Today's Worship Service for Sunday, September 26, 2021

 

Worship Service for September 26, 2021

There will not be a video for today's service due to some technical difficulties we've been experiencing.  Hopefully, next Sunday those issues will be fixed and will include the worship video.

Prelude

Announcements: 

          After worship there will be a congregational meeting held in the sanctuary.

          Next Sunday is World Communion Sunday and we will celebrate it the same way we’ve been celebrating communion for a while now.  You’ll pick up the small containers of bread and juice as you enter the sanctuary in preparation for the time of communion during the service.

Call to Worship

L:      Come, all who are weary and burdened with worry, struggle, heartache, pain, and sadness.  It is here that you will find rest.

P:      We come, bringing our joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams to God.

L:      Come, all who are ill, have disease in their bodies, are weak of heart, or sorrowful of spirit.

P:      We come, bringing our joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams to God.

L:      Come, now is the time to give to God all the brokenness you have experienced.

P:      Healing and Restoring God, touch our lives and bring us to wholeness with You.

 

Opening Hymn – Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven #478 in the Presbyterian Hymnal

Prayer of Confession

          Merciful and Gracious God, we have often strayed from Your ways.  We have broken our covenant with You and have hurt ourselves, those we love and have betrayed Your trust in us.  With pain too deep for words, with emptiness and loneliness too deep for vision, we come before You, O God, to ask for forgiveness.  We lay our hearts open before You as we silently cry our anguish.  We wish to be redeemed to health and wholeness in You.  Forgive our hurtful ways, our abandonment of those who need our compassionate care.  Forgive us our resistance to rebuke, repentance, and redemption.  We give thanks for the grace You offer and the mercy You bestow upon us.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      The Lord will raise us up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore, with confession in our hearts and on our lips, we pray for ourselves and for one another so that we might be healed.

P:      The Lord forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases.  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

 

Choral Anthem:  We Have Come to Join in Worship

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer

You have called each of us, gracious God, into relationship with you.  As we grow and change, your words continue to challenge us, to confront us, to judge us, to love us.  Thank you for the gift of your Holy Word to us in our lives.

You have called each of us in your Word-Made-Flesh self, who was willing to bear the reproach of those in authority in order to serve the least, the last, and the lost.  He spoke your healing, redeeming, gracious words into reality.  Thank you for that gift of Your Word in our lives.

You continue to call to us in the needs of those around us; and so we offer our prayers for all who are in any way burdened, disillusioned, or suffering.  Hear our prayers of concern for the world, for the establishment of peace, for the ease of suffering and pain from drought, disease, political strife and conflict.  Reach out now to our own country and its leaders.  Allow them to be wise in decision making and compassionate to those in need.

Lord, hear our prayers for those near at home and their relationship with you.  Allow them to feel your presence and know your amazing grace.  We lift up in prayer to you this day….

 

Also hear these prayers, those quiet prayers of the heart, as we pray to you in silence….

 

Most Holy God, in responding to your call in our lives, we stand now and ever, under your mercy praying what your Son taught to us 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 –  There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy #298 in the Presbyterian Hymnal

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Psalm 124

NT – Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22

Sermon – One Life

 

          Today’s sermon is a short one because we have a congregational meeting to attend to at the end of today’s worship service.  And that meeting is extremely important as it is part of the work of the church. 

One of today’s scripture readings was from the book of Esther.  This book tells the story of when Esther, a young foreign Jewish girl in the court of King Ahasuerus, who ruled over a vast kingdom from India to Ethiopia, somehow finds herself as Queen, having won a beauty contest.  She does not know or understand what purpose her life has, aside from being a pretty face that the King found pleasing.  However, over the course of time in history, she found her purpose and using her position and influence manages to save her entire people from being annihilated in the region. 

          The bible is full of stories of Biblical characters such as these that we’ve grown to know and love so well.  We tell the story of Adam and Eve, the story of their sons, Cain and Abel, the ongoing history of God’s chosen people through Abraham and Sarah, their son Isaac and wife Rebekah, their son Jacob and his two wives Leah and Rachel, and then the twelve sons of Jacob who will one day make up the twelve tribes of Israel, the extraordinary tale of his one son Joseph, and then suddenly the Biblical account goes quiet while the Israelites grow prosperous in the land of Egypt, but then find themselves slaves, as a people to the Pharoah and a few hundred years later we finally hear something new with the epic story of Moses and his wife Zipporah, the story of the widow Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth who marries Boaz, who then became the ancestor to King David, and the sorrowful tale of Job.  Not to mention all the rest of the characters we encounter in the Old and New Testaments.

          We remember their stories.  Some, like Ruth, we know only snippets of their lives as they impacted the greater story.  Some, like Moses, we know from birth to death and the impact their entire lives had on the greater story.

