PLEASE NOTE:
CHURCH SERVICES RESUMED IN THE SANCTUARY.
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
A Service of the Word
July 18, 2021 - 10am
OPENING WORDS:
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Come away and rest for a while.
Leave behind your busyness to be fully present to God.
Many: We have come for relief from life’s turmoil.
God gathers us as a shepherd gathers the sheep.
One: God’s steadfast love surrounds us here.
We are reminded of God’s enduring faithfulness.
Many: This is God’s house, and we are God’s children.
God invites us to feel at home in this place.
One: We have a covenant with our Creator.
This is a time for renewal of our promises.
All: God calls for righteousness and justice.
God offers us goodness and mercy all our days.
OPENING HYMN: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation https://youtu.be/p73XRON9r78
WELCOME
No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you're welcome here, by our church and our God.
PRAYER OF INVOCATION:
Good and gracious God, Source of goodness, restorer of our complete being, with joy and confidence we come to your presence today. We come before you with thanksgiving for your faithfulness. We give you thanks for being our good shepherd who leads us along paths of peace and abundant life for all your creation. You are the shepherd who gathers us together. We thank you for our community of faith. We are nourished by its diversity, and blessed by the unique gifts each person contributes.
Be with us in this time of worship and encourage us to never cease welcoming the strangers we meet and accepting the gifts they bring. Grant that they will enrich our lives and will be a reminder of the joy that comes when all will be one in you.
We gather and we pray in the name of Jesus' our Savior. Amen.
CHILDREN'S TIME: God Where You Are
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS AND CONCERNS
A TIME OF PRAYER:
God of grace. Every day your presence and faithfulness blesses and sustains us.
Everything we have comes from you and with gratitude we now bring to you the thankgivings and concerns of our heart. We give you thanks for the blessing of church, for time together, for this time of prayer and comfort. We thank you for your provision in all our day, and for the abundance of blessings we have come to know. We thank you that you have led us safe thus far. Bless us afresh, Dear Lord, and awaken our senses to your holy touch.
Healing God, we have sought you out and long to know you better. Your compassion has surrounded us like a good shepherd’s care for wandering sheep, show us once more the dimensions of wholeness that can restore us to faithful living and fruitful service. We have been far away from you in our thoughts and separated from you in much that we do. We seek to draw nearer to you in each day, and in each place we move and dwell. We call on your steadfast love for assurance and healing. We stand in need of your compassion, for the wholeness and renewed faith and trust you bring.
Heal us, each one. Heal us and help us in all our sore and broken places. Guide us safely through the journeys of our days, and help us to find our footing as we follow you. Bless, we pray, our families and our loved ones. Keep them in protective care and grace them with the comfort and compassion they need. Be with the sick and the recovering, the addicted and the anxious, the lonely and afraid. Grace us all with your love and healing power.
Holy One, we pray for peace. Peace in our hearts and lives, peace in our community, and the communities throughout our nation and our world. We pray for our leaders, and the commanders of all the services that seek to protect and serve. We pray to be truly enlightened to the way that you would have us go.
Bless, O God, the hungry and the homeless. Grace them with angels of care and compassion in their midst and help them to find the wisdom and compassion they need to start anew on a right and better path. Assist the weak and the struggling, and all who long to find the basics of life they need to get through days of suffering and sorrow.
Comfort those who grieve and bless them with memories that replace sorrow with joy and thanksgiving. Help us all to find the hope and direction we need to draw closer to you, to others, and to abide in the joy of living.
We remember, Dear Lord, in spoken prayer and in silence those we know to be especially in need of your healing touch. 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:
- 2 Samuel 7.1-14a; Psalm 89.19-37; Ephesians 2.11-22; Mark 6.30-34, 53-56
SERMON: "God on the Go"
It comes as no surprise to us to see Jesus on the go again. Jesus regularly is moving about, into cities, village and farms. Catching up with Jesus, especially in the days before any twitter or instant messenger was available, had to be pretty tricky. You had to be in the right place at the right time to catch him, and even if you were in the right town, you had to have your ear to the cry of the locals to locate him. Even when he and the apostles sought a deserted place to cool the jets a bit and relax, the folks in need managed to find them. But I guess you had to be pretty quick about it. And if you were carting a sick loved one on a mat, it really must have taken some doing.
