For the week of September 29 – 19th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: New every morning is Your love, great God of light, And all day long You are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve You, to live peacefully with our neighbors, and to devote each day to Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
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 19:7-9
7 The Lord’s Instruction is perfect,
reviving one’s very being.
The Lord’s laws are faithful,
making naive people wise.
8 The Lord’s regulations are right,
gladdening the heart.
The Lord’s commands are pure,
giving light to the eyes.
9 Honoring the Lord is correct,
lasting forever.
The Lord’s judgments are true.
All of these are righteous!
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 has designated a portion of funding to the Women’s Center of Columbia and Montour Counties. Our donations help better serve the victims and children of the crime of physical and mental abuse, and give victims strength and courage to come forward and raise much needed awareness.
Offering prayer: Gracious God, we dedicate these offerings to Your service. May our gifts bring hope and relief to those in need. Guide us to use these resources to promote justice, mercy, and compassion in our community. May we always act with gratitude and wisdom, recognizing Your providence in all we do. Bless these gifts and those who give them so that, together, we may reflect Your love and grace in the world. In Christ, our savior and redeemer, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries- adapted)
Hymn of preparation: #467 Trust and Obey
- When we walk with the Lord in the light of His word, what a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will 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)
Scripture: Mark 9:38-41 (CEB)
38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone throwing demons out in Your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”
39 Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him. No one who does powerful acts in My name can quickly turn around and curse Me. 40 Whoever isn’t against us is for us. 41 I assure you that whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will certainly be rewarded.
Message: Pastor Becky
Name some big rivalries. Ohio State and Michigan. The Yankees and the Red Socks. Bloomsburg and Central. Wiley Coyote and Road Runner. Coke and ?? Chevy and ?? McDonald’s vs. Burger King.
A little competition is a good thing. It helps fuel a vision. It helps focus and brings people together. It can be unifying both in driving us to a goal and building a support system. We may view someone from our side of the rivalry kinder. How bad can they be – they’re a Penn State fan. There’s some grace that we offer because after all they’re on our side.
There are a lot of benefits that unify around something. Whether it be a football team, a particular phone. We love our family. We love our friends so we’ll tolerate little inconveniences. We long for unity. We want to be a part of something. We may not be on the field. We may not have ever caught a pass in our lives; or driven a race car; or been on a baseball diamond; but being part of it makes us feel part of the team. For those moments that we are partaking of one side or the other our differences don’t matter. Because we are expending all of our energy for the success of our team, for the success of our side.
Now unfortunately a down side of being on a side is that we always think and behave in a way not so becoming to the other side. If you are a Chevy truck person who marries into a Ford truck family you can imagine the things that get said to you over Thanksgiving dinner. And you know what I’m talking about because that banter is already going on in your head. When we pit one thing against another. Yet they are still trucks! They still get the job done. There is nothing that will raise the ire of the in-laws faster than bringing home the wrong brand of something. Hunts? Heintz? It’s just ketchup. This is not a hill to die on yet we can behave as if it is.
Because we bring with us these really broad generalizations about people who don’t embrace what it is that we embrace or the brands that we do.
Now some of it is tradition. We don’t even know why we believe what we believe about some things. This is just the way that we have experienced life with our families. Our families believe A, B, C – so do we until something challenges us.
In this morning’s text, John sounds like a tattletale. I almost said toddler, but it’s insulting to toddlers. John says to Jesus, “Hey we saw someone doing what You called us to do. And they even used Your name. We tried to stop him but he isn’t with us. He doesn’t follow us. He isn’t part of us. So he shouldn’t be doing that, Jesus. But we tried to stop him. He hasn’t put his time in. He hasn’t walked these dusty roads. He hasn’t gone days not knowing which way they’re going and this guy hasn’t even carried these baskets with Your leftovers when You served dinner. This guy has not put in his time. He is not with us.”
Jesus – I know He looked compassionately at John, but there has to be a time when He just face-palmed Himself, like – what are you thinking. Because Jesus says to him, “Don’t stop him. He can’t do this work that he’s doing and then turn around and curse Me. If this guy isn’t trying to stop us, isn’t trying to stop you, don’t be a barrier to him. Because he is on our team. You’re just not recognizing it.”
