July 30, 2023

9^th Sunday after Pentecost

10:00am

 

WELCOME

 

OPENING PRAYER

God of our ancestors,
you have always been faithful to us,
keeping your promises to us,
even when we have not kept our promises to you.
As we praise you this day,
guide us into new understandings
of you love for us,
and the kingdom you call us to be. Amen.

 

PRELUDE

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

 

*HYMN No. 757                    “Today We All Are Called To Be Disciples”

1 Today we all are called to be
disciples of the Lord,
to help to set the captive free,
make plowshare out of sword,
to feed the hungry, quench their thirst,
make love and peace our fast,
to serve the poor and homeless first,
our ease and comfort last.

2 God made the world and at its birth
ordained our human race
to live as stewards of the earth,
responding to God’s grace.
But we are vain and sadly proud;
we sow not peace but strife.
Our discord spreads a deadly cloud
that threatens all of life.

3 Pray justice may come rolling down
as in a mighty stream,
with righteousness in field and town
to cleanse us and redeem.
For God is longing to restore
an earth where conflicts cease,
a world that was created for
a harmony of peace.

4 May we in service to our God
act out the living word,
and walk the road the saints have trod
till all have seen and heard.
As stewards of the earth may we
give thanks in one accord
to God who calls us all to be
disciples of the Lord.

 

*CALL TO CONFESSION

The kingdom of heaven is for all of us, but we come to this space full of our own burdens. Let us confess our sins before our Triune God.

 

*PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

Holy God, we try to keep you close to us, but in the process, we push our neighbors away. We have been distracted in a distracting world and withheld love from each other and from you. Have mercy on us, O God. In your compassion, cleanse and release us from our sin. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Amen.

 

*SILENT PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

 

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died and who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Amen.

 

*RESPONSE No. 581             “Glory Be To The Father”

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen, amen.

 

*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Our peace comes from knowing how much God loves us in Jesus Christ. With God’s help, we try to love and forgive one another as Christ loves and forgives us.

“The peace of Christ be with you,”

“And also with you.”

 

MUSICAL MEDITATION

 

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE                  Laken Franchetti

UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Eternal God, you have made us in your image. Let our hearts, minds and spirits be turned to you in this time so that the Holy Spirit may bring us closer to the Word. Amen.

 

UNISON SCRIPTURE                       Romans 8:26-39

26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

 

29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

 

31What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

SERMON                   “I am convinced.”

More than 150 years ago, Victor Hugo wrote his epic novel, Les Misérables, It is a story of human suffering and redemption. In the preface to his novel, he wrote, “So long as there shall be ignorance, poverty and wretchedness on the earth, stories such as these must be told.”

What a story he tells! Such stories will always be told because suffering is universal. His story is our story. We too know about suffering and redemption; we too experience tragedy and triumph. We cringe in horror with the news of more gun violence; we feel helpless as we watch the pollution of the earth and the destruction of plant and animal life by wasteful and foolish human behavior; we grieve with parents whose children lose their lives from devastating diseases like cancer, depression or Covid.

When we see great suffering and decay around us, we wonder what these painful realities say about the nature of life in the universe and any hope we may have for the future. Living in this world where childhood trauma, terrorism and violence are daily events can be a frightening experience.

When we have been battered, bruised, or lost a loved one, we wonder what God is doing about suffering and death. I believe that our faith in God makes such scenes of human suffering worse before it makes them better. What I mean is this: in Jesus Christ, we have come to know a God of boundless compassion, love, and justice. Our faith leads us to question why such a God could allow such misery. There is a spiritual agony that arises from our experiences of physical suffering. Our experience of God makes us long for something more than what we now see.

In the eighth chapter of Romans, Paul wrestles with what the suffering of the present time says about the future God has planned for each one of us and for all of creation. Paul does not shy away from recognizing the reality of suffering or the presence of evil. Paul speaks of how this world is in “bondage to decay.” He acknowledges that there is “hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and sword.” Yet, he dares to say that we live in a God directed universe.

Philosophers, physicists, theologians and even 6-year-olds contemplate the nature of the universe. When the Hebrew people looked at the world, they saw the glory of the Creator reflected in the creation: “The Lord has established a throne in the heavens, and God’s kingdom rules overall.” When they looked at the enormity of space above them, they saw it as an image of the vastness of God’s love: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is God’s steadfast love toward those who fear God.” When they saw the fleeting character of all life, they saw it in contrast to the everlasting character of God’s love: “As for mortals, their days are like grass, they flourish like the flower of the field; for the wind passes over it and it is gone…. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.” (Quotes from Psalm 103)

When the Bible speaks of God, it does not speak of a God who is absent or passive. The Bible speaks of a God who acts and who is present with the people. God acts in the world of nature and in human affairs. God acts through other people and events, but also in mysterious ways that are often hidden from our eyes. God is the author of all that exists; God has created all things for a purpose; and God sustains all things with loving will. The universe may have started with a big bang, but it was not an accidental explosion. You might say that God lit the fuse and stayed to direct the fireworks. Even as the galaxies spin out over billions of years into empty space, God’s purposes are still unfolding.

