October 20, 2024

Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost

10:00am

 

CHIMING OF THE HOUR

 

WELCOME

 

OPENING PRAYER

God with us,

When we privilege our own agendas,

hurt others in the effort to impose our will,

or chain ourselves to our fears,

tumble us off the throne of our pride,

and release us into finding our worth in your love.

Lord have mercy on us

 

Lord Jesus Christ,

you know us, you love us, you free us,

then call us to follow you

and we bless you.

Your mercy meets us in our confusion;

may your spirit meet us in our everyday living. Amen.

 

PRELUDE                 “Alleluia, Song of Gladness”                    Robert Powell

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.
Let us follow Christ, not seeking glory, but ways to serve.

Called to worship, we bow humbly before our God.

 

*HYMN No. 305                   “Come Sing, O Church, in Joy”

1 Come sing, O church, in joy!
Come join, O church, in song!
For Christ the Lord has led us
through the ages long!

Refrain:
In bold accord,
come celebrate the journey now
and praise the Lord!

2 Long years have come and gone,
and still God reigns supreme,
empowering us to catch the vision,
dream the dream! (Refrain)

Refrain:
In bold accord,
come celebrate the journey now
and praise the Lord!

3 Let courage be our friend;
let wisdom be our guide,
as we in mission magnify
the Crucified! (Refrain)

Refrain:
In bold accord,
come celebrate the journey now
and praise the Lord!

4 Come sing, O church, in joy!
Come join, O church, in song!
For Christ the Lord has triumphed o’er
the ages long! (Refrain)

 

Refrain:
In bold accord,
come celebrate the journey now
and praise the Lord!

*CALL TO CONFESSION

Our God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Let us embrace this time of confession with honesty and humility.

 

*PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

Holy God, your truth is oftentimes hard to hear. We confess our avoidance, our purposeful distractions, our prideful arrogance that keeps us from hearing and responding to your Word. Although you send us messages and messengers, we dismiss and disregard those who tell us we are wrong. Have mercy upon us, Holy God. Open us to hearing the truth no matter how it is conveyed. Amen.

 

*SILENT PRAYER FOR CONFESSION

 

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Hear the Good News!

Who is in a position to condemn?

Only Christ,and Christ died for us,
Christ rose for us,

Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us.

Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.
The old life has gone;
a new life has begun.

Know that you are forgiven and be at peace.
Amen.

 

*RESPONSE No. 1                “Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!”

4 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

 

*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST

Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us forgive one another.

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

 

ANTHEM                  “A New Song”                       Lloyd Lawson

 

PRESENTATION OF BIBLES                    Michael Landis

 

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

 

UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Please join me in the unison prayer…

God of Wisdom and Grace, you speak through your Word read and proclaimed. Prepare us now to listen well. Open our ears to your truth. Humble us in your presence so nothing will stand in the way of what you say to us today. Amen.

 

SCRIPTURE              Mark 10:35-45

³⁵ James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶ And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷ And they said to him, “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸ But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ³⁹ They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized, ⁴⁰ but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to appoint, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

 

⁴¹ When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴² So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³ But it is not so among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”

 

Pause…

 

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!!

 

 

SERMON                  “You Must Be Slave To All”

One of my favorite moments in the Mister Rogers documentary was the moment when a little boy came up to Fred at an event in Boston while he was doing a meet and greet.  The young boy came up to Mister Rogers and, characteristically, he knelt down so he could speak face to face with the young man.  The boy looked completely and utterly bewildered and he looked at his television idol and asked, “Mr. Rogers, how did you get out?”  Mister Rogers smiled and began to explain to the young boy about the concept of television and how he wasn’t literally in the box while the boy watched every week.  The young boy listened intently, nodding with a look of intense concentration saying, “uh-huh, ok, yeah, hmmmmm.”  When Fred finished his elaborate explanation, the young boy just looked back at him and said with 100% sincerity, “But, Mr. Rogers, how will you get back in?”

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how carefully or frequently someone explains something to us, we just don’t get it.  And I’m in no way trying to suggest that children are the only ones who do this; us adults are equally guilty of it.  If you need any proof of this truth, you need only turn to today’s passage from the 10th chapter of Mark’s Gospel.

In last week’s passage, Jesus literally told the disciples that the last will be first and the first must be last.  And what do James and John ask in today’s passage?  TO BE FIRST!  A southern Jesus would have looked at James and John and said simply, “Bless your heart!”