Jesus recognizes who is working for the kingdom of God. We know nothing of this man who has John in such a dither. All we know is that he is relying on the name of Jesus to heal people from demons. Somewhere this man heard about Jesus. Maybe he was in the crowd and heard Jesus teach somewhere along the way. Maybe he was an eyewitness to one of Jesus’ healings. Or maybe he knew someone who got healed by Jesus and because of that healing he chose to be united to Jesus in healing. When this man went and was healing in Jesus’ name, he wasn’t doing it to be in competition with the disciples. All he was doing was healing folks who needed healing. For the man doing the healing I doubt he was even thinking about the disciples or believing that he was doing anything wrong except healing people. He’d become an agent of healing on team Jesus.
So why on earth would John feel threatened by some random guy doing kingdom work? For the same reason that we do. We get wrapped up in right thinking, right following. We become territorial when it comes to how and who we do ministry with, and who is fit to do it with us. We have a pretty straight forward vision of kingdom work. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Shelter the homeless. Visit the sick and the imprisoned. Provide water for the thirsty. These are the responses that we are to love God and love our neighbor.
Yet within the church we become stuck in thinking only we can do that on our local church level. So what happens is in a school district you end up with a bunch of food banks … and then they all have clothing giveaways … they all try to solve every ill … individually. They become individual ministries that cater to very specific needs. Needs that need to be met. When we look at diaper ministries. When we look at lap robes and hats for cancer patients. When we look at community meals. Now I don’t want you to get the idea that I am dismissing any of this work because I’m not.
But what if our ministries were unifying points? That we all became that church together as Christians? Because I will let you in on a little secret. Those in need of God’s love physically, emotionally, spiritually – don’t care about your theology of Communion. They just don’t.
They don’t care about whether or not you sing contemporary worship songs or traditional worship songs. They also don’t get bound up in what translation of the Bible is most appropriate. None of that matters when we are doing kingdom work with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
What is important is in whose name we do these things. In whose name do we heal and we feed and include and shelter and nurture. It’s being so incredibly blunt (for lack of a better word) that it is only for Jesus. Not to stamp our name on it. Not to stamp our neighbor church’s name on it. Because when we start picking out territories nobody comes to Jesus. Because if we – that big WE – if all Christians would unify under, around and through the name of Jesus the kingdom would prevail and be visible in a way beyond all our most imaginative dreams. What Jesus tells John is what we need to hear when it comes to caring for our communities. Come together in a unifying point. The work is big enough. It only matters what the pastor’s theology on Communion is when we have Communion. It’s only important because we are United Methodists and we need to have a Methodist theology on Communion. But that doesn’t dismiss my brothers and sisters who are Baptist and have a different theology on Communion. Because that’s what they do in-house. Outside of here what we should look like is a bunch of people in love with one another, in love with Jesus, and in passion for the world. We have to learn how to love those who claim Jesus as they do. We have to figure out how we are going to love them so that we can do community and kingdom work together because we all claim Jesus.
We don’t need to invent new ministry. We can be released to partner with other Christians who are already doing kingdom work. I know that this is something that does haunt your thinking. “My girlfriend’s church does this thing. I’d really love to go do it but you know, that’s their church.” No! It’s not. It’s Jesus’ church. In the same way that you can be connecting your friends and other Christians to the ministries here. It becomes one large ball of love.
We don’t have to invent something new. We are not in some competition. Jesus releases us to be able to do ministry in His name; to be unified and united; and that all will know that we love God and love our neighbors, and that they will have their needs met in a way that points them to the God who loves them. Because God is big enough. Because this isn’t a competition. There is no need for a rivalry. Because all are to be on the team of Jesus when we look to do the kingdom work that has been placed before us. So that all will get what they need. So that God’s provision falls upon all. So that none would be lost.
Closing Hymn #577 God of Grace and God of Glory
- God of grace and God of glory, on Thy people pour Thy power;
Crown Thine ancient church’s story; bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour, (of this hour)
For the facing of this hour.
- Lo! the hosts of evil round us scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways!
Fears and doubts too long have bound us; free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days, (of these days)
For the living of these days.
- Cure Thy children’s warring madness, bend our pride to Thy control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness, rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
(kingdom’s goal) lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.
- Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore;
Let the search for Thy salvation be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving Thee who we adore, (we adore)
Serving Thee whom we adore.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
