away just over a month ago, the most
recent and closest relative I had (my grandmother on my mother’s side) died 26
years ago. I realized as I prepared to watch my own
sister die, Steven’s father was right in this life lesson; until it happens to
you, “you don’t know shit.”
A few
months after my grandmother died, I wrote a sermon called In My Grandma’s
Garden about life lessons that she shared with me as we worked together in her
garden. This morning, I’d like to share
with you a little bit about what I’ve learned about life from my sister. Because I can say that I’ve learned a lot
over the past two months; primarily about experiencing the death of someone
you’ve known since birth, about someone you’ve been attached to your entire
life, but also about someone I thought I knew, but didn’t actually know at all.
Let me
tell you a little bit about my sister, Joy.
She was two years younger than me, but we were always very close. As you can see in some of the pictures on
display, our mom often dressed us in similar outfits and as we got older many
people thought we were twins. Of course,
we had our sibling rivalry and day to day squabbles as most brothers and
sisters do when they are young; that completely disappeared when we became
adults. But growing up and into
adulthood we were always there for each other and were one another’s closest
allies. We had similar interests and
were involved in most of the same clubs and school activities. After high school, Joy attended the same
college I did and lived just a couple of dorm rooms down the hall from me. From there our journeys diverged and we took
different roads.
Joy
began her career at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, working as an
interpreter for the National Park Service for over 10 years. She was one of the few
people in the world who learned to play Benjamin Franklin’s musical invention
called the Armonica. I showed a picture
of it in the first slide for today’s worship service. Glass bowls are arranged in descending size that
spin by working a foot pedal. You then
touch the spinning bowls with your fingertips like a piano to create a wonderfully
haunting sound.
From
her work at Independence Hall, she then became the System-wide volunteer coordinator
for the National Park Service in Washington, DC, aiding every National Park in
the United States to better utilize and increase their volunteer programs for
over 16 years. And for the last few
years had been working on Special Projects for the National Parks such as the
newest national park called First Park in Delaware and the Harriet Tubman
Museum/exhibit.
Some
things that I didn’t completely know about my sister, as I’ve been going through
her files and archives that she kept, was how extensively well-known she was
throughout the United States. How many
of the National Parks she had traveled to and how she even helped some European
Countries like Germany begin similar volunteer programs. I found a file of national magazines with
tabs in them, thinking that perhaps she had bookmarked an article or two that
she wanted to read. Opening them up, I
found articles written in Times and Newsweek not about articles she wanted to
read by instead about my sister for helping create a national volunteer
movement called volunteer.gov. I knew
that she had earned her CVA in 2012, which is a Certificate in Volunteer
Administration which just sounds like a nice certificate of achievement. But again going through her files, I realized
that this was more like a full-blown master’s degree program regardless of what
it was called. She was often sought out to
sit on various boards and especially enjoyed her time sitting on the board of
the Audubon Society where she helped conceptualize many of the exhibits on display. Two years ago, one of the last things Mom,
Joy, Walter and I had done together was to have a behind the scenes tour at the
Audubon from the director. The last amazing
thing I learned about my sister as I went through her bank statements and
checkbook was about her generosity. She
gave so much of herself to so many organizations and she did it with both her
heart and her resources.
And
that’s where today’s scripture reading and my sister’s life converged for me. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in his
second letter to them stating how eager they had been to help in giving to the
various ministries that they had learned about.
How Paul had introduced them to needs in other parts of the world and
how important it was for them to give and how eager they had been to do so. The problem was that they seemed to be all
heart, but no resources had been forthcoming, that their generosity stopped after
they showed interest and concern for the welfare of the ministries
elsewhere. Paul was urging them in verse
11, “now finish what you had begun.” In
other words, don’t just be eager to do it, or be generous in spirit alone, but let
your physical or financial resources follow your heart’s desire and eagerness to
help.
My
sister, Joy, a name that she truly lived into, led a life of generosity in
heart but also in resources. She gave of
herself from the core of who she was. Her
smile and infectious laugh would light up a room, an event, an occasion. When you were in her company, she always made
you feel like you were the center of her world, the most important person in
her life. But it was never just skin
deep or for the moment, it was heart deep and genuine. She would always follow up with someone if she
heard about a person’s worry or concern, illness or struggle. And she followed through financially, too,
helping many organizations with her resources. One of my sister’s passions was bicycle riding
and she found a way to turn that into a way to help charities. When she was healthy, she rode every day that
she could for charity, logging thousands of miles to help organizations in need.
What
is truly fascinating about this, is that I never fully knew the extent of her gracious
and generous heart that she gave to the world.
What I learned about my sister was that she was humble in spirit about
it all. She never expected earthly accolades
for all that she did. Partially because I
think she already knew that her reward was waiting for her in heaven. However, I do want to mention that we devalue
or overlook the gifts of so many people because of their gender, race, disability,
age, orientation, or heritage or for so many other reasons.
The
point of today’s lesson about my sister and Paul’s letter to the Corinthian
Church is that I urge you to look around and see the gifts that others offer the
world. How they have let their passions
become a catalyst for good work to be done in helping others. The bounty of gifts they bring to the table,
the resources they offer in spades to the needs around them. The world is rich with generous, creative,
talented and awesome people like my sister and let them be your model for
living a life full of heart and soul, but also full of giving as well, for they
have indeed done what Paul urged the people of Corinth to do, “They have finished
what they had begun.”
Offertory
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
Gracious God, we thank You for
our present abundance and for the generosity You have bestowed upon us. Keep us faithful in caring for one another
with the blessings You offer us on a daily basis. We thank You for the assurance of Your
love. May all these gifts be a blessing
to those in need. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – How Great Thou Art
Benediction
Christ’s touch has healed
you. God’s love has restored you. God’s generosity continues to be a blessing
to you. Go in peace to share the joy of
God’s love. AMEN.
Postlude
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