Lightstreet United Methodist Church - June 2, 2024

For the week of June 2 – 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost

Morning Prayer: God, we cannot escape Your love. We can find no place to hide. You search us out wherever we may be. Your love is like a mother’s blanket, protecting us wherever we go. Your love shields us from evil. We may travel to the moon or to the depths of the ocean: Your love is there. We may think ourselves to greater levels of sophistication: Your love is there. We may fall in the pits of sin: Your love is there. Thank You, God, for steadfast mercy. Thank You for being there, wherever we may be. Amen.

Written by John H. Danner in Touch Holiness: Resources for Worship, Updated, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren C. Tirabassi (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2012), 277.

For use in worship services, include the following permissions statement:

Opening Hymn: #77 How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God!

When I in awesome wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Refrain: Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee;

How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee; How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,

and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook,

and feel the gentle breeze; Refrain:

And when I think that God, His Son nor sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin; Refrain:

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation and take me home,

what joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow in humble adoration,

and there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art! Refrain:

Psalm 139:1-6

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, You know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Children’s Time Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

Children’s Message

This morning we are talking about the sabbath. We just read the 4th commandment of the Ten Commandments. Heres’ the list:

What is the sabbath? The first sabbath was God’s resting creativity, even when it appeared that God wasn’t working, God was! The sabbath was the completion of creation. Our Jewish brothers and sisters observe the sabbath from sunset Friday until sunset on Saturday. Christians observe sabbath on Sunday; that has to do with the resurrection of Jesus.

What do we do on the sabbath? We worship God by coming together in fellowship to sing to God, to pray to God and to be nourished by God. God wants us to rest and be restored because our lives get busy and we get tired even when we don’t realize or feel it. God knew from the very start we would need time and God created the time for us to be with God. This all comes from God’s great love for us.

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: The Missions team uses a portion of your offering to give a scholarship to all of our children who choose to further their educations, recognizing that Christ is at work in every vocation. Thank you for supporting the spiritual development of our children.

Offering prayer: Gracious God, in awe of Your omniscience, we offer our gifts today. Just as You intimately know us, help us understand and trust in Your vastness. As we reflect on our beliefs, may our stewardship reflect our trust in Your guiding hand. Guide us to embody our creed, living as a community of faith in love, service, and action. Though Your essence surpasses our comprehension, we find comfort in our relationship with You. As we declare our faith, may it ignite our actions, echoing Your love and care for all creation. Bless these offerings as a symbol of our commitment to live out our beliefs. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)

Hymn of Preparation: #454 Open My Eyes, That I May See

Open my eyes, that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wavenotes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!
Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare love with Thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, Thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Message Scripture: Mark 2:23 – 3:6

One sabbath He (Jesus) was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way His disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” Then He said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

Again He entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched Him to see whether He would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; He was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him.

Message: Pastor Becky

We know the story of the first sabbath. We find it recorded in Genesis 2:2: “And on the 7th day God finished the work he had done, and He rested on the 7th day from all the work He had done. So God blessed the 7th day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation.”

In resting, ceasing to work, God created the sabbath, a day to be at rest with God. The sabbath completes the work of creation and crowns it (Moltmann). The sabbath, as described in Genesis, is the revelation of the Kingdom of God. Everyone and everything has exactly what is needed, all is provided for in this perfect rest. On the sabbath we get a glimpse of how all is to be in harmony with God, it is a picture of heaven. The sabbath is what is different between creation and nature. Nature doesn’t pause her cycles to praise God, but the creation does. That is not to say that nature doesn’t reflect the Creator, but Creation in its completion honors the Creator.

Jesus says “The sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the sabbath.” He is taking the law and broadening it, not to make it easier, but to show the vastness of God’s desire for us to be restored in the sabbath. The 4th commandment is recorded in two places in scripture: Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and they differ from each other slightly. Exodus points to the holy rest after creation and Deuteronomy reminds Israel to the liberation after Egyptian captivity.

Rest, redemption, and healing.

It would not be a violation of sabbath to heal or to be healed. Jesus isn’t doing anything wrong per se. He is reminding them and teaching us there is no boundary on God’s restoration; God isn’t sitting back and hiding on the sabbath, but making Godself very real. It is only through the ideal of sabbath we can have the ability to live into God’s rest.

God’s perfect rest.

We do all things better with rest. We were told to get a good night's sleep before big tests and sports practices are lighter the practice before the contest. Physical, emotional, and mental rest help us to see more clearly the pinnacle of creation which is the sabbath.

Spiritually, it is the deliberate setting aside time with God, to worship, pray, study, and meditate on the scriptures. Praise God for the programmed nature of a 7 day week. Sunday calls us to the fellowship where we worship, yet we live in a society that calls us away from our rhythm with God.

So, how do we remember/observe sabbath in a 24/7 world?

First, we have to admit, we need it. This can be difficult. By admitting we need rest, we are admitting weakness. Yet, it is only in our weakness, we are made strong by God’s providing hand. We have become accustomed to and unfortunately trained to be constantly productive. To have something to show for our time, some tangible, touchable thing to validate our effort. We go and we go and we go until we hit a wall so to speak. Allow yourself to live into God’s plan for rest and restoration.

Second, claim that time. It isn’t selfish to pull away from all the noise and busyness of life because God wants to restore you. If it helps, let me frame this differently. The sabbath, a sabbath, your sabbath is where God is waiting for you, to hold you and heal you. This is to bless your life and so you can be a blessing in the lives of others.

Third, the sabbath outlined in scripture is the 7th day. Your time with God in rest has to fit the schedule of your life. We can’t try to hold unrealistic expectations or make it hard to sabbath with God. Because the reality is, if it’s hard, we won’t do it. If sabbathing isn’t already part of your spiritual practices, start easy. Maybe it’s a gentle start with 2 hours on a Tuesday afternoon, working your way to more time. Maybe it won’t even be all the same day, but it’s more that 15 hurried minutes over the course of the week. Remember, God is looking to restore us and this takes time, time we have to offer up to God.

I’m sure you have heard the saying, “Those that can’t, teach.” When it comes to sabbath taking, that is me. I desire it for others, yet deny myself. I have plenty of really good reasons, but if thoroughly examined would not hold any water. But this is what I do know. I long to see God’s perfect rest and to be in God’s perfect rest. I hold the ideal of all being at rest and cared for in God’s perfect rest. I want to see all restored and cared for and lifted up and living abundantly in the palm of God’s hand.

I say all this, so we may strive together to be at rest in God, so we may all be restored to God’s perfect peace, joy, and understanding. This will mean holding each other as we step into the rhythm of God because God intended us not to live for rest, but to live from God’s rest.

Closing Hymn: #218 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains, they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing!
For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.

Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.