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Worship
Service for September 11, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Fools say in their hearts, “There is no
God”.
P: We proclaim that God’s presence is real
and alive and thriving!
L: Evildoers declare through their actions,
“We go through life alone.”
P: But we see God’s grace, faithfulness, and
steadfast love in our lives and in the world around us.
L: Praise be to God!
Opening Hymn – All Hail the Power of Jesus’
Name Hymn #142/43
Prayer of Confession
Gracious and loving God, we find
it difficult at times to place our trust in You. Too often we look at the world, and see only
violence, pain, destruction, and signs of hopelessness and despair. Too often we rely on our own strength, our
own plans, our own devices, rather than trusting in Your hand to hold us, Your
love to sustain us, and Your wisdom to see us through. Forgive us, Holy One. Help us turn to You when we are lost, that we
might find our way home. Help us
navigate the treacherous waters of this world, that we might experience Your
abundant grace, mercy, and love. Help us
put our trust in You, that the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus may
shine in our lives for all to see. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Jesus said, “there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who
need no repentance.” My friends,
experience God’s forgiveness and joy – gifts that lead to new life!
P: God’s gifts make us new each day. 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 and Lord’s
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 over 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 were intent
on mourning our own losses, we 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. We especially
pray today for the people of Ukraine who have been under constant bombardment
for months, who have seen not just a couple of buildings destroyed, but entire
cities.
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 Hymn #391/597
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Jeremiah
4:11-28
Second Scripture Reading – Luke
15:1-10
Sermon – The Lost
Our Old Testament reading is
pretty much the same as last week. The
prophet Jeremiah has been sent to tell of the doom and gloom that is about to
descend upon Judah if it does not stop in her tracks on the pathway to
destruction. Jeremiah pants a bleak
picture of the future. A hot wind that
will come and blow upon the earth, a wind so strong that it will take not only
the chaff, but everything. If you know
anything about winnowing. You take a big
fork of harvested grain and toss it in the air. The lighter stalks and dried leaves or chaff,
blows away in the wind, while the heavier kernels of grain fall straight down to
the ground. But here, Jeremiah is saying
that the wind that is coming is going to be so strong against Judah that
everything will be taken – the good, the bad, and the ugly. It won’t matter. People from foreign lands will come and will
lay waste, ruin, and desolation to the people of Judah, if they do not turn
back. “This is your doom”, says
Jeremiah. In verse 27 towards the last
part of this passage, God says however, that even though there will be a
desolation, “I will not make a full end.”
So, even in the midst of that message of doom and gloom … that all will
be ruined, God holds out a tiny spark, a teeny-tiny ounce and promise of hope. “I will not make a full end.”
Moving into the fifteenth chapter
of Luke, we carry that message that God’s not quite done with us, at least not
yet. That we might have gone astray, that
we often go astray, that sometimes we find ourselves in perilous situations,
perhaps even completely lost, but God is still holding out hope for us. This
chapter in Luke begins with the statement that tax collectors and sinners were
drawn to Jesus. These were the outcast
and socially suspect of that time. Who
might such people be today? (PAUSE)
You know, I looked back over
sermons that I’ve written on these two parables and I’ve asked that same
question numerous times. Thirty-five
plus years later, the response of who those people might be hasn’t really changed.
The homeless, those with diseases
that are attached to a stigma of being an outcast, those addicted to drugs or
alcohol. The list could go on and
include gang members, refugees, the unemployed, the illiterate, those receiving
welfare, etc... For thirty-five plus years we’ve made the same list, over and
over again.
Now, the religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, stood
nearby critically noting that Jesus socialized with these undesirables. But before we begin judging their attitudes,
we might do well to consider their point of view and look for contemporary
counterparts to their criticism. Who
might these people be? Would they be our
own religious leaders today? Might they
be the tele-evangelists of our day?
Again, I think for the past 35 plus years, at least during the time that
I’ve been preaching, we’ve listed the same.
Jesus made the leaders of organized religion uncomfortable in his time
and I think his actions still challenge us today. And Jesus told these two parables in response
to their criticism.
