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Worship
Service for October 16, 2022
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: I will give thanks to the Lord with my
whole heart.
P: In the company of the upright, in the
congregation, I will praise the Lord’s name.
L: Great are the works of the Lord. They are full of honor and majesty. They are studied by all who delight in Him.
P: God’s righteousness endures forever. The works of His hands are faithful and
just. All His precepts are trustworthy.
L: They are established for all time and are
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
Opening Hymn – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee Hymn
#464/90
Prayer of Confession
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us
when we fail to acknowledge with gratitude the blessings which you bestow on
our lives. You gave your life so that we
may have a fullness of life we could never attain on our own. We are ashamed to admit that there are times
when we take the gift of your life in us for granted – times we pray only when
we have needs to be met – times when gratitude is a rare commodity in our
lives. Forgive us, we pray, and empower
us to embrace with gratitude all of our live and not just the good things we
like to remember. Jesus, healer and
friend, we know that you do hear our prayers and for that we are eternally
grateful. May our lives be visible
expressions of our thanks for your grace, mercy, and love towards us. (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: We rejoice in the good news that God sent
Jesus into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be
saved through him. Those who believe in
him are not condemned, but loved, accepted and forgiven.
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
The Gift of Love
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Lord, With your breath
you call all things into being. It is at
Your hand that we are here. It is at
Your urging that we have come to this place.
It is Your Holy Spirit speaking to our spirit that gathers us in this
room. We have come to worship, to bow
down, to listen to Your Word spoken, sung, and prayed. We do so, because You have called us out by
name, after you made us as companions for you and each other. As we worship this day, help us also feel
your presence among us. We are often
locked into our own little worlds and give too little thought to all that you
have done, not only for us individually, but for the good of the earth, your
whole creation. The creation that you
gave to us, not as an end in itself, but rather for us to till and keep your
sacred garden which we call our home.
Make us mindful that
the persons in this room today are as close to us as our own families. Make us aware and sensitive to their needs
and hurts, their sufferings and pain, as you are aware of ours. Remind us that we are indeed our brothers’
and our sisters’ keepers. Because of
that we lift up in prayer to you our most cherished loved ones…
As we care for one
another and have lifted up their concerns in prayer, we also ask that in this
time of silence you listen to the beatings of our own heart and know what lies
within. Hear our prayers, O God.
Help us live unto you
and to your most precious Son, who came to give us life. And in his name, we pray his prayer 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 – Ye
Servants of God Hymn #477/38
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
121
Second Scripture Reading – Luke
18:1-8
Sermon –
Finding Faith
(based on Luke 18:1-8, Carol
Davelli’s Service of Thanksgiving and Retirement – Oct 16, 2022)
In my opinion, there are
two messages in the New Testament text this morning. One of them is very obvious and the second
one is gleaned from the very last passage.
In the parable about the
widow and the unjust judge, Jesus talks about one of the qualities we need to
have to be recipients of the abundant blessings God has for us. Many people talk about Christianity as a
trial, as a burden, as a glum reality that we are not to expect to receive
blessings here on earth, but rather we will receive blessings in the
afterlife. I completely disagree. Yes, life can be difficult as a
Christian. Yes, life has its burdens as
a Christian. Yes, life isn’t always
rewarding as a Christian. But the
scriptures adamantly say that Christ came to fulfill life and to promise us
life in abundance, that we could be filled with joy and blessings. And this parable seems to echo that same
promise. God wants desperately to give
us good things. God wants to shower us
with favor and justice. But we must do
one thing first. We must not give
up. We must be persistent in our
petitions, in our searches, in our prayers, and in our lives. We must be filled with a life of expectation
and constancy. Don’t give up. Hang in there. When life is rough; don’t give up. Hang in there. When life throws you curve balls and the
world seems to close in on you. When
life is full of gray days and a sour mood.
Don’t give up. Hang in
there. When blessings seem long ago and
far away. When curses and Murphy’s Law
seem to inhabit your daily existence.
Don’t give up. Hang in there.
The parable of the
unrighteous judge and the widow teaches us just one point. The point is not to describe the woman or the
nature of God. The single point is that
if an unrighteous, secular judge will finally hear the appeals of a throw away
woman, God will do even more for us.
Widows had no voice in Christ’s day.
Widows were non-persons, with no rights, no possessions, they were at
the mercy of society. And society could
care less. If an unrighteous, secular
judge will finally hear the appeals of a woman like this, just to be rid of
her, how much more will our appeals be heard by our most precious and loving
Lord, who cares about us, who cares about us above all things.
If you say, “God, help,”
God will hear you. Anne Lamont claims
this as one of the most powerful and leading of all prayers. “God, help!”