          Their stories were chosen not because they were amazing individuals, but because they did something that contributed to the story – the larger story of how God works in the world.  There isn’t just one life that makes or breaks the story of the Bible, it is the contribution of all of their lives that make up the extraordinary accounts we have written down for us.  Their lives made a difference because they were used by God and did something that changed the course of history. 

          The great truth taught by the history of Esther and all the rest of the characters within the Biblical record is that God has a plan for your life, too.  When Esther was told by Mordecai, “perhaps this is why you have come to such a time as this,” she realized her own fate and it transformed her life from being just a beauty queen to being a woman who had a purpose.

          God has a purpose for your life, also.  Just one life; yours.  But just imagine of all that God could do through you once you realize and accept the purpose of your own life.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN.

 

Offertory -

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

We come before you, all-giving God, rich with the gifts you have given to us, rich with the love you have lavished on us, rich with the blessings your Son has brought to us.  The gifts we offer you here speak not only of our gratitude for your love, but also of our commitment to seek anew and continuously to grow in our discipleship.  Bless these gifts, and us as givers, to the work for which you have called us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  AMEN

Closing Hymn – Lord, Make Us More Holy  #536 in the Presbyterian Hymnal

Benediction

          Friends, go from this place to reap the harvest of God’s love.  Go from this place to continue to sow seeds of justice, peace, mercy, and love.  Go from this place to nourish and to be nourished, knowing that God is always present and part of our lives.  AMEN.

Postlude

 

Today's Worship Service for Sunday, September 19, 2021

 

Worship Service for September 19, 2021

 

Click here (when highlighted) for the YouTube link for the recorded service.

 

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.

·        We will have a joint service together on Sept 19 at Olivet at 9:45am followed by a provided breakfast – Donuts, Bagels, Cream Cheese and Fruit.

·        Both Congregations will have a Congregational Meeting following their worship services on Sept 26.

 

Call to Worship

L:      Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”

P:      But we rejoice, for our wisdom flows from Jesus who strengthens us and judges us faithful.

L:      God looks in vain to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.

P:      But we rejoice, for the lives of the faithful overflow with mercy and grace, and the love of Christ himself.

L:      Let us worship God who has graciously gifted us with that love.

P:      To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever.  AMEN.

 

Opening Hymn – Open My Eyes That I May See

Prayer of Confession

          Merciful God, Your joy reflects a love so broad that it enfolds all people.  A love that despairs when people, for whatever reason, lose their way in life and feel lost and rejected.  Forgive us when we contribute to that despair by our lack of persistence to do as Jesus did – to seek out and save the lost.  When we hold on to judgmental attitudes and neglect people we believe do not measure up to our standards of righteousness – those who have lost faith are not found.  When we fail in our commitment to support those in our society weakened by poverty and illness – those who have lost a sense of worth are not found.  When we fail to welcome or reach out to the stranger, the uprooted, the refugee – those who have lost family and friends, home and even country, they are not found.  We acknowledge, most merciful God, the times when Your mercy has sought us out in our lost-ness and picking us up, has held us tenderly and rejoiced when we have been healed.  Strengthen us to do as Jesus did – to seek out and save those who are lost and to love them as unconditionally as He did.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      The mercy and grace of God overflows in Jesus Christ, “who came into this world to save sinners” and so we rejoice that in Jesus Christ we are found, we are forgiven, and we are loved.

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

Gracious and loving God, our souls sing as we contemplate your awesome beauty, your matchless grace, your all-encompassing mercy, your unparalleled love.  We thank you for being who you are to us, a God who relates to us even when we are undeserving and whose bond with us is so strong that even our rebellion does not create an irreparable breach between us.  Like the apostle Paul, we too are convinced that nothing can separate us from you through faith in Jesus Christ – not life or death, not angels or principalities, not earthly powers.  Nothing in the heavens, nothing on earth, nothing in the future, nothing in our past, nothing at all can separate us from the love you have for us in Christ.  Your Son is truly our Savior.  What a blessing beyond words this is. 

He reaches out to us at all times in life.  Sometimes we hear his call clearly and strongly, reaching out our own hand and heart to take his.  Sometimes that call is muffled by the world around us, by circumstances that seem hopeless and beyond repair.  Even then, as silent as the call might be, our spirits feel it’s tug and we are eventually found.

We draw near to you, O God, Source of all understanding, and ask you to draw near to us.  Teach us your wisdom from above, that we may bear good fruit in our lives.  Root us beside the streams of your wisdom, that the green leaves of our goodness, fed by Your insight, may not wither.  We ask for Your wisdom, O God, not the earthly wisdom that we hear and see every day.  Let Your understanding flow through our lives like a stream, so that we may bear the good fruits of welcome and compassion.  Teach us that our true dignity is found in honoring You by serving others.  Thank you Lord for never abandoning us, even when you seem very far away and distant.  We also gives thanks for your love and care, as we pray for our own loved ones.  Continue to reach out to those who are alone, who feel abandoned right now.  Comfort those who are in distress and hurting.  Surround those who are ill with your compassion, understanding, strength, and healing.  We especially pray for….

