Today's Worship Service - May 25, 2025

 Next week (June 1) we will meet together for communion at Bethesda United Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth at 11:15am with a time of fellowship prior to worship.

Worship Service for May 25, 2025

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      God holds out to us the promise of a new life.

P:      Life as unpredictable, as unrehearsed, as explosive as life at the very beginning.

L:      God calls us to respond to this gift with creativity, with joy, and with courage.

P:      In worship, we can begin to accept this gift of new life.  Let us worship God together.

 

Opening Hymn – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee            #464/90 4 vs.

 

Prayer of Confession

Keeper of heaven and earth, guardian of our coming and going forth, of our times of tender reflection and our moments of turmoil.  Our life is fragile.  We violate each other in personal relationships, as nations, as inept keepers of life’s beauty.  Sharpen our sensitivities.  Stir in us preference for listening over speaking, for tenderness over aggression, for solidarity and community over alienation.  Deepen for us the meaning of the resurrection, that we not only speak words of transformation but embody those words in our lives.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Your past sins are forgiven, your future will be fruitful and Christ’s words will become your personal benediction: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

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 and Lord’s Prayer

Almighty and eternal God, you have revealed yourself to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.   That Spirit reaches into the depths of our souls to teach us right from wrong, good from evil.  Your Spirit speaks to our spirits and makes us yearn to worship You and follow after Your call to us.  Hold us firm in faith, so that we may know You in all your ways.  Enlighten us to Your truth, so we may witness to Your eternal glory.  Keep us in Your holiness, so that we may literally glow with Your love.

         Continue to work Your powers of peace in the world.  Where there is injury, let us sow pardon and truly embody the gift of forgiveness, love, compassion and mercy to others as You have been to us.

Holy God, on this Memorial Day weekend, we give You thanks for our small towns of West Elizabeth and Elizabeth and for this great land of the United States, with all its liberties and its many blessings.  Today we especially give thanks for those who served their country in its hour of need, and for our fallen soldiers, who have given their very lives in that service.  May we never forget their sacrifice. 

Lord, watch over those military men and women on American and foreign soils who continue to serve our nation today, who knowing the real and potential dangers of their work, nevertheless stand ready to preserve the cause of freedom with the devotion to duty and those who served before them. 

Grant Your continued Divine care over the family members who are called upon to watch and wave good-bye to their loved ones as they go to their duty as members of our nation’s Armed Forces.  Also honor their devotion and their sacrifice.

         We also pray for those who are struggling this day for multitude of reasons.  We pray for….

 

         Hear also the silent prayers of our hearts today.

 

Grant us, O Lord, the wisdom to take our sufferings and turn them into hope.  We pray together the prayer your Son taught 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 – I Sing the Mighty Power of God                #288/128

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Psalm 67

Second Scripture Reading – John 14:23-29

Sermon –   Christ’s Peace vs. World’s Peace

(John 14:23-29)

 

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled; and do not be afraid.”  What exactly is this peace that Jesus gives?  In his letter to the church at Philippi the Apostle Paul described the peace of God as the peace that surpasses all understanding.  Is this the same peace that Jesus offers, this peace that surpasses understanding?  It reminds me of the Vacation Bible School song, “I’ve Got the Joy in My Heart”.  It’s the kind of song that can very easily become an ear worm. “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart (where?)  Down in my heart (where?)  Down in my heart.  Down in my heart to stay.”  Do you remember the second verse? “I’ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart, (where?”)  Down in my heart (where?)  Down in my heart.  Down in my heart to stay.”

The reason that that particular ear worm won’t leave me alone, is the “where” part of these lyrics.  I’ve got the love of Jesus, Love of Jesus down in my heart, down in my heart, “where” down in my heart, where, down in my heart to stay.  When we hear down in my heart we tend to think of emotions, and feelings.  But the heart hasn’t always been thought of as the source of feelings and emotions.  Way back in the 4th century BCE (Before the Common Era)…the Greek philosopher Aristotle identified the heart as the seat of intelligence.  Observing that the heart is the first organ formed in the embryo of chick’s eggs, Aristotle surmised that the heart must be vital for life itself and life meant that which makes us human, our ability to think. All the other organs simply existed to serve the heart.  Indeed, the ancients didn’t really know what brains were, except for being the mushy part encased in the skull, which they surmised must have some sort of role akin to the lungs and served only to cool the heart.

