A Self-Made Man

A Self-Made Man is my suggested worship theme for the 11^th Sunday after Pentecost, August 4, 2013. Focus scriptures are Luke 12:13-21 and Psalm 49.

In Luke, Jesus warns against placing too much faith in material wealth as a way to security and happiness. He may have just read Psalm 49 when he tells the story of the rich man set for life with overflowing barns, now prepared to eat, drink, and make merry. Then suddenly, the man’s life is required of him by God and all his goods help him not at all. Life is scary, and frightened humans love to fool ourselves into the idea that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and make ourselves secure. But alas, it all turns out to be an illusion. The only source of true security is God.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Psalm 49. Please use or adapt anything helpful to you.

Call to Worship    From Psalm 49

L: Here’s a riddle for everyone, rich and poor! What good is wealth?

P: Are you kidding? Money makes you strong, sets you up to thrive!
L: Really? Then answer me this: what is the cost of eternal life?
P: Are you asking if we can buy eternal life from God?
L: Right. Does God have a price you can pay?
     Don’t the wise and foolish die together?
P: But what about the rich and famous?
     Some even name buildings after themselves.
L: Right. And then what? Death shepherds them home to the grave.
P: So what’s the answer, then, since no one escapes Death?
L: God is the answer. We can’t save ourselves, but God can.
P: So we don’t need to chase money or be jealous when someone else gets rich?
L: Be rich in faith and rich in service. Keep straight who is who.
     Like all creatures, humans age and weaken and die. But our Creator loves us!

All: Thanks be to God! Let us give God our worship and praise!

God Asleep?

God Asleep? is my suggested worship theme for Sunday, July 21, 2013. The focus scriptures are Genesis 18: 20-32, Luke 11:1-13, and Psalm 85.

What effect do human beings have on God?

This question lurks in both the Genesis story of Abraham bargaining with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the teaching of Jesus on prayer.  In the story from Genesis, God appears intent on destroying two evil cities, but Abraham is bold enough to inquire if it is just to destroy everyone when there may be 50 – or even 10 – individuals who are upright. As they talk this over, God agrees to forestall the punishment of the sins of the many for the sake of the few who are blameless – if any such can be found.

In Jesus’ teachings on prayer, there is the vivid parable of the householder who receives guests late in the night without anything to offer them. The rules of hospitality in the Middle East being strong, the host runs over to borrow bread from a neighbor who is asleep with his whole family in a single bed. Shamelessly he knocks on the door until his neighbor grudgingly gets up to lend him the bread for fear that all the children will wake up. It may take some doing to rouse God, the parable suggests, but keep at it for those who seek will find, and to those who knock, the door will be (eventually) opened.

How alert and responsive is God to our needs? Is God open to bargaining? Is persistent prayer eventually effective in getting God’s attention? Or are humans the ones who are asleep and unresponsive to God’s call? Is God knocking on our doors with generally poor results? As Paul Newman famously says at the end of the movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate!” Why?

Here is a Call to Worship based on Psalm 85 – a psalm which optimistically aims to persuade God to wake up and help God’s people. Please use or adapt anything helpful to you.

Call to Worship     From Psalm 85

L: God you blessed your land and reversed Jacob’s fortunes. 

     You forgave our ancestors and pardoned their sin. 
P: You didn’t get mad. You held back your anger.
L: Restore us again, O God of our salvation! Put away your wrath.
     Don’t hold our wrongdoings against us forever!
     Revive us again so we can rejoice in you.
P: Give us your grace, O God. Save us!
L: Let us listen for God’s answer. Surely God’s peace is ready to dawn.
P: Love and faith will hold hands.
     Justice and peace will kiss.
L: Truth will spring up from the earth and justice will rain from heaven.
P: God’s blessing will yield a harvest of bounty.
     God’s goodness will create a path to our future.
All: Alleluia! Let us worship God! 

Christ the Key

My suggested worship theme for Sunday, July 21, 2013 is Christ the Key. The focus scripture is Colossians 1:15-29.

In this passage Paul quotes an ancient Christian hymn to describe the cosmic attributes of Christ’s primacy and power in a compelling way. As John Robinson suggests, Christ is the human face of God. And Christ is the key to all authentic human living. We look at his life and love, and we see God’s intention for the human community – for human relationships with each other, with nature, and with God.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Colossians 1:11-22. Please use or adapt anything that is helpful.   

 

Call to Worship    From Colossians 1:11-22

 L: Rejoice sisters and brothers! Even in suffering God makes us strong with God’s astonishing strength. And God invites us into the glorious inheritance of the saints.

P: God rescues us from the powers of evil and carries us into the kingdom of Christ.
     There we are safe. There we receive forgiveness for all our sins.
L: For Christ is the human face of God. God created him and he created everything else!   
     Christ created this visible world and in all its beauty.
     And Christ created all the invisible powers – the laws that hold all things together.   
     Christ created it all to serve his love!
P: Christ is the foundation of all things and the glue that holds all things together.
     He is the head of his body, the Church.
     He is the first-born to human life, and the first-born to eternal life.
     His life reveals the purpose of all authentic human living.  
L: In his life the fullness of God joined us on earth. By his death on the cross God
      captured our hearts and drew us back into a loving relationship.
P: Now we – who were once estranged from God, hostile in mind, doing evil –
     are reconciled to God and made new creatures by Christ’s death on the cross.
All: Thanks be to God! Let us worship God!