In the 1930’s, Bishop William Temple published a series of lectures under the title Nature, Man and God. Temple speaks of the ways in which the natural world is influenced by far more than what was called natural law in his day and what we may call quantum physics today. He speaks of the sacramental view of nature. The Spirit of God works in and through the natural world bringing into fulfillment the purposes of God.

Nature is sublime because it expresses “divine majesty;” it is beautiful because it expresses “the divine artistry;” and it is redemptive because it expresses “the divine love.” Nature is sacramental because it communicates to us God’s own self- -the word made flesh. Temple writes, “The dominant issue of history…is the prevailing and increasing supremacy of love in all its forms over self-centeredness in all its forms–a supremacy both won and sustained by love’s own method of self-sacrifice”.

When we look at the brutality of history and the agony of human existence, we also see the hand of God transforming the creation by the power of self-giving love. Paul speaks of the whole creation groaning in labor pains, waiting with eager longing for the birth of a new creation. I appreciate the way J.B. Phillips paraphrases these words in his rendering of the New Testament. He says that the creation stands on tiptoes in order to see God’s future. We stand on tiptoes and strain to catch the first glimpse of the new creation. In Romans 8, we see how the transforming Spirit of God is within us, linking us to God and bringing us to new birth as God’s children. We too “will obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

As the children of God, we have been given an unbreakable internal covenant through Jesus Christ that is sealed in our hearts and minds by the Spirit. It is unbreakable because God’s covenant partner is Jesus, and we are united with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is unbreakable because it does not depend upon us, but upon the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Through Christ and in Christ, we and the whole creation have a future.

God directs the universe toward its goal of transformation in Jesus Christ. Life in God is movement from suffering to glory. Therefore, Paul can say the familiar but easily misunderstood words: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.” Paul does not say that everything is good or that whatever happens to us is good. Paul is not like Voltaire’s fictitious philosopher Pangloss in his novel Candide. Pangloss has a ridiculous way of explaining everything that happens, no matter how terrible, as the best thing that could happen. In the face of every disaster, Pangloss declares, “This is the best of all possible worlds.” Paul is no Pangloss spouting cheap answers to human suffering.

Paul is a realist who sees evil and human suffering for what they are. Yet, he maintains that evil will not defeat.

God’s ultimate plan for creation. The goodness of God will prevail. I like the older translation of his verse that says, “In everything God works for good with those who love God.” God even transformed the crucifixion of Jesus into the means of our salvation. God is at work in the darkest experiences and worst situations of life to accomplish a holy purpose.

There is a God who comes to us in our suffering to reassure us that we belong to God. God loves us and will not let us go. Paul takes stock of the suffering. all around him and testifies that nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. No matter what new dimension of reality is discovered in our universe; no matter to what depth of evil we humans descend; no matter what new global and domestic terrors we face, the love of God is greater still. Father Richard Rohr once said, “You can endure and absorb the painful mystery of things, if you are upheld by the unconditional love.”

We wait for the final day with eager longing. What will be revealed: we will be set free from our bondage to decay to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. Nothing in all creation could separate her from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord or as Eugene Peterson translates Paul’s text: I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic, or demonic, today, or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

God has bound us in an irrevocable, unbreakable covenant of love to Jesus Christ. What is coming to be is greater than what has been. In the mystery of God’s being, our suffering and all the suffering that ever was shall be transformed. With the whole creation, we too shall obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.  I am convinced!

 

 

Commentary and Liturgy from the Book of Common Worship (PCUSA), Teri McDowell Ott, Mary Hinkle Shore, Paul S. Berge, Matt Bowman, and Lewis Galloway

 

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

from A Brief Statement of Faith

We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father.  In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. 

 

But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation.  Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation.

 

In everlasting love, the God of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of the earth.  Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of Israel from the house of bondage.

 

Loving us still, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, Like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still.

 

*HYMN No. 523                    “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”

Refrain:
You satisfy the hungry heart
with gift of finest wheat;
come give to us, O saving Lord,
the bread of life to eat.