In Jesus’ day, the brain was viewed as the location of the soul; the place where spirits came together. The heart was where the real thinking happened.  It wasn’t until late in the 17th century that the seat of intelligence moved to our brains.  So, I find it mildly amusing that Christian children should be taught that they “have the peace that passes understanding down in their hearts, where, down in their hearts to stay.”

This peace that surpasses understanding, this peace that Jesus offers “is not like the world’s peace.”  Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.”  In other words, “Don’t let your mind be troubled, there is nothing to fear.”

These days, the world tells us to be afraid, to be very afraid. For the most part, the logic of the world wins out, and we are often very afraid.  We worry about everything.  We are afraid of stuff our ancestors never even thought about.  Some of us are so afraid that our own images in the mirror make us worry about going outside where others might see us.  The advertising industry has convinced us to be afraid of our own humanity, the way we look, our smells, our skin and hair, it’s all become something we are so afraid of that we spend billions and billions of dollars each year to look a particular way.

If our own image isn’t enough to frighten us into staying indoors, then the news media has us so afraid of all the monsters that lie in wait to do the most horrendous things to us.  We are so afraid that we refuse to let children play, even though children are safer than they were back in the bygone days of our very own youth.  

We are obsessed with our own safety.  If you don’t believe me just try to open up a bottle of pills, between the childproof caps and the tamperproof packaging you almost need an engineering degree together with a strong pair of hands just to get into the bottle.  And every package comes complete with its own set of warnings.

And what about the stock market?  Back in the day, most people never even knew what the stock market was, nowadays we spend countless hours afraid that the markets will crash and we’ll loose all of our money.  Money!  We are so afraid that we simply won’t have enough money, this despite the fact that most of us have more money and more stuff than most of our ancestors could have ever dreamed of having.  I don’t know about you, but my grandparents never had anything like what we have today.  They also didn’t have all the same kind of fears that we have today.  Oh they had fears, don’t get me wrong, but they quelled their fears with the sure and certain faith that it would all come out in the end.  All they had to do was read their bibles and pray ever day.  They had the peace that passes understanding down in their hearts.  Down in their hearts to stay.

We have the news media, reporters telling us each and every day to be afraid, to be very afraid.  Terrorists, climate change, predators, scammers, floods, wars and rumors of wars.  Be afraid, be very afraid.  Oh, and by the way, God is dead.  Jesus can’t and won’t save you.  So be afraid.  The Buddha can’t save you either, and forget about Mohammed, and all the rest of those religious folk who promised you the sun, the moon and the stars.  And while we’re at it, what about those endless movies that portray the horrors of falling in love, and the pain of loss?  We are doomed, I tell you doomed.  So, be afraid, be very afraid.  Use your heads, think about it, there is no hope, hope is an illusion.  We are all going to die.  Once you are dead, you are dead, that’s it, over, done, nada.

So, be afraid, exercise, exercise, get healthy, don’t eat that, be afraid it’s the only way to live longer, be afraid, take this pill and eat this food, and run, run, as fast as you can, be afraid.  Use your head, its a big bad world out there and you need to be afraid, oh by the way, try this, buy this, use this, put your money here, build a wall, build a very big wall, keep them out, you know the ones, the big bad scary people who want to come here, kill everyone, and take all your stuff; be afraid, be very afraid.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; but the kind of peace I give you is not like the world’s peace.  Don’t let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. ‘

So, what is it that Jesus offers when he says,  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; but the kind of peace I give you is not like the world’s peace.  Don’t let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid?”

I believe that there can be no peace in the world as long as we are afraid.  Fear makes us forget who we are and whose we are.  Fear makes us forget that we are richly blessed.  Fear makes us forget that we live in relative safety.  Fear makes us forget what we believe.  Fear makes us forget who and what we love.  Fear makes us forget to think.  Fear makes us forget to breathe.  I also believe that the memory of who we are calms our fear and that this is the only hope we have of ever finding any peace in the world.

When I am afraid, I mean really afraid, I often forget who I am.  The person that I am, is not angry, or greedy, or violent.  But given enough anxiety, fear or terror, and I will react angrily.  Take away the familiar, push me beyond my comfort zone, expose me to strange and foreign ways, and I will become anxious.  Threaten me with poverty and my fear of poverty will inspire me to be greedy.   Threaten me or the ones I love with violence, and my fear of losing my life or my loved ones will embolden me to resort to violence.

