THE GOSPEL LESSON Mark 9:30-37
THE EPISTLE LESSON James 3:13-4:3, 7-8
SERMON "Doing Faithfulness: True Greatness"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship on this the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The liturgical color for Ordinary Time is green. In worship this morning, we complete a series begun two weeks ago in which we examine our faithfulness through doing justice, doing humility, and doing leadership.
Today, we consider how best to "do leadership" as servant-hood as we read in scripture that "the first shall be last and the last shall be first." Our opening hymn, "Ye Servants of God," the anthem "Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service," and the benediction response "Make Me a Servant" help us express musically our understanding of leadership as servant hood.
From the Epistle lesson, we learn that true wisdom is found in how we live our lives in loving community with others. The response hymn "Though I May Speak" and the sending hymn "Love Divine All Loves Excelling" are expressions of the love shared with one another in community. Today's Epistle text also contains the familiar passage of scripture that encapsulates our faith as Christians, "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you." As we gather in prayer and respond to God's blessings through the giving of our gifts, the offertory is a prayerful, jazz setting of the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee."
Our worship ends with a postlude by contemporary English composer, John Rutter (b. 1945). Rutter is perhaps most well known for his many choral compositions, however he also has written for other instruments. This Toccata for organ is a tour through shifting meter and rhythm in which we find that the first musical motif is, indeed, also the last, which reflects well the message of today's gospel lesson.
