For the week of July 27 – 7th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: Living God, You raise us to fullness of being in sharing the Christ-life together. Teach us to pray and grant us hopeful persistence in seeking Your will and Your way, that by the power of the Spirit, love and faithfulness may meet to disarm the powers of the world. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Morning 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 138:1-8 (CEB)
138 I give thanks to You with all my heart, Lord.
I sing Your praise before all other gods.
2 I bow toward Your holy temple
and thank Your name
for Your loyal love and faithfulness
because You have made Your name and word
greater than everything else.
3 On the day I cried out, You answered me.
You encouraged me with inner strength.
4 Let all the earth’s rulers give thanks to You, Lord,
when they hear what You say.
5 Let them sing about the Lord’s ways
because the Lord’s glory is so great!
6 Even though the Lord is high,
He can still see the lowly,
but God keeps His distance from the arrogant.
7 Whenever I am in deep trouble,
You make me live again;
You send Your power against my enemies’ wrath;
You save me with Your strong hand.
8 The Lord will do all this for my sake.
Your faithful love lasts forever, Lord!
Don’t let go of what Your hands
have made.
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: Our facilities offer space and hospitality to local chapters of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Al-Anon.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who come together to solve their drinking problem. It doesn’t cost anything to attend A.A. meetings. There are no age or education requirements to participate. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about their drinking problem. These people are putting their lives back together and supporting and encouraging others. Some meetings are closed, meaning only those with a drinking problem will attend. Some meetings are open, so that others can attend and learn how to assist and support a loved one.
Thank you for tithing and giving financially so we can provide meeting space and hospitality to these groups. If you need their support, meeting days and times are in today’s bulletin.
Offering prayer: Living and redeeming God, in Christ, You have made us fully alive, setting us free from all that would hold us captive. As we bring these gifts, we do so in gratitude, abounding in thanksgiving for Your grace. May these offerings be signs of our rootedness in You, bearing fruit for Your kingdom. Let them be used to bring hope, healing, and new life to those in need. Keep us steadfast in Christ, walking in faith and filled with the joy of Your transforming love. In the name of the one who makes us whole, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation: #405 Seek Ye First
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you. Allelu, alleluia!
Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find.
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you. Allelu, alleluia!
Scripture: Luke 11:1-13 (CEB)
11 Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus told them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, uphold the holiness of Your name.
Bring in Your kingdom.
3 Give us the bread we need for today.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us.
And don’t lead us into temptation.’”
5 He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. 9 And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.
11 “Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? 12 If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion? 13 If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
Affirm your faith by reciting the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontus Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. (UM Hymnal #881)
Message: Pastor Becky Cuddeback
Math is not my strong suit, but I love the honesty of math. There's never a question of how we get to the answer. There's only ever one right answer. Because numbers don't lie. They're neutral. 5 is 5. Whether it's 5 fingers or five cookies, we don't count them differently. 5 is 5.
We can add, subtract, multiply, and divide them to get concrete answers that solve equations that give us answers in our lives. Numbers don't care if it's Monday or if we've had our morning coffee or whether it's a good hair day. They can't be manipulated by our circumstances.
When placed into prescribed formulas, they can determine area. For example, this room, the area would be determined by multiplying the length by the width and we'd have the same square footage today that we had upon its first construction. The amount of carpet we need or what it will cost to clean the carpet are calculated on that number and that number will never change because the size of the building is permanent. The square footage will always be the same.
We have formulas for all kinds of things. We have formulas for the soda that we drink, ice cream, and baked goods and those can be a bit more flexible. The results can differ even if we follow the formula strictly because not all flour is the same, butter can be salted or not salted. For those formulas, the variable is the ingredients, and some ingredients differ greatly from one brand to another and sometimes within the same brand depending on geography. It's very hard to replicate great-grandmother's pie crust today because our lard is not the same as hers … if we would even be willing to entertain using lard.
As I read this morning's scripture, I'm sure you recognize something familiar. It's not an exact match, but it's Jesus' formula for prayer as we know it, the Lord's Prayer. In worship, we recite the Matthew rendering, but this morning we're hearing Luke's account. It contains an address to God and four asks. It's very streamlined and very direct: an object of prayer and four asks.