When the ground beneath our feet begins to shift it can cause us to forget who we are and unless we take a deep breath, we might just forget the SPIRIT that dwells in, with, through, and beyond us.  Jesus believed and taught a new way of being in the world.  Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Jesus understood himself to be intimately related to the very SOURCE of his BEING.  Where others had looked to the source of their being and seen a CREATOR to be feared and obeyed, Jesus looked to the source of his being and saw a CREATOR who takes delight in creation; a CREATOR so intimately connected with creation that it is impossible to see where creation ends and the CREATOR begins.  I and the CREATOR are ONE.

Our God dwells in the midst of us.  If we breathe deeply and feel the rhythm of the ONE who breathes in us we can begin to remember who we are.  I am convinced that the peace we so long for in this world will only be realized when we find peace in ourselves.  We are wonderfully made.  Ever evolving humans in an ever-changing cosmos.  As conscious beings we are an integral part of a magnificent creation, the source of which flows in, with, through, and beyond us. 

Jesus taught a way of being that encompassed the SOURCE of our BEING as part of the ONENESS of all creation, and encouraged us to embrace the peace that this knowledge brings.  When we are grounded in who and what we were created to be, it quells our fear and we are better able to respond to the fears of others in ways that will help them to remember who they are. 

Fear is the enemy of peace.  Jesus knew this.  Why else was he constantly telling people not to be afraid?  From the advent of his birth, even the angel came and told Mary and Joseph, “do not be afraid.”  Even to the shepherds out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  The angel appeared and told them to not be afraid.  From Christ’s advent, all the way through to the end of his life, he heralded the opposite of fear – peace. 

So, Sit up, take a long slow breath in….now, let it out….

Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to take a long slow breath when you are afraid?  Panting, gasping, sometimes even holding your breath all have more in common with fear than breathing deeply.  Perhaps our bodies really do know best because when we do breathe deeply it has a calming effect.  Pay attention to your breathing.  Really, I mean it pay attention to your breathing.  Take a few moments, right here and right now and just breathe.

I recently came across this explanation of breath and God.

Moses asked God what his name is.  The name recorded in the original Hebrew was Yaweh.  But the original alphabet in Hebrew had no vowels so it was represented in writing as YHWH.  Over time, they added vowels, an a and an e.  But scholars and Rabi’s noted that the letters YHWH represent breathing sounds.  When pronounced without intervening vowels, it actually sounds like breathing.  YH (inhale); WH (exhale).  Try it.  YH WH.

The very act of breathing is speaking God’s name.  A baby’s first cry speaks the name of God and the last breath we take, breathes the name of our Creator.

So, the next time anxiety and fear threatens to make you forget who you are, breathe, notice each breath, and slowly you will begin to remember who you are and more importantly, whose you are.  Slowly, you will feel the presence of the ONE who lives and breathes in, with, through, and beyond you.  This is the peace that Christ gives. 

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

With these gifts we give of ourselves to the world you have created, to the love you have poured out, and to the work of Your Holy Spirit alive in us today.  Grant us your mercy that we may be strengthened to walk in your ways, even as you walk with us.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  Spirit Song                #384 Brown

Benediction –

         God of infinite peace, loving presence, and dazzling surprises, allow us to take risks we dare not try alone.  But You guide our hand, our lives, and our way forward.  We go in peace seeking Your wisdom and strength.  AMEN.

Postlude

Today's Worship Service - Sunday, May 18, 2025

 

Worship Service for May 18, 2025

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      Let praise to God resound in the heavens!

P:      Let praise to God fill the earth!

L:      Let all God’s angels offer praise and rejoicing!

P:      Let all God’s creatures sing praise and joy!

L:      Open your hearts and spirits today. 

P:      Let us praise the Lord today and always!  AMEN!