It does seem a little odd. You'd think that once Jesus' fame as a healer and miracle worker was established, that he'd set up shop. He could put up a little sign, and let folks know the doctor is in. Work days and hours would have likely been a good idea too, especially when they wanted to grab a siesta or at least some chill time for lunch, for we read, "For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat."
That we seldom see Jesus in one place for any extended period, must have made it tough on the people who wanted to seek him out. Rather than "Finding Waldo," "Finding Jesus" was the name of the game. And it had to be tougher than staring at a page.
Where do you go to find God? These days when we really want to feel closest to God, we go to a church, to a place dedicated to worshiping God. It certainly helps to have awesome setting, a place of beautiful where the light of God shines all around. Stained glass can be a really fine touch. And high ceilings. Take this place for example. Anyone who comes into here can pretty instantly sense that God is near. If you looking for God, you know where you can go.
When I've travelled about, I would regularly visit churches, cathedrals, and even prayer chapels. There are some truly awesome places. Notre Dame and Sacré-Cœur in Paris, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Santiago de Compostella Cathedral in Spain, or even closer to home St. John's Cathedral or the Riverside Church. The list is extensive and all awe-inspiring. There are also small stone churches in out of the reach places with carved statues of forgotten saints that are rather wonderful too as they're cloaked in a somber elegance of solitude and prayer. I'm sure you've been to a few.
Churches make sense. Temples make sense. It's understandable that there were no churches in Jesus time because Christianity wasn't an accepted religion then. They had to stay moving to avoid being closed down. There were house churches, meeting places, but actual cathedrals or real church buildings would take a while. Eventually, churches throughout the Holy Land did come. Folks came to know a place to go to intentionally seek God out made sense. That's why the first reading is a bit surprising to me.
David had rescued the ark of the covenant and brought it into Jerusalem. He was living in a nice cedar house. But there was no temple for the ark, for the people. A temple was clearly a good idea. It seemed right to the prophet Nathan, too, at least at first. But then the word of the Lord came to Nathan and the message for David was "Nope, no building...you gotta' wait. That'll be your offspring's doing."
In David's time, and in all ages before David, God was certainly known. People did worship. But it was in fields and on mountains. There was a call to worship, the blast of the horn, and people would gather to pray and sacrifice to their God. There, in the absence of a building dedicated as a house of God, people needed to bring God's house into their midst rather than finding themselves in a place where they knew God dwelt. And God was there. God was always on the move.
When I've been in places that didn't have a local church, such as in National Parks, there was usually a place you could go that was a designated for worship site. There was no building, or walls of any kind, just wide open places with breathtaking views of the mountains or the plains. They worked as church. But in those places you'd have to try a little harder for it wasn't necessarily upon arrival that you'd sense God in all God's glory there. Like in David's time, it was up to the gathered to bring God with them, and once together to really sense God in their midst. And it worked. Even on cloudy days when views were obscured, and the light of God harder to see. Even under umbrellas or when bundled up from the cold winds. God was there.
I give thanks to God for this place. For a place where I can go to sense God's presence even when I struggle to find God. Yet I thank God too, for those other places where I have come to know the presence of God to be, the outside places and the inside places, the garden nooks or the prayer closet.
I hope you have a place, even outside of a church where you can truly sense God. But you'll need to try a little harder, and bring God into that place by opening up your heart as a house of God. It helps to have a nook or a chapel of sorts, but the dining room table works just fine too, for God remains on the go, and will go where you go, provided you take God with you. Light a candle. Take in the scents, the sounds, the breeze, the breath of God and know God can be there, that God is there. Take time for prayer. Take time to be blessed. And come into God's presence often. Here would be great. But when here is not an option, there where you are will work just fine too. Be blessed by God. Amen and amen.
HYMN OF RESPONSE: Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us https://youtu.be/SQe8slFjX-o
BENEDICTION:
May our God bless you and fill you. May you always walk mindful of God's presence with you and around you. May God strengthen your heart and hands to bring blessing to other wherever you may meet them. Be blessed by God and go in peace, today and always. Amen and Amen.