 

In this time of silence we ask that you look deep within our hearts, minds, and souls; strengthen us Lord, for our daily living.  Give us comfort in the areas of our lives that need tender care and peace in the areas that are in turmoil…

 

We pray these things because Jesus is Lord and he taught us to 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 –  Come, Thou Almighty King

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Psalm 1

NT – James 3:13-4:3,7-8a

Sermon –

Draw Near to God

In order to know God, you will need to put forth some effort.  But if you come to love God, it won't seem like any effort at all.  For example, for those of you who are married, when you met your spouse, did it seem like an effort to get to know him or her?  Or when you became friends with someone you really liked and found out that you had a lot in common, did it seem like an effort to get to know that person?  Probably not, your new found relationship flowed easily.  It was comforting to get to know them.  Regarding love Buddhists say, “If you meet somebody and your heart pounds, your hands shake, your knees go weak…that’s not the one.   When you meet your soulmate, you’ll feel calm.  No anxiety.  No agitation.”  I think this is true of falling in love with God, as well.  It’s not all emotional.  It’s the combination of head and heart.  Our relationship with God makes us calm with no anxiety, no agitation.  But when we fall in love with God, we want to know everything about God.   We want to get to know God better, to understand, to honor and cherish.  Of course, we could live a million lifetimes and there would still be more to learn about God.

If you look back at the Old Testament, we find one particular character who really knew nothing about God until God made Himself known.  And that was Moses.  Having grown up in the household of the Egyptian Pharoah, having learned the spiritual ways of the Egyptians, and worshipped the multiple gods of sun, moon, harvest, water, he knew very little of the Hebrew God.  And yet, when God revealed Himself to Moses, Moses became filled with purpose and insight, a hunger for knowing and understanding God.  Moses realized that nothing else in the world could compare to the experience of being with God.  Moses had a passion for His presence.  Moses had lost his appetite for other people and other things, for wealth and fame.  In drawing near to God, he found what it was that he’d been looking for all along.  And as Moses drew nearer to God, God drew nearer to him.

However, it was James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote our New Testament reading this morning to the believers in Jerusalem, "Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!" (James 4:8).  If we draw near to God, God will reciprocate and draw near to us.  Drawing near to God is spending time with God, worshiping God, praying and talking to God, and living more and more into God’s expectations for us and our lives.

James then gives us the formula for drawing near.  If you've committed sin – if you’ve wronged another person or done something wrong in the eyes of God, confess it, get rid of it, and put it behind you.  In other words, don’t let those wrongs go for too long because they will either festering and become more and more irreconcilable or they become a person’s habit and much harder to break.  Next, ask God to examine your heart, your motives, and the things that make you do what you do.  Bring all that you’ve done to the Lord and ask for a clean heart.  May our actions be manifestations of a clean heart and conscience.  In last week’s lectionary reading we read Psalm 19 and in the final verse of this prayer to the Lord, the psalmist pleads, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  It is only through God that we find the centering of our hearts, for our words to others and our actions in all that we do to be clean and pure.

          Notice that James finishes verse 8 with this instruction.  "Purify your hearts, double-minded people."  What does he mean by "double-minded"?  A person who is double-minded is drawn in two completely different directions.  That person’s loyalty is divided and they vacillate between knowing what is right and bad behavior or wrongful thinking.  A double-minded person is unstable in all their ways and their spiritual walk is inconsistent because they try to serve God as well as their own interests at the same time.  I hope that we've all learned that this kind of living never works.  Scriptures tell us over and over again in various ways that we cannot serve two masters.

God sent Christ into the world, in order that we might know the nature of God more fully.  At Christmas we often focus on Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, God in the flesh, God incarnate.  But we should really keep that in mind all year as we read about Christ’s activity in the world while he was here and the work of the Holy Spirit after he has gone.  God is with us this very day, in this very room – at work, at play, at home, at school.  Through Christ, God opened up a new and living way to draw near to Him.  Jesus opened up a permanent and perpetual access to God by living here on earth, sharing his teachings with us, and showing us how to reconnect with God.  But the knowledge of God or Jesus Christ and what God has done for us is not the same as being in relationship with God.

Paul is probably one of our best examples of knowing all about Christ, but not fully grasping the meaning of God incarnate, God made flesh, God dwelling with us until Paul had his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.  Paul writes in Philippians, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.  I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” 

Paul isn’t talking about book knowledge, or an intellectual discourse about Christ, but rather about a relationship.  This isn't knowing about the facts and figures of Jesus' life.  Paul is pouring out his heart about drawing near to God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul is talking about hungering for God's presence.  Like Moses, he wants to know the Lord in a personal and experiential way.  He wants to draw near to God in order to experience that personal fellowship with Jesus in order for it to be more intimate, beyond what he had known up to that moment.