 

Opening Hymn – Holy, Holy, Holy        #138/3

 

Prayer of Confession

Patient God, sometimes we are just too busy for our own good.  We pledge ourselves to hectic schedules, demands on time, energy, and resources that erode all too quickly.  We seem to be rushing through life.  The cries of those in need often go unheeded in our blur of activities which sap our energy, our resources, our spirits.  Slow us down a bit, Lord.  Remind us again that we are responsible for the care of this world, for reaching out and offering Your healing love.  Help us hear the words of patient love that You have for us.  Remind us again of Jesus’ words to his disciples when he told them that they should love one another as He loved them.  May we take time to bear witness to that love in all that we do.  For we ask this in Jesus’ name.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Wherever you are, Christ is with you.  You are beloved of God and God’s care will always surround you.

P:      With this assurance, we are at peace and we rejoice!  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

Holy God, when the news is loudly proclaiming anger, hostility, hatred, we are called by Christ to love one another.  How hard that is, O Lord?  Prejudice abounds in our land, and it is our shame, as we proclaim our faith in you. You call us to love one another, but we put conditions on that love: some of these conditions regard race, economic status, gender, age, nationality.  O Lord, it is easy to love people with whom we feel comfortable, but it is more difficult to love those who are different from us.  And that, O Lord, is our dilemma.  So, teach us how to love and accept the diversity in our land.  Help us to treasure each other for the wondrous gifts and talents each person has.  Sharpen our ears to hear words of love when whispered and shouted.  Tune our hearts to Your healing message of acceptance and compassion for all.  Gracious God, help us to be the people of the Resurrection - who have been freed from the bonds of death and turned into new creatures of love.  

Good and gracious God, we adore you and praise Your holy name.  We are especially grateful for Your steadfast love, revealed to us in the words and deeds of Jesus, Your Son.  We give thanks for the disciples and all the generations that have followed in their footsteps, faithfully carrying out the mission entrusted to them by Christ.  It is our turn, Lord, to take that mission, to make it our own and spread Your name, Your love, Your mercy and grace to every corner of the world.  To do that, we need to start here at home.  Unite us in our commitment to Christ.  Give us the courage to venture beyond familiar places, to see in unfamiliar faces potential friends and neighbors.  Transform our hearts and minds so that we may be instruments of healing, comfort, and peace every day and everywhere that You may lead us.

         This morning, Lord, we lift up to You the names of those that we hold dear to us….

 

 

 

Hear our hearts, O Lord, in these moments of silence as we also lift up to you our own selves.

 

Lord, may your empowering Spirit be present with all those who are in any need this morning as we unite in 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 – How Firm a Foundation           #361/408

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Psalm 148

Second Scripture Reading – John 13:31-35

         Third Scripture Reading -   1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Sermon –   

LOVE

(based on John 13:32-35, I Corinthians 13:1-13)

 

I remember seeing a bumper sticker once, “Love means nothing in Tennis.  What does it mean to you?” Good question, isn’t it?  You know, I’d love (no pun intended) to know the origin of how they came up with scoring tennis.  Hello?!  It’s like the strangest thing in the world.

Anyway, this passage from the gospel according to John 13:32-35 an also repeated in another way by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians 13:1-13 which ends with the verse, And now faith, hope, and love remains and the greatest of these is love, are known as the “love passages”.

We are a culture obsessed with feelings.  Watch the next time you see some disaster reported on the news channel.  The reporter thrusts a microphone in the face of a woman in obvious agony and what will that reporter ask her?  “Can you tell us how you feel?”

How do you feel?  That’s the question on talk shows, in the tabloids, and now in mainstream news reporting – and don’t even get me started on old shows like the Jerry Springer Show.  We are obsessed with our moods.  We want, above all else, to lift our spirits; to make ourselves feel better.  You can even watch the Dow Jones Market rise and fall just on people’s emotions and feelings about the economy.  We are obsessed with our moods.  And we’ll do anything to feel better.  Eat chocolate, have ice cream, or those wonderfully delicious Krispy Kreme Donuts.  We’ll eat the foods that are called “comfort foods” to feel better when something in our lives just isn’t right.  But then we’ll feel awful about the weight we put on, so we’ll start jogging and running and working out at the gym, going on a diet so that we can “feel better” about our bodies.  We are obsessed with feelings.  It honestly controls our lives.

And now we come to some passages in Scripture that talk about the great of all feelings and emotions and we’re talking about love.  This passage from John calling on Christian to center their lives around loving one another and the longer passage in I Corinthians which is read at almost all weddings, used as some blissful understanding of how two people are to live in harmony and love with one another.  But have we really listened to these passages. 