Believe that God is on your side – always. Lloyd Ogilvie, a great preacher and author of
the 20th Century told a story about one of the elders in his church,
a man of extravagant faith, who believed that God could do all things. When he was asked to consider any new idea,
he would listen, ask questions, and then invariably would say, “Why not? If this is for God and God’s kingdom – why
not?” The other elders once conspired to
test him, and they all approached him one day with all sorts of outrageous
ideas for expanding the Kingdom in some way.
Each time he listened and gave the expected answer: “Why not?”
He really believed that God would always lead them in triumph in
whatever manner they chose to petition God and follow God. And when you truly think about it, it’s not a
bad way to live. Often, we are too
fearful to risk that kind of faith in God.
But, if God is always on our side, God will show us the way. And if it will indeed further the Kingdom of
God, the walls will crumble, the pathway will be laid in front of us and the right
opportunities will come all. If it will
not, God will show a new path.
That’s what this parable
is all about. Being persistent and
saying to God, “We’re stepping out in faith, believing that you can do all
things. We think that this is really
where you are leading us, Lord. Be with
us. Bless us. Show justice and mercy and grant our
petition.”
The second message in
this parable can be found in the last verse.
It is sort of an aside, a throw away comment. But sometimes those comments that are made
under your breath or as a side comment or as a last statement are the most
telling about your real beliefs, about your real attitude, and about your real
character. In this passage Jesus asks, “And
yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I’ve probably read this
parable in Luke a dozen times, if not more and never once did that comment jump
out at me. But a few weeks ago when I
read it and started planning for today’s service, it was all I could think
about. “And yet, when the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on earth?”
I look around this room
and I can definitely say, if the Son of Man comes while we are here, he will definitely
find faith among those seated here.
*There is one woman in
particular who has shown that kind of faith to me and that is Carol Davelli. I will forever be in God’s debt for giving me
the opportunity to serve here at Bethesda during part of the time that Carol was
also here.
A study that was done
about twenty years ago (and I don’t think this has changed very much) found
that focusing on strengths – finding what particular churches do well and
building on that – is more productive than trying to diagnose what’s wrong in
each place and fixing it. Part of that
is because there’s no quick fix for problems, but strong congregations do share
certain distinct strengths. Those
strengths are the following – they provide a sense of community, educate people
about the faith, share their faith with others, serve others in their
congregations and communities, and convey “the sense that life has meaning.” (At Olivet) – let us spend the next year digging
deep into those strengths and finding ways to enhance what we are already
doing.
*Carol Davelli did all
those things among us as our Music and Worship Leader. Through her music, we heard not only the
message of the gospel, but her own heart for God, her faith. It was the way she served others. And we were indeed served well.
The whole point of this
parable that we read in Luke 18 is to show us that Christ encourages us to pray
and to not lose heart. The woman in the
parable prevails, not because of her eloquence, or because of the merits of her
case, but because of her insistence.
Prayer is the burning
lava of the soul that has a furnace within, a very volcano of power. It is that burning lava of prayer that finds
its way to God. No prayer ever reaches
God’s heart that doesn’t come from our hearts.
I know of no better thermometer to our spiritual temperature than this –
the measure of the intensity of our prayers.
*And like the widow in today’s
parable, Carol has lived a life of intense prayer. And each one of us have been blessed by that
persistence. She has prayed for this
church and for each of you during her ministry with us. And I know for sure that her soul of deep
devotion boils in lava.
The intention of today’s
parable is to put focus and fire in our prayers. The squeaky wheel gets results. Those who pray without fervency do not pray
at all. We cannot commune with God who
is a consuming fire if there is no fire in our own hearts. Jesus tells us to ask, to seek, and to knock. And this parable tells us to knock on the
door of heaven without giving up. What
also comes from that persistence is an understanding of God’s own heart. Those who pray in such a way, see it revealed
time and time again. And when God’s
heart is revealed to us over and over again…our own pathway forward to align
our hearts with the Kingdom of God becomes clearer.
*To
my dear friend and colleague Carol, do not stop your persistence in prayer, in
passion, in the music of your heart for within it you have served faithfully
and are a blessed daughter of God. We
will dearly miss you!
Presentation to Carol
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
God of
Grace, make us trustworthy stewards over these gifts. Help us live our lives and manage our
possessions that others might see the light of Christ within us and the way
that we live our lives. Bless these
gifts that we offer to you, so that they may do the work of Your Son in our
community and in our world. In Christ’s
name we pray. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – The Church’s One Foundation Hymn
#442/401
Benediction –
Postlude
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