1 As when the shepherd calls his sheep,
they know and heed his voice,
so when you call your family, Lord,
we follow and rejoice. (Refrain)

2 With joyful lips we sing to you
our praise and gratitude
that you should count us worthy, Lord,
to share this heavenly food. (Refrain)

3 Is not the cup we bless and share
the blood of Christ outpoured?
Do not one cup, one loaf, declare
our oneness in the Lord? (Refrain)

4 The mystery of your presence, Lord,
no mortal tongue can tell:
whom all the world cannot contain
comes in our hearts to dwell. (Refrain)

5 You give yourself to us, O Lord;
then selfless let us be,
to serve each other in your name
in truth and charity. (Refrain)

 

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,

the Holy Supper that we are about to celebrate

is a feast of remembrance, of communion, and of hope.

We come in remembrance

that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent of the Father into the world

to assume our flesh and blood

and to fulfill for us all obedience to the divine law,

even to the bitter and shameful death of the cross.

By his death, resurrection, and ascension

he established a new and eternal covenant of grace and reconciliation,

that we might be accepted of God and never be forsaken by him.

We come to have communion with this same Christ,

who has promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world.

In the breaking of the bread he makes himself known to us

as the true heavenly bread that strengthens us unto life eternal.

In the cup of blessing he comes to us as the vine,

in whom we must abide if we are to bear fruit.

 

We come in hope,

believing that this bread and this cup

are a pledge and foretaste of the feast of love

of which we shall partake when his kingdom has fully come,

when with unveiled face we shall behold him,

made like unto him in his glory.

Since by his death, resurrection, and ascension,

Christ has obtained for us the life-giving Spirit,

who unites us all in one body,

so are we to receive this supper in true love,

mindful of the communion of saints.

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

the gospels tell us that on the first day of the week,

the day on which our Lord rose from the dead,

he appeared to some of his disciples

and was made known to them

in the breaking of bread.

Come, then, to the joyful feast of our Lord.

 

The Prayer of Thanksgiving and The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right for us to give thanks and praise.

We give you thanks, O God,

through your beloved servant, Jesus Christ,

whom you have sent in these last times

as Savior and Redeemer and messenger of your will.

He is your Word, inseparable from you,

through whom you made all things

and in whom you take delight.

You sent him from heaven into the virgin’s womb,

where he was conceived and took flesh.

Born of the virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit,

he was revealed as your Son.

In fulfillment of your will he stretched out his hands in suffering

to release from suffering those who place their trust in you,

and so won for you a holy people.

He freely accepted the death to which he was handed over

in order to destroy death and to shatter the chains of the evil one;

to trample underfoot the powers of hell

and to lead the righteous into light;

to fix the boundaries of death

and to manifest the resurrection.

And so he took bread, gave thanks to you, and said,

“Take, and eat; this is my body, broken for you.”

In the same way he took the cup, saying,

“This is my blood, shed for you.

When you do this, do it for the remembrance of me.”

Remembering therefore his death and resurrection,

we set before you this bread and cup,

thankful that you have counted us worthy

to stand in your presence and serve you as your priestly people.

We ask you to send your Holy Spirit

upon the offering of the holy church.

Gather into one all who share these holy mysteries,

filling them with the Holy Spirit and confirming their faith in the truth,

that together we may praise you and give you glory,

through your servant, Jesus Christ.

Through him all glory and honor are yours, almighty Father,

with the Holy Spirit in the holy church

now and forever.

 

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, for ever. Amen.

 

Words of Institution

 

Communion

 

Closing Prayer

We bless you, O God,

for gifts of bread and cup,

for sustaining us in hope,

every day of our lives.

We pray for your strength

to prepare us now for your service

as we offer to you

lives of witness and worship

in the world you have made.

Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

OFFERING OF TITHES & OFFERINGS

The one who sows a small number of seeds will also reap a small crop, and the one who sows a generous amount of seeds will also reap a generous crop. Let us share our offering to God in support of the kingdom of heaven.

 

OFFERTORY

 

*RESPONSE N0. 609                        “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”

Praise God, from whom all blessing flow, Praise God, all creatures here below.  Alleluia, Alleluia Praise God in Jesus fully known; Creator, Word, and Spirit one. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

 

* PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Gracious God, this offering is what we have to give you this day. Be it time, talent or treasure, we lift these gifts to you. It is through you that all things are made new, and we ask that you renew our spirit to continue sharing our gifts with the least of us. Amen.

 

*HYMN No. 838                    “Standing on the Promises”

1 Standing on the promises of Christ my king,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.

Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of God my Savior;
standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

2 Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God. (Refrain)

3 Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
bound to him eternally by love’s strong cord,
overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
standing on the promises of God. (Refrain)

4 Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God. (Refrain)

 

*BENEDICTION

May we continue this day knowing that God has created this place for us; God created every one of us; And God loves each of us. So go out into the world and carry this love with you every place you go.

 

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Amen.