Jesus makes a new commandment.  Not a suggestion, not just a way of being in the world or lifestyle, but a commandment.  And Paul wrote about love not for blissful couples in the honeymoon stage of being in love with one another, but rather when he was in prison and critical of the people in the Corinthian church because they had forgotten the real meaning to life.  They had taken Christ’s message and turned it inward and had begun to focus on religion as attaining some kind of emotional high, an ecstasy that takes them out of themselves, a religious enthusiasm that carries them far out of the mundane and real world.  His comrades in Corinth really majored in the quest for a “religious” experience.  They spoke in tongues, a sort of utterance that takes them to height of fervor.  They reveled in it, they were almost, one might say, addicted to it.  They had taken Christ’s message of love to a place that it hadn’t meant to go.  So now, Paul, although he doesn’t exactly dismiss their religious fervor, he does become critical of their actions.  If they have faith and hope – a euphoric wonder of God but have not love, the commandment that Christ gave them….they are nothing, he says.

Paul says that if we have and can do everything, but have no love, it is as useless as multiplying by zero or a minus.  You end up with nothing or worse, less than nothing.  If we can preach with the eloquence of Billy Graham, or keep a spotless house, or name the 66 books of the Bible in sequence, or quote all the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, or teach Sunday School, or work with Habitat for Humanity, or help out at food pantry, or work with kids – but have no love – we are worth absolute nothing.  Christ’s commandment was to love one another.  And because Christ came to love the entire world, to sacrifice himself for all, I don’t think he meant only the people we sit next to in our pews.  Christ meant for us to love everyone.

The love that Jesus and Paul is speaking about isn’t something that you get swept up in emotionally, but rather it is something that you decide about and do.  In this case, love is a decision, not a feeling.

There are three kinds of love expressed in the scriptures – there is agape love; which is love for God – the highest, purest form of love.  Then there is eros love; which is emotional, blissful – the love between two people; such as spouses, but it can also be between parent and child.  The third kind of love is philio love; which is a brotherly love – love between friends and neighbors.

In the John passage and in I Corinthians, we are talking about agape love.  A love that transcends emotion.  The reality is, we must give ourselves over to this business of Godly love only by setting aside our obsession with our own feelings, our own longings for eternal happiness, our own desire for ongoing bliss. 

Let me read an edited piece that Mike Harden, a journalist for the Columbus Dispatch, wrote some years ago, which I think illustrates as beautifully as anything that I’ve ever read about the kind of love that Christ and Paul is talking about in these passages.

 

Frank’s wife Judy returned to the hospital room, drawing a chair to his bedside.  “Thirsty,” he complained.  She lifted the straw to his lips as he pulled the oxygen mask aside.  The medicine made him sick then.  She fetched the basin, wrapped a firm arm around his spasm-racked shoulders, mopped the sweat from his forehead.  In sickness and in health.  They were supposed to be preparing for a Florida vacation, not holding on to each other in a cardiac care unit.  “Help me sit up,” he whispered hoarsely.

In the end, love comes down to this; not Clark Gable’s devilish first appraisal of Vivien Leigh, not Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolling in the surf, but, “Help me sit up.”  A sharp-toothed rain spattered against the windowpane.  In the room, a procession of medical courtiers came and went, trading pills for blood and tinkering, ever tinkering, with the buttons and dials controlling the tubes and wires to which their patient was trussed, like some latter-day Gulliver.

One evening Frank was sitting asleep in the chair next to the bed.  Judy paused in the waiting room to remove her street shoes and put on her slippers.  She did not want to wake him now that sleep was such a rationed luxury.  Soundlessly, she slipped into the chair next to his.  In the end, love is not the smoldering glance across the dance floor, the clink of crystal, a leisurely picnic spread upon summer’s clover.  It is the squeeze of a hand.  I’m here.  I’ll be here, no matter how long the fight, even when you want most to close your eyes and be done with it all.  Water?  You need water?  Here.  Drink.  Let me straighten your pillow.

