THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Deuteronomy 8:5-10
THE GOSPEL LESSON Luke 6:37-42
SERMON "The Sacrament of Forgiving"
June 2009 Archives
This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, June 28th, 2009,
Mark 5:21-43
THE EPISTLE LESSON 2 Corinthians 8:7-15
THE GOSPEL LESSON Mark 5:21-43
SERMON "Sent to be a Healing Community"
Worship Notes
Our central text for worship this morning is Mark's account of two healings by Jesus. For Mark, one of the central ways Jesus manifests the Kingdom of God is through his healing of those excluded from the social and religious world of Jesus time. The text begins with a religious leader named Jairus begging Jesus to save his very sick daughter at the point of death. While on the way to Jairus' home, a woman with an isolating and unclean disease touches the hem of his cloak and is healed. There is an interaction between Jesus, his disciples, and the bold woman whose faith has made her well. After this interruption, Jesus continues on to Jairus' home but then is informed the twelve year old girl has died. Jesus refuses to be deterred and therefore foreshadows the power of God's Kingdom where the dead are brought back to life.
Our text is illuminated by our opening prelude affirming Jesus as the healer of our every ill. The Call to Worship captures that very human need and desire to be heard by God in the depths of our pain and fear. The opening hymn captures the sense of how we find solace from "the sadness that fills our minds." In many ways the liturgy and prayers this morning are intended to communicate the power of God's healing love experienced in Jesus.
Many of the children who have participated in our Vacation Bible School will be singing for us this morning one of the hymns they learned this past week. The theme of our VBS was social justice, in particular, the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Our children learned that an important aspect of our faith is the healing needed for racial reconciliation. The Affirmation of Faith written by many of the youth of Westminster captures the importance of church as a community of people "where all are safe and welcome." The sending hymn reminds us we are "Called from worship to Your service,
Forth in Your dear name we go,
To the child, the youth, the aged,
Love in living deeds to show."
THE EPISTLE LESSON 2 Corinthians 6:1-13
THE GOSPEL LESSON Mark 4:35-41
SERMON "Faith to Still a Storm"
Worship Notes
Today is the third Sunday after the celebration of Pentecost. In worship today we hear the story of Jesus calming the storm from the Gospel of Mark. This story tells of how the faith of the disciples falters when they are confronted with a crisis. Crises, or storms can take many forms in our lives and we will reflect on the importance of a steady faith in order to weather all types of storms.
Today is also the start of Vacation Bible School. This year we are focusing on God's grace in justice movements, particularly the Civil Rights movement. This is an example of a crisis in which many people found their faith shaken. Though, like the disciples who weathered the storm, coming through the Civil Rights movement strengthened the faith of those who participated. There are many ways in which our faith can grow through studying the faith of the people who fought for justice in the 1960s and 70s and those continuing the fight today.
Today we also commission our youth for their mission trip to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The mission trip participants will be leaving Madison early next Sunday morning, June 28, to go and serve for a variety of social service organizations in Sault Ste. Marie. The scriptural theme for our trip is from Galatians 5:13-14, which speaks to the freedom that we are granted through Christ and the fact that it is out of our freedom we are called to serve others. In order to act upon this freedom we need a faith that can weather storms and we will rely on the support and prayers of the whole congregation.
This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, June 14th, 2009,
Mark 4:26-34
THE EPISTLE LESSON Romans 8:12-17
THE GOSPEL LESSON John 3:1-17
SERMON "The Sending Trinity"
Worship Notes
Today is the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is also called Trinity Sunday. On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the mystical experience of God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The liturgical color for Trinity Sunday is white.
The worship service begins with a setting of the hymn "All Creatures of Our God and King," which speaks of the many reflections of God in the imagery of nature (wind, water, etc.) and the expressions of praise offered by each in the form of an "Alleluia!" Throughout the Pentecost season, we will sing Acclamation Hymn 577, which is a contemporary setting of the "Gloria Patri," the text of which affords praise to God in each of the trinitarian forms.
In response to the word proclaimed through the sermon, and before we seal the word in the act of communion, we sing Hymn 140, "Holy, Holy," which was written in 1972 by Jimmy Owens. Owens is a jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, teacher, and clinician who has played with Jazz legends such as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lionel Hampton. In this hymn, Owens sets a particular expression of praise for God as Father, Son, and Spirit.
In keeping with trinitarian imagery, the offertory is a "Trio Sonata" for organ composed by Liechtensteinian organist Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901). In a trio sonata, three independent melodic ideas (played by the left hand, right hand, and feet) are interwoven together into one musical composition. Just as each melody in a trio sonata is completely whole on its own but yet fits together seamlessly with its two counterparts, so is it with our understanding of the trinitarian nature of God.
The gospel text from John 3:16 is reflected in the duet shared during communion and serves as a reminder of God's great love for us. As the service ends, we carry that love with us out into the world as we depart singing the beloved hymn of the trinity, "Holy, Holy, Holy."
This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, May 31st, 2009,
Acts 2:1-17
