For the week of September 15 – 17th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: We give You great thanks for the rest we received last night and for the gift of this new day, with all its possibilities of pleasing and serving You. Grant we may pass today’s hours in the perfect freedom of Your service, so that tonight we may again give praises and thanks to You for this day. Amen. (UMH 676 adapted)
Opening Hymn: #144 This Is my Father’s World
- This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought. - This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world: He shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere. - This is my Father's world. O let me ne'er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world: why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!
Psalm 19:7-10
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
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 Bloomsburg Fair opens at the end of this week. Lots of strangers will descend on our community. Support and encourage the many workers and many visitors by purchasing with a smile. As they serve, treat them with kindness. Use your demeanor as an offering to The Lord.
Offering prayer: Divine Source of Wisdom, we bring these offerings with hearts attuned to Your call. As we gather in Your presence, may our gifts reflect the wisdom and discernment You desire for us. Use these offerings to nurture understanding, compassion, and justice in our world. Guide us to listen and act with insight, spreading Your love and grace. Transform our giving into actions that make a difference. Help us grow in our faith and commitment to Your ways. In the holy name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #451 Be Thou My Vision
- Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
- Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
- Great God of heaven, my victory won,
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Scripture: Mark 8:27-38
Jesus went on with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered Him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered Him, “You are the Messiah.” And He sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about Him.
Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning and looking at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
He called the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
Message: Pastor Becky
Names are important. Think about your own name. Your parents chose it for you. Some are family names, for example maybe you are named after your father or you have your grandmother’s middle name. Your name identifies you from another person, even when you have the same name. When we have the same, we go to nicknames. Our names become who we are.
Jesus asks His disciples, who do people say I am? John the Baptist, Elijah, or another prophet are the answers offered. Those on the outside weren’t sure, they knew Jesus reminds them of someone. John was a preacher and preparer of the way. Elijah is the prophet and miracle worker, who returned to God without seeing death. The crowd also recognized the message of the prophets through Jesus’s teaching and preaching, the care of the widow, orphan and the stranger among you. They heard His call to love God and love neighbor. Jesus was lifting up the fundamentals of Judaism. The crowds are connecting Jesus to who and what they already know. They are trying to identify Jesus.
Peter is the one who rightly titles Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah when Jesus asks who do you say I am. Peter takes the message, the teachings and healings and correctly titles Jesus. Now bear this in mind – a title is different from a name. A title like Messiah only points back to God, yet encompasses the entirety of God’s plan of salvation, reconciliation, and liberation. Jesus as Messiah is the clean slate in the redemption of the world.
In other gospels Jesus praises Peter as being a channel of the Holy Spirit. In essence only God could have given Peter the answer. The answer of the Christ can only lead to what Jesus tells them next: God’s redemption through suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These are God’s thoughts. Yet even in the proclamation Peter denies what Jesus says. Peter scolds Jesus, either because Peter doesn’t want to see Jesus die or because Peter has a different idea of what the Messiah title means for Jesus. Maybe it’s the confusion in what Messiah is meant for the people of Israel. Either way, Peter demonstrates human thoughts.
And so do we, whenever we misidentify what Jesus as Messiah means.
Jesus can’t be a means to an end. He cannot be the one used only for our benefit. Jesus is the catalyst for our changed hearts. For Jesus, this changed heart is discipleship.
Yes, we believe in Jesus for our eternal life; this is the assurance John Wesley speaks of. It is when we know our sinfulness has been forgiven and we have a fresh start to live a life not focused solely on ourselves and what we want. We live a life devoted to those who are closest to Jesus’ heart. The ones who have been cast off as “other”, yet have more in common with us than we are willing to believe. Embracing those cut off from what they need to thrive, the friendless and those in need of healing of all kinds. Moving from what is good for me, to what is good for those around me – or what is needed by those around me and it may not be something we need, yet they do. We exchange our wants for their needs, dying to self and living for community, without judgment of what is needed or whether the recipients are worthy.
It's the good news. God saw the condition of our plight and remedied it, redeemed it. Now we live embracing the truth and sharing the products of that truth with all humanity – because for God no one is other or outside redemption. The otherness, making people or labeling as “other”, that’s our sin. We must call upon Jesus, repent of our human thoughts and think God's thoughts.
Closing Hymn: #261 Lord of the Dance
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth.
At Bethlehem I had My birth.
Refrain: Dance, then, wherever you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance, said He.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the dance, said He.
- I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
but they would not dance and they would not follow Me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
they came to Me and the dance went on.
- I danced on the Sabbath when I cured the lame,
the holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung Me high;
and they left Me there on a cross to die.
- I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried My body and they thought I’d gone,
but I am the dance and I still go on.
- They cut Me down and I leapt up high, I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in Me; I am the Lord of the Dance, said He.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