However, as I was thinking about
having preached this message for 35 plus years, I’m not so sure how easy it is
to draw the same line anymore. Truth be
told, I don’t know who is lost anymore.
I don’t know who the unwanted are.
I don’t know who the real religious leaders are that Jesus would offend. Today, I think it has all gotten to be a bit
grayer, murkier, more confusing. For the
purposes of the story, we’d like it to be simple and straightforward. But, even in Christ’s day…I don’t think it
was as simple and straightforward as we, in hindsight, have made it.
For example, where do you place
the person who goes about their business, not paying much attention to attending
church on a regular basis, hasn’t really belonged to a church, but they do no
harm, they try to be kind to others, they live by morals that are in line with
those in their culture/society? Isn’t
that a good majority of people today, for the most part? So, are they the lost? What about religious leaders who preach the
gospel on a regular Sunday morning? Feed
the hungry, pray for the sick, care for the wounded and brokenhearted, listening
to the lives of those who are in deep pain and try to provide them with
Spiritual hope? For the most part, they
are upright and pious in their living.
Doesn’t that describe most religious leaders today, but are they really
the Pharisees of Christ’s day?
Maybe it’s just that the older I
get, the more I wonder if perhaps there’s more who are lost than those who aren’t. Perhaps in a retelling of these parables for
today – in the first one, Jesus leaves the one sheep to find the lost 99. Perhaps in the second parable, the woman
searches for her keys, her glasses, her wallet and the list she made just ten
minutes ago.
The two parables are very similar in the time that they were
told by Christ and I think even if we were, perhaps, to retell them today. They both tell of losing something and the joy
of finding it again. All of us have lost
or misplaced things and no doubt the scribes and Pharisees could relate to the
stories and were drawn into the tales. Both
are stories of someone seeking the lost.
The first story, the story of the good shepherd, is one of the
most beloved of parables. Images of the
good shepherd go back to the walls of the catacombs and adorn many church
windows. Many contrite Sunday school
children have seen themselves as the wayward lamb cradled at last in the
shepherd's arms. The shepherd seeks the
one sheep, one out of one hundred, that has been lost. The analogy is that God is likewise seeking
the lost and that those outcasts Jesus entertains are the lost sheep. Does it change, at all, if Jesus seeks the 99
who are lost, leaving the one behind?
No.
The second parable, that of the lost coin, is similar, but the
protagonist is a woman and the lost item is a coin. It is clearly something of value and she turns
the house upside down to find it. Does
it change, at all, if the woman seeks a whole list of items, turning over her
house to find them? No. There is still joy in the finding of the lost. Again, the central message is that God is
seeking the lost, just as these two protagonists will not rest until the lost
is found. This parable is an
illuminating one for our time because Jesus is teaching about the relentless
seeking of God. God is reaching out,
eager to reclaim those who have fallen away.
I guess the real problem for me is that I had always assumed I
knew who the lost were. I’m not so sure
anymore. I think more are lost than we’d
like to admit. So, our challenge, is not
to label those who are obviously lost, but rather to perhaps have the mindset
that we are all lost and are worthy of being found. And God is not done in God’s pursuit of finding
us. We need to remember that all are
beloved of God.
These two parables tell us of the nature and activity of God and
direct us in discipleship. They urge us
to reevaluate our lives of faith and our work as churches to include reclaiming
everyone who no longer finds a place at the table or room in this house.
Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
O God,
how grateful we are, for your loving Spirit whose generosity is without
limit. We are overwhelmed when we
consider all that you have done for us and all that you continue to do. We give you thanks for your most precious
gift to us, your own Son Jesus, and for all good blessings that you shower down
upon us. Take these gifts and multiply
them for your work in the world. In
Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.
Closing Hymn –
I Sing the Mighty Power of God Hymn #288/128
Benediction –
My friends, go out into the world: knowing that it is God
who loves us, Christ who strengthens us, and the Holy Spirit who empowers us
for service. Be found by the great
Shepherd and in His name seek out that which is lost. AMEN
Postlude
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