They just don’t get it.  Mark’s Gospel makes us practically cringe as we watch helplessly as the Zebedee boys fight over vanity, position, and influence.  Matthew’s Gospel is apparently too embarrassed on behalf of James and John so, in Matthew’s version of today’s story, he has their mother come and ask the question on their behalf.  But Mark places the disciples’ ignorance and vanity right in front of us.  And that makes this a very difficult passage because, as we will discuss shortly, it causes us to take a hard look at our tendency towards vanity.

But what makes these disciples’ foolishness even more unbelievable is what Jesus said immediately before they asked this question.  Mark 10:32-34 reads as such:  “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.’”

Friends, this is not the first, nor the second, but the third time so far in Mark’s Gospel that Jesus has predicted his violent death.

Yet despite these bloody warnings, despite Jesus telling them that the first must be last, James and John ask to be seated at Jesus’ left and right in his moment of glory.  Jesus tells them lovingly, perhaps even sadly, that they do not understand what they are asking.  And we know this to be true because the supreme irony is that the positions on the left and right of Jesus in his moment of glory are not filled by people sitting in influence but, literally, hanging in shame.  As the old adage goes:  be careful what you ask for; you just might get it.

They just don’t get it.  They do not know what they are asking for.

But do we?

Two things come to mind when I think about this story as it relates to the people who are The Presbyterian Church at Woodbury.

The first thing is this: are we fully aware of, and fully honest about, the sacrifice that it takes to be a committed member of a Christian community in this world?  James and John are eager to sit at Jesus’ left and right because they think that it will be a place of glitz and glamour.  They make a spectacle of themselves, practically shoving past one another, trying to get the biggest piece of the pie.  But the irony is that they don’t realize that the dish that is being served to them is a mandate for them to serve others.

In the life of this congregation many people have been invited to join us here.  And we try many tactics to “sell” our congregation (and I use that verb very intentionally).  To the young families, we tell them that this will be a great place to raise their children.  We have great programs, great learning opportunities, and it’s like instantaneously getting a huge family with built-in aunts and uncles and grandparents.  To our older folks, we tell them that Woodbury is a great place to come find companionship and support and fellowship.  In other words, we sell the church by telling people how much we can provide for them.

Now, friends, all of these things are well and good.  This church should be a place where people are cared for.  This church should be a place where people find support and fellowship.  This church should provide for all who join us.  But if we invite people by doing nothing but telling them how much they will get out of being here, then we are not telling the whole truth.

For example, when we invite people to church, how often to we say something like the following: “We’re so glad that you’re considering joining us here at the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury.  It’s a great place where we try our best to love and support and care for one another.  We share the love of God, and we can’t wait to share that love with you and your family.  But, just so you know, being part of a Christian family is a real commitment.  Being a part of this family, like being a part of any family, takes a whole heck of a lot of work.  There will be moments when it’s fun.  And there will be moments when it’s tough as hell.  There will be moments when you will receive.  And there will be many moments when you will be called to give.”

Friends, that’s a tough sell in a culture that tells us that it’s all about our comfort and our convenience.  Perhaps now we realize just how upside-down this kingdom really is.  The last will be first.  The first will be last.  The least will be greatest, and the greatest will be least.

The second thing this passage compels me to lift up for us this day is this:  motives matter.  If James and John had truly asked to be at Jesus’ left and right so that they would be in the prime positions to give of themselves and serve the needy, then I believe Jesus would have said: “Awesome!  Let’s do it!”  But their motives are different.  They want power.  They want prestige.  They want influence.

Many of you in this room remember a time when this congregation had twice the amount of people on the rolls as we do right now.  Many of you remember when baptisms far outnumbered funerals.  We are a congregation that wants to grow or, at least, we say we do.  But a difficult passage like today calls us to examen our motives before we go out to grow this congregation.  Do we simply want more members because it will make us feel as important as we did 15, 20, 25 years ago?  Do we simply want more members so that we’ll have more money so we can maintain our property?  Do we simply want more members so that we can have the influence that the larger church down the street has?

Or…

Do we want more members so we can increase the amount of service we do in Christ’s name?  Do we want more members so we can learn more together about what it means to be a fully committed disciple of Jesus?  Do we want more members so we can truly make disciples and send people out in the world to be the Body of Christ?

Friends, it’s all about motives.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to grow this congregation.  But we must be honest with ourselves about what that means and what sacrifices that may bring.  There are times when putting the Body of Christ first means putting our comfort and convenience last.  There are times when moving forward means letting go of some things.  There are times, when making room for resurrection, that some things have to die in order for new things to sprout up in their place.