To really know Jesus on a relationship level and to understand Christ’s nature, to fully grasp the wonder and awesomeness of God, will require us to draw near to God.  We draw near by listening to God’s Word, following the leading of God’s Holy Spirit, responding positively to God’s dealings with us when it comes to spiritual matters, as well as carrying on the cause of God’s great gospel.  In the words of the prophet Micah, drawing near to God requires us to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

If we want to fully comprehend the power of Christ’s resurrection, then we must experience the renewal of our own lives by drawing nearer to God in these ways.  It is necessary for us to be free of the bondage that held us captive to a double-minded spirit, to confess our sins before they fester, to cleanse of our hearts, and to become more in tune with God’s desires.  It is necessary for us to bring before the Lord, both our words and our deeds, so that they may be found acceptable.  And like Moses and Paul, like James and the prophet Micah, like the Psalmist and all the countless characters laid out for us in the Scriptures, we should have a hunger for God, a desire to be in relationship with Him.  And the closer we draw near to God, the more God draws nearer to us.

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

Offertory - Ashley

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

You, O Lord, are the generous one, full of mercy and goodness for Your creation.  Send Your wisdom with these gifts, that they may reach those who need Your love and welcome.  Bring about a harvest of goodness through these gifts sown in peace.  Amen

 

Closing Hymn – How Firm a Foundation

Benediction

  Go in confidence and peace, joyfully serving the Lord who walks with you.  Bring hope to the hopeless, joy to those who sorrow, peace to the afflicted.  Be true witnesses to the love of God through Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Postlude

 

Worship Service for Sunday, September 12, 2021

 

Worship Service for September 12, 2021

 

Click here (when highlighted) for the YouTube link for the recorded service. 

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.

·        We will have a joint service together today, Sept 12 at Bethesda at 11:15am followed by a provided luncheon – Potato Salad, Green Salad and various hoagies from DeCarlo’s.

·        We will have another joint service together on Sept 19 at Olivet followed by a provided breakfast – Fruit, Donuts, Bagels and Cream Cheese.

·        Both Congregations will have a Congregational Meeting following their worship services on Sept 26.

 

Sounding of the Hour (at Bethesda only)

Call to Worship

L:      Wisdom cries out in the streets.

P:      We hear and struggle to understand.

L:      Come and listen to the words of life and love.

P:      We hear and proclaim our faith in the one who brings life.

L:      Let us worship the God of life and wisdom whose words guide our life on the right paths.

 

Opening Hymn – All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Prayer of Confession

          Wisdom cries in the streets, but we do not listen or understand.  The words of Your law are spoken, but we rarely pay heed or obey.  You call us to declare who Jesus is for us, but we can’t seem to get the right words out.  Our tongues engage before our brains do.  We want so much to be a people who are faithful to Your word and led by Your guidance, but we are so easily distracted by the cacophony of words and sounds.  Forgive us when we are quick to speak and slow to understand.  Forgive us when we do not hear Your wisdom in all the ways You speak to us.  Forgive us when we do not even try to truly understand when it means to be Your disciples.  Lead us back to the path of wisdom and life, that we may truly live.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Those who listen to the words of wisdom will be secure and live in ease.  Know that our God never ceases to reach out in love and forgiveness, guiding us on the path of life and righteousness, calling us to claim our true identity as disciples.

P:      By grace we have been saved through faith.  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

 

Choral Anthem – “Shine, Jesus, Shine”

Pastoral Prayer

With our hearts, minds, and souls we praise you, O Lord, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  How grateful we are that you love us with a love that will not let us go even though we have, by design and default, resisted you.  What is it about us that causes such resistance?  We know, O God, even as we ask, that it is the rebellious spirit within us.  Help us.  Don’t leave us to the consequences of our own foolishness. 

On this particular morning, Lord, we are mindful of the horrific attack on our own soil that occurred 20 years ago.  We mourned the loss of life, we wondered what had happened in the world that could cause such hatred.  But, while we are intent on mourning our own losses, vowing to never forget, we do often forget about the loss of life that occurs every day in other lands, that bombings and warfare have become a way of life for many other peoples.  So, Lord, we pray for peace.  We pray for your hand to stretch out over our land and across the globe to bring about peace with one another.  Show us the way, show us how to cross the line, to cross the divide, to cross the chasm that keeps human beings from living in harmony with one another.

As we pray for the world, we also pray for one another.  Hear our prayers this day as we pray for our loved ones and friends.  We lift up to you….

 

And in this time of silence listen to the beatings and groanings of our heart’s desire and replenish us, O Lord.

 

We pray these things now in his precious name, who taught us to pray boldly together…

 

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 –  Take My Life and Let it Be Consecrated

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Psalm 19

NT – Mark 8:27-38

Sermon –

Jump

(based on Mark 8:27-38)

How many of you are familiar with comedian Yakov Smirnoff?  When he first came to the United States from Russia he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores?  In one of his comedy routines, he says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk -- you just add water, and you get milk.  Then I saw powdered orange juice -- you just add water, and you get orange juice.  And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to myself, What a country!"

