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Worship
Service for April 16, 2023
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Christ our Savior is risen from the
dead! Alleluia!
P: Break forth into joy! Sing together! God comforts those whose hearts are broken in
sorrow.
L: We who once suffered in death, we who once
cried in despair -
P: Now we know victory over death! Now we know joy over despair!
L: For God has raised Christ from the grave.
All: The tomb is empty and death has been
defeated for all the earth!
Opening Hymn – Lift High the Cross Hymn #371 Blue
Prayer of Confession
Gracious God, we confess
before You our slowness to embrace the new life You offer. You offer springtime to our souls, but we
prefer the winter of coldness and indifference.
We continue in despair and self-doubt, rather than rejoicing in knowing
You love us. We forget that we have been
baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. Afraid to die, we cannot receive new life. Rejoicing that You forgive us, with our
coldness, self-hate, forgetfulness, or fear, we pray to You with the confidence
of Your children. (Silent
prayers are offered)
AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: For all who have come believing in Christ
as the Way, there is rest from your fruitless labors, forgiveness of your sins
and the guarantee of eternal life.
P: Let us then continue our journey of faith
and obedience, through the grace of Jesus Christ. 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
Gracious Lord, Easter
was such a high point. We walked through
the weeks of Lent and then boldly marched with Jesus into Jerusalem. Our steps hesitated and faltered during Holy
Week when we ate with our Lord and then ran from his crucifixion. It was so hard for us to really believe in the
miraculous event of Easter when our beloved Lord was raised from the dead. We, like Thomas, wonder if it was real or
something made up from desperate longing. Help us to listen to your words with our
hearts and our ears. Remind us that the
Lord brings his peace to us all.
Lord, we come to you this day, seeking that peace and asking
you to release us from our fears and our darkness. We know that you are here with us, guiding,
healing and loving us. Help us to reach out to others with the same love you
give to us. Make us people who bring
words of compassion and hope, actions of help and lovingkindness to all we
meet. Place our feet on the pathway of
life, offering ourselves and our gifts for your holy realm. Encourage us to grow and learn about
ministries of reconciliation and compassion. When we falter, pick us up. When we fail, remind us that you believe in
us. When we turn and run because of our
fear, bring us home again.
This morning we listed people that we love who need your
tender mercy, your guiding hand, or your healing power. We especially pray for….
And now, Lord, hear the prayers of our hearts in this
time of silence…
Now gathered together and speaking in one voice, we
pray….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 –
He Lives Hymn
#368 Brown Hymnal
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – John
20:19-31
Second Scripture Reading – 1
Peter 1:3-9
Sermon
Inheritance
Next Sunday I’ll be preaching about
the stories we pass on as it relates to our scripture passage regarding Moses
flight from Egypt and the Walk to Emmaus, as well as a lot of research and work
I’ve been doing since my Sabbatical last year.
Today, I’m going to touch on the story aspect also as it pertains to our
passages this morning because today’s text is about the story of Thomas who was
not with the other disciples hiding away in somebody’s home for fear of being
brought to trial and persecuted like Jesus.
It’s a story we also know well and from this story we’ve even given the
disciple called Thomas a nickname – Doubting Thomas. That nickname has carried into our own
language and vocabulary, because we call anyone who doesn’t believe something that
others say is true; “a Doubting Thomas”.
Our other New Testament reading from
the lectionary comes from Peter’s first letter to the churches in Asia Minor. A group of churches that were founded by one
or several of the disciples’ missionary journeys to them. If you remember, Peter was the first to
convert Gentiles to this new and growing Christian movement – up to that point
it was only a movement within the Jewish faith.
But now it is spreading and changing.
Here, in Asia Minor, several churches had formed that included Jews who
had left Jerusalem and Israel – known as the Diaspora, as well as new Gentile
converts to the faith, often referred to as pagans. In his letter to the churches, Peter even
alludes to the story in John about Thomas, when he praises these new Christians
for their faith without having seen or known the Lord, just as Jesus had said,
“Bless those who have not seen yet have come to believe.” What did Jesus really mean when he said this
to Thomas and the rest of the disciples?
Two thousand years later, we are among those who have not seen the risen
Lord, yet have come to believe, just like members of these churches in Asia
Minor. So, how have we come to believe
when we haven’t seen either?
I believe it is because of the Holy
Spirit that Jesus offers to his disciples in the home where they are all
gathered together and this Living Hope that Peter talks about in his letter to
the churches.
Throughout scriptures we’re told that
the Holy Spirit is an advocate, a helper – a part of the Holy Trinity that is
with you all the time; a presence that helps you when you need it, a guide that
inwardly leads you to make better choices, God’s Spirit that speaks to our
spirits. In this way we see with new
eyes, we hear with new ears, we feel with a new sense of touch, we smell the
freshness of each new day, and we taste the bitterness of suffering and the
sweetness of joy. Through God’s Spirit
we are indeed new creations that have a whole new set of senses. Because of this we have a living hope that is
grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ; a message of love, grace, and
forgiveness.
We inherit all the stories from our
ancestors from the beginning of Genesis all the way through to the prophecy of
our eternal days in heaven. We inherit
their stories, as long as we continue to share them, and their faith which
cannot be destroyed, a living hope which is imperishable, undefiled, and
unfading.
