For the week of July 28 – 10th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: Holy God, You are the sustainer of the hungry. Like a mother You long to feed Your children until each is satisfied. Turn our eyes to You alone, that, aware of our own deepest longings, we will reach out with Christ to feed others with the miracle of Your love. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers, adapted)
Opening Hymn: #117 O God, Our Help in Ages Past
- O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. - Under the shadow of Thy throne, still may we dwell secure;
sufficient is Thine arm alone, and our defense is sure. - Before the hills in order stood, or earth received her frame,
from everlasting, Thou art God, to endless years the same. - A thousand ages, in Thy sight, are like an evening gone;
short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising sun. - Time, like an ever rolling stream, bears all who breathe away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day. - O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come;
be Thou our guide while life shall last, and our eternal home.
Psalm 145:10-18
All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, and all Your faithful shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and tell of Your power,
to make known to all people Your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all His words, and gracious in all His deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season.
You open Your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all His ways, and kind in all His doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.
Children’s Time Ephesians 3:14-21
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Children’s Message
All summer we have talked about love. We have looked at what it means to love. We have talked about what it feels like when we feel God’s love and how we are to share God’s love by loving all of creation. This morning we are talking about how prayer is a way of showing love.
Paul has written to the Ephesians and throughout his letters, he has recorded his prayers for them. Praying for each other is one of the greatest ways we have to show love. Going before God in prayer for another person shows an investment in that person. We take the time, even if it is merely a quick prayer, to ask God to be present.
I know that praying out loud can be scary. We want to say the “right” words and we can be afraid to sound silly, yet I want you to know, God doesn’t find our words silly, God hears beyond our words and hears our hearts. In our hearts are the words we can’t find to say what it is we want to say and God hears those words.
In times when we are pressed to pray and we don’t know what to say, we can go back to all the prayers contained in the Old and New Testament and use them as our words. The Psalms are filled with prayers for us to pray and make our own. When we use those prayers in scripture, we are uniting with those that came before us and we are strengthened by them and they are remembered, or brought near to us, bringing the company of heaven and earth into prayer together. How incredibly cool is that? Our prayers and the prayers of our ancestors reach God’s hearing together. This is the beauty of love.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: 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, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Do you recall the mid-summer doldrums – those times when you missed school chums and were bored with hot summer days? Thanks to your financial faithfulness, LUMC is hosting Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland right here! Families, people of all ages, are welcome to come free of charge and see the traveling tropical animals. Hosting programs such as these give kids something to do and a place to go. Parents and grandparents can see this is a safe and welcoming environment. Sure we want them to worship with us Sundays; sure we want them to study with us. But we also want them to know we are meeting needs for socialization and community spirit.
Offering prayer: Loving God, in this sacred moment of offering, we come before You with humble hearts, recognizing Your unwavering mercy and boundless compassion. As we present our gifts, may we also lay bare our shortcomings and seek Your forgiveness and guidance. Grant us the courage to confront our humanity and the strength to strive for righteousness in all our endeavors. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #467 Trust and Obey
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
- Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil He doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey. (Refrain) - But we never can prove the delights of His love until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows, are for them who will trust and obey. (Refrain) - Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet, or we'll walk by His side in the way;
what He says we will do, where He sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey. (Refrain)
Message Scripture: John 6:1-14
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with His disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When He looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, He told His disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
Message: Pastor Becky Cuddeback
The miracle of the feeding of the 5000 hinges on a boy’s lunch. It shouldn’t surprise us that a child would be the catalyst of the miracle. Jesus has a heart for children and lifts them up throughout scripture as to how we are to come to the Kingdom of God.
Mark records Jesus blessing them in chapter 10:13-16: “People were bringing little children to Him in order that Jesus might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the Kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it. And He took them up in His arms, laid hands on them, and blessed them.”
What would convince a boy that his lunch would even be helpful? I mean there are 5000 people. We know the planning it takes to pull off feeding 200 people for a funeral meal; this is not something that happens in the spur of the moment. There are layers of planning, ordering, and pick-ups to happen. There is also the space to prepare. There are a lot of moving parts and organization and experience are key to getting it done.
Phillip gets it; he answers rationally. He states 6 months worth of wages won’t feed the crowd and even if they had the money, who would be prepared to make that much bread? The local bakery isn’t prepared to fulfill that request. The ingredients would have needed to be coordinated weeks in advance.
If solving the problem depended on the disciples or the local resources, it wasn’t going to be solved. Only Jesus will solve this problem, using the boy’s lunch as the seed to provide a bounty.
Whether it’s innocence or naivety, this boy offers all he has to feed the crowd. The size of the crowd doesn’t deter him. The enormity of the task doesn’t stop him. Somewhere deep in himself, he knows that handing his lunch off to Jesus will change everything. The boy hasn’t counted the cost or tried to make feeding everyone his job, but has given to the One, Jesus Christ, what is needed to start.
The boy didn’t discount his offering or feel ashamed because it wasn’t enough. We all know it wasn’t enough, yet he gave his lunch to Jesus when he could have done nothing. Who would blame a young boy for doing nothing? Honestly which one of us would have handed over our lunch, a lunch for one, when faced with feeding 5000? We might share with one or two near us, yet none of us are going to risk ridicule or shame for thinking our one lunch would feed this crowd.
The difference comes when we entrust our little bit to Jesus and let Jesus bring the abundance. Jesus proclaimed, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)
We have to return to …, regain our childlike selves. I don’t mean that in some Pollyanna way or in the rose colored glasses way. We need to return to when Jesus was BIG enough. That wonder of what Jesus did and can do. When we weren’t the center of our lives but when Jesus was the inward and outward center of our being, living into the possibilities of the Kingdom for the benefit of all. Recapturing the source of abundance and yielding to the leading of Jesus to see the Kingdom manifested in our lives and the lives of our neighbors. We need to return to the impulse to put all things in Jesus’s hands – our faith, our prayers, our actions, our thoughts, our questions – because Jesus will be the One to make all the difference in our lives, in our community, and in our world.
As we grow up, we tend to put away or hide away the wrong childlike things about ourselves. We grow jaded and cynical and because of this, it is easier to make Jesus small and confine Him to our personal wants and desires. We need to be releasing Him out into the world, to touch the lives of our neighbors and when we do, we will see miracles again. Amen
Closing Hymn: #344 Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore
- Lord, You have come to the lakeshore looking neither for wealthy nor wise ones;
You only asked me to follow humbly.
Refrain: O Lord, with Your eyes You have searched me, and while smiling have spoken my name;
Now my boat’s left on the lakeshore behind me; by Your side I will seek other seas.
- You know so well my possessions; my boat carries no gold and no weapons;
You will find there my nets and labor. Refrain:
- You need my hands, full of caring through my labors to give others rest,
And constant love that keeps on loving. Refrain:
- You, who have fished other oceans, ever longed for by souls who are waiting,
My loving friend, as thus You call me. Refrain:
Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.