Smirnoff was, of course, joking but we make these assumptions about Christian Transformation, too—that people change instantly at the moment of salvation.  Different traditions call it different things, transformation, repentance, a Damascus Road experience, renewal or sanctification of the believer.  But whatever you call it, most traditions expect some quick change from the “former” life.  According to this belief, when someone gives his or her life to Christ, there is an immediate, substantive, in-depth, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character.  Just like in Smirnoff’s comic routine, we go to church as if we are going to the grocery store and there it is on the shelf; Powdered Christian.  Just add water and disciples are born.  But that’s not exactly how it works, does it?

Unfortunately, there is no such powder and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly born.  They are slowly raised through many trials, sufferings, and temptations, through victories and triumphs, through Bible Study and Prayer, through fellowship, and encouragement.  But how many of us right now actually participate in those things on a regular basis?  How many of us actually engage in dialogue and serious questions about our faith, about what we believe and how that converges or doesn’t with the world we live in?  True life change only begins at the moment we start questioning things, and it takes more than just time.  It’s about training, it’s about trying, it’s about suffering and rejoicing, it’s about studying alone and with a group of people that you can dialogue with, and yes, it’s even about dying.

What do you think of or feel when that last part is included?  Well, just like us, Peter did not want to hear such things either as Jesus spoke plainly to his disciples and began talking of death.  Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him.  Why?  Because Peter believed that the kingdom of God could be obtained instantly by force.  Peter had a worldly view of the Kingdom and Jesus was speaking about something else.

Okay, now for a moment I would like you to listen to this story with new ears and see Jesus through the eyes of Peter and the rest of the disciples.  For just a moment I want you to get rid of all your notions about who Jesus is.  Take away from your mind that Jesus was the Son of God.  Strip from your memory that he died on the Cross and rose from the dead.  Forget that Jesus ever said love your enemies or love your neighbor.

Now I want you to think of Jesus only as a military leader like Colin Powell or Douglas McArthur.  Imagine that your country has been invaded and has been ruled by godless men for generations.  Sense, now, that various factions have tried to hold uprisings but have failed.  The tension though is now mounting and you believe that the time has come for a serious battle.  You are about to conduct a revolution.  That was the mindset of the people of Christ’s day; a political revolutionary mindset, with the trappings of a religious flavor to it.  You and this band of radical ruffians are going to attempt to overthrow this government by a sudden violent strike.  The odds, of course, are stacked against you but you have a very strong belief that God is on your side despite the overwhelming odds.

Now you’re thinking like Peter and all the rest of the disciples.  Jesus comes before his disciples and lays out his military strategy.  Jesus says.  In essence, “We are going to march into Jerusalem and I, your General, will suffer many things.  We are not going to get any help from our Jewish brothers the Elders.  Even the Chief Priest and the Sadducees will not join us.  Our government the Sanhedrin is corrupt and can be of no help to us.  We are going it alone and I will die in this battle.”

On this day Jesus spoke plainly to his disciples about the events soon to transpire and even though it was plain language it was not plain enough.  Peter was not able to shake his understanding of Jesus as his General so he pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him.  He says, “Sir, this is not a very good military strategy.  You are not going to die, don’t say that.  It’s not good for morale.  It’s not good for the troops to hear you say such things.  We are counting on you to see us through to victory.  We are going to be there with you and we will fight to the end and we will throw these godless Romans out of Israel, you will ascend to the throne in place of Herod, and we will be at your right and left hand as the new leaders of Palestine.”

It is fascinating to note that just before Jesus rebukes Peter he turns and looks at his disciples.  It’s as if Jesus is putting two and two together and realizes the disciples all feel the very same way, Peter is just their spokesman.  I think it is a perilous moment in the life of Christ.  He must dispel this error from their minds and teach them the meaning of his mission.  So, he rejects Peter outright calling him a tool of Satan and says, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but on human things.”

To address the confusion Jesus pulls his disciples together and brings them before a crowd.  And in front of the crowd he corrects the disciples’ aspirations for privilege, rank, and power and he gives them this simple little directive: “You must take up your cross and follow me.”  

We’ve all heard that before.  We’ve all heard about taking up our crosses and bearing such burdens.  We all know that Jesus wanted us to identify with what he was about to do.  To understand the depth of his sacrifice and the depth of the sacrifice as Christians we all must make.  That was Jesus’ metaphor. 

However, this morning, I would like to offer you a new one, because I don’t think we get it.  I think we have a tendency to act as if our Christianity is some sort of club, but nothing more.  That the cross has become just a symbol of that club.  So, I have a new image in mind for us.  Not one to take the place of the cross, but rather an image to lay in your mind beside it.  An additional metaphor that might make more sense to us today.