“Help me into bed,” he said, he who had once been warrior triumphant in the business world.  He was tough, demanding, but never as much on others as himself.  If you gave him your best, no one could hurt you.  If you gave him less, no one could hide you.  She had been with him and beside him when the future was golden, beside him when health sent his career into eclipse.  “I’m thirsty,” he said.  “Here,” she said, “let me get you something.”  Pause

Along the road they once traveled so often to visit family, the hearse wound its way past stubbled fields, shuttered roadside markets.  The minister, clutching his Bible against his chest as though it was sufficient cloak against the winds whipping across the rural countryside, passed final benediction:  “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”  He stooped to pick up his hat as the funeral director placed the folded flag in Judy’s lap.

So, when all is said and done, love is not rapture and fire.  It’s a hand steadier than one’s own, squeezing harder than a heartbeat.  Wine changes back to water.  Endearment is exhibited by what once might have been considered insignificant kindnesses, but which, in the end, become the tenderest of ministrations.  On the day after the funeral, trying to busy herself with chores that could easily wait, she plopped the laundry basket down in front of her granddaughter.  The child tugged out the end of the sheet her Frank had always held when they did the wash.  When the child brought the folded end to meet the corners her grandmother held, she kissed her playfully, just as he had once done.  “I’m thirsty, Grandma.”

“Here, let me get you something.”  As a tear streamed down her cheek, she got a glass of water for her grandchild.  Pause.

A beautiful picture of what life is all about, isn’t it?  But not just the love of a married couple.  It reminds us that love is as near to each one of us as someone who needs us.  And there is always someone who needs us.  This is why we are here, for the love that does not insist on its own way in life, that not only hopes and believes, but that bears and endures the sufferings and the needs of those with whom we share life’s way.

         Love is expressed in how we relate to one another, how we treat one another.  It has less to do with an emotion than with devotion.  Sometimes doing the loving thing means being a bit more patient with a friend or family member who irritates us.  Sometimes it means doing a random act of kindness with a stranger.  Sometimes it means we can rejoice in someone else’s good fortune.  Sometimes it means we need to quit drawing attention to ourselves and focus on others.  Sometimes it means being humble.  The impact of these kinds of loving actions would be enormous.

         Love is a decision, not an emotion.  Let us fill our world with agape love.

Thanks be to God.  AMEN.

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

We give you thanks, O God, for the blessings of this life; for family and friends, for work and play, for health and healing, for the good that we receive and that we also give.  We praise Your holy name not only with our lips, but by returning to You a portion of the gifts that you have so generously bestowed on us, asking You to use them to build up the body of Christ here and to the ends of the earth.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  Seek Ye First             #333/713

Benediction –

         May the love of God which was lavished upon you by Jesus Christ be in your hearts, your minds, and your spirits as you leave this place and go into God’s world.  Be bearers of peace and hope, and most especially love to all you meet.  AMEN.

Postlude

Today's Worship Service - Sunday, May 11, 2025 - Happy Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day!

Worship Service for May 11, 2025

Prelude

Announcements:

Call to Worship

L:      Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb who was slain, lives!

P:      Worthy is the Lamb to receive power and wisdom and glory and blessing!

L:      Myriads of the faithful, freed and called to be a nation of priests of God, sing praise:

P:      Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God, forever and ever.  AMEN!

 

Opening Hymn – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing   #356/11

 

Prayer of Confession

God of life and death, we confess that sometimes we are not alive to the possibilities You offer.  In the midst of pain, unfairness, and fear, we find little reason for hope.  We feel despair or blame others, but we do not turn to You for help.  Forgive us, show us how to share the new life You offer through Jesus Christ.  (Silent prayers are offered)  AMEN.

Assurance of Pardon

L:      Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.  Your sins are forgiven, and your future made new.

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 and Lord’s Prayer

God of all creation, we bless you for calling the world and all its peoples to come and share your love, blessing, forgiveness, and healing.  We praise you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, for his ministry and passion, for his dying and rising to free us from sin, and for the gift of your holy church that lives to tell the whole world this good news.

         We give thanks, O Lord, for women everywhere, who look to you for guidance and strength, or have fashioned their very lives after that of a compassionate savior.  We especially pray today for women everywhere, those who have been mothers to their own children as well as those who have played a motherly role in the lives of boys and girls who are not their own.  We pray for women who have taught us the meaning of love, and have shared with us the lessons of wisdom and grace.

