Worship
Service for July 18, 2021
Prelude
Announcements:
·
Please feel free to join us for in person
worship at Olivet (West Elizabeth, PA) at 9:45am or at Bethesda (Elizabeth, PA)
at 11:15am. After the worship service is over at Bethesda, you can click here (when this is highlighted) for a YouTube link to the recorded service.
·
Food Bank Distribution at Olivet is scheduled
for July 20th from 1:00-2:30pm
·
Joint Session Meeting – in-person and Zoomed
for those who prefer July 20 at 7:00pm
Sounding of the Hour (at Bethesda only)
Call to Worship
L: Come, out of your busy lives to a quiet
time and place.
P: Our souls thirst for some peace and quiet.
L: Come, and rest in the Lord who will
restore your souls.
P: Our lives need moments of rest.
L: Come and find the quiet center here in
worship. Come, be at peace.
P: Praise God who offers us a resting place.
Opening Hymn – Come Christians, Join to Sing
Prayer of Confession
Patient God,
we wait all year for the summer months when we can rest and relax. Our schedules change from the demanding
weekly living, to times which are supposed to be devoted to leisure. But we have redefined leisure to mean a
flurry of new activities. We need some
time to rest, to sit quietly and listen to the beautiful sounds of the
world. Forgive us when we are determined
to crowd every moment of our lives with activity. Help us find a quiet center with You where we
can just rest and not try to get everything done as though life was some sort
of contest. Give us peace for a little
while. Refresh our spirits and our souls
so that we can truly serve You, not out of exhaustion but out of
enthusiasm. Be with us this day, for we
ask these things in Jesus’ name. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: God’s love awaits you. It has been lavished upon you as a gentle
rain, refreshing our souls, opening our hearts, healing our wounds. Rest in God’s eternal love.
P: We will find our rest in God’s love for us
and find our renewal. 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
How we struggle, O God,
with when we should act and when we should simply be still and listen. Each day we are tempted to over-schedule,
overwork, and overdo, even as we long for more intimacy with you. Remind us that in our prayer and study we are
also doing your will, and that resting in your presence is both a gift and a
privilege. Help us to look for and find
you in the faces of others, the laughter of children, the glory of a warm day,
the smell of freshly cut hay, and the taste of summer fruit. As we are renewed in your presence, may we
become ambassadors for your good news, helping to show others that all of life
is not just about work, but also about rest and renewal in you.
There is evil at work in us, O God; evil to destroy, to disregard, and
to hate. Help us overcome our hatred
with love. Help us overcome violence
with peace.
We pray for the hungry, the poor, the lonely, and the oppressed. Even as we work to help improve the
conditions of others, may they also find solace in a sense of your presence,
knowing that they are never alone. We
also pray, O God, for those who are ill and facing surgeries, doctor visits, or
medical conditions that frighten them or inhibit their regular routines.
We especially pray today for…..
In this quiet place, O God, hear the beating of our hearts and the
stirrings of our spirits as we lift up our own burdens and worries to you…
Knowing that you hear us, Lord, we pray in confidence and boldness
together say…
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 – Christ is Made the Sure Foundation
Scripture Reading(s):
OT – Psalm 89
NT – Ephesians 2:11-22
Sermon –
One in
Christ
(based on
Ephesians 2:11-22)
We’ll be reading through much of
Ephesians over the next month or so and before we go a lot further, we should
talk a little bit about the church in Ephesus.
Ephesus was the most important city in the Roman province of Asia, on
the west coast of what is now Turkey.
Ephesus was situated at the mouth of the Cayster River which emptied
into the Mediterranean Sea. A main road
went from the sea harbor through the town center which brought a great amount
of commerce and people from all over the Mediterranean/Europe/and Asia Minor
into Ephesus. Unfortunately, due to the
constant deposit of silt at the head of the river, the town of Ephesus is no
longer inhabited as the sea is now over 6 miles away from where Ephesus was. But during its prominence Ephesus numbered
about 350,000 citizens and the great theater in town had a capacity of 25,000
people.
What is most interesting about this
letter to the Ephesian Church by Paul, is that unlike most of his other letters
Paul spends a great amount of time dealing some significant conflict or
resolving some theological debate among the faithful. But, in this letter, Paul gets a chance to
simply talk more about our faith in Christ as it relates to our mission and
ministry in the world. Although there
was a significant number of Jews in Ephesus, as such a prominent city, the
citizens of Ephesus came from all different kinds of religious and pagan
backgrounds. In the city center, there
was were all kinds of statues and temples to a plethora of gods and goddesses.
In the verses that we read this
morning from chapter 2, Paul wants to emphasize that regardless of our previous
backgrounds, we are now all one in Christ.
Back in the days of Paul and Christ, there were three major areas that
separated people – one from another. The
first one was about what nationality and religion you were. For example, an Israeli Jew could not
associate with a Thessalonian Greek which is just another word for speaking of
Gentile or heathen in the eyes of a devout follower of Yahweh. The second area of great divide were those
who were free and those who were slaves.
In other words – economics – the rich versus the poor. And the third area of separation was between
male and female. There were rights and
privileges for men and very little for women.
Roughly 2000 years or more has
separated the time when we were under the law and when faith came in the bodily
form of Jesus Christ, supposedly abolishing these separations that were so
prevalent in Christ’s day, that Paul speaks about in this passage.