Jesus is addressing God as Father. He has a relationship to God and also that God should be revered in holiness. It admits, it affirms an authority that is sacred; the holiness of God set apart from us yet approachable.
Within the four asks, we have the first ask: Bring Your Kingdom – God, allow us to be part and to function in this Kingdom as if it's already here. This Kingdom part can be hard for us to envision. What does the Kingdom look like? No war. Everyone fed and loved and valued, that there would be human worth. The earth would be taken care of, the water, the soil, the resources used to support life. Care would be the overriding element of the Kingdom of God.
It can be hard for us to pray for the Kingdom to come if our view doesn't align with God's on big scale issues. Yet how do we bring those elements of the Kingdom to the village of Lightstreet. Maybe the Kingdom is too big for just a Sunday morning discussion. So we move on to the next plea.
How about God feed us, give us the bread that we need for today. The bread we pray for is all that we need to survive. It's not just physical food. We're asking God to care for our needs. The water that cures our thirst, the shelter that protects us, the clothing that keeps us warm and the companionship that keeps us from isolation.
The third ask is forgiveness. We need forgiveness for things that we do accidentally and for the deliberate things that we do. But Luke's forgiveness is different from Matthew's. Matthew says to give us forgiveness in comparison to how we forgive. It's troubling for us to contemplate. If we offer no forgiveness, we cannot expect to receive forgiveness. Matthew weighs it out so that we may or may not receive forgiveness in full measure. Luke doesn't even give us the opportunity to contemplate whether we will forgive or not forgive. Luke presupposes we forgive. Luke phrases it in such a way that when we speak to God, we're reminding God that we have already forgiven, so we should be recipients of forgiveness.
That one hurts because we know about ourselves. We're not always quick to forgive, if we're willing to forgive at all. We know what that sounds like in our lives. We have experienced it and we've lived it. We may think we want to forgive, but there's conditions on that forgiveness. They need to come to us first. They need to demand forgiveness. Ask for it. The other person has to wait upon our decision to forgive. Why do we act as if we are this great owner of forgiveness? Act as if we each have an exclusive right and authority to grant forgiveness? And then wonder why we can't be forgiven and demand forgiveness from God.
The last plea is for protection from the temptations that come to us spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. I'm sure I am missing a way for us to be tempted or assaulted, because each of us has a different weak point in our lives or an unchecked avenue that temptation can creep in. It's not that it has to be a huge gaping void that temptation fills. It can be the slightest sliver.
Jesus gives to us a formula, a way in order for us to pray, putting our lives in God's hands, because Jesus assures us that we can. He goes on to prove that in the illustrations, the comparisons that follow the formula.
Jesus gives us the reason why we can and it's because God doesn't simply respond to us to move us along, to be done with us. God responds to God's desire for us to have the things that we need and we need a place, which is the Kingdom. In that place our needs are met, and in that Kingdom there is forgiveness and also peace of mind. All of these responses are to our benefit because God isn't set to torture us, but is with us in our suffering.
So we can see and experience what relief looks like so we can offer it out into our families, friends, and community. So we're able to also extend to others a place to have their needs met and to offer forgiveness and a peace of mind.
That is what the Kingdom of God looks like. We may not have set out to answer what does the Kingdom of God look like, but I think we get a glimpse of it within the prayer that Jesus gives us of how we each as we go about living our lives with our family, with our friends, and with our community members, each of us carries with us the formula for the Kingdom of God. It's whether or not we have decided that we want to live within the Kingdom of God. It's hard because we wrestle with what we think we have to give up in order to have the Kingdom of God. But in what we give up, we receive so much more and in that receiving, others are blessed. And we find ourselves blessed as well. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #437 This Is My Song
- This is my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
- My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, Thou God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.
- This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms:
Thy kingdom come; on earth Thy will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve Him, and hearts united learn to live as one.
O hear my prayer, Thou God of all the nations; myself I give Thee; let Thy will be done.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
