Worship
Service for March 16, 2025
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: Today is a day to sing praises to God!
P: God continually blesses us, each and every
day.
L: Even in the midst of cold and darkness,
the warmth of God’s love is real.
P: We can count on God to be here for us.
L: Let your hearts rejoice and your voices
shout praise to God.
P: For God is great and worthy to be
praised. AMEN
Opening Hymn – Christ of the Upward Way #344 Blue Hymnal
Prayer of Confession
In spite of the warming
temperatures outside, there is a certain winter in our spirits today, O Lord. We feel that the journey on which we have
embarked will demand too much of us. There
are so many other things in our lives which claim our spirits, our energy, our
hopes and fears. It is easy to be like
Jerusalem, turning our backs on those whom you send. The world shouts its solutions to us and then
deserts us when we are in need. Forgive
us for the many times in which we have strayed from your pathway of life; when
we have chosen not to hear the cries of those in need; when we have belittled
the gifts and skills you have given us in order to avoid serving others. Heal us, O Lord. Place us back on your path to Jerusalem, to
live, for we ask this in Jesus’ name. (Silent
prayers are offered)
AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: When God called your name, God called you
to a journey of faith. Do not be afraid
to look inside to see those things which are holding you back from being who
God created you to be.
P: We will place our trust in God who is
always with us, loving us into wholeness.
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
Lord, you called us to
this journey. We aren’t very willing to
let go of the things that bind us, even those which harm our spirits and
diminish our souls. We cling to our
problems as though they provide some degree of comfort and stability. Help us to let go of the pain, the problems,
the chains that bind our souls. Open our
hearts to hear your word. Place us on
the journey with confidence and assurance of your presence.
As we have offered the
names and situations of those near and dear to us in our prayers this morning,
help us to remember that we, too, are always in your loving care. We pray today for….
Lord, when we have
fallen, lift us up. When we think we can
go no further, pick us up and carry us until we can walk again. When we wonder if you made the right choice in
calling us to our ministry and mission, ease our fears, confirm our hopes,
bless our hearts with your loving presence.
We offer up these prayers and those heavy on our heart today in a moment
of silence.
This day we pray that
in all things you may be glorified; for we ask this in Jesus’ name who 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 and 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 – Beneath the Cross of Jesus #92/320
4 vs.
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
27
Second Scripture Reading – Luke 13:31-35
Sermon
The
Offer
(based
on Luke 13:31-35)
When
was the last time you went to bed thankful and amazed by what the day had given
you, something you had not planned or foreseen? Maybe it was a conversation, a
chance meeting with someone else, a moment of hope or beauty, a truth or
insight that changed you, an experience when you felt really alive. Life felt larger and more real than when you
got out of bed that morning. When has
life taken you completely by surprise, given you something you hadn’t expected,
and you were glad for it?
Do
you remember a night when you were too excited to sleep and you just couldn’t
wait to get the new day started? I am
asking about more than being energized and enthused about a particular activity
you had planned for the following day. I
am asking about a welcoming of life, an expectancy, an attitude of wonder, an
openness to come what may, a feeling that the new day held something for you
and you couldn’t wait to see what it was.
When
have you been absolutely sure you were standing in the presence of God? Some would describe it as their moment closest
to Christ. Some might say they saw the
face of Jesus in another person. Some would say they saw the Spirit at work in
a particular situation. Others might
talk about an answered prayer, the beauty of nature, the first time they held
their child or grandchild.
Those situations, those times, those
experiences, are the moments that I spoke about briefly the other week when the
sudden realization hit me about I was doing on the top of Machu Picchu, my
purpose for being here. Not just here at
Olivet or Bethesda, but here as in on this planet, in this time and space.
Life
is always coming to us in unknown, unexpected, and unplanned for ways. It’s the promise that life is breaking in on
us in big ways and little ways. And when
it does we can’t explain how or why it happened but we know it did. And we know that it was real.
In
those moments we were open and available to the promise and the coming life. Last week, we spoke about Jesus’ temptations
in the wilderness and I imagine after all that time contemplating his own
purpose and being tempted by the devil to fill a different purpose, I think he
was struggling with and learning how to remain open to his future, to his
coming life. But, aren’t we all? Haven’t there been times in your life when you
struggled to stay open to the future, to what life was bringing you?
That
openness to life is the call of Jesus in each of our lives and what the gospel
is about. For Jesus said in John 10:10, “I
came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. It’s why, after the temptation and after so
short a period of time teaching and preaching, “he set his face toward
Jerusalem”. It’s why there are so many
stories of Jesus healing the blind and deaf. He is opening eyes and ears to the promise, to
the future, to the coming of life and life in abundance. It’s why, so many times, he tells us to stay
awake, to be watchful, and to not fall asleep. He’s telling us to keep open to our future, to
our purpose. And that’s what Jerusalem
in today’s gospel story has failed to do.
