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!

Christ the Center

Christ the Center is our worship theme for the fifth Sunday after Pentecost, June 23, 2013. Our focus scriptures are Psalms 42 and 43 and Luke8:26-39.

In the gospel passage, Jesus heals a man possessed by a legion of demons. This man is so symbolic of our time when people are pulled in so many directions and beset with messages about how they should look, what they should buy, how much money they need to be a success, etc. Jesus gives the command and the man is restored to sanity while all the disruptive powers end up drowning in the sea. It is Jesus alone who proves himself able to help the man.

All of us long to live in balance, to live lives of purpose and power. The words of the psalmist express that longing. In Jesus, we find One who is able to blossom out from the center of our souls and restore the balance that we have lost.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Psalms 42 and 43. Please use or adapt anything helpful to you.

Call to Worship    From Psalms 42 and 43

L: Like a deer longs for flowing streams, my soul longs for you, O God.

P: I thirst for you, the living God. Will I ever see your face?

L: Day and night I cry for you, while scoffers say, “Where is your God?”

P: Memories of other days flood my soul: how I led a happy throng to your house.

    How we rejoiced at your festival, sure of your presence.                      

L: Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you so full of doubts?

     Hope in God; you shall turn again to praise.

P: My soul is cast down; yet you are the spring of life. You are like the waters

     of the Jordan bubbling up and cascading down from Mt. Herman.

L: Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls.

     All your waves and billows wash over me, drowning me in you.

P: By day you command your steadfast love.

    At night you sing in my soul, you turn my life to prayer.

L: O God, my Rock, why have you forgotten me?

    Why must I walk about in sorrow while my enemies oppress me?”

P: Their taunts cut like a knife: “Where is your God?”

L: Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you so full of doubts?

     Hope in God; you shall turn again to praise.

P: Vindicate me, O God! Defend me against these unbelievers!

All: Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you so full of doubts?

     Hope in God; you shall turn again to praise.

New Life

New Life is the worship theme for the third Sunday after Pentecost, June 9, 2013. Our focus scripture reading is Luke 7:11-17.

The healing of the widow’s son at Nain is one of the stories that simply shows us who Jesus is. As he is entering the city, Jesus meets a funeral procession which is taking a young man out to be buried. He is the only son of a widow, meaning that his mother is going to be left in a very precarious position. Not only is she filled with grief, but in a society without Social Security or welfare she needs the help and protection of a man. She is in the same position as Naomi in the Book of Ruth.

Jesus sizes up the situation and is filled with compassion. Without being asked, he simply stops the procession and calls the young man to new life. Jesus is a walking piece of the kingdom of heaven, born into his life on earth. With the kingdom is love and compassion and healing for all. It is this kingdom work that we inherit from him and that is our ministry.

Here are two Calls to worship. Please use or adapt anything helpful to you.  

**Call to Worship

L: Once there was a man who lived without fear.

P: Wherever he went the love of God went with him.

L: In fact, God’s love flowed out of him like a circle of light.

P: Inside that circle, people were safe.

L: Sick people received healing.

P: Sad people received hope.

L: Angry people received the gifts of forgiveness and peace.

P: Weak people got backbone.

L: Aimless people got purpose.

P: All of them felt intuitively like they had walked into heaven on earth.

L: The man who lived without fear is gone now.

All: He left his circle of light for you... for me... step in!                                 

 Call to Worship    From Psalm 30

L: Praise you, O God! You rescued me! You lifted me over my enemies!

P: I cried out to you, Lord, and you healed me.

L: You drew me up from the grave, O God. You saved me from falling into the pit.

P: Sing, all you faithful! Bless God’s holy name!

L: For God’s anger lasts but a moment; God’s grace lasts a lifetime.

     Weeping may linger for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

P: Puffed up by prosperity, I bragged, “I’m invincible!”

L: By your grace, O Lord, you made me a strong mountain.

     But when you looked away; I fell apart.

P: Then I cried to you for help, O God. I begged your forgiveness and mercy.

     What good is it to you if I die? Can my dust praise you?

     Can I tell your faithfulness from the pit? Hear me, help me, gracious God!

L: Then you did it! You turned my mourning into dancing!

     You took off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy!