Rob Bell, in his book Velvet Elvis tells this story, “Several years ago my parents and in-laws gave our boys a trampoline.  A fifteen-footer with netting around the outside so kids don’t end up headfirst in the flowers.  Since then, my boys and I have logged more hours on that trampoline than I could begin to count.  When we first got it, my older son, who was five at the time, discovered that if he timed his bounce with mine, he could launch higher than if he was jumping on his own.  I remember the first time he called my wife, Kristen, out into the backyard to watch him jump off of my bounce.  Now mind you, up until this point he was maybe getting a foot higher because of his new technique.  But this one particular time, when my wife was watching for the first time, something freakish happened in the space-time continuum.  When he jumped, there was this perfect convergence of his weight and my weight and his jump and my jump, and I’m sure barometric pressure and air temperature had something to do with it too, because he went really high.  I don’t mean a few feet off the mat.  I mean he went over my head.  Forty pounds of boy, clawing the air like a cat thrown from a second-story window, and a man making eye contact with his wife and thinking, This Is Not Good.  She told us she didn’t think our new trick was very safe and we should be careful.  Which we were.  Until she went inside the house.”

He goes on to say, that it is on this trampoline that God begins to make more sense to him.

So, in addition to the image of the cross, I give you the image of the trampoline.  When we jump on a trampoline, we see the need for springs.  The springs help us make sense of the deeper realities of our faith.  But it’s only in jumping that we get to test those springs, see how it works, understand how deep, how high we can jump.

So, in order to become a follower of Christ, we need to learn how to jump.  And the more we jump, the more we understand the deep richness of the mystery of God.  The more we jump, the more we glimpse the truth of what God has to offer us.  The more we jump, the more we flex and stretch, the more we see our own roles in this journey of faith.  We’ve become to comfortable, not jumping.   We’ve become too comfortable just bouncing along allowing the outside world to dictate to us how we should respond.

If you just want a club, you’ve got one.  You come to church on Sunday mornings, when we have our meetings at 9:45 or 11:15 am.  The doors are open, the leader is standing up in front.  We announce that the yearly programs have started running, as usual, just like we did them last year or the year before, thanks to a couple of dedicated volunteers.  And at the end of the meeting, we say AMEN; I agree with that, and we all go home, until the next time we gather.

Unfortunately, the cross has become somewhat meaningless; a symbol of our meeting place and time.  A symbol of our group, but not a whole lot more. 

This, right here, why we gather, isn’t a club. 

This is about our spiritual journeys, the understanding of why Christ was called Messiah by Peter, why he and the rest of the disciples still didn’t quite get it, and why we need to constantly figure it out for ourselves.  Where are you on that journey?

There is no Christian powder that makes instant Christians.  Maybe it’s more like French cooking that requires a lot of steps and meticulous attention to the details.  Whatever it is that makes you claim Christ as Messiah like Peter did, I want you to learn how to jump.  I think you need to test your faith.  I think you should stretch what, how, why, you believe.  I think you need to take seriously, the claims that Jesus makes, what he teaches, and the parts that we are supposed to play in this journey.  As we begin a new church year, Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  And I’ll add just one more recommendation to go along with that that, “jump.”

AMEN.

Offertory

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

God, we hear and we respond to Your words of wisdom, Your words of call and life.  May these gifts, not only of our money, but of our very selves – our words, our thoughts, our actions – be acceptable to You, and help spread Your words of life and love.  Amen

 

Closing Hymn – I Sing the Mighty Power of God.

Benediction

Go forth with the words of wisdom crying in your ears.  Go forth with the songs of hope singing in your heart.  Know that you are called to be faithful followers of the One who will always be near you, will always guide and encourage you to walk the path of life.  AMEN.

Postlude

 

Worship Service for Sunday, September 5, 2021

 

Worship Service for September 5, 2021

 

Click here (when highlighted) for the YouTube link for the recorded service.

 

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.

·        We will have a joint service together on Sept 12 at Bethesda at 11:15am followed by a provided luncheon – Potato Salad, Pasta Salas, Green Salad and various hoagies from DiCarlo’s.

·        We will have another joint service together on Sept 19 at Olivet followed by a provided breakfast – Fruit, Donuts, Bagels and Cream Cheese.

·        Both Congregations will have a Congregational Meeting following their worship services on Sept 26.

 

Sounding of the Hour (at Bethesda only)

Call to Worship

L:      Lord, we are called here this day to learn of Christ’s healing love.

P:      Help us, O Lord, to learn Your lessons of compassion.

L:      Every day there are many ways in which we can offer help to others.

P:      Help us, O Lord, to be ready to reach out to all in need.

L:      Come, let us worship the One who prepares us for service.

P:      Let us sing our songs of praise to the One who has healed us.  AMEN.