         We pray for the gift of peace with liberty and justice for all people everywhere.  On this Mother’s Day, as we celebrate our own mothers and honor all moms around the world, we also pray for the children of the world who have been victimized by war, trapped in many kinds of slavery, orphaned and left motherless and homeless, who need your loving care.  We pray for refugee families, separated from one another, struggling for food and housing, for the sick, the helpless, and the lonely.  Remember them and deliver them. 

         We pray for those who are ill in body, mind, or spirit.  Be with all who fight chronic disease or crippling disability.  Ease suffering from pain, stress, and isolation.  Comfort the despairing.  Renew caregivers so they may continue their healing ministries to those under their care.

         We especially lift up to you in prayer….

 

         In the following moments of silence hear our inner groanings, listen carefully to our heartfelt wishes and prayers O Lord and heal us, as well…

 

         All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior, 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 – Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken         #446/400  3 vs.

Scripture Reading(s): 

First Scripture Reading – Psalm 23

Second Scripture Reading – John 10:22-30

Sermon –   

The Crucible

(based on John 10:22-30)

          The scene that is captured in our scripture reading this morning evokes the image of a crucible.  A crucible is a heat resistant bowl or cup used to melt metal.  The word is also used to describe a severe test.  Some of you may recognize the word from Arthur Miller’s 1956 play by the same title which was about the Salem Witch Trials when a group of young girls accuse several townspeople of witchcraft and the mass hysteria and accusations that arose during this time period as they were increasingly consumed by fear and suspicion.  As well as the severe test of character that enveloped those accused.

Our scripture today finds Jesus, likewise, in a severe test of character – the crowd’s emotions have become very heated because of what he is saying.  As we listen to the text, we become witnesses, watching to see how Jesus responds to and handles the anger of the crowd and how the crowd reacts to his responses.

          There is high drama in these verses that test both Jesus and those who oppose him.  On the one hand, it tests the human part of Jesus to stay on task – to stay committed to that purpose for which he came.  It tests his courage in the midst of immediate danger, and his ability to reason in the heat of the moment.  On the other hand, it is a severe test of the intellect and heart of those who assail him.  They must withstand Jesus’ bold, compelling defense as they look to trap him into saying something for which they might use for accusation before Pilate.

          We’re probably not used to speaking about Christ in terms of his courage, but we need to remember that he was indeed human.  He had been born, just like the rest of us, as a child, was part of a family, and he loved life.  Though his destiny was authored and ordained by God; though he knew his mission and purpose was to ultimately die; though he voluntarily took on this role; still, it took great courage, I think, for him to follow through with this – keep in mind his outbreak in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed to his Father in heaven for this cup to be removed from him.  We see a foreshadowing of that courage in these verses in John.

          This crowd is a different crowd than the usual throngs on the mountainside or by the shore; this crowd wants Jesus dead, even as he promises to give eternal life to those who follow him.  He speaks boldly of his authority and power even as he is outnumbered by those who seek to overpower him.  It definitely creates the image of the Lamb of God surrounded by hungry wolves.  It is a test of his courage and love.

          Many of our English words are borrowed from other languages and our English word courage comes from the French, which means “large heart.”  And that is exactly what Christ has, a heart large enough to love each one of us completely and unconditionally.  A heart large enough to love even his enemies and face the coming suffering of the cross, because of his compassion for everyone, for all humanity.  Jesus has a heart with courage born of love – a heart large enough to face this dangerous crowd and still speak the truth to them.

          This scene comes after Jesus had already made some pretty bold, if indirect, statements concerning his deity – a couple of chapters earlier in John he spoke with a Samaritan Woman about spiritual matters and she tells him that she knows that the Messiah is coming and when he comes, he will explain everything.  His response to her was, “I who speak to you am he.”  And in an earlier scene with pretty much the same crowd who had tried to stone him the first time, he said to them, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.  My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.  Though you do not know him, I know him.  If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word.  Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.  I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!”  It comes as the culmination of a speech where Jesus states that he is the good shepherd.  Jesus doesn’t say to the crowd, “I am the Messiah,” directly.  Instead, he uses symbolic language that speaks to the heart of each listener.  While it is true that belief can be achieved through intellectual persuasion, it is, ultimately, the heart of a person that accepts Christ.