Jerusalem
has killed the prophets, the ones who were calling it into a future. It has stoned those sent to bring it life and
more abundant life. Jerusalem here is a
metaphor for the ways in which we are blind and deaf to the promise, the ways
in which we do not keep open to our future, to our purpose. Jesus bereft of what Jerusalem can’t seem to
do says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
“And
you were not willing!” Jerusalem has closed itself off to the future, to its
purpose. The door of their house is
locked and the windows are boarded up. “See, your house is left to you,” Jesus
says (Luke 13:35). Jerusalem has refused
to respond to the promise that it held in God’s eyes.
Sometimes you and I are Jerusalem. Sometimes we are blind and deaf to our own
purpose, closed to the future. It
happens when life is on auto-pilot and we are just going through the motions. It happens when we hold grudges and
resentments, withhold forgiveness, or refuse to accept forgiveness from
another. It’s in our suspicions,
cynicism, and rejection of others. It’s
in all the things we declare as ultimate and in the ultimatums we issue. It what’s going on when we circle the wagons,
draw lines in the sand, deny hospitality and refuse to welcome another or the
outsider. It happens when fear
overwhelms us and power, security, and control become our primary values. It’s what lies behind our illusions of
self-sufficiency, our refusal to listen to one another, and our belief that
there is only one way; our way. It
happens when structures, rules, and law become ends rather than means. It’s what happens when we cling to and become
defined by past guilts, hurts, or losses. It’s what’s going on when we refuse to be
self-reflective, to question ourselves, or consider something new. It’s in those times when we settle and say,
“This is as good as it gets. This is all
there is.” It’s what happens when
routines, habits, and the same old patterns govern our lives. It’s our inability or refusal to imagine, to
dream the impossible, to wonder what if, or say, “Perhaps….”
When
this happens we settle for mere life rather than more life. We stagnate. Everything atrophies. We are no longer growing and maturing. Despair
replaces hope and nightmares replace dreams. We can no longer see or hear the promise of
new life or even the purpose for which God has placed us. We close ourselves off to who God’s wants us
to be, what God wants us to do and sometimes even to life itself. And where there is no hope for the future
there is no life. We declare an ending
and our house is left to us.
When have you and I been unwilling to
be gathered under the protective wings of the Savior and been open to our
purpose and to abundant life? In what
ways have we closed ourselves off to the future? When has our house been left
to us?
Now, Jesus is not accusing Jerusalem in
his concern for her. He is lamenting
Jerusalem. He is filled with tears and
weeping for her. He is agonizing over
her own demise. He is sorrowing and
protesting the end, the death, the narrowness and shortsightedness, of
Jerusalem. Later on in chapter 19, when
he finally sees Jerusalem, Luke tells us, “He wept over it”. And yet, he continues coming to Jerusalem. He continues on his journey. He won’t let go. He won’t let up. He won’t abandon her. Even when the Pharisees, of all people, warn
him to stay away because Herod wants him dead.
He just keeps on coming.
And
he is always coming to the Jerusalem of our lives, always calling us to life,
to more life, to new life, to the purpose for which we’ve been called. That promise never goes away, even when we do
not respond.
The
event of life is always coming to us, in a thousand different ways, every
moment of every day. The promise of
purpose and abundant life remains. God
never gives up on us. God and the
abundant life offered to us will be waiting for us when we reopen ourselves to
it, when we are ready and willing to listen; ready and willing to say, “Blessed
is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Those are not just words to be spoken. They describe one whose eyes, ears, and heart
are open to what is coming; a promise, a purpose, a future, a life. What if it all is coming to us in the name of
the Lord? Blessed is the promise that
comes to us in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the purpose that comes to us in the
name of the Lord. Blessed is the future
that comes to us in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the life that comes to us in the
name of the Lord.
In
what ways are your eyes, ears, or heart closed today? And if they are, what needs to happen, to
change, to be let go of, for them to begin opening? What would it take for you to bless an unknown
promise, a purpose for your life right now, an unforeseeable future, an
uncertain life? That’s not just some magic wand that changes what’s coming, but
it will change us and how we face what comes, how we react to what comes, how
we take in the abundant life that Jesus offers us.
I
know that’s asking a lot and there is risk in it. And that’s not the way we usually live, but
that’s the point. This is a chance for
life, more life, a new life, the promised life with purpose. And that’s a risk I want to take, don’t you?
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
Faithful
God, you have kept your promises to us and our lives give witness to your
abundant blessings. May we also keep our
promises to you. Take these gifts and
offerings as a sign of our commitment and bless them for your work in the
world. AMEN
Closing
Hymn – I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord #441/405
Benediction –
Be strong in
the Lord. You CAN walk in God’s ways,
for God is with us, offering us peace, hope, courage, and joy. God’s love abides with you always. Go in peace.
AMEN
Postlude
No comments:
Post a Comment