 

Opening Hymn – In This Very Room

Prayer of Confession

          Gracious God, we come before You today knowing that we often fall short of Your call to love one another well.  We allow ourselves to be blinded by wealth and power.  We ignore those around us who suffer injustice, poverty, and rejection.  We tune out the cries of the poor and those on the edges of our communities.  Help us see Your great generosity, hear Your word of mercy, and feel Your abounding love for all who need Your redemptive grace.  Strengthen us to reach out in service to those who are in need.  Make us aware of those outside our own communities that we may see them as Your precious children and serve them in humility and joy.  May we continue to grow in grace as we learn how to serve You in the name of the great Servant, even Jesus Christ.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God.  May we understand the grace and forgiveness bestowed upon us by God, that others may find the Kingdom within us and among us.

P:      We have been forgiven and will strive to forgive others.  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

Lord, You know how great our needs are.  In these difficult times when jobs are threatened, homes are being lost, families are experiencing great stress, come and bring Your healing love to us.  Help us place our trust in You.  Remind us again of how You transform lives, not just with healing, but with a spirit of hope and compassion.  Keep us hopeful.  Teach us not to give up when things are going wrong.  Give us faith that can move mountains.  Give us hearts that are ready to be of service to others in all times and in all places. 

Today, we have lifted up people and situations which concern us and have we have asked for Your hand of healing, remind us that that same healing hand rests on us as well. 

In a time of silence we also lift up our personal prayers of concern.  Lord, hear the prayers of our hearts and spirits now…

 

Enable us to be people of compassion and trust; for we ask these things in Jesus’ Name who taught us to prayer 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 –  Just As I Am

Scripture Reading(s): 

OT – Psalm 125

NT – Mark 7:24-37

Sermon –

Secrets

(based on Mark 7:24-37)

 

          Let’s begin by putting this short, clipped version of the Syrophoenician woman and her insistent plea into a more complete context in order to understand this whole passage in Mark a little bit better.  Back in the end of chapter 6 in Mark, we read that Jesus had gathered a huge crowd, taught them during the day, healed their illnesses and had miraculous fed the thousands gathered with five loaves of bread and two fish.  He then went across the waters to Bethsaida and to the land of Gennesaret, but as soon as he and the disciples had landed a new crowd began to gather as word about him had spread.  He also taught them and healed their illnesses. 

By this time the elders or Pharisees back in Jerusalem had started getting a little upset over Jesus’ popularity and they set out to find out who this Jesus person really was.  So, they came to him in Bethsaida and demanded to know why his disciples ate with unclean hands, as they confronted him on others matters as well.  Jesus returned their objections with his usual candor talking to them in parables.  When he finally left to find some peace and quiet, even his disciples demanded to understand what he had said, for they didn’t understand his teaching either. 

I think by this point Jesus was tired of all the crowds demanding attention and being so needy and then there were the Pharisees who sought to find fault in everything he said and did.  Jesus desired to withdraw from all the excitement, to find a place where no one knew him and to escape for just a little while to bring himself back to center, to take a deep breath, and re-energize.  And so, he left the region entirely and went into the borderlands of Tyre and Sidon.  He had hoped to escape notice here where his reputation was little known and an area that was filled with Gentiles rather than Jews.  And yet, even here among the Gentiles, whispers about him had already spread and a Syrophoenician woman, which eluded to her race being from the Phoenician area of Syria, whose daughter had an evil spirit sought his healing powers.  We learn more details about this encounter between the woman and Jesus in Matthew.  For in Matthew we learn that she attacked Jesus while they were making their way into town and followed him, pouring out her loud petitions, to the annoyance of the disciples.  They thought they were carrying out his wish for privacy and to remain anonymous when they suggest that it would be best to “send her away” with her prayer granted and therefore stop her from crying out after them and raising a crowd.  It’s really only in Matthew that we learn of Jesus ignoring her and his answer to the disciples that his mission remained only for those in Israel.  Mark omits all of that and all we read in Mark is his harsh refusal to the woman and the woman’s answer.

However, whether you read the full account in Matthew or the clipped version of it here in Mark, Jesus’ response is still atypical and startling to hear.  It is very unlike him.  And yet, in spite of that, the woman is persistent.  Perhaps her boldness comes from what she took as meaning in his answer to her.  Because what he said to her was, “Let the children eat first.”  What she heard in that answer, is that if there is a first, then there most assuredly is a second.  The very image of a great house with a banquet table set for all means that the children also sit at the table and that the “little dogs” are in the room, as well.  This image implies that the children and the dogs are part of the household. 

To our ears, this means nothing, and we would normally miss it’s true meaning, but to the Gentile woman from Syria, it means everything.  It means that although God chose a people, the Israelites, as divinely blessed all others are also present.  His answer to her meant that the Jews did not have a monopoly on God or to heaven.

His answer gave her the boldness she needed to remind him of this in his own answer.  She catches his meaning immediately and continuing to use his choice of words in story, she basically says, “So, after the blessed children of God get to eat, then the rest of us will still be given something.  We aren’t left out of God’s divine plan.” 