          When we pull back and take a long view of what has been said and done immediately before this present scene, we see an inspiring progression.  When Christ says, “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them and they follow me,” Jesus is saying he wants us to hear.  Now, he speaks of belief, which employs the heart.  Jesus wants us to believe.  Jesus wants us to believe with our own hearts of what he says and does.

          That being said, the Jews (here in the gospel of John, this word is usually used to refer to the Pharisees, members of the Sanhedrin, and other leaders) – they want Jesus to end all the suspense and state plainly if he is, in fact, the Messiah.  They want clear, precise language; and it’s what Jesus provided.  His statement, “I have told you, and you do not believe,” is precise.  It allows Jesus to avoid the trap they are trying to set for him making a statement for which they can then accuse him before Pilate.  In addition, it gives their hearts one more chance to receive the truth of who Jesus is, if they would only hear and listen.  There was no suspense, just an unwillingness on their part to believe all that Jesus had done and said up to that point.

          Christ doesn’t make anyone believe.  Eyes can be open, yet blind.  Ears can be open, yet deaf.  Hearts can be open, yet unwilling.  Jesus states in vs. 26 that the Jews do not believe; not that they couldn’t, they simply wouldn’t.  Jesus, in essence says to them, “Look at my works.  Actions speak far louder than any words I can say; seeing is believing, is it not?  What do my actions and all the signs and wonders I’ve provided, tell you who I am?”

          Jesus boldly deals with their lack of faith, and states quite succinctly the rewards for those who believe.  But because of who and what they are, they do not believe.  Jesus does not ask us for blind faith.  He doesn’t say, “Believe because I tell you to believe.”  He wants us to fully know, to fully comprehend by listening and seeing, because he demonstrated his deity over and over again.  But the Jews’ hearts, in this crowd, where unable to do that.

          The reasons for their disbelief were many.  For these religious leaders, there was much at stake.  If Jesus indeed was the Messiah, the prestige of their positions as religious leaders would certainly suffer, be in question, or simply be eliminated.  Their income would be lost as their flock turned to Christ.  Their power and influence would suffer, as Christ gave believers power through faith in him.  They could not afford for Jesus to be who he said he was, even though his coming was prophesied, even though everything about him fit the prophecies.  And, I think, more importantly, everything they interpreted about God, the Messiah, and their beliefs would be in question.  Because this Messiah wasn’t the ruler they were expecting.

          Jesus places the consequence of their disbelief squarely on the shoulders of their refusal to believe his works.  Now, angered even more, the Jews try again to arrest him, but Jesus manages to escape.  We aren’t told how he manages his escape this time, but it demonstrates the power of Christ to avoid capture until the time is right, until he himself is ready, according to God’s purpose. 

          Now the biggest question is what does this story mean for us today?  I think it lays out the very serious situation that every person faces – belief in Christ or not.  We should all have courage enough to speak our faith in Christ.

          Jesus gives us an opportunity to recognize who he is; not based solely on what he says, but also by what he has done.  He challenges us to open our hearts and he wills us to see and hear the truth around us for what it is.  I think that is the heart of evangelism.  It’s not simply passing out flyers or tracts, knocking on people’s doors to ask them if they believe in Jesus Christ.  It’s not about getting up on some soap box and shouting that the end of the world is at hand and you better believe.  It’s not about giving someone a talk about the four spiritual laws.  NO!  It’s about being active in other people’s lives, showing them Christ.  It’s about having open and honest conversations about your own faith journey with others, allowing them to see Christ in you, just as Jesus showed the power and love of God in him to those who were willing to see and learn.  It’s about doing and being so that people can see the power of Christ in you.  We can’t do these things unless we are active in the world, unless we are out in and among the community, being part of their everyday lives. 

          Ultimately the questions become: Do we see?  Do we hear?  Do we believe?  But maybe also, as a Christian, “Can Christ be seen in me?”  And sometimes that takes a great deal of time, effort, and courage.

AMEN.        

Offertory –

Doxology –

Prayer of Dedication –

Giver of life and all the gifts of our lives, receive now these tokens of our appreciation which we set before you as signs of our love and thanksgiving.  We rejoice with thankful hearts for all your blessings.  Help us to live our lives in service to you as our continuing gift of thanks.  We pray in the name of Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Closing Hymn –  Blessed Assurance           #341/572            3 vs.

Benediction –

         May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  AMEN.

Postlude