All these things are the work of the Upside-Down Kingdom.  The work is tough, my friends.  We do ourselves no favors by sugarcoating this.  But there is also so much joy to be found when doing Kingdom work.  There is so much beauty in what is possible when a group of broken people gather together to love one another radically and spread that love in a broken world.  There is so much to be grateful for when we realize that we are called for such a time as this to not just go to church but to be the Church.

So, friends, let us go forth, following Jesus to the places he would lead us.  And know that whether that road be smooth or hard, know that Jesus goes with us to spread the love of God.

 

 

Commentary and Liturgy from the Book of Common Worship (PCUSA), “Call to Worship” Website, PCUSA Book of Confession, The New Interpreter’s Commentary, Stephen M. Fearing, Joanna Adams, David Lose and Scott Hoezee.

 

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH          The Apostle’s 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.

 

*HYMN No. 308                   “O God in Whom All Life Begins”

1 O God in whom all life begins,
who births the seed to fruit,
bestow your blessing on our lives;
here let your love find root.
Bring forth in us the Spirit’s gifts
of patience, joy, and peace;
deliver us from numbing fear,
and grant our faith increase.

2 Unite in mutual ministry
our minds and hands and hearts
that we may have the grace to seek
the power your peace imparts.
So let our varied gifts combine
to glorify your Name
that in all things by word and deed
we may your love proclaim.

3 Through tears and laughter, grief and joy,
enlarge our trust and care;
so bind us in community
that we may risk and dare.
Be with us when we gather here
to worship, sing, and pray;
then send us forth in power and faith
to live the words we say.

 

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER

God of grace, nourish us this day through Word and worship. Strengthen our desire to discern and do your will. Focus us on your path of righteous- ness so we can walk steadily under your direction. Bend your ear to us, God of love, as we pray not only for ourselves but for people everywhere.

 

God of mercy, hear our prayers. We pray for those suffering the after- math of natural disasters, for the lives, homes and businesses destroyed by hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes. We pray for those who are exhausted, those struggling to pay bills and put food on the table, those overwhelmed by suffering and in need of a lighter load. We pray for those living in war zones, for the people of Israel and Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, and Sudan, people desperate for peace.

 

God of mercy, hear our prayers. We pray for leaders, administrators and decision-makers who cannot please everyone, yet still strive to do what is just and right. We pray our nation’s leaders uphold those in need, defend the oppressed, and do not succumb to idols of money and power. We pray for disputes to end, for people to work together, for our nation to know peace rather than polarization.

 

God of mercy, hear our prayers. We pray for those who are ill and their caregivers. We pray for those struggling with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. Free us from any shame or stigma that keeps us from acknowledging our need and getting the help all deserve. Instill in us a sense of mutual responsibility for the health and wellbeing of all your children.

 

Finally, O God, mold us for service so we can be the answer to the prayers we pray, according to your Word and inspired by the One who saves, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

United as a family of faith and as the Body of Christ we lift these prayers up to you, God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Finally, hear us pray the prayer Christ taught us, saying, “Our Father…”

 

The Lord’s Prayer

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 have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

STEWARDSHIP MINUTE FOR MISSION                      TBD

 

OFFERING OF TITHES & OFFERINGS

Let us give and live generously in response to all that God has done for us. Let us present our tithes and offerings to the Lord.

 

OFFERTORY

 

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

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise God, all creatures high and low.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise God, in Jesus fully known:
Creator, Word, and Spirit one.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

 

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION

Holy God, these offerings are only a portion of all that you have given us. We gratefully present these gifts and entrust them to your work in this world. May our gifts share the Good News of the gospel to those who are in need. May these gifts help unburden those with the heaviest of loads. Amen.

 

 

*HYMN No. 377                    “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”

1 I want to walk as a child of the light.
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus. (Refrain”

Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

2 I want to see the brightness of God.
I want to look at Jesus.
Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path,
and show me the way to the Father. (Refrain)

Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

 

3 I’m looking for the coming of Christ.
I want to be with Jesus.
When we have run with patience the race,
we shall know the joy of Jesus. (Refrain)

 

Refrain:
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

 

*BENEDICTION

May we leave this house of worship today, quick to listen, slow to speak, open to hearing and responding to God’s truth.

 

May God bless you and keep you, be kind and gracious to you, may God look upon you with favor and bring you peace. Amen.