Matthew’s gospel is well-known as the Jewish gospel.  It was written for a Jewish audience, that’s why it begins with the entire lineage of Jesus through Joseph and Mary; to place Jesus historically ordained through the Hebrew people.  And why, in Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples in this same story, that he was only sent for the lost sheep of Israel.  But Jesus knew that his worldwide mission went beyond the boundaries of Israel.  In Mark, the author gets right to the point.  Jesus’s offer of heaven is universal, for even the crumbs of the bread of life are still part of the divine loaf.  They are still offered to the entire household of God.  And even if the disciples didn’t pick up on the lesson, the Syrophoenician woman did, and it made her faith even that much stronger.  And for this, her request to Christ was granted.

It’s in the roots of this story between the Syrophoenician woman and Christ where those who have ever been persecuted, for those who have ever felt that they don’t belong at the table, for those who have been told that they are worthless have a boldness in knowing that the Bread of Life is also theirs, that the Kingdom of God is within their grasp, as well, that their faith is stronger in having struggled to obtain it.

Although we won’t talk about the next miracle Jesus performed of the deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, I do want to talk about verse 36, which followed this man’s healing.  Verse 36 says, “Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.”

Back in 1901 a theologian by the name of William Wrede noticed that there were an awful lot of comments in the Gospel According to Mark, more so than in any of the other gospels, where Jesus tells his listeners or to those on whom he performs miracles or to the demons that he casts out, to not tell anyone about who he really was.  Wrede’s interpretation of this motif in Mark became known as the “Messianic Secret”.  Wrede’s theory was prominent during an intense period of theological study when theologians were trying to discover the historical Jesus.  Who was Jesus as a living, breathing human being and not only God made flesh who dwelt among us?

          Up until this time period it had been assumed by most theologians that Mark’s gospel was an abridged or condensed version of Matthew and Luke.  If you’ve ever studied the gospels, you’ll notice that Mark’s gospel is very short compared to the other two and that similar stories are often told in a quick, clipped version.  In the middle of the 19^th Century, some theologians began to wonder if it were not the other way around; that Mark’s gospel was actually written first as an early understanding of the life and teachings of Christ, while the others expanded on Mark, bringing the stories to life with more detail.

          There are a number of theories as to why Mark’s gospel, more than the others, continually used this secrecy passage by Christ.  As Wrede was studying and theologizing during the period of the search for the historical Jesus, Wrede came to the theoretical conclusion that:

          1) Jesus did not think he was the Messiah or divine

          2) The early church thought Jesus was both

          3) Something therefore appeared very wrong with the whole business in writing about Jesus

          4) Somebody, after the early period, but before Mark, had the bright idea that Jesus HAD thought these things after all, but had kept them secret

          5) Mark used this theory as the basis for his narrative.

 

          I have a different theory.  And it is based on this very verse, verse 36, where it states that the more Jesus told them to be quiet, the more people talked about it.  I don’t think that Jesus meant to be mysterious, but I do believe that Mark’s gospel was written with a certain sense of urgency.  The best way to get out a message is to create a buzz about it.  To create intrigue.

          I’ve recently started watching a series called Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.  About three complete strangers who live in the same building who are confronted with a suicide in their building.  Convinced that this person was murdered, the more they are told to be quiet about the incident and that the police have done their job, and that it is not a murder but just a sad case of suicide, the more intrigued they become and continue to investigate, pulling in more and more people and evidence to their side.

          We, as human beings, are naturally inquisitive.  We want to know the answers.  We seek solutions to problems.  We are often mystery junkies.  What better way to get Christ’s message to the most people in the shortest amount of time, but to create mystery, suspense, intrigue, and to tell people that it’s a secret.

          I guarantee you that there will be more people that know about something if I say that it’s a secret, than if I just gave you the information in a newsletter.  Why are we like that?  Why are we more willing to tell others about secrets than we are willing to share well-known information?  I think it’s because we believe that we have the inside scoop.  We believe that we have the direct line of information more than anyone else.  And we often so desperately want to share that.

          I’m not sure that Christ did it deliberately, but in writing about Jesus, Mark sure did.  If Matthew’s Gospel was written to a Jewish audience, Mark’s gospel was written with a sense of urgency because Jesus was coming back very soon and the Kingdom of God was well at hand and everyone needed to know it.

          So, the best way to get out your message is to create some mystery and some intrigue and make it a secret.  We’ll be hearing this refrain over and over as we go through the gospel of Mark in the next few weeks.

Thanks be to God.

AMEN

Offertory

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication

We give thanks, Almighty God, in all the ways that You refresh us by granting us the presence of Jesus Christ.  Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and send us forth into to the world in courage and peace, rejoicing as we go.  Take these gifts and bless them, as we freely give.  Amen

 

Closing Hymn – I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

Benediction

Go forth to love one another.  Be rich in faith and serve one another in all joy and humility.  And may the power of God our Creator, Christ our Salvation, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever.  AMEN.

Postlude