For the week of March 30 – 4th Sunday in Lent
Morning Prayer: Through Christ You make us a new creation, O God, for with Him we pass from sin to the new life of grace. Accept our prayers in the warm embrace of Your compassion, and welcome all people to the festive banquet of Your table, where we may rejoice in Your love and celebrate the inheritance You have given to us. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn: #140 Great Is Thy Faithfulness
- Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
- Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
sun moon and stars with their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness
to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Refrain:
- Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine,
With ten thousand beside! Refrain:
Psalm 46:1-3 (CEB)
God is our refuge and strength,
a help always near in times of great trouble.
2 That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart,
when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,
3 when its waters roar and rage,
when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. Selah
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: Easter Dinner at Lightstreet United Methodist Church. Yes – there will be a Free Easter dinner for anyone who wants to come. Easter Sunday, April 20, 12 noon until the food runs out. Can you come? Can you bring someone with you?
Offering prayer: Gracious God, our refuge and restorer, we bring these gifts as a sign of our return to You. As we observe this holy time of Lent, may our offerings reflect hearts that are turning back to You. Clear the clogs in our lives that separate us from You and one another and help us see the rainbow of Your promise even in our struggles. Bless these gifts and our lives so that we may share Your steadfast love with the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries, adapted)
Hymn of Preparation: #534 Be Still My Soul
- Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide; in every change God faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. - Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as in ages past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below. - Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Scripture: Luke 9:10-17 (CEB)
10 When the apostles returned, they described for Jesus what they had done. Taking them with Him, Jesus withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. 11 When the crowds figured it out, they followed Him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about God’s kingdom, and healed those who were sick.
12 When the day was almost over, the Twelve came to Him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the nearby villages and countryside and find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place.”
13 He replied, “You give them something to eat.”
But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (They said this because about five thousand men were present.)
Jesus said to His disciples, “Seat them in groups of about fifty.” 15 They did so, and everyone was seated. 16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 Everyone ate until they were full, and the disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers.
Message: Giving Up Running Away Pastor Becky
As a child or teen, did you ever run away from home? My sister did. She went into our kitchen, got a brown paper bag and packed all her most precious belongings. She packed a red teddy bear, a plastic alligator, and her piggy bank. She was four. She only got as far as the corner, because we were never to be out of sight of the farm.
It’s a cute story, yet 1.6-2.8 million youth run away from home every year (National Runaway); about 48% are located within the first week (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children). There are many reasons youth run away from home: conflicts at home or school, substance abuse, or adventure.
Running away seems to be a human instinct. Moses ran from Egypt after he killed an Egyptian foreman (Exodus 2:11-13). Jacob ran from Esau (Genesis 27:44-28:22). Jonah ran from God (Jonah 1). Hagar ran away from Sarah, taking Ishmael with her (Genesis 16:6-7).
And we can too, maybe not from home, but we find other ways to escape our problems.
Drugs and alcohol use is a public crisis here in the US. 40.3 million people had a substance use disorder in 2020 (2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health). In 2021, 107,000 people died of drug overdoses according to the CDC and the National Center for Health Statistics. Video gaming addiction has captured 1.7%-10% of the American population as witnessed by the CDC as well.
These, of course, are extremes. Yet, we can find ourselves avoiding, denying and delaying facing our problems. It is in our nature. Adam hid from God (Genesis 3). Elijah hid from God (1Kings 19:9-18). I hid from God and if we are honest – you have hidden from God. The psalmist retells of the lament and the truth, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where could I go to escape Your presence? If I went up to heaven, You would be there. If I went down to the grave, You would be there too.” (Psalm 139:7-8)
We love to hide from our problems or run from them. We prefer distance between ourselves and our problems. But, we can’t solve them, if we don’t face them.
Jesus has a problem to solve. He has a crowd of some 5000 people before Him and it’s getting toward mealtime. His disciples want to send them away, either to their own homes or to the village, anywhere really so the crowd could get something to eat.
The disciples know what it is like to deal with one or maybe a handful of hungry people, but a hungry crowd is another thing completely. Hunger could turn them from a crowd to an angry mob. They have already encountered an angry mob at the synagogue the day Jesus read from the book of Isaiah. The crowd wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff (Luke 4:17-21). They did not want a repeat of that day. But Jesus won’t send the crowd away.
Jesus sees He has a problem. First, He chose to cope rather than run. He faced the situation. He decided to stay and find the solution. He relied on God to bring Him through.
Second, Jesus used available resources. We sometimes fail to do this. The problem seems so large or we make the big problem so large. This causes our minds to shut down all possibilities or we make excuses as to why a certain solution won’t work. We also tend to weigh how a solution will make us look. Our egos get in the way of our solutions. We need to allow ourselves to need help and accept help because we don’t do life on our own.
Asking for help is not a weakness. Asking for help allows us to see what could be available to us. Do you realize that by not asking for help or direction we are denying another the blessing of being a blessing? Each of us has gifts, graces, wisdom, knowledge, and an ability to make connections for resources. That is the work of the church, to display and utilize the resources of God.
From the people, Jesus received what was the seed of the solution: 5 loaves and 2 fishes. He trusted God. God took the little and made it enough, and God made it work. When we trust God and use what we have to the best of our ability, God takes our little, makes it enough, and makes it work (pg 52 Give Up Something Bad For Lent, James Moore).
Lastly, Jesus turned the problem into an opportunity. What looked at first as a defeat, became a victory.
When we face our problems, we can also become a facilitator of other people’s solutions. We become a resource for others and possibly find a greater purpose for ourselves. Our problems can become a catalyst for deeper faith, a higher level of maturity and empathy. Facing our problems enables us to live into the lives God has ordained for us. In that clarity, we can see the Kingdom of God more clearly as we have removed what has held us back and limited our view.
Run to God, instead of running away for Lent this year.
Closing Hymn: #382 Have Thine Own Way, Lord
- Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still. - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now, as in Thy presence humbly I bow. - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray! Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! - Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway. Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