“So then, remember that at one time
you Gentiles by birth, remember that you were at that time without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far
off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made
both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility
between us.” Ephesians 2:11-14
How have we done with all that?
Are we better at including those who
are of different nationality and faiths, different colors? Are we any better at seeing everyone as equal
when it comes to economics? Have we
completely abolished the lines of privilege and rights between men and women?
Perhaps that is why this letter to
the Ephesians and this passage in particular are part of our Bible – for
continued teaching. To remind us that we
still see one another differently and still have some work to do in seeing one
another through faith in Christ and through the eyes of God versus a
disciplinarian or the law who only saw a clear separation of all things, set
before the society as a way to keep order.
Because when you abolish the rules and blur the lines between things
that were always separated, you create a murky mess.
You know, we all have our circles of
inclusion, some are more exclusive than others.
Here’s one example. It comes from
the Broadway musical, Shenandoah. A
rugged mountaineer and his wife and their son and daughter-in-law sit down to
eat in their small Appalachian home. The
father returns thanks: “God, bless me and my wife, John and his wife, us four,
no more. Amen.” That’s a pretty small circle.
And at the other end of the
spectrum, there’s the little children’s song we all probably know very well,
having sung it in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School. Most of you can probably even do hand motions
that go with it. I am the church, you
are the church, we are the church together; All who follow Jesus, all around
the world, yes, we’re the church together.
How wide is our circle? That’s really the question here today.
About 25 years ago, I visited the
headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. In the lobby there was a walk-through display
of life-size photographs depicting Christians all over the world. Picture this:
• A tribal church in central Africa
where scantily clad villagers gathered more or less informally under a
makeshift arbor.
• An Eastern Orthodox congregation
where priests dressed in elegant robes and caps processed through a magnificent
cathedral.
• Close-ups of Armenian Christians,
Coptic Christians, Protestants and Roman Catholics.
• Men and women, boys and girls, of
every conceivable nationality, race and station in life caught by the camera in
the process of praise, prayer and outreach to others in the name of Jesus
Christ.
As I walked through the display, I
tried to absorb the scope of it all. As
I did, Paul’s words echoed in my mind from his letter to the Galatians:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are
all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)
Jesus once told his disciples, “The
kingdom of God is like a net thrown into the sea that gathers in fish of every
kind.” (Matthew 13:47)
The same could be said of the Church
that bears his name. We are a people of
every race and nation, language and custom; yet, we worship the same God,
follow the same Lord and are led by the same Spirit of grace, forgiveness and
love.
How wide is our circle?
I’ve told this story before and I’m
using it again, because I like it.
There’s a story about an older gentleman, a curmudgeon by well-earned
reputation, who stood up in church one Sunday.
Pastor, he said, “I don’t like eggs.
I don’t care too much for milk.
And I’ve never liked broccoli since I was a young boy.” Now, the parishioners all looked at one
another, squirming in their seats, wondering where this was going to go. The pastor looked a bit concerned that the
old man might start taking this list of things he didn’t like a little more
personal and was about to interrupt the man.
But the old curmudgeon was on a roll and he kept on going. “I don’t like cheese. And ham is one of my least favorite
meats. Separately, you can keep all of
those – I’m not eating them. I’ll just
have my steak and potatoes, thank you very much. But, my wife here, mixes all those
ingredients together, the stuff I don’t like; eggs, milk, broccoli, cheese and
ham and makes one awesome quiche. I like
it. I like it a lot. Now, there are some of you here today that I
didn’t particularly like when you first came.
But mixed together with the rest of the people, who I didn’t
particularly like either – we make an awesome team. I like it.
I like it a lot.”
Whether we mean to or not, we draw
circles of who’s in and who’s out. If we
all profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, why is there so much division in
the church? Ideally, the Church of Jesus
Christ includes Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Protestants, rich and poor,
English speaking and not; conservative and liberal, traditional and
contemporary, congregational and connectional, pastoral and prophetic. Yes, we have our particular beliefs and
peculiar ways of doing things. That’s
only natural. It speaks of our different
temperaments and personal tastes – like whether you prefer to put on your
Sunday best or come to church in blue jeans and sandals. But our differences should not divide
us. Paul tells us that we are now One in
Christ.
So far, I’ve only spoken about those
who profess Jesus as Lord. But to be
clear, we should also not be at war with Jews, Muslims and other religions of
the world. We are should instead be at
war with the forces of evil that threaten to exploit us and divide us and,
ultimately, destroy us. If you’re
willing to step out of your comfort zone and look beyond your own circle, you
may be able to see a much bigger circle that God intends for all of creation
and do your part to make that circle grow larger.
A passage from Revelation is how
John described this big circle God intends:
“After this I looked, and there was
a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes
and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud
voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and
to the Lamb!’ (Revelation 7:9-10)
Thanks be to God for including us
all in that great big circle!
AMEN.
Offertory
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
Receive these gifts, O God,
and accept, we pray, the offerings of our lives. You have given us so much in Christ. Now we return to you a portion of those gifts
to be used to further your kingdom. AMEN.
Closing Hymn – O Love that Will Not Let Me Go
Benediction
You are God’s beloved people,
refreshed, restored, forgiven and healed.
Go now into this world confident in the gifts God has given you. Go to serve God’s people, bringing words of
peace and hope to all whom you meet. AMEN.
Postlude
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