For the week of September 21 – 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Morning Prayer: Loving and Gracious God—Holy One of Israel—tender one to all who call upon You with repentant and believing hearts: bless us, we pray, with Your presence this day. Teach us who have gathered to learn Your ways, inspire those who seek Your wisdom, energize those who are exhausted, comfort those who grieve, and strengthen those who are weak. Indeed, O God, fill all of our hearts with Your praise and lead us in holiness and righteousness in this hour and in the hours to come. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. (Written by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild) (adapted)
Opening Hymn: #158 Come, Christians, Join to Sing
- Come, Christians, join to sing: Alleluia! Amen!
Loud praise to Christ our King: Alleluia! Amen!
Let all, with heart and voice, before His throne rejoice:
Praise is His gracious choice. Alleluia! Amen!
- Come, lift your hearts on high: Alleluia! Amen!
Let praises fill the sky: Alleluia! Amen!
He is our guide and friend; to us He’ll condescend;
His love shall never end: Alleluia! Amen!
- Praise yet the Lord again: Alleluia! Amen!
Life shall not end the strain: Alleluia! Amen!
On heaven’s blissful shore His goodness we’ll adore,
Singing forevermore: Alleluia! Amen!
Psalm 33:4-5, 13-15, 22
4 Because the Lord’s word is right,
His every act is done in good faith.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the Lord’s faithful love fills the whole earth.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
He sees every human being.
14 From His dwelling place God observes
all who live on earth.
15 God is the one who made all their hearts,
the one who knows everything they do.
22 Lord, let Your faithful love surround us
because we wait for You.
Bishop’s call to vision
“I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where my help will come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1–2)
Communal Prayer- Almighty God, Holy One, we admit we have held on too tightly to what we have known. We have desperately gripped to remember and honor the people and traditions of our past. We have clung for comfort, and out of fear. We have grasped so hard, for so long, we can barely imagine what might happen if we let go…And yet, You O God, are faithful. You invite us to let go. Not to take away our past from us, but to offer us a bright and radiant future – a future that is only available to us if our hands are open to receive Your good gifts. And so, we ask for Your grace and Your blessings on this day, as we release those things which weigh us down and hold us back, that we might be ready to receive the abundant blessings You have in store for us. In fear and trepidation – In faith and daring… We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
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: Wesley UMC in Bloomsburg has been serving a weekly meal, coming up on 23 years, every Saturday 10:30-12:30! Lightstreet commits just 4 times a year to providing and serving the food. Our next turn is Saturday, October 25. If you are not planning to be here for the coat giveaway, think about serving and eating lunch at Wesley that day.
Offering prayer: Unshakable and merciful God, You meet us in the ruins just as surely as in times of rejoicing. When all feels lost, You are not. When we stumble for answers, You remain our refuge. Receive these gifts, given not from abundance alone but from hearts that still dare to trust. Let them be signs of Your presence in broken places, tools of healing, hope, and grace in a hurting world. Help us live our praise, even in lament, as Your people who believe in Your goodness—still. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation: #395 Take Time to Be Holy
- Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; abide in Him always, and feed on His word.
Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek. - Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; spend much time in secret with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
- Take time to be holy, let Him be thy guide, and run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
and, looking to Jesus, still trust in His word.
- Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His spirit to fountains of love,
thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
Scripture: Matthew 4:18-22
18 As Jesus walked alongside the Galilee Sea, He saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, because they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow Me,” He said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” 20 Right away, they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Continuing on, He saw another set of brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father repairing their nets. Jesus called them and 22 immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
Affirm your faith by reciting the Apostles’ Creed: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended to the dead. On the third day He rose again; He ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living 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 #882)
Message: Pastor Becky
When I was in the pulpit last, I promised we would begin to look seriously at what discipleship is and how we would begin to structure and order ourselves for discipleship. The beauty of that promise is that Ben began an introduction to this without even really knowing it. We hadn't discussed what he was going to preach, the scripture it would be based upon. I hadn’t shared with him what I was planning to preach the week before or what I was looking to build on, but God knew. And because God knew, Ben was able to introduce to you the reality of what it means to be the 99. Why it'll be OK for the shepherd to go and find the lost sheep and the 99 stay together. How they're prepared to take in that lost sheep.
Together, you and I have a starting point, maybe it’s the only thing that we can all agree on - Jesus. Now the dimensions of Jesus for each of us may differ. Yet this is what we can agree upon and it is Jesus that binds us together.
We recognize there are many ways of knowing and understanding Jesus. The first truth is we have to place Jesus in the center of our lives. It is the response to our belief in Jesus. That's why we're called Christians, those who follow Jesus Christ. Now we can label and subdivide Christians into types, like Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, and so on. Yet there is a universal call within Christianity, a deeper call and that is to be a disciple. This call sets aside the labels and theologies and points us directly to Jesus, regardless of where we call “home” in terms of church, discipleship is where we are all united.
In order to have this discussion about discipleship, first we have to define what a disciple is. A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ who's committed to:
- Belonging to the body of Christ. Belonging to the church, not the institution or the building, but belonging to the fellowship of believers.
- A disciple of Jesus Christ is committed to becoming more like Jesus.
- A disciple of Jesus Christ is committed to blessing the world.
We get these 3 dimensions from the story of Jesus calling His first disciples that I read this morning, looking specifically at verse 19. Jesus says, “Come, follow Me,” this being part of the body of Christ. He continues, “and I will make you,” this is becoming more like Jesus. Jesus continues His thought and says, “fishers of people,” this is to be a blessing to the world.
Jesus is calling us into something bigger than ourselves. While each of us can do a lot on our own, it is the work, the effect of the collective that brings forth the Kingdom living that transformation brings. Discipleship is a lifelong journey into the abundant life Jesus desires for us. We don't reach a certain age and think that we have arrived, that there won't be more for us. In our journey of discipleship, I want you to think of it this way: if you are breathing, you're still on the journey of discipleship. You are still belonging to the body, becoming more like Jesus. And blessing the world, we don't get to opt out at retirement. We don't get to say we've put in our time, because our relationship of discipleship continues throughout our life. It's a process of continual development where we grow into becoming Christ centered or fully surrendered.
Disciples are often described as learners, but this is a very limited understanding of discipleship. Yes, we're to learn about Jesus, but it's not so that we can answer trivia pursuit questions or be able to pass a quiz on who Jesus was. Our learning is so that we become like Jesus. So that we understand the world the way Jesus understands the world. So we see the world as Jesus sees the world. So that we see people in the same way that Jesus saw and sees people. Because Jesus hasn't changed His mind. The call of discipleship, doing what Jesus did and does, is the same today as it was when He called His first disciples. The point has always been to direct people to God, to offer healing, hospitality, security, basic needs, and honoring/recognizing human worth. This work has never changed.
Those 3 dimensions (belonging to the body, becoming like Jesus and blessing the world) are broad strokes. While discipleship espouses those three, God has wired each of us differently so that we can engage those 3 dimensions differently, and that's OK. Actually, it's perfect. As each of us moves in those three dimensions, there will be a wideness and a deepness as to how we engage the community around us and our families and our fellowship. Because each of us will engage in those dimensions differently and with different people. Our discipleship will change and transform the community around us.
As we move through the coming weeks, you will see and hear this language of discipleship. We'll examine each dimension and see where it fits into our lives and the life of the church. It will be comparable to a ministry audit. Yet it's going to happen in real time, together so we can get on a path, stay on a path, and look to make new paths so we can be the 99 of which Jesus spoke. So we become the place where others can be welcomed and held and started on their own paths of discipleship for the transformation of the world. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #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.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