Take out the Blue
Danube Cup and Saucer
I have a story to tell you about this
cup and saucer. It belonged to my
grandmother, along with about 100 other pieces that went with it – a complete
setting for 8 and many serving platters, pitchers, and candlesticks. They were a prized possession of my grandmother’s. My grandmother’s mother, my great grandmother
died when she was 9 years old. When she
was 12 she ran away from home because her new step mother was abusive toward
her and went to live with her grandmother, who would have been my great-great
grandmother. By the time my grandmother
was 16 she had quit regular schooling in the public school, began working as a
church pianist, played for the silent movies, and got a certificate for typing
and general secretarial work through West Chester Model School. She began working for Standard Oil where she
met her husband, had two children, and was left widowed 7 years later. Raising her two girls was a difficult task as
a single mother in the 1940’s, but having a lot of adversity at a young age,
had the tenacity to do it. Any time she
was able to save a little bit of money, she’d buy a piece of this Blue Danube
China when it came out in the 1950’s. Eventually,
she’d collected the entire setting for 8.
I grew up going to my grandmother’s house being served dinner eloquently
in her dining room on this Blue Danube set.
For my grandmother, they represented all of her hard work and what she
equated to wealth and prosperity. When
my grandmother died, my sister inherited the set. Over the years my sister lovingly added most
of the serving pieces that went with it.
She adored the blue and white pattern, just like my grandmother.
When I inherited the
set from my sister, the entire collection took up five large boxes, carefully
packed. I didn’t want it. They just aren’t me. I’m not really a Blue Danube type of person, so
I put it up for sale on the internet as a complete 8 piece set, plus the
various extras. I found a woman in
Virginia who was collecting Blue Danube for her adopted daughter who was 13 at
the time and had been adopted from Japan.
I told her the story of the set which both made her even more interested
in it and clinched the sale since it had history. She promised that she’d pass the story of my
grandmother and my sister on to her child. As I laid out the entire collection on my
dining room table to take a picture of it for her to see, I found that there
was an extra 9th cup and saucer.
Rather than mention the extra two pieces to the woman in Virginia, I
kept them and placed them in my China cabinet.
Now, every time I see them, I’m reminded of all the dinners at my
grandmother’s house and those at my sister’s as well – the stories that were
told around the table, like when my grandmother had two detached retinas in the
early 1970’s and was expected to lose her eyesight, but received great care and
was able to see or the stories we told around the table at my sisters when we
went to Mountain Springs Lake in the Poconos and came face to face with a bear,
I’d also remember the meals that we had – like my grandmother’s notoriously
burnt meatloaf and the gray looking vegetables she served with them. She wasn’t much of a cook – but they were served
on beautiful plates. I also remember the
amazing turkey and quinoa meatloaf my sister would make and the perfectly
crunchy green beans she’d have – my sister was a great cook. These are the memories that I’ve inherited
that are imperishable, undefiled, and unfading like the living hope Peter talks
about in his letter to the churches in Asia Minor. They are memories that I’ll keep
forever. Although the Blue Danube set is
no longer mine, it will hold new memories for another family who will pass their
story on. And the lone cup and saucer
that I kept will be a reminder to those that inherit it from me of our family’s
story, the meals we had, the love that was shared around the table, the
miracles of eyesight and of not being eaten by a bear.
I’d like for you to think of an object
or a picture in your house or even a memory that is lodged in your mind. What’s the story behind it? Silence for a moment. People may actually share their stories.
These are the things that create us,
that sustain us, that make us who we are.
They are inherited – passed down from generation to generation. They are imperishable, undefiled and unfading
in our memories.
I wasn’t alive when my grandmother
worked hard to raise her children, scraping by just to pay the bills, but every
now and then, buying a piece of luxury for herself. But I know the story, I see the evidence of
it. I watched as my grandmother’s eyes
would sparkle as she served us her burnt meatloaf, lovingly prepared on her
beautiful Blue Danube plates and I’d eat every bite of it.
We weren’t alive when Jesus sat with
his disciples on a hillside or by a lakeshore, or around the table and told
them stories in the form of parables, but the disciples recounted them. Perhaps reminding each other of them in that
room where they huddled in secret, “Remember when Jesus told us that story about
the lost sheep. Remember when Jesus told
us that story about the unfair landlord.
Or remember that time when Jesus healed the blind man or turned water into
wine.” And they remembered. And they passed those stories down from one generation
to the next.
This is what Jesus was talking about. This belief in a faith through a person –
Jesus – whom we’ve never met and will never see, but have faith in anyway
because we see the evidence of him. We
see him in the love we share with one another, in the care that we provide to
both friends and strangers, and the compassion we show the world to the lost
and unfortunate. These are the stories
that we pass on to our children so that they have the same faith. May we also remember and have it be so from
this generation to the next – a faith that is a living hope, imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Lord,
we thank you for the many blessings which You have poured into our lives. Now we ask Your blessings on these gifts that
they may be used to Your glory. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – I Sing the Mighty Power of God Hymn #288/128
Benediction –
It’s time for us to go from this place into our everyday
worlds. Lord, make us a blessing to all
whom we meet. Give us courage, love and
hope. And may the peace of God be with
you. AMEN.
Postlude