All: Now my soul is bursting with praise! I cannot keep silence!

     O Lord my God, I give thanks to you forever!

Our Experience of the Trinity

Our Experience of the Trinity is the worship theme for Trinity Sunday, May 26, 2013. Our focus scripture is Romans 5:1-5.

In a way, the trinity is an artificial concept. Jesus never specifically teaches it as an article of faith. But as John tells it in the sermon Jesus gives his disciples at the Last Supper, God the Father, who has sent him into the world, will also send a Comforter, an Advocate, after Jesus is no longer with his disciples who will strengthen them and bring to their remembrance all that he has taught them. And Luke, in his two chapter book – the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles – tells the story of the mighty acts of God working through God’s Spirit. The Gospel tells how God gets Mary pregnant through the Spirit to create Jesus’ life, and then how God fills Jesus with the Spirit at his baptism and empowers his ministry. Then Acts tells how the risen Christ pours the Spirit out on the members of his Body on the day of Pentecost to give strength and wisdom to the Church. So in all this we do see a creating God, a ministering Christ, and an empowering Spirit. May the Church be blessed to always experience all three!

Here is a Call to Worship based on Romans 5:1-5. Please use or adapt anything helpful to you.

Call to Worship    From Romans 5:1-5

L: Sisters and brothers, our Lord Jesus Christ inspires us to put our faith in him.   

    And in this faith we find peace with God who sent him to us.

P: So now in Christ we experience the grace of God.

    We know that God forgives us and loves us completely.

L: We revel in the glory of God and God’s eternal blessing!

P: This empowers us to even find meaning in our sufferings.

L: For we know that suffering builds endurance, and endurance builds character,

    and character leads to hope.

P: And our hope is not in vain, because God’s love is poured into our hearts

    through Christ’s presence in the Holy Spirit who God gives to us.

All: Let us worship God, our Creator; Christ, God’s Son; and the Holy Spirit!

Experience Pentecost

Experience Pentecost is our worship theme for Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2013. Our focus scripture is Acts 2:1-12.

As Luke tells it in Acts 2, the story of Pentecost is the story of the Holy Spirit creating the Body of Christ in a way that parallels Luke’s Gospel story of the Holy Spirit creating Jesus. While the Holy Spirit quietly “overshadows” or “lays upon” Mary to cause her to conceive Jesus, the Holy Spirit is anything but quiet in impregnating the Church. Instead there is the sound of a mighty rushing wind, followed by fiery flames, followed by a surge of energy that has the followers of Jesus speaking in all kinds of languages, followed by the drawing of a large, diverse crowd who hear and come to understand the good news of God’s acts in Jesus.

Clearly, the Spirit brings enormous power and energy to the Church. This power binds us together as a community of the fire of Christ. And it gives us sending power to go out into the world and offer a radical welcome. We experience Pentecost when we experience the indwelling of Christ’s living presence and when we speak the language of those around us and tell the good news in ways that they can hear and understand it.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Acts 2:1-21. Please use or adapt anything that is helpful to you.

Call to Worship   (from Acts 2:1-21)

    L: On Pentecost all Christ’s followers were in one place.

    P: Suddenly from heaven came the sound of rushing wind!

All: Whooosh!

    L: Like a tornado, it shook their house!

    P: Then fiery flames appeared, arcing and dancing above their heads.  

    L: They were filled with Holy Spirit! They started speaking in tongues!

    P: What were they saying?

    L: The Spirit gave each a different language. But each told the same story.

    P: Devout people from every nation lived in Jerusalem.

         Hearing the uproar, they came running.

    L: “This is amazing!” We hear God’s deeds proclaimed in our languages.

    P: But some scoffed: “Can’t you see, these people are drunk!”

    L: Then Peter shouted: “Are you kidding? This is what Joel predicted!”

         “In the last days,” God reveals, “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh!”

    P: Our children will prophesy. Our youth will see visions.

         Our elderly will dream dreams.

    L: Slaves and free, men and women, everyone drenched in Holy Spirit!

    P: Then signs will appear in earth and heaven. The sun will go dark.

         The moon will turn to blood.

All: And everyone, yes everyone, who calls on God will be saved!

        Alleluia! Let us worship God!