PLEASE NOTE:
Join us in celebrating the "ringing of our bells" on Sunday, November 28 at 10:00 as we dedicate our new carillon. Light refreshments to follow.
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost November 14, 2021
OPENING WORDS:
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Come, let us present ourselves before our God.
Bring all your troubles and anxiety to God in prayer.
Many: Surely God knows our thoughts and hears our prayers.
We find strength for living as we praise God.
One: Lay down your arrogance and false pride.
Admit your needs as you seek God’s favor.
Many: We pour out our souls before the living God.
We do not withhold from God our misery and distress.
One: God grants our petitions and gives us peace.
The counsel of our God gladdens our hearts.
All: In God’s presence there is fullness of joy.
As we meet together, we are encouraged and comforted.
*OPENING HYMN: Called as Partners in Christ’s Service https://youtu.be/LtnTiDUr_og
WELCOME:
No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.
PRAYER OF INVOCATION:
Gracious and loving God, our hearts exalt in you. All knowledge has its origin in you. Our deepest hungers are satisfied as you give counsel and instruct our hearts. In you, O God, we find refuge from our turbulent world. We thank you, God. Be known to us now, that our bond with you may be strengthened. Give confidence to all who enter this sanctuary, that faith may grow, love expand, and hope may find fulfillment. Show us the path of life, and grant us courage to walk in your ways. Bless us, for we gather and we pray in Jesus Name. Amen
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS AND CONCERNS
A TIME OF PRAYER:
Good and gracious God, we have much for which to be thankful. You grace us gifts for our own good and the good of others. You fill our hearts and lives with the love of others, and treat us to times of genuine joy. Thank you, Dear Lord.
Holy One, we strive to bear witness to your love through our giving. While the journey towards true peace that lies ahead is long, we can be assured with you that our incremental steps continue to take us closer to that promised day. Renew in us the strength, faith, and courage we need to persevere so that the promised day will come when your Will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Source of all wisdom, who in Jesus Christ offers to teach us the way of love, we have asked for signals and signs of your presence and your leading but have often been led astray by our own desires and interpretations. Help us to hear your counsel above the clamor of other voices and, upon hearing, respond as you intend.
We pray for peace, O God, peace in our hearts and in our world. Comfort us from all anxiety and the worry of our days. Bring an end to the divisiveness that surrounds us. We long to be your people, united in love.
We pray for ourselves each one. Bless us and heal us in all our sore and broken places. Be with our families and our friends and keep them in the safety of your embrace.
We pray for the hungry and the homeless, the wandering and the afraid. Bless them with agents of care and concern in their midst and direct them in the way that they should go.
Bless, heal and comfort all who mourn.
You, our God, are our hope and our salvation and we thank you for privilege and power of prayer. Bless those on our prayer list, and those whose concerns we hold in our hearts. We ask these things in Jesus' Name who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father who art in heaven...."
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
- 1 Samuel 1.4-20; Psalm 116; Hebrews 10.19-25, Mark 13.1-8
SERMON: “Our God Of Assurances”
Perhaps I should have gone with my first thought for a sermon title: "God our Great Assurance Agent." The alliteration of Assurance Agent works as a nice way to remember it; it's a good little mnemonic. But such a title does seem to belittle the gift a bit, as if God has just another one of Those offices down the way or around the block.
Assurance is a bit of an infrequent word. Because it's not something we regularly receive or even contemplate, it doesn't often pop up in conversation. We usually opt for "promise" as in "she promised me it would be done," rather than "She assured me...." But there's something more comforting about assurance. Maybe that's because we have known broken promises. Broken assurances don't happen.
John Newton, an 18th century preacher teacher is remembered for his musing on assurance. He described it as a gift that God gives to us gradually through frequent testing. There's some truth in that for assurance doesn't happen all of a sudden. It needs to be learned and it needs to come from a place of trust. Newton writes:
Assurance grows by repeated conflict, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord’s power and goodness to save; when we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God, beyond and against appearances: and this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of assurance; for even assurance has degrees. (Newton on the Christian Life, 220)
Now, seriously, the hope is that it's not "a thousand times over," but I do agree it's learned and is often graduated.
In my life, I've likely taken more flights than many. I used to recruit for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks and so I was boarding flights every week. I also used to be a bit of a nervous flier. I know many who still are. One of my sisters is, although she wouldn't readily admit it. But I can tell. When I travel with her and we sit waiting to board, she is very atypically chatty (and chatty and chatty). A brother can tell about these things. As I made my very long way to Germany and back of late, it occurred to me that I'm really not a nervous traveler any more. I tend to sit back and endeavor to enjoy the journey. That, undoubtedly, has come with experience.
Now in spite of having been in the hospital a few times in my life, again perhaps more than most, I still get a bit anxious about it -- that is when it's a planned stay for a procedure of some sorts. There have been times when I hadn't planned the stay at all and ended up there anyway. There's no worry in that. That just comes down to dealing with it. But for me and for most, I know we meet the prospect of a hospital stay or procedure with some trepidation. We fret over it a bit, as if there was anything we could do about it. We know that worry doesn't help in such a situation for there is no midnight cramming that we could do and might be spawned by such. And yet, we still worry some. Our friends, and even our doctors, assure us that all will be fine, that it's a regular thing, and yet we're often slow to really take those assurances in.
But if the assurances came from someone who we really know and have long known, from someone who has things completely under control, from someone whom we really trust to the nth degree, we might, just might, take those assurances to heart. And that's precisely where our God steps in. We just need to remember who God is: Who God is to us, what God has long been for us, who God is in light of everything that transpires. We need to remember that God has and will see us through; that God has and will strengthen us; that God has and will bring healing and help once again to move forward with grace.
With a simple phrase uttered from the priest Eli's mouth: "Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him," Hannah arose from her worrisome and sorrowful pew in the temple fully trusting in the assurance of God. She knew. She took God to heart. "And her countenance was sad no longer."
Hebrews reminds us that with Jesus, "We have a great priest over the house of God." Greater than Eli in the temple, we have Jesus in heaven and in our hearts. And Jesus is always there to assure us. And so taking in all that Jesus is, we can "approach" not only the gate of heaven, but even the transom of life's scary endeavors, "with a true heart in full assurance of faith." With the assurance of God, we can indeed "hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful."
Yet, I know, it's not easy. We remain easily shaken. When the world seems to be falling apart around us, we are shaken. Wars, and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines, they shake us. I expect that's why Jesus taught the disciples about such. They, like us, were undoubtedly easy shaken too. But Jesus teaches that all is part of the known plan and with the teaching come the assurance of faith: God has God it under control. It will be as it should be. And it will be okay.
So with deep breaths, and mindful being, we're to take in our Great God of Assurance. We're again remained to "Let go and let God." And we can push through our worry, our anxiety, and even consider afresh "how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
HYMN: God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending
https://youtu.be/AUKNNdpMdHs
BENEDICTION:
May our God continue to gently strengthen you and increase your faith. May the love and light of God shine in you and through you in compassionate ways. May the Holy One long be your companion on all your journeys. Be blessed by God and go in peace today and always. Amen.
CHORAL BENEDICTION:
May the light of God shine on us today.
May the light of God shine on us today.
May it show us where to travel,
Lead us back if we should stray.
May the light of God shine on us today.
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The Riverhead Clergy Council
Invites you to our
Community Thanksgiving Worship Service
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 -- 4:30 p.m.
St. John the Evangelist RCC
546 St. John’s Place, Riverhead
