For the week of November 23 – Reign of Christ Sunday
Morning Prayer: Lord, We rejoice in Your eternal reign. You rule with holiness, mercy, and glory. Let our hearts celebrate You today and always. Let our lives declare Your greatness. Help us live with confidence knowing that You reign over everything, forever and ever. All honor and praise belong to You. Amen. (Light in Prayer, adapted)
Morning Hymn: #131 We Gather Together
- We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His name, He forgets not His own. - Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
so from the beginning the fight we were winning;
thou, Lord, wast at our side, all glory be Thine! - We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
and pray that Thou still our defender wilt be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Colossians 1:18-20
18 He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
the one who is firstborn from among the dead[a]
so that He might occupy the first place in everything.
19 Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in Him,
20 and He reconciled all things to Himself through Him—
whether things on earth or in the heavens.
He brought peace through the blood of His cross.
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: Thank you for giving faithfully so that we can provide a Community Thanksgiving Meal, Thanksgiving Day, beginning to serve at 11:30 am - ?? If you have no other plans for dinner on Thanksgiving Day, please join the community to eat and enjoy life together. ALL WELCOME to enjoy our hospitality.
Offering prayer: Compassionate Shepherd, You do not abandon Your flock, even when we wander or divide. You gather us in Christ, our righteousness, and teach us to live in unity, mercy, and peace. As we bring these gifts, may they be signs of our desire to follow Your way—offering compassion where there has been hurt, justice where there has been harm, and hope where there has been despair. Strengthen us to live as people waiting not in fear, but in faith—serving the reign of Christ not just with words, but with lives shaped by generosity and love. In the name of the One who gathers and leads us always. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation: #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.
Scripture:
Ephesians 2:8-10
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.[a] This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
Matthew 25:31-40
31 “Now when the Human One[a] comes in His majesty and all His angels are with Him, He will sit on His majestic throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in front of Him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right side. But the goats He will put on His left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from My Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. 35 I was hungry and you gave Me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed Me. 36 I was naked and you gave Me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of Me. I was in prison and you visited Me.’
37 “Then those who are righteous will reply to Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You a drink? 38 When did we see You as a stranger and welcome You, or naked and give You clothes to wear? 39 When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’
40 “Then the King will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you have done it for Me.’
Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. 42 One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny.[a] 43 Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. 44 All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”
Message: Blessing the World Pastor Becky
You and I are blessings from God, to God and to the world. Each of us are blessings. We are a reflection of God's creative imagination and a fulfillment of the promise that God will never leave us orphans.
God intended for us to bless the world. This is the third dimension of discipleship. We've outlined the other two in the past weeks through this definition of what it means to be a disciple: A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ who is:
- committed to belonging to the body of Christ
- becoming more like Jesus
- and blessing the world.
We have a pretty good idea of what it means to be a blessing. It's responding to an immediate need. It's when we walk with another person in devotion, like caring for an aging parent or neighbor. It's picking up the tab at lunch or bringing gifts of food to the food pantry. We tend to generalize and call this mission work. We share opportunities through our fellowship for people to be connected to single events and long term events. Outside of our fellowship, we have coaches, advocates, and mentors. These are all examples of how we are placed in the path of grace as we build relationships with people.
Blessing the world for our context is going to be lived out in a life of service and a life of generosity. Think about what Jesus did. Jesus served selflessly and sacrificially in 1000 different ways long before His death on a cross. Service means to engage other people in ways that are life giving, that meet identified needs, and that raise those people up. It's never to be focused on the stuff given, but the people that receive what it is we give, the recipient is the focus.
We can never stress heavily enough that discipleship is about relationship. Relationship with God and relationship with people. We develop relationships of care in order to share Jesus with people. But our service doesn't depend on their response to Jesus. We don't stop serving because another person won't come to our church or claim Jesus as their savior. Jesus never asked a hungry person if they believed in God before He fed them. Jesus never refused to heal someone until they were converted. Jesus saw the need that was right in front of Him and responded to that need, because that is what God asked of Him and God asks of us. We need only look to Matthew 25:31-44 to see it outlined as to what God is asking us to do.
Jesus modeled this for us. The gospels are full of Jesus’ service in big ways like feeding the 5000 and in more intimate ways like healing Peter's mother-in-law. It's in our ordinary lives, in between work and personal responsibilities, where we truly live into a life of service. It's small gestures, like opening a door for another, taking a meal to someone recovering, pumping another person's gas or shoveling snow. Service is our way of responding to Jesus’ invitation to come and follow.
When we're in service, we can begin to see more clearly the deeper needs, the root cause for the need that is in front of us, and by seeing this root cause will move from ministries of mercy to ministries of justice.
Service to both justice and mercy is responding to God's call through the prophets. It's recorded in Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
Generosity is paired with service in our discipleship path. Disciples are called to be extravagantly generous people. This generosity extends to all of our resources. Whether it's our time, whether it's our energy or our financial resources. Everything we possess is God's, and God intends for us to be generous with what is given to us.
Now hear me, I'm not talking about martyring ourselves, using up all of ourselves and being so depleted that we come to harm. Giving and giving without replenishing ourselves is a manipulation of generosity. Always remember Jesus placed boundaries around Himself. He slipped away for prayer, He ate when He was hungry, He spent time in the company of His friends, and He spent time alone. It was only on the cross Jesus poured out everything. We are not called to that level of sacrifice. People, you, me – we have access to a Savior and we are never the Savior.
Generosity flows out of an understanding that God is the provider of all things and the owner of everything we have. Yet we are the managers and stewards of what God has provided. God provides not only for our needs but also uses us to meet the needs of others. It is living on less than what God provides so that we can bless others. Living on less is called living within the margins. This isn't something new, it's how God instructed the Hebrews to live so others could survive.
Understanding of living within the margins is recorded in Leviticus 19:9-10: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.” This is God's prescription of taking care of all people.
It's also God's way of teaching us that all that we have is from God and belongs to God. The goal of a life of generosity is not tied to a specific amount that we give. It's about a lifestyle where we choose to live on less than God has provided so that we free up resources to be used for blessing others. A life of generosity is about living in such a way that we are ready and able to respond when God gives us opportunities unique to our context and setting. A life of generosity allows us to joyfully partner with God to see the Kingdom brought near.
As we have been working through these dimensions of discipleship, I've been challenging you to live into your path of following Jesus. I continue to encourage you:
-to jot down your daily God moments when you feel God with you and to share those moments with another.
-I hope you're still praying for the five people that you identified that you're already in relationship with and that you're praying for an opportunity to share your faith.
-If you aren't already committed to a short devotional study, I encourage you to begin that work and pray for a spiritual friend to journey with you.
-We talked about spiritual practices last week and I hope that you're exploring one that you've never used or never heard about. Prayerfully you will find the one that upholds you and helps you on your path of discipleship.
-This week I challenge you to find a way to serve someone in need and to find a way to provide for a need in our community.
Discipleship is the relationship Jesus calls us into because it truly is all about relationship. Our relationship with God, our relationship with each other, and our relationship to the world. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #389 Freely, Freely
- God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name, I’ve been born again in Jesus’ name,
and in Jesus’s name I come to you, to share His love as He told me to.
Refrain: He said, “Freely, freely you have received, freely, freely give.
Go in My name and because you believe, others will know that I live.”
- All power is given in Jesus’ name, in earth and heaven in Jesus’ name,
and in Jesus’ name I come to you, to share His power as He told me to. (Refrain)
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
