THE GOSPEL LESSON Mark 8:27-38
THE EPISTLE LESSON James 3:1-12
SERMON "Doing Humility: Taming the Tongue"
WORSHIP NOTES
Welcome to worship on Rally Sunday on this 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time! The liturgical color for Ordinary Time is green. In worship this morning, we continue a series begun last Sunday in which we examine our faithfulness through doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. These are the tasks God requires of his people as told in the scripture passage from Micah.
Today, we consider how best to "do humility" both in word (speech) and deed (action). As we discipline our tongues for humble service, we open our worship with a prelude on "Come Christians, Join to Sing" and by joining to sing God's praise through the hymn "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing". As we discipline our actions for humble service, we reflect on the message of today's gospel lesson in which Jesus instructs his disciples to take up their cross and follow him. This model of discipleship is reflected in the response hymn, the sending hymn,"Lead On, O King Eternal", and the offertory/benediction response "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus".
Our teachers will play an important role in helping us to learn how to follow Jesus. Therefore, on this Rally Sunday, we will also commission our teaches for their work in the program year ahead.
Our worship ends with a postlude by German organist and composer Nicholas Bruhns (1640-1689), This is one of three such praeludiums written by Bruhns, who studied organ with Dietrich Buxtehude. After a powerful opening passage, Bruhns uses a "call and response" motif throughout the remainder of the work that well reflects the message of today's scripture as we seek to respond to God's call and follow him humbly.
